Slow Loop

Episode 5

Episode 5, “Together Again” is perhaps Slow Loop's more…Slow Loop-core episode. It's got all the trappings: the girls on a boat, the girls fishing, and the girls eating a meal. It's Slow Loop at its Slow Loop-iest, and it's great. Also, the food! I could live on Slow Loop's fish dishes and never crave anything else.

This episode starts by shifting focus to Futaba for a moment to mix things up. You'll recall that Futaba had some serious worries about having fishing as a decidedly “unfeminine” hobby to pursue, even though it's very evident that Futaba really, really likes fishing. Put a pin in that, by the way: we'll swing back to that in the end.

Once we're reunited with Hiyori, Koharu, Koi, and now, Ichika, what ensues is a very charming series of scenes as the girls get ready to head out to sea for another day of fishing. Rather than being on the small canoe from episode 2, the girls are now on a proper barge, ready to haul in a catch and eventually get their grub on. There's a very specific charm to the proceedings: I don't know how to describe it other than aimlessly joyful, in the best of ways.

But more importantly, I think there's something really marvelous happening here: Slow Loop has created an environment where the cast (this is not a pun, I swear) gets to just enjoy experiencing a very specific hobby. These girls get to indulge in fishing to their heart's content, dedicating time to doing what they like, regardless of how the hobby has been gendered in society. It's celebratory, and there's never a moment where any of the girls are disparaged for liking a “masculine” craft. If anything, fishing becomes something people do, not something a specific group of people do. And at episode 5's peak, it generates one of the most sincere moments of the entire episode, and one of its most comedic. It might seem jarring, but I think life often combines humor and tears in uncanny ways.

Also, let's return to that pin.

There is, of course, something important in episode 5, right near the end: it's the normalization of fishing as something girls do for Futaba, a young girl who, like so many tomboys before her, became isolated the moment being a third grader became too serious. But by witnessing Hiyori, Koharu, Koi, and Ichika enjoying their craft, there's this beautiful dawning awareness that it's alright to be yourself, that it's alright to like what you like. That's certainly not a new message to the slice of life genre, but it resonates nonetheless, and perfectly at home in a thoughtful show like Slow Loop.

Ultimately, episode 5 keeps the good times rolling with more fishing, some delicious food—including namero, a kind of horse mackerel tartare—and of course, lots of bonding and sweet moments. It's not the most interesting episode in terms of plot progression, but it is definitely one of Slow Loop's finest. It's got all the ingredients that make this series so quietly compelling, and as we look towards the back half in two weeks, has its hooks in me, hungry for more of these quiet reflective moments as we build towards Hiyori and Koharu hopefully catching a tuna somewhere down the line.

Rating:

Slow Loop is currently streaming on Funimation.

Mercedez is a JP-EN translation and localization Editor & Proofreader/QA, pop culture critic, and a journalist who, when not writing for ANN, writes for Anime Feminist, where she's a staff editor, and for But Why Tho?. She's also a frequent cohost on the Anime Feminist Podcast, Chatty AF. This season, she's reflecting on her youth with Akebi's Sailor Uniform. When she's not writing and reviewing, you can find her on her Twitter or on her Instagram where she's always up to something.