10 Second Anime - Amanchu! Advance - Episode 10

Hikari and Futaba celebrate the New Year's arrival with their friends at the Amanchu Dive Shop.

Episode 10 - "The Story of a New Beginning and New Feelings"

Hmm.

After a good solid six weeks of magic and mythical beasts (Grandpa Kohinata is a mythical beast, right?), we're back to solid nostalgia and life lessons in the middle of beautiful scenery. New Year's Eve is a good time to reflect on the past year and it's all about Futaba realizing how much she's grown and how she still aspires to be a better person.

I really liked how Futaba got to have a private conversation with Grandma about this stuff since she was the first person she ever talked to when she first moved to this seaside town. It was great to see Futaba realize that she used to be a person who felt most alone in a crowd, but now she feels all the connections she has with people. Grandma's observation that a person's flaws and complexes can become charm points if you accept them properly. I like to call this having a personality!

I was really tickled to see how the story is doubling down on the little bit of jealousy and competitiveness Futaba and Kokoro have for each other as they vie for Hikari's attention. It's not really serious, but it is a fun thing to watch happen. Even Ohime the kitten has chosen Kokoro to be her avatar like she chose Futaba. Good stuff.

Of course, the real session of life lessons was reserved for Kodama, Hikari's little sister. She's about to enter high school, but she's feeling a need to have a streak of independence away from the shadow of her older sister. Grandma's seemingly unconnected story about how she made scuba diving into a real industry in the seaside town conveyed how there are still things to learn even if you fail. Especially if you fail. Her point to Kodama was that she should pursue what she likes (a cute school uniform and diving) although it might feel like she's missing out because she's still following her sister around.

Finally, New Year's Day was a very good excuse to see Chizuru and Akane again, Futaba's friends from her hometown. Corny lines are forbidden!

Heh.

Futaba is just looking through her photo album because it's the end of the year.

Fun! It's a New Year's Eve party with Hikari.

Oh. It's not just Futaba coming over. Cats too! Futaba is a bit disappointed, but not too much. Maturity?

Ha! Even Kokoro got invited. There's a rivalry well established now between Futaba and Kokoro. Jealousy much?

Kokoro needs a nickname when he goes into chibi mode. I'll call him Takoro because he's crazy for octopuses and he kind of looks like one with that face.

Har. Aria Shachou on the Joker card.

I've never seen cardboard sumo before.

The cats totally put on a god and goddess pageant.

Kodama is about to enter high school and she likes the uniform of the other kids' school (me too!), but she's not so sure about following her sister there.

Grandma - enough of that, let me tell you about myself from a long time ago. Ha!

Kino tells the story of how she gave up pearl diving to start up the scuba diving industry in their town. Totally not related to Kodama's predicament, except it totally was. See above for more discussion.

Grandma was hot!

And then everybody fell asleep and Futaba is the lap pillow for Hikari and Kokoro.

Grandma and Futaba get to share a nice moment reminiscing about how far Futaba has come this year. Flaws and little complexes can become charm points if you accept them. It's called having a personality!

Chizuru and Akane called! They have their own friendship rivalry with Hikari. Futaba and Kokoro aren't unique.

Corny lines are forbidden!

Mato-chan yoshi!

Kokoro really likes Ohime the cat.

And another great picture for Futaba's album.

With Kodama coming to their high school, this means Ai and Makoto are graduating. Which means we need a replacement for booby-senpai. Who is it going to be?

Next time, Hikari gets sick and Kokoro wears a boy's uniform? I'm pretty resigned to Kokoro actually being a girl at this point, because he wears such cute clothes, but you never know.