Soba Noodles Galore // Sarazanmai Ep. 4 Review

I Want to Connect, but You’re So Far Away: Sarazanmai Episode 4

Otaku Voice Staff

The word of the day in Sarazanmai episode 4 is soba. The noodles that is. Our desired filled zombie is a bath water drinking soba noodle owner. No other particular connection to our heroes other than Toi’s family happens to own a soba noodle shop as well.

I like that we are bouncing back and forth between the three main kappas. We got a lot in the first two episodes of the series with Kazuki, and the last episode was focused on Enta. This episode is all about Toi and his criminal background. It is definitely the most complex of the three so far, but feels the most removed. Kazuki and Enta feel tied together from their childhood. Toi still feels like an outsider, which might be the point.

Toi and His Family’s Soba Noodles

Part of Toi’s sad backstory is how he was robbed of a family life at a young age. His parents went into debt and left Toi with the guilt of their debt and death. It is Toi’s brother miraculously saving the day with stolen money that keeps the Soba noodle shop. That definitely causes more problems than it solves.

We have seen his brother in the previous episodes who has always been up to no good. Now we see the influence that he has had on Toi, and the lengths that Toi will go to help him. Toi really looks up to his brother and we can see why in this episode. He sees his brother as the savior of his family after his parents are gone. Toi’s brother is the savior of the business after it almost goes under due to his parent’s debt. There is a hero complex that is shown this episode. We can see why Toi is focused on getting the golden dish for himself.

Kazuki’s Grand Plan

Toi is not the only one scheming this episode. Even Kazuki is up to no good in order to impress his younger brother. There is a bit of a parallel between Kazuki and Toi’s brother doing anything he can to support his younger brother. There is a clear difference between them when Kazuki wants to dress up as an idol and trick his brother into thinking there is a special relationship.

The whole plan is ridiculous. Kazuki plans on capturing and hiding Sara the idol and taking her place long enough to trick his brother. He is of course bringing in Toi who has experience in criminal enterprise. While the scheme doesn’t actually come to fruition this episode it is all but guaranteed to go down in the next few. Even when Kazuki announces he hates his brother, there is still something left to his plan.

With some actual episode to episode plot, Sarazanmai episode 4 is really taking the series forward. We are still getting the same dance numbers, but there is enough variety between episodes that they are still fun to watch. Even if the difference is they sing “Soba Soba” instead of “Kisu Kisu”.

[Sources and Further Reading]
[Episode 3 Review]
[Images via Crunchyroll]