Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 12 (Completed)

When you see Hotori Arashiyama using a hacksaw, you know that things aren't going to end well... mind you, even I wasn't expecting the chain of events which kicks off Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru's final episode to end this badly.

Anyhow, we're getting ahead of ourselves, as this piece of DIY "genius" involves Hotori combining a magnifying glass and a fountain pen - something which seems like the pinnacle of achievement to the star of the show, but like a horrible waste of time and resources to everyone else given that such devices already exist, while the fountain pen in question looks as though it was hardly cheap.  Never mind though Hotori... here, have a whistle to blow on.

With the realisation that she's just needlessly destroyed a perfectly good pen, and as she finds herself invited to see her uncle (the provider of said fountain pen) in the summer, Arashiyama needs to find a replacement and fast.  There is clearly only one way to go about fixing this dilemma - by winning a writing competition in a mystery magazine to win enough money to buy one.  Hotori immediately sets about writing her masterpiece, although I'm sure it goes without saying that her writing skills are approximately analogous to her inventing abilities.

Getting rejected in the initial round of this competition pales in comparison to what happens next however, as Hotori dies in an accident.  No, really, and apologies to the spoiler - she dies and goes to heaven.  Of course in the name of comedy we follow her journey, leaving room for some nice bits of social satire on what the Japanese segment of heaven would be like, and some outright jokes about what passes for entertainment up there.  On a whim the mood turns from light-hearted to depressing however as we get to zoom in on how much everyone from her parents onwards misses Hotori - it's a good job then that there's still a route back to the land of the living for her then.

While that unexpected turn for the final segment of the episode is the one that grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you in a "oops, my eyes seem to be a bit damp" kind of way, I can't really ignore the outright comedy that came before it - the comic timing and utilisation of the random production of a whistle to give to Hotori forced me to pause this episode just so that I could find time to breathe again, and Arashiyama's so-called detective novel was amusing in its own right.  It is, of course, that final segment that dominates this finale though, and what a brave and beautifully executed ending it was, never forgetting that this is a comedy at the end of it all while also playing with the viewer's emotions and managing to surprise us at the same time.  It is perhaps a cunning trick to remind the viewer that hey, without a second season of the anime Hotori Arashiyama will be dead to us too, never to return, but it was a well-played one regardless.

To be honest though, personally I didn't need such drastic measures to feel a measure of loss at the end of this series.  Sure, it was a slow starter and it loses its way when it delves into camp mystery stories, but it's quickly grown into one of (if not the) comedy highlights of the season - Hotori is an absolute comedy gem and one of my favourite characters of 2010 as a result, and when this show was hitting the right notes it leveraged both her and those around her to devastatingly humorous effect.  So please don't die Hotori; my week just won't be the same without your blowfish cheeks and astounding stupidity.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 11

If you feel like you've had a rough day, then the opening scenes of this eleventh episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru may be enough to convince you that hey, it could have been worse... it could have been like Hotori's trip to the beach that kicks off this episode.

From here (and ignoring the one-trick brief "Richman and Poorman short gags that don't work as well as they probably should this episode), we get to enjoy a glimpse into the summer of a few memories of the Arashiyama family.  First we spend a morning with Hotori's father, who waxes lyrical on the joys of taking an early morning stroll through the town... at least, he would wax lyrical about it were it not for some interruptions with impeccable comic timing.

Next, we have a look at Hotori's summer, which perhaps inevitably involves remedial maths classes and bringing her teacher one step closer to complete mental and physical breakdown.  Poor old Mr. Moriaki even thinks he's cracked a way to teach Hotori maths this time around, only to be predictably disappointed in the end.  Next, we move on to follow the Arashiyama's pet dog Josephine, which is really just an excuse to watch Hotori some more; that said, Josephine does get the biggest laugh of this segment with her comment on the Arashiyama family hierarchy.  After all that we really just drift through a few random moments, mostly surrounding Hotori and including a couple of glimpses into her dreams amongst other things, before making time to top up any frisson in the love triangle between Sanada, Hotori and Tatsuno.

Once again, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is at its best as a simple and occasionally daft slice of life comedy with Hotori at its centre - there were several moments that left me laughing until I could barely breathe, and plenty of other big laughs to make for a hugely enjoyable episode that went nowhere in particular but delivered the goods.  It might have taken me a while to warm to it, but I'm really going to miss this show once it ends next week... I will darken the sea with my tears, I would wager.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 10

Although it's book-ended by a decidedly normal (albeit convoluted) prayer by Sanada, it's fair to say that this tenth episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is anything but normally; following in the footsteps of the second half of last week's instalment, you could say.

