English Dub Review: Sakura Quest “The Harlequin on the Pond”

Oh, so that’s why Granny Oribe hates Kadota so much.

Spoilers Below

Kadota has gone plum loco. Something floated to the surface during the drying of Sakura Pond, and he nearly drowned trying to fish it out. Then, as soon as he woke up, he fled the hospital, trying to drag whatever it is out of the pond using his van. When it breaks off, his car careened into one of the pillars of the palace. When the girls get to him, he’s sick with pneumonia and has to go straight back to the hospital. As they ponder the meaning of this, Ririko comes to show the girls a photo she caught her grandma looking at. About 50 years ago, she, Doku, and Kadota were in a rock band. According to Doku (the mechanic), they were planning to all move out to Tokyo to hit it big, but Kadota didn’t show up at the train station. Instead, he got on top of the float for the Mizuchi Festival and played his heart out… and knocked the floating shrine into the pond, his guitar embedded in it like Excalibur. Since Kadota pretty much ruined Oribe’s only chance out of Manoyama, and she was forced to stay to take over her family’s shop. She’s hated Kadota ever since.

Uncovering this story gives the girls a few interesting scenes. Ririko tells her grandmother that she heard the band’s music, and really liked it. Granny Oribe has some wise words. When you’re young, you’re full of dreams. When you get older, those dreams just fall away. At first, it sounds as if she’s telling Ririko that those dreams aren’t worth it. Instead, she tells Ririko to go off and do what she really wants while she’s still young. In the meantime, Yoshino comes up with an idea. Seeing all these people gather for the drying, she wonders if there might be interest in reviving the Mizuchi Festival. Everyone around her says it’s crazy, but when they hear her logic, they ultimately step out of her way. Then, one of the older men in the office drops the bomb. You can’t just revive the festival. You must first collect the three sacred treasures of Manoyama: the Staff, the Hanging Drum, and the Golden Dragon. Yoshino makes that her next quest… her Sakura Quest? Get it, because it’s so they can do the festival on Sakura Pond and… never mind.

This episode reveals the “dark and sordid past” behind Kadota, and I like it. I wasn’t anything terrible. It was just embarrassing. Although the real reason why Kadota was so driven to pull that stuff out of the pond is still unexplained. Why did he get up on the float and slam out a tune instead of running off for fame? He mentioned that he didn’t want to run away and that he’d show everyone in town, but… what were the others running from? Oh, and their stage names were all based on their names. Doku means Poison, Oribe sounds like Olive. Kadota… He doesn’t follow the pattern. His name doesn’t sound like beef, and it means Gate to the Rice Field. But, you never really expected him to conform. The episode ended with a new call to action, and one that sounds like it could take us a few episodes to resolve. I really want to see the stories that come out of this. Despite my joke earlier, I think this might be the actual namesake of the show.

The voice actors for the young versions of Kadota, Oribe, and Doku were the same as their older versions. I didn’t recognize them until they were placed against each other later in the episode. The music the band played was pretty good, and they were well animated on stage. Their motions matched up to the music. They did have all their characteristic mannerisms and expressions, which were softened by time. I never saw any errors in the animation throughout the episode, and the characters moved smoothly and realistically the whole time. The voice acting for all the other characters were at the standard they’ve set in previous episodes. Brina Planecia did do a good job with her monotone voice for several of her lines and added to the humor of the lines. I give this episode eight sunken shrines out of ten.