10 Second Anime - Locodol - Episode 15 [OVA]

The Nagarekawa Girls Nanako and Yukari make a promotional video for their hometown.

Episode 15 - "We Tried Making a PV"

Heh.

The beginning of the episode set up a good joke about what the Japanese call a PV, or Promotional Video. That's usually a short video to advertise whoever's in it, be that characters for an anime, an idol group's new single or a band about to go on tour. The confusion started with Nanako being so enamored with the nationally known Awa Awa Girls local idols' PV showcasing their new song. The tease was that Nanako's parents thought she should do one as the Nagarekawa Girls.

Of course, the idols for this small town are used to doing cable access spots for local businesses, not selling themselves.

But then Nanako's uncle, the public relations manager for the town, sent her text about shooting... a PV!

Eeehh!?

And finally the punchline leading into the plot of the show. They weren't doing a Promotional Video, but a Public relations Video for the town. Don't use wrong terms, Uncle!

So, the girls would be still doing a version of what they've always been doing, but more about the town itself and its tourist spots instead of the local businesses.

This OVA felt more like an extra episode than the previous two OVA's. One was hanging out with the Awa Awa Girls and the next one was a Christmas episode. This OVA was about work, so it was service for fans in seeing old jokes and references.

We saw small Yui eating big rice balls. We saw the locodol uniforms for the cable spots, just white t-shirts with writing on them. We saw Yukari letting her yuri flag fly with trying to put Nanako on screen as much as possible. We saw the old "Nana-chan is cute! Nana-chan is idol!" pep talk/hypnosis gag. We saw Saori going fan-girl crazy with taking pictures for her stalker blog.

The original scripts for the video spots felt dry, so they experimented with adding their own character and personality to liven things up. They were on the right track in showing the heart of the city, but they weren't there yet. That gave us time for more old references. Like Tanucake!

And the Nagarekawa Girls pose!

The locodol crew eventually got to what makes this show click: that gooey nostalgic sentimental feeling for their hometown. When everyone in town knows the town's theme song, then they need to be as much a part of the PR Video as the famous parts of the town too.

There wasn't as much Uogokoro-kun as I would have liked, but we got overloaded with his reindeer and Santa versions last OVA.

This time around, the show concentrated on Nanako's loveable loser persona. Of course we had a Nanya-ko moment during the screening.

The PV became such a hit that American girls were coming to Nagarekawa just to meet Nanyako. She's famous!

Yup, those are Yui's big rice balls.

I really hope we get a second season, but I'm not sure there's enough material to adapt. I just love spending time in this cute city with these cute girls. This OVA kept up the same atmosphere as the anime season and the characters stayed consistent too. I want more!