Episode ten begins with some intriguing local news of some decidedly odd circular holes that have appeared out of nowhere that seem to be anything but man-made - of course, such a weird event gets television coverage aplenty, although we don't get to find out how many of them would have filled the Albert Hall sadly.  Given her love of mystery, you might expect Hotori to be over-joyed at such an odd occurrence to get her wannabe detective teeth into, but rather surprisingly she seems positively morose, and becomes even more so when she encounters Kon's excitement about these holes.  Just what's bugging her exactly?  Being responsible for said holes, in short, as the story drifts entirely into the realms of the surreal courtesy of a gun, teleporting aliens doing battle, and a device that can reconstruct anything that's broken.  Oh, and ice cream too.

If that isn't enough to remind you that this show isn't always grounded in reality, the second half of this episode goes a bit The Sixth Sense by following a ghost who it seems the heavens have forsaken, as he wanders the earth unable to communicate with other humans, while often catching the eye of passing animals.  It turns out that the old geezer in question is none other than café owner Uki's deceased husband, which brings us some potentially touching moments than mostly fall away into gags with varying degrees of success.

This is probably going to make me sound boring and overly serious, but I think I prefer it when Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru keeps its feet on the ground - I'm all for the occasional flight of fancy, and I realise this is in keeping with the original manga, but to be honest these odd and mysterious tangents really aren't all that funny, and they certainly don't compare to the entertainment value that comes from Arashiyama and company just goofing around in their normal, everyday lives.  That said, the thought of Hotori being the first point of contact for an alien race does amuse me somewhat, and Hotori with a laser gun both amuses and alarms me even more, but that's about the only real laugh I got out of this particular episode.  Can we get back to normality next week please?

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 9

From being relegated to some pretty brief appearances in this series thus far, antique shop owner Shizuka Kameidou gets to enjoy a fair amount of the spotlight in this ninth episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, starting with a rather profitable little tale before the opening credits of a woman desperate to sell a vase, and her husband who is desperate to keep it.

From there, we move away from Shizuka's world for a while to instead enjoy a P.E. session with Hotori, Tatsuno et al; a lesson which reminds us that yes, Arashiyama is useless at basically everything, whether it's gymnastics (via a simple but effective little gag) or table tennis.  The same can't be said of Tatsuno however, whose brief demonstration of table tennis skills after toying with Hotori for a while leads to an intense showdown with Harue - a truly breath-taking contest for all of those watching, including Sanada and other boys who were previously playing basketball.  Not that Sanada was marvelling at Tatsuno's pin-pong proficiency, as his eyes were drawn to other things...

Next up we return our attentions to Shizuka, as she turns detective on the surprisingly obsessive trail of a delicious multi-coloured snack that doesn't seem to exist.  As the snack was simply handed out to her grandfather by some random passer-by, and with no information on the product online, she has little to work with as her hunt takes her travelling in vain to the supposed location of the store that sells them.  While we know that the store is now closed, Shizuka's abortive attempt to find them prompts a logical response from Hotori - these must be snacks from the future!

Entertaining though this episode was in its own way, it does prove one thing about this series - it starts to flag when it doesn't have Arashiyama's dumb observations and behaviour powering it along.  Practically all of the best moments this week involved her as per usual, and while giving Shizuka's character more of a platform is no bad thing it just didn't really have the same life to itas we've come to expect from this show.  Hotori playing table tennis or doing gymanstics on the other hand... you could probably make an entire series of that and never run out of material.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 8

After a bit of a slow start, I now can't imagine a week that isn't lit up by peeking in on whatever ol' blowfish cheeks and her friends are up to, even if it means waiting a little longer to enjoy her randomness on occasion.

Episode eight of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru beings with Hotori, Tatsuno and Kon stranded outside a shop in the middle of a sudden down-pour, an event which brings lots of the usual snippets of weather-related pleasantries we're all used to, together with some rather more left-field ideas (from Hotori of course).  Come to think of it, why don't weathermen have an equivalent of batting averages?  With the girls' clothes soaked and them handily standing outside a laundrette, Hotori suggests that they dry their clothes in said establishment - a slightly crazy idea that becomes inevitable thanks to the misfortune that descends upon them soon after.  With clothes somewhat dry and avoiding the continuing torrent of rain in mind, we end up exploring the alien vending machine technology and the like on offer within this laundrette - only SHAFT could make a series where talking about vending machines is genuinely funny, I would wager.

