Just when Gori maybe up to something, a new Takara Mall that was built six-month ago and ended up suffering other businesses. It’s operates by a quasi-gang organization called Yabusame through a paper company. Its objective is to own the entire Takara Shopping Street, and using Gourmet Festival is a good way to do that. It’s an important event to the people on the island, just like the Takara Elementary school. It brings people together along with their memories of how this festival started. In this episode, the connection of the past to the present is used to deepen the experience of the characters and to discover who’s behind Asumi’s death.
An example is the flashback of overthrowing the government’s decision on Takara Elementary School that has been abandoned. Mr. Shirakaba is sitting in a room with Shuta, Koki, and Ran as if they’re in detention or something. He tells them not to hang around the school anymore. It’s going to be demolished for a new project. Shuta, Koki, and Ran aren’t happy to hear that. They care about the school’s history and their memories of attending there. Mr. Shirakaba doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. His dialogue and his reaction show his discontentment of their arguments, which is kind of surprising. He’s the kind of teacher who cares about his students even after graduation as shown in this episode as well as in the previous episode. Maybe he’s frustrated that he can’t do anything about the government’s decision because of his position.
The following flashback scenes are meaningful. They reveal the character’s willpower and their physical actions. Asumi, who’s alive at the time, sets up a meeting with Shuta, Mari, Ran, and Koki at Mari’s restaurant. She wants to hear about their opinions on saving the school from tearing down. Shuta, Ran, and Koki express their feelings. Their memories and the chronicle of the school. As they all agree that the school should stay, Asumi proposes an idea to bring support to go against the government’s decision.
The flashback montage shows how they spread the message through the internet, followed by support, brochure, and broadcast. The movement to preserve the school is a success. The school board members aren’t too happy with the movement Mr. Shirakaba’s students created. Their accusatory tone of voice suggests that he’s to blame for the cause of the movement and the pressure they received from the PTA. Mr. Shirakaba admits that he’s aware of the situation and regrets of what he told his students, which sounds more like him now. He cares about his students more than the government’s decision. To the government, the school means nothing more than a piece of property but not to the students. To them, it’s filled with their childhood memories that cannot be replaced by some other buildings.
Mr. Shirakaba makes a request to Gori to reconsider the government’s decision. Gori appreciates his concern for his student. He just has some conditions to meet because of his position as the chairman. What conditions? It doesn’t say, but his conditions may have something to do with the fire incident at the school. The next scene shows how Asumi and Mari are at the scene when the school is burning. Maria tells her to wait for Shuta and the others. Asumi tricks her into doing something together, but she ends up running into the school to save Kozue, who appears in the first episode.
Episode 2 is different than Episode 1. It doesn’t have the superhero action and doesn’t start off fast. However, it provides insight of each of the character’s point of view in a real-life situation. The school incident is still remains a mystery for the character and is left to the audience’s imagination.
Rating: 7.8/10
