Friday, 22 February 2013

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai - Episode 7

After the joy of her mother's return, Sasami is now in a decidedly tight spot as her true intentions come to the fore - with our protagonist captured and all of her usual protectors seemingly out of commission, is there anybody left to save her?

Determined though she might be to have nothing more to do with the Tsukuyomi shrine, her mother certainly has different ideas and is willing to go to any lengths to return her daughter to her rightful role and place in the world - something which Sasami is in no state to fight beyond verbal objections, and even these look set to be shut down as drugs overtake her body.


To assume this is the end of the line however is to reckon without, of all people, Tama - she might be an idiot, but she still has the presence of mind to rescue sister Kagami and seek out the ruined shrine where Sasami is being held - a train of thought that offers just enough leeway for a recovering Kagami to proffer a vital piece of the puzzle to Sasami's brother to effect their escape.  When Juju looks to block this escape, it's time to Tama herself to show what she's made of when push comes to shove in a final bid to return her friend (and her sisters) to the life they'd been enjoying previously.

This episode, and indeed this series as a whole, might not be some kind of tour de force of great writing or ideas, but this was nonetheless a satisfying episode of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai - it held just enough emotional power to take us to some really dark places before lifting us out of them with a slice of comedy and setting up an obvious but effective climax to this story arc.  It worked really well as a whole, leveraging its characters as well as you could hope for and offering a little meat to the show's wider narrative without ever over-doing it.  It's clear that the series will never return to its insane opening gambit, but maybe now I'm coming to terms with that there is still a fair amount to enjoy in what we've been left with in its wake when it produces well-structured episodes such as this one.

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