For the second half of the episode, we enter the inevitable world of the school culture festival, and although Hotori's class doesn't have an event planned for said festival an opportunity soon presents itself courtesy of Kon looking for some additional members to join a makeshift band she's putting together to perform on stage.  If you've seen the end credits to this series (you have watched them, right?) then you probably know what's coming next, with Hotori offering her services playing "something a bit keyboard-y" while Tatsuno manages to provide "something a bit like a guitar".  But not a triangle, though.  Anyway, all of this really just leads up to an excuse for the girls to play the B-side to the recently released Maids Sanjou! single; a performance which goes down well with the watching crowd, whilst also proving that Hotori isn't useless at absolutely everything after all.

Maybe it's just the mood I'm in (I've been cracking jokes all day at work), but I couldn't stop laughing at the first half of this episode - lots of generally mundane yet still highly amusing observations on life, the weather and vending machines that goes to show the power of putting this series' three main characters in a small space together and just letting them chat.  If you haven't noticed the decent and growing character dynamic between Hotori, Kon and Tatsuno, then this is the episode that arguably proves its worth, even in the second half of the episode which has less laughs but still proves entertaining enough while also shifting Tatsuno's relationship with Hustleryuki.... sorry, Sanada.  Anyhow, another fun episode from a series which grows on me a little more every week.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 7

No week is complete without another dose of Hotori Arashiyama's slice of life... thank goodness then for episode seven of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru.

As this episode begins, it appears that Hotori isn't the only one to pay any attention to TV fortune-telling predictions, as Sanada dismisses a blood type-based piece of advice telling him to take a short trip with a loved one to cement their relationship.  This seems like a nonsensical thing to say to him on a school day, but when he bumps into a sleepy (and surprisingly early) Arashiyama on the bus only to have her fall asleep on his shoulder (a dream scenario in itself), he decides to take this advice and deliberately misses their stop for school to instead skip class and spend some time hanging out with Hotori instead.  This only serves to fulfil more of Sanda's dreams, as he gets to hold Hotori's hand while they explore the town at the end of the line they've ended up at (purely from Hotori's instinctive reaction on account of having siblings mind you), and it seems that no amount of punishment from the powers at be at school will dissuade him from having made this particular decision.

The second half of the episode finds Hotori's younger brother unable to sleep on account of some dodgy concoction providing to him by his sister, and so when he comes to her room complaining of said insomnia Hotori decides to allow him to wear off his excess energy courtesy of a late night walk around town.  While Hotori wanders around in the middle of night as though it's no big deal, her brother is amazed by this previously unknown world that he's suddenly been introduced to, finding himself fascinated by the smallest of things in these previously unheard of hours.

Although this episode didn't have as great a laugh to scene ratio as some of its previous instalments, it was nonetheless a very entertaining and amusing offering to watch.  There were certainly some simple pleasures to be enjoyed from both halves of this episode that proved to be evocative of memories from my own past, whether it's ditching whatever you're supposed to be doing to hang out with a girl you like on a whim or those heady days where you get to wander the streets in the dead of night for the first time - this is anime I can relate to, given an additional coating of humour thanks to the ever-wonderful Hotori's comments and behaviour to spice things up.  What's not to like about a series that reveals that the perfect crime can be committed via the use of a frozen banana?  In short, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is continuing to exceed my expectations, and from some rather unexpected angles to boot.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 6

Expecting Hotori Arashiyama to buy anything approaching a decent birthday present is pretty much a guarantee of disaster, so when she rolls into a nearby antique shop on the hunt for a gift to give Tatsuno you know things aren't going to end well.

While the gift she ends up having foisted upon her (a locked box with no key) is bad enough, things only get worse when Hotori forces Futaba's date of birth out of her... only to find out that it's the day of the party currently being held for Tatsuno.  Cue an awkward silence and an upset Futaba, while Arashiyama's attempts to make things better really don't help at all.

For the second half of the episode, Hotori and Toshiko's class are given an IT assignment to design a web site, allowing Arashiyama to kill two birds with one stone by using it as an opportunity to create a page advertising the cafe.  With no computer of her own however, she decides to rely upon Sanada's goodwill and PC to help her complete the project - a snap decision which causes Sanada some heartache as he finds himself torn between his collection of downloaded porn and his good standing with the apple of his eye Hotori.  Perhaps inevitably his love for Hotori wins the day, but the whole thing is for naught ultimately anyway due to Sanada's lack of scanner and his slightly less thorough hiding of some dodgy magazines.  All of this takes place against a backdrop of a rampant cold doing the rounds, which seems to be striking everyone except Hotori.  Hmm, how does that saying about idiots and colds go again?

