Sea Slugs! Anime Blog

Episode 4 was mostly a look at the emotional struggles between the Kanzato brothers. Jun and Shin were reminiscing in the arts room about happier times when their parents were alive, but Ryou killed the mood when he eventually arrived back home. Jun tried to take the opportunity to bring the brothers together with his soup, but he ended up spilling it when Shin bumped into him while arguing with Ryou, who just got up and left after answering his cell phone. The anger between Shin and Ryou really hit Jun hard, and he momentarily ran away from Ryou’s house while Shin was viewing the student list on Ryou’s computer and deciding whether to call Chief Itoh about it. Jin’s disappearing act sends Shin into a frenzy, and it created an opportunity for him and Ryou to work together for once to search for Jin, who they found morphing into Yuki along a beach before collapsing into the ground.

Episode 5 focused a bit on the disappearance of a student at Shin’s school, Okazaki Takashi. Shin overhears Takuro talking to Megumi talking about him, and Shin recalls seeing Takashi’s name on the secret list of Ryou’s computer. Later, Shin asks Takuro a bit more about Takashi and learns that he was an aspiring singer who somehow disappeared one day. When Shin returns back to Ryou’s house, Jun somehow begins to hear some voices, and it leads both of them to a rundown shack where they encounter another Marobite member who seemed to struggle with containing a Persona. Persona’s come out and battle so that Shin and Jun could get away. Shin talks to Takuro the next day about what he saw in the woods, and the mysterious Marebite member shows up again. More Persona’s come out, and seeing how he was outnumbered, the Marebite member flees.

Although I’m a big fan of backstories adding depth to the characters, I feel like this series is pulling a Lost and not advancing the main plotline on the importance of the personas and such while relying on mystery to pull viewers in. We’re still not clear on who Ryou and the Marebite is really working for, or why Yuki seemingly shows up randomly at spots throughout these two episodes. Hopefully the next few episodes will address these issues.