夏のあらし！春夏冬中 Episode 02 Review
Summer Storm! Open for Business Ep. 02
Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chuu – 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Arriving at the onsen and inn, the others bathe while Jun tries to fend of Hajime’s aggressive attempts to get her into the onsen with him. Wanting to keep the secret that she’s a girl from him, she runs and he has to chase her. Murata stops Hajime at one point and tells him that sometimes people don’t appreciate such aggressive tactics. Hajime dismisses this as Jun is his friend. The chase is soon back on until Arashi and Kaja run interference. Arashi engages Hajime in a pillow fight while Kaja gets Jun away and to the bath. In the bath, Jun and Kaja speak where Jun wonders about Arashi’s feelings for Hajime. Kaja suggests Jun speak with Arashi.

Coming out of the bath, Jun and Kaja meet Hajime and Arashi. Hajime is dismayed to hear that Jun already took a bath. As Murata battles Master, Kanako, and Takeshi in Mahjong, Jun, Arashi, Kaja, Yayoi, and Hajime decide to take a brave solo trip around the local graveyard. As each person takes off, soon Jun is left with Arashi. Jun asks Arashi about her relationship with Hajime. Arashi admits she’s using Hajime and reminds Jun that she can only live during the summer and has never had a romantic relationship. When their talk is over, Hajime arrives and assumes Jun is afraid since she is crying. So he grabs her arm and races forward to traverse the graveyard with Jun.

Thoughts/Review:

One thing about both Natsu no Arashi series is how strange Hajime’s obsession with Jun is. No, strange isn’t the right word. “Freaky” might be a closer term. Seriously, as a guy, I know of NO time in my youth where any of us guys would even think half the things Hajime thinks when it comes to Jun. This episode had Murata at least address this to the thick-skulled Hajime. Granted, most of this is done for humor since Jun is a girl, but it makes Hajime look like his bread is buttered on the opposite side sometimes (at least until Arashi shows up).

I had the feeling last episode that Arashi might be trying to set Jun and Hajime up and that came up again this episode. Arashi was pretty straight forward with her confession to Jun about using Hajime but also about her own lack of romance. With Arashi being a ghost, she can’t be around except during the summer and when the summer is over, Arashi, Kaja, Yayoi, and Kanako are gone. Hajime will be devastated with the loss of Arashi but I’m guessing Jun would fill that void, where he to ever learn that Jun is a girl.

Several of the gang from School Rumble showed up (mouse over to see names).

SHAFT must have farmed this episode out to another animation company because the character designs were off in many places and the animation looked cheaply done. In fact, the episode mostly did not have the same feel as prior episodes that SHAFT did, mainly because the stylized presentations used before weren’t here this time. Instead, it was as if this cheaply animated and modified character design look was supposed to be the new approach to episodes. Instead, it was a distraction to me and I was reminded of how in Yu Yu Hakusho, there were several episodes where a similar event happened.

I also see SHAFT is obsessed with nudity as seen in the pre-OP sequence followed by the OP sequence. *_* Worse is this “Opps! I fell down” moment.

Seriously. *_*

So in the end, this episode was a mixed bag for me. There was some entertainment and I liked the School Rumble cameos but the shifts in character designs and ugly animation sequences at times were big distractions.