Overall, this was another good episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, making full use of Hotori's oddly charming idiocy coupled with plenty of snappy one-liners from elsewhere to make for laughs aplenty.  Even when there are plays on words that don't really translate well (in a literal sense at least), the general sense of amusement carries this episode through with a stash of good gags both visual and verbal.  When Arashiyama is kept at the centre of things Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru continues to be quite a riot, and it remains one of my surprise favourites of the season.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 5

Assuming that we've had our fill of Hotori Arashiyama's antics for a little (I haven't, incidentally), episode five of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru shifts its focus somewhat to other, supporting characters to give them a little time in the spotlight.

For the first half of this episode, that means following Toshiko around as she wins tickets to a movie screening and plans to invite Sanada to come along with her.  However, what seems to be a beautifully constructed plan (she even picked a left-field movie to enter the competition to win tickets for, so meticulous is her preparation) falters and then falls apart, as the normally cool demeanour of Ms. Tatsuno crumbles in the face of having to ask Sanada on a date.  While Toshiko muses over whether Hotori's bad influences are rubbing off on her on the one hand, she also can't help but think that asking a guy out would be a hell of a lot easier if she had her friends simple-minded lack of tact and shame.

Still, the second half of this instalment proves that getting to go out with someone isn't always that tricky, as Hotori's little brother finds himself asked out by a surprising candidate for such a thing - aloof classmate Eri Isesaki, who threatens to tell the teachers about young Arashiyama's card game playing during school hours on the one hand, before passing him a note asking if he wants to hang out with her at the weekend the next.  Indeed, Isesaki seems to be quite doe-eyed for Arashiyama, acting completely differently to her in-school persona and well and truly attaching herself to him as he tries desperately to keep her entertained while also avoiding bumping into his school friends.  Oh, those heady days when you'd dread being seen out with a girl by your friends...

Unfortunately, pushing Hotori out to the margins also succeeds in diminishing Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru's comic value quite considerably, with this instalment proving to be far less funny that the last few episodes.  That said, it still had a few amusing moments, and the shift in focus at least made for a change of scenery too - to be honest, the tale of Arashiyama's brother and his burgeoning relationship was actually quite sweet as well for a few bonus points.  Still, we need more of Hotori's unique personality to really keep this series on the up and up if you ask me, so hopefully normal service will be resumed next episode.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 4

I make no secret of rather liking Hotori Arashiyama and her irrepressible character within Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, but while she still has plenty to say and do in this fourth episode her teacher Mr. Moriaki manages to steal the show too, if only on occasion.

This episode begins with Arashiyama in a good mood on account of a TV love horoscope talking of a fated encounter with the person you love... mind you, she did have to channel surf through countless other programmes to find it.  Anyway, it appears as though the horoscope is correct on this occasion, as Hotori does indeed end up with a fated encounter with Mr. Moriaki, in the form of an additional after-school lesson as she runs the risk of flunking maths and having to retake a grade entirely.

From here, we get a lot more focus on Natsuhiko Moriaki himself, from rumours about how he turned away a student who fell in love with him by responding to her love letter with a simple formula (of course, Hotori has a smart-ass formula of her own to combat that with), through to a magnificent moment where he sees Pi formed from the milk in his coffee and onward to his entirely over-zealous concerns about whether or not he ends up sitting in the staff room's faulty chair in front of Hotori.

This certainly wasn't as funny an episode as last week's instalment, but despite that it still managed to raise a fair few laughs - despite the fact that I share Hotori's mathematical ineptitude, the maths-based jokes were all genuinely funny, and Arashiyama's incredibly stupidity (which sometimes seems to wrap around into genius) still seems to be a long, long way from getting old.  I have to admit I wasn't expecting anything much from this series when it started airing, but it's really won me over as something of a surprise hit - it looks as though SHAFT have got two solid comedies on their hands this season.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 3

I have to admit, the first episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru left me expecting one thing, before episode two suggested that it wasn't going to be quite as linear and entirely story-driven a series as I'd perhaps anticipated.  Thankfully, episode three continues in this vein, as this series continues to look more and more like a typical SHAFT series as a result.

This instalment begins with an almost unthinkable turn of affairs, with teacher Mr. Moriaki coming to see Hotori to ask for her help - has he gone mad?  Well, quite possibly, but regardless Arahiyama's homeroom teacher is looking for her thoughts regarding some paintings he's inherited from his deceased grandfather; namely, two self-portraits both named "Eyes", but with one showing the old man with two eyes (as you'd expect) while the other depicts him with four.  Moriaki asks his student to solve this conundrum on account of her love of detective novels - probably still not the smartest of choices, but amazingly Hotori manages to figure out the answer to this confusing state of affairs all too easily, so perhaps we should never have doubted her.

