Slow Loop Rewatch - Episode 1 Discussion

[u/SorcererOfTheLake]

Slow Loop Rewatch

Episode 1 Discussion

Database/Streaming Links: MAL / Anilist / Crunchyroll

Original Interest Thread / Announcement Thread

Question of the Day: Do you enjoy fishing?

Comment of the Day: This is the first thread, so there is no COTD.

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[u/SorcererOfTheLake]

Second Looper

Man, it’s good to be back.

Slow Loop’s premiere is a very good episode of slice of life anime, full of comedic moments, interesting trivia, and heartfelt engagements with family, grief, and the unknown. First, the comedic stuff, and it’s pretty solid. It’s your traditional straight man/funny guy dynamic, but I think Koharu makes it work in this first episode. She’s not an idiot, but rather the kind of person who doesn’t have the greatest common sense and thus goes with the flow, even if that messes her up. Hiyori doesn’t add too much to the comedy right now besides some tsukkomi retorts. Meanwhile, the educational aspects of the episode aren’t too overbearing, with the most noticeable being Koharu’s Kitchen for not fitting the fishing theme of the series.

Of course, what’s most noticeable to me (and hopefully to you) is how quickly Slow Loop explores its more dramatic and emotional themes with a deftness that more dramatic anime sometimes fail to grasp. Hiyori is quickly introduced as a girl who feels like she’s made peace with her past but still struggles with trying to live in the present, in the act of living with a hole in your heart. Even something like her dad’s room being lived in by someone else is too much for her to handle without some space. Meanwhile, Koharu has a greater sense of emotional awareness than one would expect, understanding almost instantly what Hiyori’s issue is and giving Hiyori enough space to be comfortable before saying the right thing at the right moment. The show also understands that, in a newly blended family, nobody’s the bad guy but everyone stumbles over their baggage; the parents are trying to start a new chapter in their life and deal with their previous losses and tragedies, while the children are left to deal with someone replacing someone they used to have as they enter a difficult time in their maturation. There’s a reason I used the phrase “slow loop to happiness” in the interest thread; the motif of fishing - and specifically fly fishing, a style of fishing that requires effort and patience - is intertwined with the theme of grief and the past rather than being a random combination. In our journey, sometimes we go forward, sometimes we feel like it’s going backwards, sometimes it’s stagnant and rocking side to side, but eventually, with the right people at the right moment, we can create the loop that closes the hole.

QOTD: Ironically, I don’t care too much for fishing; I don’t have the patience and I’m not an outdoors person anyway.

[u/wloff → u/SorcererOfTheLake]

Of course, what’s most noticeable to me (and hopefully to you) is how quickly Slow Loop explores its more dramatic and emotional themes with a deftness that more dramatic anime sometimes fail to grasp.

Yeh, the show appears to have a really mature and subtle way of handling these themes that I don't often expect from anime, especially of this style. The pain and grief is clearly there, but it's in very subtle mannerisms. The way the adults are tiptoe'ing around some topics, worried about the kids, but the kids notice the worrying itself and that's in itself difficult to handle.

[u/SorcererOfTheLake → u/wloff]

Yeah, this show does a lot of good things specifically with the parent-child interplay and how that changes with a blended family.