Arata Kangatari - 03

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Arata kangatari 03

Upon arriving at Gatoya, Hinohara discovers exactly why the place is called a living hell. At certain times, a bunch of pipes detach from the walls and suck people up. Those who are taken are never seen again. During The Reckoning, Hinohara is separated from Kotoha and finds her with Ginchi and Kanate; two inmates at Gatoya. Kanate tries to take Hinohara’s head, but before he can do so both he and Ginchi are sucked up by the pipes.

Arata kangatari is turning out to be a pretty solid fantasy series. It’s nothing ground-breaking, and the animation suffers from wonky-face syndrome several times, but it has been a solid show so far. This episode, Hinohara is adding to his party. Thanks to the OP, we know that Kanate won’t die and that he’ll eventually join Hinohara, and this episode has setting up for this.

Gatoya is an interesting place. Essentially, it’s something of a penal colony...except the prisoners don’t seem to do any work and are just left there to rot. However, it you’re smart and strong enough, like Osome, you can build a pretty decent life there. It’s always intriguing to see how different series set up these dystopic punishment areas. I’m thinking Deadman Wonderland’s prison, or Chimaera in Jyu-Oh-Sei.

Anyway, trust is the magic word this episode, and boy does that word get repeated several times. We know that trust is going to be a major theme for the series with all sorts of bonds being developed and a few broken. Slowly but surely, Hinohara is learning to trust. He’s even willing to save Kanate when, at the beginning of the series, he probably would have just cowered.

So far, there are two things we haven’ seen much of: Hinohara using his Hayagami and the other Arata. I believe the show is following the cliché of “super power is activated by feelings”. To be honest, I wish this trope wasn’t used so much. I’m a little sick of “if you have enough determination/courage/belief/tuna you can do anything!” Perhaps that’s the cynic in me, but I’d rather see people work hard and train for their power.

As for the latter, I talked about the little screen time Arata is getting before. I am a little worried that his story is being neglected although, with the number of episodes perhaps that is for the best. If you don’t have the room to juggle, don’t juggle. It’s better to have one good storyline than two mediocre ones, and I suppose that they know it too.