Grand Blue Dreaming Episode 10 Review: Arrival in Okinawa

Let’s go and see how Grand Blue Dreaming deals with the diving in this weeks episode, because there sure finally are a few jumps into the ocean and growth among the characters that goes beyong strengthening your alcohol tolerance! Since this is episode ten, there are only two episodes left. Also, let me mention that I was also attending the stage event for this series at this year’s Kyomaf in Kyoto and will be delivering a fun report with the voices of Iori, Kohei and Tokita (one of the naked-senpai) soon! Please look foward to it!

Japanese Title: 沖縄上陸

Highlights

Swimming

Sooo, at what point did Iori learn how to swim? Didn’t he say that he can’t swim? But then everybody got excited when they checked into their hotel and saw that they had their own pool. In general, it looks like an awesome destination for a holiday. The hotel looks super nice, the sea is beautiful and I feel a bit envious of Iori and his friends for going on a trip like that. I enjoy such trips. Definitely will try to get to Okinawa myself one day!!

Memories of Youth

To be honest I had to laugh more about the scene of Aina and her memories than I should have. She was so sad to have all these naked guys in her memory instead of proper memories with her good friends, enjoying diving and other normal activities. They broke the 4th wall when Aina mentioned that all her memories are in mosaic. Hilarious! At this point, I really appreciate having her in the series, because she is saying the things out loud that I scream at the screen. She is me, she is sanity. But she is also good-natured, not like Chisa, who somehow seems resigned and just deals with everything because she got used to it. That’s why I like Aina. I feel close to her.

Banana Boat

Not only was the little game between Iori and Kohei fun, I also love how Aina is seeing it differently than it actually is. Those imagination vs reality scene worked out very well and reminded me that literally is like that and that’s why I’ve never ridden a (proper) banana boat. Those are dangerous and will throw you off and no matter how beautiful the drops of sea water sparkle next to your face and how much you laugh while you try to cling to the boat, the beautiful water will burn your eyes and throat and the laughing is actually from angst and desperation. So thanks for that great scene, I enjoyed it a lot! (On a side note: I’d actually REALLY like to ride a banana boat. This is me being bitter about not getting to ride it =P)

Iroi (not) sleeping

I have no problem with Iroi sleeping with Nanaka and Azusa. Both are the grown up type and fine with their body, they don’t like him. I also think it was hilarious how he couldn’t sleep and how his brain would connect all the answers to boobs later on. Shouldn’t it actually help him with remembering everything? Like, he sees boobs and thinks about the answer he read later on? Oh, whatever, it was fun to watch.

Diving!

My personal highlight (and it should be everybody’s) was the actual diving scenes. It was so nice to see them under water and how amazed Iori was. I know nothing about diving, so it was also very interesting to hear all the things they explained, how they behaved with each other. Big props also to the naked-senpai, who were so serious when it came to safety and who take care of their juniors so well. I really, really appreciate that and have to say it makes me like them a lot more as characters. How Aina got a complex over having to go up earlier than everybody else was also cute, because I think that’s only a natural thing to do. Like always, Iori later had the chance for an important, beautiful, memorable moment with a girl – Aina, this time – but he ended up ruining it with his stupidity. I guess in that aspect I am like Chisa, because I simply shrug and that’s fine. Still, it shows what a good guy Iori is deep down. Minus the nakedness.

Culture

Youth Memory Obsession

This is a theme many times in anime, where people would obsess over their time at university and try to make important memories with their friends. I think I might have mentioned this before, but in Japan going to university is that one point in life where you can do whatever the hell you want. School is full of rules and tests and you have to work hard all the time to get into a good high school, get into a good university, study hard for entrance exams and there are school uniforms to wear. After you enter the bubble that is university, you suddenly don’t have much to study anymore, at least with less pressure, you maybe even start to live on your own and you can wear whatever you want at the campus. After and before classes you are free to do whatever you want! It is really an important time if you grow up in Japan, because after university you will be thrown into the work-life, with a new set of rules, pressure and no time for anything. Well, for most jobs anyway. And like that, Japanese people might sometimes obsess over the memories they make at university. It will become an important part of their daily life to collect memories, take pictures and keep the feelings they have in that moment save. It will make them look back on a great time in their life and make them happy. Of course that is not for everybody and there is a life after university. However, for the romantic bliss that is anime, youth is everything you should long for.

Drinking Game

Let’s keep it simple for next week. Whenever Kohei and Iori are together on screen, you can drink to them being awesome best buddys! It would have been great to use it this week as well, but I am sure there will be enough chances to drink in the next episode as well. Kanpai!

See you next week

I am very much looking forward to the next episode, because like it was this week I wanted it to be every week. There should be a lot of fun and fighting and drinking, but there should also be a bit of diving and the character development like we saw it with Aina this week. It was great to see her compare her friends to her old ‘friends’ and we could see how happy she is with where she is thanks to the diving club. That’s the kind of stuff I wanted to see!

You Have the Wrong Idea (誤解なんだが)