Episode 7 – Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2

After two weeks of slower paced episodes, we’re finally back in full comedic force this week. Amusement park and class trip episodes are both fairly standard archetypes for anime episodes (amusement park episodes more so), but while I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s examples out there that I’m just not drawing on at the top of my head, I’m struggling to feel reminded of any other anime which cleverly combined the two into just being one episode. More typically, I associate class trip episodes with destinations like Kyoto and Okinawa. So going to legally distinct Tokyo DisneySea is a fun change of pace, and reminds me somewhat of that time in the 90s where a bunch of ABC sitcoms all got “the main characters go to Disney World” episodes (EX: Full House, Boy Meets World, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch).

It’s not really clear where Aharen lies on the grand theme park enjoyer spectrum that ranges all the way from “someone who casually enjoys going to theme parks when the opportunities arise” to “full-blown theme park buff whose YouTube feed is more or less entirely composed of park vloggers, guides, and essayists like [insert your favorite theme park-centric content creator(s) here]” (Footnote: I’d be really curious to see what her For You page looks like; she’s a character of many interests. Truly anything could be on there). Or maybe it’s not theme parks she’s into at all, maybe she’s just really into Disn—oh, sorry, I nearly misspoke. I obviously meant Denisy. As in, Tokyo DenisySea.

Generally with amusement park episodes of anime, our protagonists just go to a standard issue, non-specific theme park, that usually looks roughly on-par with a small or medium-sized amusement park in the States, that probably has some good stuff in there, but nothing particularly unique, famous, or otherwise worth traveling for. I grew up in Oklahoma, so I’m trying to paint a picture of Frontier City without just saying Frontier City. But I digress: my point is that anime amusement parks are usually non-descript. And to be clear: it’s fine that they’re like that. It’s rare for them to evoke specific theme parks, because it’s equally rare that they need to borrow details or aspects unique to particular parks. Usually they’re just looking for an excuse to shove their characters in a roller coaster or ferris wheel, and that’s it. So the decision to have our protagonists here instead go to a specific one with well known attractions is rare. And while the episode did take advantage of its setting in some ways (EX: visually), in most others (EX: specific references or parodies of actual things to do in the park) it largely wasted its going out of the way to be set in a particular park, and by extension of that, left behind a lot of prime content that potentially could’ve worked really well. For example, it’s a shame that, per some quick searches, pin-trading isn’t really a thing in mouse-themed parks in Tokyo (even though they do sell some pins). Aharen is really good at acquiring trinkets—she definitely seems like the type who’d get really into the pin trading and collecting scene, and that could’ve made for something fun in this episode.

But while I wish this would’ve done more with its setting, I still got more than a few chuckles out of the visuals of the whole thing. I’m the kind of person who thinks it’s really funny when anime really go for it (or, alternatively, don’t go for it) with their bland names and product displacement, and we got a lot of that this week; Tokyo DenisySea, Tower of Mansion—perfection. And of course, I can’t not mention the mascot character, who hilariously, more closely resembles a gym rat than Mickey Mouse. Plus, even taking the visuals out of the equation, we still got some great bits. Highlights include Riku being a relatable queen who was worrying about group division, the various trees in Tokyo, Raido forgetting his park ticket in the hotel, and of course, the cuteness that was Aharen and Raido holding hands on the plane, and the montage of them finally getting to enjoy the park together.

And naturally, the cherry on top of it all is that we’re starting to see more with the Ishikawa-centric storyline that was set up a couple weeks ago. To be more specific: we know that Hanako has a crush on Ishikawa. But now, we’re hearing Ishikawa mutter under his breath that he just can’t compete with Aharen. The obvious way to interpret this is that Ishikawa has feelings for Raido, but I’ve also seen this show swerve Initial D-style out of the way of the obvious on more than a few occasions now. So basically, I’m going to sit back and wait for the show to say more before I get my hopes up too high for a character arc centered around queerness. Still, that’d be a cool direction to see things go in, and I hope that’s where we’re going. Despite its goofiness, this show is pretty heartfelt when it wants to be, so I think it could have the capacity to go about this well.

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Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Mondays.