Nagi no Asukara - Episode 25

The Ofunehiki is drawing ever closer, but in a sense that almost takes a secondary importance in this week's Nagi no Asukara as its cast finally begin to properly sift through their tangled emotions.

It's Miuna who seems to be the week's emotional punching bag once again however, as having to rescue Manaka's pendant containing her feelings from the sea after it was dropped in there by Akira leads to confirmation beyond all doubt of Manaka's feelings for Hikari.  Earnest girl that she is, this only leads to her pushing even harder for Hikari to admit his own feelings, both to himself and others, even at the cost of her own intense emotional pain.

Elsewhere, last week's events regarding Saya seem to have given Kaname a new lease of life, as he sits down with Tsumugu for a heart-to-heart that allows him to finally fully pursue Chisaki while battling through her layers of resistance.  All of this is put on hold for the Ofunehiki, however, with even Uroko tagging along to help - once again, this ceremony produces dangers of Biblical proportions, and it seems that the feelings of both Manaka and Miuna will be its centrepiece this time around.

By a combination of necessity and its currently on-going plot, this week's Nagi no Asukara felt like it had to rush through some of its major romantic shifts where it could perhaps have given them a little more time to breathe - thankfully, these moments were still handled well enough overall, and the over-arching drama of the love triangle between Manaka, Miuna and Hikari is understandably taking centre stage to provide plenty of strong moments in the latter half of this week's episode.  On a personal level, I hate to think that Miuna might be the one to lose out on everything come the end of the series next week, but on the other hand the fact that I care at all is a testament to what the show has done so incredibly well throughout its second half.