(L+CR) Nagi no Asukara (Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea)

[Kirarakim]

I do think them taking Manaka back could have unforeseen consequences but it isn't necessary that it will be Manaka that has to go back.

In some ways this episode introduced something interesting. Miuna knows that if Manaka is found that her chances with Hikari become slimmer but she still helped to save Manaka (I believe that is what Uroko meant when he said you find something you lose something...paraphrasing).

Hence if another sacrifice has to be made it might be Manaka again but it could also be Miuna.

[Thess]

Originally Posted by tezu

It’s ironic that only Miuna, a girl from the surface, shows some concern for Uroko...(did that trigger some flags? ^^; )

Miuna's "love for the ocean" is been set up early. I'm not sure how I feel about it because she's too young.

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Hence if another sacrifice has to be made it might be Manaka again but it could also be Miuna.

The only reason Manaka sacrificed herself was for Miuna's family sake. So it seems absolutely fair now they pay their dues for pulling that in the last celebration. If necessary, I am disgusted at this 'ritual' myself.

[Fruits Basket Fan]

Manaka is back :cry!

I slightly ship HikarixManaka and was giddy that Hikari was carrying her and did not care about the Sea God being angry they are taking Manaka back (the preview shows he does not want to let her go) even if it may have consequences.....

I think this will set up Miuna being Manaka's replacement and potential wife for the Sea God.

Uroko shows up only to Miuna and looks sadly at her and she notices.

While Miuna might be hurting that Hikari is focusing on Manaka, she has shown that she was very happy imagining life under the sea and seeing Hikari and co living their happy lives even without her.

Hell, her name in kanji means "beautiful sea" or something along the lines.

I could be wrong but alas, I am just happy that Hikari is happy even if Manaka might not wake up for a while.

[Archaeon]

Sea God being emo.

[bakaouji]

I wanna say that Manaka gave her ena to Miuna who had always wanted to visit the underwater world. Its not a stretch to think that because I do believe it was Manaka who guided Miuna to her location.

Its interesting to see that Uroko, who 'sacrificed' Manaka five years ago to maintain some semblance of balance underwater which was at the brink of collapsing so that the people who went into hibernation remained safe, didn't try to stop Hikari from whisking her away from under his watchful gaze.

I gotta say, it was a somber yet sobering experience to watch the previously bustling town of Shioshishio now completely covered in a blanket of salt flakes. There wasn't a fish in sight. No wonder Hikari was flustered. If I were in his place I'd have choked on my own heart.

Maybe someone already postulated this but at this point I don't think its unrealistic to say that the key to saving the town might lie with Miuna. Of course now she has to contend with her greatest rival in love who she doesn't stand a chance against. Having said that, I won't be surprised if she and Manaka actually hit it off well (at least initially).

Although the animation quality has dropped for the last few episodes, the backgrounds are still consistently as beautifully picturesque as ever. And the amazing underwater-themed soundtrack is really working for me.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by Thess

The only reason Manaka sacrificed herself was for Miuna's family sake. So it seems absolutely fair now they pay their dues for pulling that in the last celebration. If necessary, I am disgusted at this 'ritual' myself.

I am not really a fan of the whole sacrifice storyline either actually but I still can see it being Miuna this time.

I just hope the "sacrifice" doesn't ultimately mean throwing your life away and there is more to it.

[Fruits Basket Fan]

I wonder if the maiden has to be a willing sacrifice/bride to the Sea God!

It was suppose to be a land girl not a sea girl, and since Manaka neither is a land girl nor willingly wanted to be the bride because she wanted to be (only did it to save Akari)....maybe that is why Manaka was losing her ena?

[Kanon]

The people who were displeased with the direction of the series should have enjoyed this episode more. It focused on matters other than romance, and made it more apparent Miuna's character isn't solely defined by her love for Hikari. She is no way more shallow than the other characters in the series.