Indeed, those moments of intellect couldn't seem any further away as we next see Arashiyama being primed for another shopping trip, with a specially created shopping list to help her remember what she's supposed to be buying (although I can't help but think creating the "Oniorrot" is the best way to do this).  While on this occasion Hotori proves to be perfectly capable of remembering the required foodstuffs (well, just about), she ends up being distracted by a young pretty boy who is trying to coax his cat out of a narrow alleyway.  This leads to plenty of bizarre snippets of conversations, most of which inevitably emanate from Hotori's mouth before the cat in question is "rescued" and the boy goes on his way... except he isn't actually a boy at all, but rather a girl who goes to the same school as our protagonist.  Oh, Hotori...

Well, three episodes in I have to admit that I'm enjoying Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru more by the week - although some of the Japanese wordplay is lost entirely in translation, this episode also had enough funny moments to see it through, backed up by a visual style which suits this kind of comedy pretty well more often than not.  You also can't help but get caught up a little in Arashiyama's energy as she goes about her business of being completely dumb most of the time, making her an incredibly fun character even if her taste in men is more than a little unhinged to boot.  So far, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is shaping up to be one of those shows that is no classic, but it does succeed in serving up a decent dose of comedy to keep me entertained each week.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 2

After a first episode that sort of worked and sort of didn't, occasionally at exactly the same time, we return to possibly Japan's worst maid cafe for episode two of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru.

While I'd love to pretend that there's a plot to speak of, this particular instalment is really all about Hotori Arashiyama running around and stirring up trouble with her ebullient personality and, let's be frank here, rank stupidity when it comes to most things.  Luckily, these two traits offer up room for a fair amount of comedy, be it Hotori's rather odd and sudden obsession with her teacher, accusations of sexual harassment or oddball ideas for how to better promote the cafe to attract new and more sophisticated customers.

Of course, all of these ideas fall flat on their face for some reason or another but you can't help but get carried away by Arashiyama's near-frenzied excitement and passion about pretty much everything, which actually makes her a rather appealing character despite her being a bit of a rude and obnoxious loud-mouth at times.  Here, this combination makes for a rare individual who you can both laugh at and sympathise with at the same time, and it's perhaps this that does a lot to make this episode feel more fun and lively than the show's opener.

This episode also feels like it fits far better into what SHAFT do best - some neat visual and wordplay gags, expressive and flowing animation, quotes from Akira and well realised moments of humour make for a far more entertaining episode, plot or character progression be damned.  Thus, my initial misgivings about Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru have been lifted - for now at least, although deep down this early inconsistency does make me wonder whether we're looking at the next Natsu no Arashi here; a series which can occasionally be brilliant, but all too often falls flat on its face.  A little bit like Hotori herself, you could say.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Episode 1

Ahh, maid cafes - what a staple part of the anime diet they have become.  That said, SHAFT's Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru introduces us to a maid cafe that is barely worthy of the name, residing as it does in a small shopping district and with barely any customers to speak of.

Still, the cafe's solitary young maid, Hotori Arashiyama, seems to be popular enough, if only with one boy and classmate Sanada - however, when she mentions her work to friend Toshiko Tatsuno things soon take a turn for the... well, different.  In short, Tatsuno has more than a passing interest in maid cafes herself, thus when she turns up to visit Arashiyama at her work place she's not far short of disgusted by how decidedly un-maid cafe-like the place is, doing her best to teach her friend how to act before deciding to take a job at the cafe herself once she learns that Sanada frequents there, oblivious to the fact that he only visits to see Hotori.

 

So the template is set for this series, with the second half of this opening episode focusing on the girls having their part-time work discovered by their teacher and trying to use their wiles to allow their unauthorised jobs pass - a mission which seems to have failed miserably on the surface, yet somehow it seems to have worked perfectly at the same time.

Truth be told I probably didn't need to label this series as a SHAFT show in my introduction - as you might expect, it oozes that aesthetic from first scene until last (not to mention the fantastic opening and ending credits), although on this occasion it actually feels overblown on a number of occasions and seems to distract from rather than complement whatever is going on on-screen.  Aside from such complaints, this was a reasonable opener that can boast that its mission is accomplished almost solely on account of its slapstick humour, which worked okay when deployed in conjunction with the odd bit of wordplay and Chiaki Omigawa offering up a decent turn as the voice of the eminently likeable Arashiyama.

Will this series end up as another Natsu no Arashi, only with even less room for manoeuvre?  I hope not, but by the same juncture I do wonder where its comedy is going to come from once the slapstick gags get tiring, as there's only so much you can do with a good old-fashioned love triangle story.  We'll just have to wait and see what it has up its sleeve (or in its apron, perhaps?) for now.