English Dub Review: Sakura Quest “The New Moon Luminarie”

Nothing grants wishes better than resolution.

Overview (Spoilers)

Erika continues her stay in the dorm while the girls search for the Golden Dragon. Their best clue is the buried “shining dragon” that a few of the guys found as kids and reburied. Now, they can’t make out the code, but they aren’t giving up. Back at the dorm, Erika is in incredible pain as one of her baby molars is coming out. But, the supermarket is closed at this hour, so they can’t get any baby aspirin. Fortunately, Ririko’s grandma convinces the local pharmacy to open up. It’s one of the advantages of the local businesses. The owners live right above them. The problem, though. Erika’s little brother overheard the guys talking about the shining dragon granting wishes, and has gone to find it to wish she’d come home. It’s a blizzard out there, made only worse by how dark the shopping district is. After they find him at a police box, Erika finally decides to return home. She bemoans the fact that everyone is trying to force her to stay in this town that is getting darker by the minute. That sparks an idea in Shiori. She gets a bunch of lanterns from Warabiya Village, and outfits them with LEDs, handing them out to the shopkeepers in the shopping district. Now, the whole street is not only lit up, but they’re lit with homey, welcoming, small town lanterns. Oh, and the boys find the shining dragon. It’s an action figure. Oh, well.

This episode continues many of the themes from the last one, but it resolves them in an organic way. Erika and Shiori continue their feud, but it ends after they reach an understanding of each other’s viewpoints while taking a bath together. No. The completely different subtext in Japan. Get your mind out of the gutter. What is great is how they come together at the end. Shiori asks if Erika wants to take a long weekend in Tokyo, and while Erika refuses, she says that she’ll get Shiori something when she goes on her own. Anju reveals Erika’s intent in the future. She wants to own a fashion shop. That completely explains why she hates the small town. Fashion is more of a city thing. However, if Manoyama were to be revived, her having a couture boutique would be an amazing thing for the tourists. But, she should totally study in Tokyo, where she can be on the cutting edge. That is where she should go to high school or college.

I find it rather interesting that they broke the streak and couldn’t find the Golden Dragon in one mini-arc. We only have three episodes left, which means that they have to find it in the next mini-arc. Part of me thinks that they never will find it, and will have to make a new one somehow. After all, the original was something from the past, revering the folkloric dragon. Now they are going to have to update the festival and make it new again. That may require them to make the statue in the manner of the new Manoyama.

Our Take

This episode felt like it covered a lot of ground in not a lot of time. It never dragged on, since it had three different plot lines to play with at any one time. Erika’s struggle with living in the town may be the main plot, but her real character growth happens because of her conflict with Shiori. Unlike the last episode, they directly confront one another, but they do so having changed a bit from their conflicts before. It’s softened their edge against each other, and they are at least able to share a relaxing time together. Shiori shows how much she’s grown. She understands how limited her experience is, since she has never left the town, and is willing to admit it to Erika. Before, she would just keep trying to convince Erika of her point. It’s good, growth for Shiori, but not written in a heavy-handed way. It’s just been a gradual progression over the last couple episodes.

Another big theme in this episode is dreams and wishes since many of the characters talk about how they came into their dream jobs. This may be a bit of foreshadowing since we are so close to the end of the series. That also means it will be the end of Yoshino’s year of being queen. We have had this subtle poking over the last couple arcs, pointing to the fact that Yoshi doesn’t know what she’s going to do with herself. She hasn’t had a strong development arc in a while, so figuring out her own dreams will likely be the last trial she has to overcome. This has made her growth arc the slowest, but more spread out. I honestly prefer character growth like this, where the metamorphosis happens over a longer time, just like in reality. It is rare to have an epiphany, and much more common to just change over time. To further show off how they are linking the recent episodes together, they brought in the Warabiyan lanterns. I loved this touch, and they did give a feel of home, even if the shops were shuttered.

The stand-out point of the animation in this episode was the blizzard. The artists depicted a storm with intense wind but managed to make it feel real, which only increased the intensity. Though the episode didn’t seem all that spectacular, the animation kept consistency in scenes where it would be tempting to let things slide. Erika’s freak out in the restaurant was not only extremely well animated, but it had great work by Jill Harris. She may have gone high-pitched, but it was a believable freak-out. I want to watch footage of her acting that out, actually. That seems like it would be entertaining.

So, with solid animation and a good instance of voice acting, the true star of the episode was character development and subtle storytelling. I’m going to miss this series when it goes, let me tell you. It’s so calm, soothing, and positive.