©阿賀沢紅茶／集英社・TVアニメ「氷の城壁」製作委員会
Minato the Meddler can’t leave well enough alone.
What They Say:
Weighed down by memories she can’t shake, high schooler Koyuki Hikawa keeps everyone at arm’s length — until three schoolmates draw her out ..
The Review: (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Miki determining that Minato’s interest in Koyun is just a sympathetic reaction to her isolation and perceived loneliness, she calls him out for his savior complex, something he’d never considered about himself. However, her desire to protect her friend reveals some uncomfortable truths about herself as well, which suggests she might not be that different from him. But while Miki is able to reflect upon this, Minato is unable to stop trying to draw Koyun out, which instead drives her further into a corner, and when she witnesses him hanging out with Igarashi, and then later commenting on a past she has never revealed to him, Koyun is forced to confront the demons she is desperately trying to forget.
This episode continues the masterful progression of tone that the series has displayed so far, maximizing the use of humor and light moments to highlight the drama. As we have done with each episode, this one picks up on the dramatic cliffhanger of the last episode, suggesting we might be in for a charged scene between Miki and Minato. However, what needs to be said between them about their personalities is said, and it is turned into a lighthearted, wholesome moment between two people who have been friends for too long to stay upset at one another. Most of the rest of the episode plays out in a similar fashion, as the four prepare and take their exams. Even when Koyun is reflecting on how Miki is acting around Minato and wondering if something is bothering her friend, Miki sidesteps the issue in a humorous fashion, and Koyun decides it couldn’t be that important. As has generally been the case when Koyun is stuck in her own thoughts about Miki or Yota, her indecision and confusion is played as the naïve adorableness of an introvert rather than the serious contemplation of a person whose past traumas has brought her to a point where she legitimately does not understand other people.
Just like last episode, though, this lighthearted tone is flipped on its head the moment Igarashi enters the equation. When she sees Minato and Igarashi talking during the scrimmage, her horrible memories from middle school come flooding back, and Koyun once again is incapable of handling Minato. In a moment, the episode that had been pretty fun for fifteen minutes suddenly becomes anything but. While we don’t have the full picture of the torment she went through, what we do find out is horrifying enough for anybody to have to deal with, let alone a middle school girl still trying to figure out who she is. Earlier in the episode, there had been something ominous about her admission to Yota that she used to play basketball but lost interest, and when we learn about the way people were talking about her in reference to her supposed relationship with Igarashi and other boys, the reasons become very clear. The last five or so minutes of this episode are some of the most gut-punching moments we’ve seen, yet (with the best cliffhanger of the series so far), and we’re headed into some dramatic fireworks between her and Minato, with Miki and Yota quite possibly getting drawn into the middle.
What I am also finding very interesting with this situation is the reactions of Igarashi. It’s clear now that her trauma concerning him has a legit source. He has been portrayed in her memories as being just a truly awful person, however, his reactions to seeing Miki at Meiten High School, and then later learning that Koyun also attends there, shows that he seems to have a certain discomfort at being in their vicinity. This suggests some amount of regret about what went down in the past, whether because he’s grown up some and realizes the severity of what he has done, or because he was the impetus for something he had no involvement in but didn’t do anything to stop. Of course, the fact that he’s willing to make fun of Miki for her “gorilla” past, and that he’s seemingly told Minato all about Koyun’s past in middle school, it’s also very possible that he’s just every bit the jerk (to put it nicely, which he perhaps doesn’t deserve) that Koyun remembers him as. I’m very interested to see just how he plays into all of this.
©阿賀沢紅茶／集英社・TVアニメ「氷の城壁」製作委員会
As a final note, there was a sad, overall lack of Yota in this episode, but when the scene cut to Koyun and him comparing hand sizes (right when she reveals to him that she also used to play basketball), I was ready for them to just get on with it and kiss. They probably won’t, because I’m sure the series is setting it all up for Minato to be the guy, but I’m rooting for Mr. Giraffe and the Short Queen.
In Summary:
The Ramparts of Ice has done an excellent job so far of playing our emotions to perfection. It’s been a masterpiece of tonal pacing, and this episode has probably been the best of the lot on that front. After what had been a relatively light episode, the last few minutes are an explosion of dramatic tension and pent-up trauma, and it ends on a perfect note of anticipation. My only regret is that I have to wait a week to see where it goes from here. Highly Recommended.
Grade: A-
Streamed by: Netflix
Mark Thomas
Mark teaches English and Creative Writing in Florida and learned the awesomeness of anime through Akira and Dominion Tank Police while growing up in the UK. Since then, he has spent most of his life watching anime and playing video games–sometimes at the same time if he can arrange it (ADHD-much?). This would be the point in the bio where he would normally share where you could find him on social media, but as a general curmudgeon when it comes to social media since the MySpace days, he has recently given up any pretense of enthusiasm for the form.
