The Imperial Otter Army // Sarazanmai Ep. 6 Review

I Want to Connect, so I’m Not Giving Up: Sarazanmai Episode 6

Otaku Voice Staff

This is a very different episode in Sarazanmai episode 6. It has a whole different vibe after the rather defeated tone of the last episode. The first five episodes have been a lot of the same. Reveal a little bit about the desires of the trio, and dance off against a kappa zombie. After the defeat in the last episode we are left with soem emotionally distressed teenagers.

Kazuki has just about lost his mind. He has gone full kappa, consuming cucumbers like there is no tomorrow. Enta and Toi are worried about him as they should be. He has just failed in his special mission to make Haruka happy, and in his mind, lost his family. That is not exactly the case in the mind of Haruka.

The Kappa Gang

They trio are now living as kappa. Keppi’s angry leaves them stranded in their kappa forms. Kazuki and Enta try to make the best of it by sumo wrestling. Enta gets a little too into it rubbing up against Kazuki, reminding himself of his crush. Its definitely a fantasy come true for Enta.

One of the benefits of their kappa form is that no one can see them. They can wander the city undisturbed. Even as the wander aimlessly, Enta has a plan. He brings them over to where Haruka and Kazuki often spend time together feeding their homeless cat Nyantaro. Haruka is there trying to get Kazuki to come back home after running away.

Haruka’s Desire

After Kazuki dodges away from Haruka, even though he is still in his unseen kappa form, one of the policemen show up. We haven’t seen much of their modus operandi so far. He speaks with Haruka a little bit, and knocks the little guy out shortly after. This is where we get to the conflict of the episode.

The Imperial Otter Army

As it turns out, the policemen running around stealing people’s desire are a part of the Imperial Otter Army. Keppi reveals that the kappa and the otters have been at each other for many centuries, and finally not long ago the otters dealt the killing blow. The prince of the kappas is one of if not the sole surviving kappa. It kinda makes him a bit of a sad character to see how he is alone in the world.

Keppi does lead them into the secret base of the otters which he has apparently known about this whole time. They see that Haruka is being transported around a bizarre factory where his desires will be extracted. They fail to reach Haruka in time before he is dropped into a pit. If he isn’t saved he will lose all of his desires and cease to exist. Keppi offers up an ultimatum for Kazuki. sacrifice your own desires, your sarazanmai, and he can transplant it into Haruka.

Its interesting to see Kazuki really struggle here in Sarazanmai episode 6 for a second before realizing that this is his calling. He sees the potential to make Haruka happy even at the expense of his own life. This is the moment that Kazuki has been waiting for. If he sacrifices himself and disappears from existence, then all of the bad things that have happened to Haruka will disappear as well including the accident. This isn’t just an opportunity to save Haruka’s desires, but to save his future.

Haruka’s Love

As it turns out Haruka isn’t driven by desire, but by love, making him useless to the otters. His box is taken out of the pit and brought over to a grinder to destroy him anyway. This makes the rescue easier as the golden duo kick Keppi into the box to knock Haruka out of the way saving the day.

This leaves Kazuki still with the pain of hurting Haruka, but with the hope of being able to repair their relationship. With the zombie defeated and the day saved the boys are back to being human again in the end. While Kazuki says he feels weird, he has a smile of hope on his face.

Sarazanmai episode 6 and the last episode were an interesting break from the pattern of the first couple. It might be back to the same pattern in the next episode, but there is a lot of information revealed on the different character’s motivations that now it can play out differently.

[Source and Further Reading]
[Episode 5 Review]
[Image via Crunchyroll]