夏のあらし！春夏冬中 Episode 07 Review
Summer Storm! Open for Business Ep. 07
Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chuu – 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Takeshi is in Hakobune and Master is trying to figure out why she would have called him to come over. After an accident that soils Takeshi’s shirt, Master reads in the newspaper about the lost tea cups of the famous ceramics maker Kobayashi and remembers having one of those cups three days ago, having found it in the shop. Since his name was written on the bottom of it and Arashi seems to remember a Kobayashi at the Ark (Hakobune) during World War II, it would seem that Master’s cup is real, only now she can’t find it. Upon learning that its value is around ¥10-million, Master sends her time-traveling pairs back into the past repeatedly to try to find the cup. Master discovers that she can connect with Yayoi, so she too goes back to the past repeatedly, risking all their lives should they encounter their other selves in the past.

Meanwhile, Kaja decides to eat the last pudding she made three days ago and for which she had to make in a tea cup. Realizing this might be the cup Master is looking for, a careful look at the bottom of the cup is made, but no name is carved into the cup. Kaja enjoys her pudding and everyone is exhausted from Master’s constant sending them back to the past. Arashi attempts to clean the cup and sees scratches in the bottom of the cup, not recognizing it as Kanji for “Kobayashi.” Feeling the cup is ruined, she gives it to Kanako, who uses it to plant a new cucumber plant.

Master is out with Josephine, Takeshi’s dog, and gives him a call about the race tickets she had him buy three days ago. He tells her that’s why he was in the restaurant earlier, so she tells him to return and that she’ll have good food waiting for him.

Thoughts/Review:

The official translation of this said that the name “Kobayashi” was written underneath the cup. I don’t know what the Japanese word used here is, but it was pretty clear to me that “underneath” doesn’t work properly when the English had Master remarking on how Josephine’s name was written “under” her water bowl when clearly it was at the bottom. Under something is a specific location and has no other meaning. “Bottom” could have the dual meaning of being under the cup or at the bottom of the inside of the cup. I suppose the translator wanted to emphasize the “under” aspects so I guess the original Japanese term did that as well. If I had more time, I’d figure out which word was used but I think that “bottom” would have been the better translation choice seeing as how everyone assumed it meant the bottom under the cup rather than the bottom inside the cup.

SHAFT’s normal bevy of time-wasting material from Kanako and Yayoi continued here. The salt guy got a new angle on the salt joke by having him sit at a table where there was a salt shaker. Naturally, it is empty and then at the end of the episode, he’s all depressed because he never gets salt. I keep thinking, “Get off your butt and get your own salt!” That’s what I would and have done in a restaurant when I’ve needed salt, napkins, or whatever. Man, I wish this joke would just go away, but it won’t because SHAFT is 100% committed to the failed joke paths.

SHAFT’s decision to not show any action in the past but rather show everything from the present with people coming back to describe the action smacks of cheapness and a need to cut production costs. While I wasn’t bored or even annoyed by the antics being described and not shown, I didn’t find it funny. In this regard, SHAFT fails to deliver on the humor. The most humorous part for me was when Master bribed Kaja into going to the past in exchange for her favorite cake.

Speaking of cheapness, the episode looks cheap at times too.

So, we have an episode that really doesn’t do that much. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either. It just is.