It’s episode seven of Sora yori mo Tooi Basho and the four girls have finally caught up to the expedition at Fremantle, Australia only to discover the adult members of the crew are bigger goofballs than they are.
This series has such good comedic timing it surprises me every time I watch another episode. Probably because the dramatic elements stick in my head more. This episode is a case in point. If you ask what it’s about, it’s about the four girls finding their way around the ship. In the process they learn that the expedition may not be as well funded or crewed as it might have liked to be, as well as that there are secret plans for when the expedition will arrive in Antarctica. Finally, there’s also the ongoing subplot involving Shirase and expedition captain Tōdō Gin, who was there when her mother disappeared on the expedition three years ago. All rather serious.
And yet. This is the first scene after the opening song and it’s Shirase screwing up her video report again because she’s so stiff and embarassed. It’s funny because seeing somebody this stiff in front of the camera is always funny, but especially so because it fits Shirase’s character so well. Throughout the series she has shown to be incredibly driven, but often awkward and clumsy and embarassed about it and this has been shown mostly through scenes like this. That’s what I like about the humour in this show, it’s largely character driven, it isn’t your average anime comedy and much of it is the characters joking with each other, just like real people do with friends or co-workers.
Even in a still shot like this you can see each girl’s character shining through. Kimari on the left and Hinata next to her are the more goofy of the four, but Hinata is a bit more sensible than her. Shirase at the back is serious but confident, while Yuzuki is serious and a bit anxious. She’s the youngest but also the most professional of the four thanks to her idol career. Sora yori mo Tooi Basho keeps using gags like this to flesh out each girl’s character, whether a recurring one like this, or a background joke like Shirase stealing Kimari’s penguin plushie.
As the girls catch wind of how understaffed and underfunded the expedition seems to be in comparison to others, they also hear about mysterious plans for what to do in Antarctica, having listened in to a few conversations among other crew members. When they get back to their cabin and wonder what those plans might be, this happens. Again a brilliant bit of comedic timing, showing how much Kimari and Hinata are on the same wave length, as opposed to the more serious and easily startled Shirase and Yuzuki.
One of the delights of this episode is getting more flashbacks to when Shirase’s mother Takako, together with Gin and Kanae set up the first private Antarctica expedition. It’s so nice to see them have the same rapport and comradery among themselves as Shirase has with her friends and so sad to know how it will all end, with Gin and Kanae in that snowcat as Takako gets lost in a snowstorm. This sadness is not very far from the surface throughout the series, but it’s never content to remain sad. After the emotional scene with Gin talking to Shirase about Takako and the expedition’s determination to go back to where she was, we therefore immediately switch to comedy again, with Kanae introducing the four girls to the rest of the ship.
It’s another example of using humour to reveal character and it leads in to the climax of the episode, with the four of them introducing themselves. With a helping hand by Hinata, Shirase comes out of her shell enough to share her dream with the crew, of wanting to go to the Antarctica her mother wrote about. It’s a poignant scene only made possible by the buildup over this episode and the ones before it.
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