Nagi no Asukara - Episode 22

It seems that Uroko is at large on the surface, and he's put all of his abilities to full use by providing Tsumugu with a rather untimely distraction which he's understandably keen to get rid of.  But where is this scale of the Sea God exactly?

Although simply searching for him seems to be proving entirely fruitless none of the group are keen to give up, and so they decide to play a little smarter and try luring Uroko out with a combination of food and pornography.  The group may be united on this front, but there's a very obvious coldness evident in Hikari's behaviour towards Manaka, while Kaname seems determined to push his agenda with regards to Chisaki, even doing so virtually in front of both Tsumugu and Sayu.

It's Hikari who is really having his emotions toyed with the most however, as his irritation at Manaka's assertion that she doesn't remember what she was going to tell him before the Ofunehiki turns into despair as it turns out that she's actually missing a number of memories... all memories that were precious to him in some shape or form.  It's with this discovery that Hikari, together with Miuna, run into Uroko and have their questions duly answered, as it's revealed exactly why Manaka as found where she was under the sea, why she's lost her Ena, what her re-emergence for the ocean means for the future of the surface-dwellers and, most importantly for Hikari, the awful truth behind her missing memories.

From what seemed like it might be a light-hearted episode of Nagi no Asukara that merely sent us on a wild goose chase looking for Uroko, we ended up with some highly impactful drama that put a fascinating and well-placed spin on Manaka's role that will doubtless reverberate through every aspect of the series in coming episodes.  It says a lot about this show's characterisation that a relatively simple explanation of much of what is going on can feel so affecting, and that's exactly what this series has succeeded at here.  Nagi no Asukara certainly shows no signs of losing what's made it compelling over recent months, that's for sure.