Thursday 31 October 2013

Nagi no Asukara - Episode 5

It's decision time for Akari as the future of her relationship comes to a head in this week's Nagi no Asukara - mind you, it seems as if the wheels are now well and truly in motion for some of the other romantic entanglements portrayed by the series too.

Most notably, Chisaki has not so much put her foot in it as thrust her entire leg into an open wound, as an impromptu admittance Tsumugu about her feelings toward Hikari are overheard in their entirety by Manaka, who proceeds to run off.  Although the pair seem to carry on as normal, there are clearly some major issues bubbling under the surface here.


As for Akari, she's decided that abandoning her relationship is the best thing for everyone involved in her particular situation - unfortunately though, she seems to have entirely misunderstood Miuna's hostility towards her and the reasons for it, and when the young girl goes missing she's beside herself with worry.  Of all people, it's Hikari once again who shows a surprising bout of maturity as he and his friends search for and find Miura, and ultimately come to understand just why she's so scared of Akari becoming part of her family.

Although I can't help but feel the way in which the love triangle between Manaka and Chisaki as it relates to Hikari was progressed in a rather lazy and predictable fashion, this was otherwise another strong episode of Nagi no Asukara which made good use of the Akari's situation and the feelings of those around her to ultimately deliver some pretty powerful, and rather satisfying, moments.  If the series can keep how it handles the emotional core of its story at this level then that can only be a good thing, although it still hope that it expands further into exploring the world it's set up rather than simply using it as a base for romance and family matter - time will tell in which direction it would rather head, I suspect.

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