English Dub Review: Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus “There Is Nowhere I Belong”
Overview:
Akane storms off as Mizuka searches the mountains for Rafflesia Circus’s missing François.
Our Take(Spoilers):
One thing I’ve noticed about this show is that we’ve got a lot of focus on supporting characters. I’ll admit that I’m a little torn on my feelings about it. I love getting more info on side characters, but the lack of info we have on Mizuka is a bit concerning. All we know about her is that she hates her dad and now has to pay off his debt. Ouka is another main character in my eyes, and we know next to nothing about her as well. With such a limited episode count, do we have time to drag our feet on main characters? But that’s something we won’t know until the show is wrapped up, I suppose.
With most anime, you need to suspend your belief. That’s true of almost any piece of media, of course, but anime can get especially wild. But this episode made me question things and for a fairly dumb reason too. Rafflesia Circus’s elephant Francois has escaped, and Mizuka goes looking for him to try and get a reward.
The reason this story was more unbelievable than others is the fact that a circus committee would care about how an animal was being treated. I can get behind the Sunflower Circus caring about that, but any other circus? Not so much. I feel that way today, let alone in this show that takes place in the 50s.
Logistically, it doesn’t make sense either. To the best of my knowledge, Sunflower doesn’t have any other animals, so where is Francois going to stay? I know his cage was messy and disgusting with the other circus, but I would imagine you still need one.
Either way, I’m glad that Francois is in a better situation, and I hope that he isn’t forgotten about as the season goes on. I want him to be involved with the shows now that he’s there. Surely an elephant act would bring in a lot of customers. I understand that it’s kind of a dumb pet peeve to have, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how no one would care, sadly, how an elephant is treated in the 1950s.
I’m enjoying this show, and I especially like the running gag with Ouka and Mizuka. Almost anytime these two characters share space, Ouka leaves for a second or turns her back and finds that Mizuka is nowhere to be found. Some more interaction between the two would be nice, though.
