This is about the last time the girls will look healthy this episode.

Because this is the episode in which the ship finally sets sail from Fremantle and as the title –Howling, Maddening, Screaming— indicates, it will not be plain sailing. To get through Antarctica you have to pass the Southern Ocean, one of the largest stretches of unimpeded open ocean in the world, which means the ocean streams are unbroken by continents, which in turn means waves and storms have free reign. Which means our girls spend a lot of time this episode doing this:

I really feel for the poor girls here, having once had a truly miserable time crossing the Channel during a storm on a catamaran ferry while my friends were not bothered at all. The episode really manages to capture the misery of being seasick without being too graphic, the sheer exhaustion of not being able to keep anything in you, how the mere thought of food makes you ill. I actually felt a bit ill myself watching this. Not that scenes like this aren’t funny of course, even if you do sympathise with Shirase and co at the same time. Being that sick is miserable.

Even without being seasick all the time, the girls have some difficulty adjusting to the realities of life onboard the ship as they’re put to work as members of the expedition. They had been warned they would be treated as adults and they are. It’s not like they have a problem with this either, it’s just that the differences in skill and stamina between them and the adult expedition members becomes clear. The latter after all have been there before, are used to the extreme conditions of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, have trained themselves to be able to deal with them. For the girls, at their worst as the weather conditions worsen and the ship starts moving even more, they might as well be a different species altogether. Yuzu especially gets a bit despairing, wonder if they can actually be useful in Antarctica, to which Shirase replies that they have no choice. Kimari disagrees:

I really like this scene. You got Yuzu, usually the unflappable, professional one voicing her doubts of not being good enough, to which Shirase offers the conventional answer of just having to try and do it because they have no choice. Hinata, already established as more comfortable withdrawing in herself rather than seeking a confrontation, remains silent. Kimari meanwhile gets to be serious for a chance and reminds everybody that they’re here by choice, that they’ve made their choice to be here. It doesn’t solve their sickness, but it breaks through the fears. And ultimately they get through it.

Crisis passed, gotten used to the rolling and swaying of the ship, storms over for the moment, they are rewarded with their first evidence that Antarctica is just ahead, as they see the first icebergs floating past. It’s a good moment to end the episode on. Next time: Antarctica!

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.