I didn't expect Manaka to come back so soon. I thought they would give Miuna more opportunity to get closer to Hikari before brining her back into the story in order to cause maximum drama. Not only has Miuna lost the tiny chances she had of winning Hikari's heart, she's now being set up as the new sacrifice. The thought of Miuna having to take Manaka's place in that dark and gloomy cave fills me with horror and sadness. I wasn't too bothered by Manaka's sacrifice until now because we didn't know what exactly it entailed, there was a slim chance she was happy down there with the Sea God (Uroko is a pretty cool dude after all!). However, now that we know what happens, I wouldn't wish that fate on anybody, especially not my favorite character.

Hopefully there is another way to quell the Sea God. One that doesn't require anybody to sacrifice their happiness and their life. If Miuna were to become the wife of the Sea God/Uroko, I'd be ok with that. I don't care who she ends up with as long as she's happy. This episode made it clear she genuinely loves the sea and Uroko showed a lot of concern for her so that's a plausible ending.

[Cold~as~Ice]

Uruko might have put a curse on miuna(probably giving her the same illness as her mom) she will probably sacrafice herself in order to protect hikari's smile/shioshishio or Hikari might give up his freedom and become the sea god's servant letting uroko off from his duties so he can find love in the surface. Just making shit up

[Dark Faith]

Honestly surprised that Uroko didn't reveal himself to Hikari or Kaname and simply allowed them to leave with Manaka, given the fight that he put up when Hikari and Akari left for the surface.
I'm also inclined to agree with the people who say that Miuna will eventually take Manaka's position as the wife of the Sea God, given how Manaka previously took Akari's place.

I loved this episode. The atmosphere in Shioshishio was very somber, especially at the graveyard scene, quite the difference from what we were used to. My opinion of Miuna also improved dramatically.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Wonderful episode, disturbing as it is for those of us who like Miuna (and like her even more after this episode). Everything is in play. Will Miuna have to replace Manaka, or was Uroko-sama only referring to Manaka losing her ena because Miuna got ena?

Personally, I agree with Thess's statement that "Tsumugu seems to love Chisaki and never cared about Manaka that way." It's all "seems," but I never saw Tsumugu having a special feeling for Manaka, only for her ena and her being a sea-person. But I saw him express something special for Chisaki even before the ofunehiki, and especially now five years later -- although even a character like him would have made more moves in that time than he is shown having done. I do blame the writing/plotting for that unlikelihood.

But I'm still agnostic on whether Okada is a good writer or not. Most of her shows are interesting for me. And I do note that in this thread people have blamed her both for being obvious with the pairings and for not being clear enough with them. Whether or not Okada's writing has problems, I think Okadaphobia has gone too far.

By the way, this particular episode was written by Nishimura Junji, the director of Ranma 1/2, Simoun, and True Tears. But with the basic plot laid out by Okada and the director, no doubt.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Haak

...and it's hard to see Miuna having any more sides to her added at this point.

Well I guess I might have to take that back after this episode. Will Miuna become the sacrifice? There have been some pretty strong hints to that effect. Just when I thought I had this show pegged down, I get another curve ball straight to the face.

What I'm dying to know is why this is all happening. Just what the hell is going on down there? What did Manaka's sacrifice even accomplish? What is Uroko trying to achieve? Why Miuna of all people? Is Hikari still related to all this like we speculated when Uroko hinted at him being someone's descendant? Is it a coincidence that Hikari woke up during the Tomoebi? Is it a coincidence that Akira broke a fever at the same time Miuna discovered her ena? So many questions...

Originally Posted by Thess

Huh? Okada is predictable as hell in the pairings.

During the beginning of the series, I would've banked on the results being ChisakixKaname and ManakaxTsumugu. Needless to say that a lot has changed since then and we're getting twists even now. That said, ManakaxTsumugu seems pretty out there at the moment.

