Rolling Girls’ second side-arc ends… reasonably, I guess. It’s hard to point to any one specific reason this arc didn’t really do anything for me emotionally, but it just didn’t seem deeply felt. The character arcs were all very obvious and standard, and there just weren’t enough small character moments to make this feel like its own story, and not just Rolling Girls riffing on an established template. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, and the fact that the show has clearly forfeited its animation highlights almost makes me wish it’d never misled us with them in the first place.

Anyway. My full ANN post is available here, and you can check out my kind of conflicted notes below.

Flashback to this arc’s girl trying to put a shachihoko on the roof, being saved by her motorcycle beau, being yelled at by her father

She’s already got her shoulder koala

Mamoru’s the dad

Himeko’s the daughter

Mr. Dandy’s fixing the racing dude’s bike. Racing dude says racing has gotten painful

She’s talking about how much she loves the Shachihoko, and how she’ll make a big one for the main hall when she grows up. Then a moonstone falls from the sky, which she gives to the guy

So are the moonstones generated when people decide who they want to be? Obviously not everyone gets one, but it may be tied to that

And then he gives her one in return. His is called “Star of the Circuit,” hers is called “Shachipoko Stone”. So clearly they are tied to having clear goals

Tomoki’s the name of the racer guy/Mie Motors leader. He tells Himeko they didn’t break the shachihoko

And he’s the one who sent the request for help, using her name to avoid his gang finding out

“I couldn’t believe you’d gotten so pretty.” aw this guy

Both of these guys have turned away from their dreams for now

Chiaya seemed to be linked to the thing that got thrown in the fridge last episode. There was no other real reason for that little moment. Is it a general animal thing?

The Rolling Girls spend the first quarter of this episode looking for each other. lol

The Aichi bikers are crumpled in a heap with a literal buzzard poking at them

Tensions running high!

Adding a cute couple to the middle of this arc is doing wonders for my investment

Oh right, Yuriko has a bad sense of direction, that’s her thing

Yeah, Tomoki lost interest in racing. No one could compete with him. Everyone’s saying his competing kept tensions down

Nozomi actually doing her job!

Himeko’s trying to run away again

Nozomi trying to convince them to think of a name for the town. She’s trying! I actually like that she’s not very good at this job, and the show keeps demonstrating that. It’s nice to have characters make the big conciliatory gestures and then just get shot down because things aren’t that simple

And Yuriko somehow ended up in the Motors gang. That’s actually great

Tomoki getting tricked into okaying a race with a dude we still can’t understand is also pretty great. This episode’s slowed down a bit, and it’s helping everything. The characters also now have enough scenes behind that that they’re likable

Ai just wants to leave now that they have the stone

The racers pick up the “items to put on the tower” along the way, tying the shachihoko narrative in

Mamoru ends up apologizing to Nozomi

And now the rolling girls are trying to make the shachihoko. Good luck, idiots

Wow, these painted clouds are lovely

“Orca and shachihoko are different things” nice work girls

The girls are kinda useless but mean well. That’s just how the show goes

Tomoki’s all fired up to race Mr. Dandy

“I still love it, after all!” Simple story, but it’s nicely told

Dandy lends Tomoki his bike

And we get another insert song

This sketchy effect they use for Tomoki’s last stretch is great

So they give the shachihoko symbols of both towns