Episode 5, “Mother Arrives,” heralds the arrival of Fuuka’s very concerned mother who’s come to Okinawa to see her wayward daughter. And who’s gonna blame her? Fuuka basically obfuscated her plans around her sudden departure from Tokyo, and hasn’t really kept in touch (at least from our point of view). It’s only natural that her mother would sojourn down from Iwate Prefecture to the tropical island in search of her, and where else would they meet but at Gama Gama, where Fuuka’s quietly trying to find herself?
That’s our setup for episode 5, and really, what we spend the bulk of this episode wrestling with: it’s a wholly Fuuka-centric episode predicated on her desire for independence, autonomy, and her new life in Okinawa with Kukuru. Naturally, that leads to some antics that feel wholly fictional – I’m not sure how many parents would play island hide ‘n seek with their…
