[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Kashimashi episode 10: This has started to get good again!
The middle section of Kashimashi (or Kasimasi, depending on where you see it printed) was pretty filler-ish, complete with the obligatory ‘beach episode’ (although I must admit it did add something to the story) - what with plenty of other series catching my interest lately I was about to drop the series entirely and start on something else. Then ep 10 delivered some quite compelling drama that had me hooked once more.
It starts off pretty happily with four tickets to a sea-life park on offer. What could be a friends’ day out doesn’t quite go to plan when everyone except Hazumu and Yasuna are busy that day. The upshot is that most of Hazumu’s friends miss out on a fun day out and it ends up being a date of sorts between Hazumu and Yasuna. This causes a little awkwardness with Tomari but after Yasuna promises not to do anything to upset the status quo (see my earlier entry) things are all okay.
Hazumu and Yasuna have a great day with nothing untoward in the romance department (above). Not that Yasuna isn’t tempted while surrounded by cute romantic couples embracing in front of the dark and mysterious fish tanks (it reminds me of a romantic encounter in a Murakami novel but I’ll leave that for another time). They both decide to buy Tomari a souvenir and to make her feel extra special, go over to where she’s staying to deliver it.
It’s at this point where things go wrong. After a misunderstanding at the train station Tomari is convinced that Yasuna didn’t keep her end of the bargain after all, and before the episode is out we get to see Tomari kiss Hazumu at last (yuri fans: I can hear you cheering from here). Now, I didn’t have a problem with this to be honest. Yasuna had kissed Hazumu once before and expected Tomari to just stand there and accept it - now the tables are turned Yasuna feels betrayed. A shame, that, but now it seems the both of them are pretty much even but obviously Yasuna doesn’t see it that way and the fragile truce between Yasuna and Tomari is even more precarious.
With the ‘turning into a girl’ thing aside this is a simple but effective comedy drama with the love triangle being responsible for most of the emotional impact. As the old saying goes, three is a crowd and it was inevitable that unfortunate incidents like these would develop when two friends are trying to share the same girlfriend. It’s obviously not working but there are only two episodes to go in which this mess can be resolved! I think I’ll be seeing this series through to the end after all…
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