10 Second Anime - Amanchu! Advance - Episode 5

Futaba suffers a small setback in her self-confidence. The legendary Jet-Black Mermaid takes Katori-Sensei to the Sea Dragon God's Palace.

Episode 5 - "The Story of the Jet-Black Mermaid and the Solitude of 18m Under"

Hmm.

This episode pulled off a neat trick with the introduction of the legend of the Jet-Black Mermaid, who swims super fast, rescues divers in need, and knows the way to the Sea Dragon God's Palace. In one shot, we got a way to introduce two of Hikari's family members and capture more of that magical feeling in a surreal healing anime.

It was quite the clash between legend and reality for how the "mermaid" actually looked, but it was pretty awesome how Katori switched gears fast enough to ask to see the underwater palace. Since this is based in the real world, the reality doesn't come close to what the legends purport, but we can easily see the relationship between them.

Also, it was a treat to see Katori so starry-eyed. She's usually the one handing out wisdom or telling stories of fateful meetings from her past, so to see one happen to her in the present lets us know that every character in this show can have healing anime moments happen to them. Plus, Big Grandpa was related to her memory of the fireworks show. The underlying theme of Amanchu!, and ARIA before it, is that everyone and everything is connected. It's not always obvious and it's not even restricted to the present, but connections exist. Or will exist.

Heh.

Hee. The girls have a romantic view of this legendary Jet-Black Mermaid diver, but the twins think it's kind of creepy.

Ooh. Foreshadowing. Teko is in super-max-motivated mode because she's confident in her studies of operating a dry suit's air regulation. Futaba's growth in her self-confidence is always two steps forward, one step back and then another step forward.

The cats always let us know what the episode is about too. Ohime really wants to play in the water, but Chakamon makes sure she doesn't get splashed or swept away.

Yes! Katori-sensei said "Yoshi!" again. This is already a good episode.

Fun. Futaba solved an air regulator problem all by herself. This means the setback is going to happen soon.

Fun with bubble rings! Katori shows her expert level by making a vertical one travel in a line.

And here's the setback. Futaba panicked and couldn't make her dry suit less buoyant for some reason, and then she actually started rising quickly.

Aw. She realizes she was feeling full of herself. She forgot that her air release is on her shoulder, but when she tried to swim down to rejoin her friends, her legs went up, which is where the air in her suit would go.

The cats know what's up. Futaba obviously needs comfort, so Ohime goes to her. Chakamon takes Hikari and then we learn why she's upset. Futaba wasn't sure she could trust her judgment any more and Hikari couldn't accept that. They worked it out. Futaba needs to rely on her strengths when facing adversity, not just compensate for her weaknesses to avoid those moments.

Oho! Hikari's little sister Kodama in the house!

Kodama knows all of Pikari's moves.

There's a big clue to who the Jet-Black Mermaid is going to be. Grandpa has a BIG beach towel!

She gave up on diving for some reason. Probably because she got sick of her sister.

Makoto commiserates about being the younger sibling. Ai gives him the stink eye.

Diving round 2! Futaba struggling to be shout loudly is the best kind of Futaba.

"We can fly!"

That is a big dude! Swimming real fast! Obviously, it's Hikari's Grandpa. He reminds me of Cait Sith from ARIA - a magical beast you only meet in certain circumstances.

Look at Hikari's face! That's not a sense of wonder. That's a look of embarrassed recognition!

Katori gets headpats! Looks like Ai wanted headpats too...

Aw. Grandpa was the big guy who helped little Mato-chan watch fireworks.

Har. Hikari and family are all sitting around talking about Grandpa's "reputation."

Next time, my theory that Kokoro is a boy gets dealt a mortal blow. I mean, it's Halloween, and Kokoro is dressed as a magical cat girl for some reason. Also, he goes gaga over Grandpa in an octopus costume. I'm just going to keep calling Kokoro "he" until I get confirmation!