English Dub Review: Konohana Kitan “Evanescent…”

Bouncing bubble baby goddess children abound.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

An old sea turtle shows up at the inn, perplexing the girls with his strange existence. The turtle explains how he was being tormented by some monkey boys on the beach before Yuzu and Sakura saved him. As a gift, the turtle offers Yuzu and Sakura a ride to a mysterious castle which is the shrine of the sea god. He tries to take them down, but Yuzu and Sakura can’t breathe underwater and nearly drown to comical effect.

The girls get fed up with the turtle’s silliness and storm off, all except for kind Yuzu, who the turtle tells that she could come live at the sea shrine with him and never have to work again. But Yuzu reflects upon her experiences working at the inn and expresses that she likes having work to do and enjoys helping people. Kiri, impressed by Yuzu’s good heart and work ethic, tells the sea turtle he can stay at the inn as a guest. But, the turtle freaks out, thinking that by trying to purify the turtle they’re trying to prep him to be cooked. He spins down the steps in terror, just in time for a mysterious stranger to walk up the steps to stay at the inn.

She’s beautiful, with snow-white hair and glassy blue eyes, and informs them that she doesn’t need a reservation, and her name is Mistress Owanami. Yuzu doesn’t know who she is, but Ren scolds her and informs her that Owanami is a goddess, and is a total VIP. The boss is away, so Kiri decides to let Ren take care of her, and tells her that she should let Yuzu help as well. Ren, not wanting to be dragged down by Yuzu’s clumsy naivete, isn’t thrilled.

Yuzu tries to help Ren take care of Owanami in the bathhouse, but embarrasses herself. Ren promptly kicks her out and tends to Owanami herself. Yuzu learns from Natsume that Owanami is some kind of big deal, while Kiri explains that Owanami is the goddess of water bubbles, and is the granddaughter of Izanagi and Izanami, the two creator gods of Japanese mythology.

Ren continues to wash Owanami, but in a strange turn of events, the goddess of bubbles explodes into a horde of baby bubble children floating around the bathhouse. It’s up to the team to round them all up, while the bubble kids cause havoc around the inn. Yuzu tries to chase one of them down but ends up being swallowed by the soapy child and experiences some kind of strange dream about the creation of Japan at the hands of Izanagi and Izanami.

But things work out as Kiri comes and takes control of the situation. With Kiri’ in command, they round up all the bubbles, except for one, which Sakura has been hiding because of how cute it is. Kiri explains to her that this is an important part of Owanami’s rebirth as a goddess and that this is part of a process that makes her an immortal being. Sakura relents, and by combining all the bubble babies together, Owanami is reborn. The episode finishes as Yuzu realizes her dream earlier was the story of Owanami’s birth. Yuzu smiles and reflects on how fragile mortals truly are.

Our Take:

Following last week’s episode, this one falls a little short in the story department. The story at the beginning of the silly sea turtle doesn’t really go anywhere, and Owanami’s story, while getting into some interesting Japanese mysticism and mythology, doesn’t have the impact of a story that would be a little more grounded. Its a cute and comfy episode, but in an anime where that’s the norm, this just feels like business as usual.