This wouldn’t be Natsu no Arashi! if there wasn’t an episode about explosive fruits. That’s exactly what this last episode was about. More pranks involving a snack bomb. Recall the strawberry bomb from last season. You can pretty much expect this episode to follow suit in the same way plus more. I figured maybe they’d go with cherry bomb, but that figured to be a bit too obvious so they went with kiwis. Now, that’s probably the last fruit I’d expect so I guess they got me there. This time, it’s not just about Yasaka trying to pull shit on Yamashiro, but Kaja planting one on Yasaka herself, and even Arashi has her own pretty kiwi-san. You can kind of tell how things will go from there. The ending was coming up but I think it felt slightly out of the blue and felt like it was thrown in at the last minute. Ignoring that, I did feel like there was some sense of wisdom and morale in Yasaka’s words to Arashi. Like, I know he put some meaning into it, but, like Arashi, I didn’t really get what he meant, but it was a lot of fun to watch the people at Hakobune go through their daily antics.

The miracles of all miracles happened in these 20 minutes: Kanako and Yayoi’s typical idle conversations made it in once more, but a lot less whimsical that its usual presentation. Next, Hideo actually gets what he orders from Yayoi. I wonder why they even did that in the first place. And the grand finale, the whole shebang – the Salt Man finally got his salt! That look of glory and shock on his face says it all; the man finally got his sodium chloride. From these rare occurrences, it tells me that this is unfortunately the last season of Arashi. The end sure did feel a bit open though.

REVIEW

I can’t think of how I actually started watching this a year ago, but I’m glad I did get to sit and watch through it because I enjoyed it a lot. There are some episodes that I thought were unnecessary or a bit tedious but overall I think it turned out great. The slapstick comedy is really the main factor that keeps the show all together, though I can’t deny that the more powerful, serious episodes were good on their own as well. The concept of time traveling has been overused a lot and it can get complicated, but what we have here is a show that takes that concept and twists its head around and pokes fun at it in numerous ways. An excellent example of this is anything having to do with Master’s expired food. Suggestion of bringing it back to the time before expiration is denied purely because of flawed logic. It’s even funnier when they pile more of the time traveling rules that would make the expired good turn out worse. What she and the others fail to realize is that it’s possible to go back to the time herself and consume it at that time. Of course, they do bring up things like unable to change the fate of something, but it’s nothing as complicated that it turns into technobabble.

As far as the characters go, you have a variety of colorful characters, four of them ghosts! They are all unique in their own way but they all have the same flair for the dramatic and overzealous personality sometimes that you’d think they’re all thinking the same thing. Yasaka is very energetic and hotheaded while Arashi is the peachy type but both have a lot of spirit and that’s why they’re able to connect. This also explains why Kanako and Hideo can connect even though they are two completely different people. Actually, I guess Yayoi and a dog would make a more perfect example of this but it’s Yayoi, for crying out loud. Let’s not forget we have Shioya aka that salt guy. He only says one phrase and he’s already established himself as a well-known character in the show.

I think SHAFT put a lot more into the production of the show than anyone would think. Although it does seem a bit under the radar compared to their other works, I can see that they put a lot of zing on it. The OP and ED sequences are abstract and I just love it that they use 70s and 80s tunes for almost everything, which I assume is supposed to be the style the show is presented in. The episode titles and cards and the songs you hear in the background at Hakobune are are a nod to late 70s/80s songs and album covers. It’s very subtle and I would not have recognized it myself if it wasn’t for hearing Hocchan’s “Romantic ga Tomaranai” and Shiraishi Ryoko’s “Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu,” two classy songs I know and heard from watching Densha Otoko. The latest album includes these songs, including one for Kobayashi’s character (who only showed up once) and even a song for the Salt Man.

While it’s not one of the best shows out there, it’s definitely one I thought had a lot of good humor and running gags that worked well with the characters and situations, if only because of abusing time traveling. The best part is probably the interaction between these characters and how they all adapt to working with each other under one roof. The results are unpredictable. I never read the manga, but I positively enjoyed what I saw. If you enjoy Kobayashi’s works or a nut for SHAFT shows, don’t miss this.