Thursday, March 17, 2011

Review of Umizaru Ep 9

Ep 9: Ushinawareta Natsu wo Motomete (Searching for the lost summer)
O.A. 30 Aug 05
Ratings: 12.6%

Due to Ikezawa being shot by the pirates, Senzaki refuses to take part in the rescue operation to save them and stays by Ikezawa's side. However, due to intense bleeding, Ikezawa finally breathes his last and this makes his teammates very upset. The usually cool Shimokawa gets so frustrated that he goes to beat up those pirates.

At the same time, Naoko has just given birth to her daughter and is eagerly awaiting Ikezawa's return when the Coast Guard officers come visiting. They inform her of Ikezawa's demise and she is so shocked that she cannot react at all.

Ikezawa's body is sent back to Yokohama and Senzaki goes to the hospital to see Naoko. He passes her the piece of paper which Ikezawa had written where he had decided to choose the name Mako (combination of Masaki and Naoko) despite agonising over many names. Senzaki and Kanna are very sad about this matter but Naoko shows her inner strength by being brave for her daughter and refuses to wallow in despair.

Senzaki loses the confidence to continue working as a diver as he lost his buddy and refused to take part in the rescue operation due to personal feelings. In view of his current condition, Katsuta sends Senzaki to the diver school in Hiroshima to be an assistant trainer.

Senzaki tells Kanna about him going back to Hiroshima for a while and Kanna tries to cheer him up by even offering to go back with him. However, Senzaki's nonchalant attitude doesn't change and this is seen by Fuyushiba who happens to be in the same restaurant.

Yoshioka is elated to see Senzaki but the latter puts on a troubled face especially when he is reminded of his ex-training buddy who had passed away. At the same time, Kanna is so worried about Senzaki that she makes mistakes at work. Fuyushiba tells her to buck up and end the relationship if it is causing her a lot of distractions.

Yabuki goes to Hiroshima for the diver test and meets Senzaki who finds out from Shimokawa that Yabuki used to be seriously injured but had worked hard over the past 6 years to return to diving. In fact, this meeting is not a coincidence since Katsuta knew that Yabuki was going there and he had hoped that Senzaki would be inspired by Yabuki's strong determination.

Senzaki asks Yabuki why he is trying so hard to return to diving but the latter says that he doesn't wish to answer Senzaki's question since he is running away from the problem of losing his buddy. In fact, Yabuki even says that Senzaki is an eyesore which makes him more shocked.

Kanna goes to Naoko's place as she is planning to move out and return to her hometown in Chiba. Naoko reveals that Ikezawa was having problems with his eyesight but decided to stay on for Senzaki's sake. As such, Kanna decides to go to Senzaki directly and tell him the truth.

Senzaki is shocked to see Kanna and hears about Ikezawa's expectations of him. On the test day, Senzaki is inspired by Yabuki and Yoshioka's desire to succeed and decides to snap out of his depression...

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This episode is lacking in action and honestly speaking, I don't like to see scenes like this where the lead character gets depressed over someone's death. It's kind of draggy especially when this was already done in the movie version.

Next episode will see action and this time round, Shimokawa's daughter is lost at sea because the boat has capsized. It might get emotional again...

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