One thing I'll say though is that I think it's terribly unfortunate that Kaname was once again shafted. Just give the poor guy a break already!

[kresslia]

I didn't enjoy the episode until the last few minutes (as always, too much Miuna when I don't give a crap). But I like where the series is going now. All of the main five are back!

[Sakuratsuki]

Originally Posted by kresslia

I didn't enjoy the episode until the last few minutes (as always, too much Miuna when I don't give a crap). But I like where the series is going now. All of the main five are back!

Yes, the main five are back. But I think this won't change anything.

I foresee a lot more Miuna

[leorodri100]

i sure hope it does change, i don't really care for miuna but i'm dying to see manaka waking up

[hai_san]

Ouch damn when i was awaiting family teenage love drama to unfold with the main characters waking up at the surface, the serie enter mystery mode...

I was ready to edge a knife for any shipping wars... well next ep...

[FlareKnight]

This episode did do good things for Miuna (aside from the possible sacrifice coming up ). Had been a bit too much about Hikari lately and this whole episode just worked pretty well.

Does make me wonder what will really happen. Miuna just becoming a sacrifice sounds simple but will that even resolve anything? Not to mention as things stand that's not exactly a fun, fun place to be. Still does give us something to speculate about.

[Triple_R]

As I had hoped, Miuna's ena-acquisition did lead her character to a more interesting and important place than pure romantic desire alone. I certainly don't want Miuna to end up being a total sacrifice, but I very much like how this episode clearly shows how there are things that Miuna cares about besides her romantic longing for Hikari, and even that Miuna is willing to put certain things ahead of that romantic longing.

It certainly speaks well of her that she wanted to rescue Manaka, since that obviously can only hurt her chances with the guy she has a crush on.

The scene where Miuna sort of experiences the undersea school come back to life was a glorious scene. Wonderful bit of brightness in an otherwise dark town frozen asleep in shimmering ena. This episode as a whole had an excellent "fantasy" feel, and given how the AS choice awards are currently fresh in my mind, I can see Nagi no Asukara being an early contender for "Best World Setting" for 2014 anime.


My tentative take on the sea god is that his requirements are non-negotiable (sort of fitting with what Uroko said about losing something whenever you gain something), but he's not going to force humans to go along with those requirements. So that's why he just let the kids run off with Manaka. I think that there probably will be negative repercussions to taking Manaka away like this, but I'm not yet sure what they are.

In any event, great episode.

[Thess]

Miuna did redeem herself as character by bringing up her old, ditched trait as important. Though that was what Tsumugu had first, so it's not specially unique. Still it's better than nothing. I hope they keep going into this direction and don't drop the ball.

The scene Hikari talks to his father is heartbreaking.

Originally Posted by Haak

During the beginning of the series, I would've banked on the results being ChisakixKaname and ManakaxTsumugu. Needless to say that a lot has changed since then and we're getting twists even now. That said, ManakaxTsumugu seems pretty out there at the moment.

Around episode 4 and 5, Chisaki was obviously bonding with Tsumugu while Manaka wasn't as invested in a mutual sense, getting offended with him (i.e. tsundere) while she had zero regard for Kaname. The 'pairings' aren't just pull out nowhere based on twists, there're good reasons for the characters to grow into that direction. ManakaxHikari was obvious to me, not denying Chisaki and Manaka had crushes, but those were more narrative hurdles for them to notice who they are better with. Kaname's Nice Guy attitude ruled him out with Chisaki.

This show is a coming of age (and has been obviously this even before Okada came out clean), so the 'end game' pairing (if it exists) it'll be the one that matures the person and has basis of mutuality. Kaname had nothing to offer to Chisaki in her gruelling battle to adulthood. And, specially, there's nothing Chisaki can offer Kaname for this.

Again, I do not see any of the Mari Okada pairings in shows mysterious or surprising. Sometimes disappointing in how they were handled (Evol).

[leorodri100]

thess what are the pairings for you??