English Dub Review: URAHARA “Ice Cream Fever”

URAHARA gets good in an episode exploring Kotoko’s quirks.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Ice Cream Fever is the first episode focused on Kotoko, the resident science geek of the group. She’s suspicious of the colorful shapes that fade in and out on her friend’s skin, but doesn’t want to alarm them by causing a panic. So like any mad genius, she tries to collect blood samples and hair strands from Mari and Rito. Unfortunately, they’re not quite cooperative. As Kotoko’s investigation continues, she begins to lose sleep and becomes unstable. Eventually she tumbles to the floor, breaking Rito’s homemade sign. Fearing rejection from her only two friends in the world, she falls into an uneasy slumber.

Waking to find herself alone, Kotoko wanders the streets calling for her friends. She runs into Sayumin, the crepe creator, who gives her an encouraging peptalk. The standard battle scene occurs when Kotoko meets up with Rito and Mari, who are tracking a sludge monster (is this still a Scooper? do they have multiple forms?). The girls are able to vanquish it thanks to Kotoko’s science skills, giving her a well-earned boost in self-esteem! What at first appears to be a happy ending ends with a twist: Misa and her talking shrimp tamper with Kotoko’s analysis of the colorful skin patches… are they double-agents working for the aliens?

Our Take:

This episode is an encouraging sign that URAHARA is continuing to improve with each outing. Some of the show’s most gorgeous visuals so far were on display this week. Even the required battle scene was enlivened by some quality camera angles and unique layouts.

Learning more about Kotoko really improved my opinion of her. She started out as a simple caricature, but thanks to the revelations in this episode (she suffers from OCD and is shunned by her schoolmates and parents) she feels like much more of a three-dimensional person with a fully-formed personality now. Hopefully the other two girls get similar treatments in the coming weeks.

The dub is still doing an okay job. While I’ve gotten used to the main character’s VA’s (and am even starting to prefer them over the original Japanese cast), the English dialogue can be messy at times. In this episode specifically, they say ‘scary/cute’, which gets across the meaning of the original Japanese word, but sounds silly and awkward.

Score:

8/10