Shiroi Suna no Aquatope | Episode 4 Review

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The OP “Tayutae, Nanairo (たゆたえ、七色)” by ARCANA PROJECT, is definitely starting to grow on me. I will admit, I didn’t really pay much attention to it, but since I had time on my hands I decided to give it a real listen and I must say, it’s alright. So what were my thoughts on episode four? It was okay. Something about the episode felt a little off to be completely honest, the episode felt extremely slow. It was as though I was watching a slow moving slideshow, rather a slow moving movie. Like for example, we spent the whole episode preparing for the “Touch Pools” event which wasn’t really entertaining for me.

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Furthermore, how they went about introducing Fuuka’s past as an ‘idol’ wasn’t ideal either. It was very nonchalant, coincidently one of the individuals who helps maintain the aquarium recognized that she was an idol, but doesn’t mention it. Then during the “Touch Pools” event, a group of teens happened to notice that Fuuka was formerly part of an idol group. Just how everything was introduced felt very bland and it wasn’t something that I entirely liked. Personally, I think it would have been better if hints were dropped here and there throughout the episodes up Fuuka worked up the confidence to tell everyone about her past. I wanted a build up to that point, I didn’t want it to happen only four episodes in so in that regard I am a little disappointed.

The ending of the episode wasn’t something I really enjoyed either. As I mentioned, I like having a gradual build up to things. Episode four has immediately jumped to Fuuka revealing her past, but also has set up the confrontation between Fuuka and her mother who decided to show up at the aquarium. And from what I could tell, I feel like it’s going to be something similar to what happened in Higehiro. Both mothers give the same sort of vibe and I don’t like that, however unlike Higehiro, Fuuka’s confrontation is happening four episodes in, so I do not think the confrontation will last long and won’t have an overarching effect on the anime itself. I think it’ll be one of those cases where Fuuka’s mother will see how happy her daughter is working at the aquarium and will ultimately agree to letting her stay. That is what I assume will happen, only episode five holds the answer.

Episode four was okay. It was definitely a weirdly paced episode because the whole thing felt extremely slow, however, things like Fuuka’s past and her confrontation with her mother came at us very fast. We were at turtle speed until the very end.