Girlish Number continued with its excellent parent-focused material this week, using time away from Chitose to let Kazuha and Momoka have some of the show’s most emotionally effective material yet. I’ve been enjoying these vacations from our lead terror, but I’m hoping the show will able to grant her some of the sensitivity it’s offered her friends in the final act. Chitose may be a gremlin, but she’s our gremlin.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Kazuha jumps at her father’s voice
He cuts through her pretensions, though
He’s over the line, but his venom is laced with truth, which makes it much harder to fight. Kazuha really is very childish in her attitudes – scorning the shows she’s on doesn’t put her above them, it just makes her petty. And her move to Tokyo is framed just as running away from a home she dislikes
Kazuha believes she can’t please him, which may well be true, and so she leans into their fights instead
Kazuha outlining how she hates idle social events, the make-pretend she has to do
It seems like it reminds her of her relationship with her family
“There’s only a shrine at the top. There’s nothing else.” Kazuha is ashamed of her small town, which she sees as reflective of her own nature
“I don’t really understand anything you say. Because I’m envious of you”
Momoka’s actually skipping out on important events to be here. She likely wants to do something that’ll provoke a reaction from her parents, to prove they care too
“I prefer Tokyo, because that’s the only place that I have”
The imagery and storytelling here is very on the nose – Kazuha and Momoka are too conveniently opposite to each other, and then there’s the cat with its parent
“I’ll be waiting for you, my rival.” Now this conversation is terrific. Very personal, and demonstrates Momoka’s lack of perspective, as well as the complexity of her mother’s feelings
Momoka declines Pure Para
Oh my god, Towada is going to kill Kuzu-P
Kazuha’s dad actually researched voice actors when she said she was going to be one. The two are actually very similar
“It’s our job to say things to motivate you, and it’s also our job to believe in you and wait.” There it is