English Dub Review: The Ones Within “HOLD ON AND LET GO”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The mermaid that Kaikoku and Sakura saw last week turns out to be nothing more than a goldfish. But not all goldfish are tiny, and they barely escape with their lives. Meanwhile back upstairs, Yuzu and the rest of her crew are working on solving the puzzle that will lead them to the white room and Kaikoku. Yuzu tells everyone to just let her handle it, but she passes out from anemia and lack of sleep.

Paca makes an exception and gives them the code, unbeknownst to Yuzu. With the correct code in hand, they head for the white room but find it empty and the bathroom locked. As they plead with Kaikoku to open up, he bids the underground resistance farewell and Sakura tells him to keep her hiding place secret from her brother.

Our Take:

This really wasn’t the most exciting episode of The Ones Within. Basically serving as a conclusion to last week’s episode, this one feels more like the comedown than anything, without any major reveals or big moments until the very end. That said, Kaikoku’s choice to hide the existence of Sakura from her brother seems to like it could have very real repercussions in the future. And speaking of the future, what will Yuzu’s true identity mean for the rest of them?

Before getting to the good stuff, HOLD ON AND LET GO has to get through the more minutia. Finishing the puzzle is nice and all, but like I said last time, jigsaw puzzles are not the most interesting things to complete, let alone watch someone else complete.  While the gang is putting the puzzle together, Kaikoku is getting eaten by a goldfish. This sounds a lot cooler than it really is, as the critter never really comes off as too threatening since Sakura and Nanami both have experience with it. One thing I found worth pondering was when Nanami mentioned offhandedly that this goldfish was one of his group’s challenges four years ago. Does this mean all of Paca’s weird creations are all hiding around the building somewhere? Maybe if they all band together, they can take him down.

Yuzu gets a lot of the spotlight this week. She takes command over the puzzle challenge, risking her health to complete it successfully. Honestly, though, it didn’t make me feel any more positively towards her. And the whole ‘Karin body pillow’ thing didn’t help. At first, I thought Yuzu was just cruelly toying with Karin, but now I’m not sure. Maybe she harbors some real feelings, just deep, deep down. One thing from her depth has come out though: the fact that she’s working for Paca as the game records keeper. She explains all of this to Kaikoku, and he stays pretty calm all things considered. If I learned that one of my teammates was conspiring all along with the alpaca who kidnapped us, I wouldn’t be quite so forgiving.

The dub this week had some nice lines, but also really made me wince whenever Sakura was speaking. They really gave her such a stereotypical anime girl voice – high-pitched and whiny. Not a fan of that choice. “What’s this about a lasagna rhythm?” Yuzu’s knowledge of confusing Anboy is funny. “You know this fish?” Sakura’s innocent question to Nanami was worded really hilariously, too. “Be strong,” Kaikoku tells Hiro as Sakura and Nanami flirt. I like Kai’s funny side. “Zakuro’s my family, so of course I want to see him. But the three of us are a family now, too.” I respect Sakura’s choice to stay with her ‘new’ family, but I’ve gotta say, Kaikoku not telling Zakuro about his sister being alive comes across as cruel.

The tenth episode of The Ones Within did an okay job wrapping up the underground arc. Kaikoku carried his parts of the episode well, and I’m glad the show is exploring more of the side characters like him and Yuzu. Her last-minute confession of reporting to Paca on them seemed underwhelmingly received, so I’m curious how Kai will act to her from now on. His simple thinking of friend or foe might be misguided. I’m not sure Yuzu can be called either.