The aquatope on white sand

Episodes 10-11

One of the things I've tried to keep track of is the date in The aquatope on white sand, especially now that we've got a hard deadline in September. And based on a calendar spread on the wall in the Gama Gama Aquarium office, Episode 10, “Abandoned Illusion”, takes place on August 26th, a few days before September comes.

One of the things I've come to appreciate is how much Kai cares about Kukuru as a really close friend. While there's definitely a reading that could be romantic, I'm explicitly choosing not to. Not because I'm stanning Aquarium Girlfriends, but rather, because I think it's really beautiful to see a good, solid male-female friendship. I feel like so many friendships in anime between male and female characters are interlaced with sexual desire, even if that desire is as simple as wanting to kiss someone. Instead, in episode 10, we see Kai worrying about Kukuru, who's visibly tense all throughout this episode. Naturally, it's because Gama Gama's time is limited, which, while distressing for Kukuru, allows us to see how much of a genuinely good guy Kai is, and how he quietly cares for Kukuru. Mind you, Kai's care for her has always been here, but it's more apparent in this episode.

There's this… unique tension and momentum to episode 10 that's kind of like watching a car crash in slow motion: it happens all at once and so slowly. I feel like we're caught at that initial moment of impact, and it's only a matter of time before things crash together and Gama Gama… is no more. Even the illusions that have been woven into the series won't help: there's no way to harness the feelings and memories and imagery evoked by the aquarium. The latent magical elements in The aquatope on white sand may have been keeping the visitors coming to Gama Gama, but certainly not enough to pay the bills and keep the lights on.

All of that makes me wonder what'll happen in the second cour, which is set to start in Fall 2021. Will Fuuka leave because of the deadline? Will she somehow get to stay and help Kukuru figure out a way to pull through? Or, much like Remake Our Life!, will we time-skip into a future with no resolution? Or potentially, a future where Gama Gama may be revived? Will we see a more distant Kukuru and Fuuka? It's hard to gauge, but that doesn't necessarily diminish how much I've enjoyed things thus far. In fact, I really liked episode 10, and feel like it's built up some genuine momentum going into the resolution for this cour and arc.

Episode 10 is a very Kai-centric episode, at least in terms of his care for Kukuru, which is a refreshing step back from Kukuru, Fuuka, and Gama Gama as a whole. That said, this is also an episode about the pain of a community, and the shared burden of trying to save a place that's been a refuge for so many of its visitors. While Kai is the focal point, we also see that Fuuka is struggling as well. Where her arc will go is... kind of up in the air as of the end of this episode. But that's kind of how it be sometimes, you know?

I think there's a lot of value to this angle, and showing that Gama Gama kind of isn't going to survive, even with all the love surrounding it. It's most likely going to have a very realistic closure. Still, I'm optimistic that P.A. Works will somehow give Gama Gama's story the closure it deserves.

Despite Gama Gama's sad fate, this episode doesn't forget to sprinkle in a bit of comedy. There's a really good scene where Kukuru consults fortune-telling in order to divine Gama Gama's future. There's also an entirely unfunny scene of Kai's sister saying that he should get with Fuuka (because she's a classic beauty), but then again, comedy is always subjective. That all said, so much of this episode is about the very real angst of being frustrated with a situation, of being tethered to uncertainty. In many ways, I can foresee what we're working with for episode 11, and for the final episodes in this first cour, but where exactly we'll land with this series remains up in the air. But I'm eager to stick with it to the end, to keep coming along for this ride. It's a testament to how enjoyable The aquatope on white sand has been, even in some of its weakest episodes, which still keep me coming back for more and more.

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Episode 11, “At the End of the Siege” starts off with a prayer: a prayer for things to work out, for Gama Gama's fate to not be sealed. However, the episode is off to an ominous start with grey, fiercely clouded skies, and by the end of my viewing, it's also kind of how I left the episode feeling: clouded and unsure.

A storm is, in many ways, the perfect background to Kukuru's final siege to protect Gama Gama Aquarium. As trope-ish as it is, the storm ends up being a character in its own right, driving a lot of the emotionality of this episode as we watch Kukuru dig in one final attempt to protect the place she loves, even amidst a powerful storm aimed straight at Okinawa. It's this determination that ultimately circles us back around to one central thing: the bond between Kukuru and Fuuka, not solely as friends, but as potential romantic partners.

Now, you've had a break from me talking full-time about Kukuuka / Fuukuru for about three weeks now, but it's hard to not bring up how beautiful their relationship is in this episode. There's a distance between them, and the pain it brings is palpable in all of Fuuka's scenes. In fact, most of Fuuka's initial scenes aren't necessarily her engaging in conversation with Kukuru (that comes later) but rather, her reacting to Kukuru's own emotionality, and ultimately, rushing out into the rain to close that literal distance, Kukuru's stoicism be damned. And naturally, Kukuru is initially resistant to Fuuka coming in, but she eventually relents, opening her heart to her friend once more as they prepare to weather the siege together.

Unfortunately, reality doesn't always care for dramatic displays of love and determination. Gama Gama is an older building, and just like Kukuru's grandfather said in episode 10, it's getting to a point where maintenance isn't enough. Saving Gama Gama now feels fully out of the question, and the impending storm is almost certain to shut the aquarium down. While this is no doubt a cruel and painful denouement for Gama Gama, it also feels... well, quite realistic and dynamically human, all at once.

Still, there are so many beautiful, tender moments between Kukuru and Fuuka this episode that, yes, are completely platonic, but also… are sapphic in the way that a lot (I won't say most) female friendships are. After all, it's kinda gay to promise to protect the dream of a girl you just met: as someone who just promised my life to a non-binary trans femme that was – and still is – a friend, I can say, with firsthand experience, that's… kinda sapphic, or at the very least, lends itself to sapphic readings. (Especially when paired with a blackout.) There's definitely something special between the two, even though the rest of the staff come to help Kukuru through this as well.

I know that there's a second cour: in fact, it starts pretty immediately in October. And yet… this feels like such a bittersweet penultimate episode before this cour's finale. Yet in its bittersweetness, there's this kernel of… hmmm, not necessarily hope, but maybe… tepid optimism? I don't know: it's hard to find a word for exactly what I want to say here, but really, what I'm trying to get at is that I don't feel sad because of the events of episode 11. I feel a bit tense because well, there's a lot of tension in this episode, but I feel like there is hope for something, even if that doesn't mean there's hope for Gama Gama's continued operation as an aquarium.

I have faith that P.A. Works can pull off a really splendid end to this cour, but as always, time truly will tell. For now, episode 11 serves as a reminder that The aquatope on white sand is a breathtakingly beautiful show, and when it goes hard, it goes all in, telling the story of found family – and aquarium employees – being so incredibly passionate for a very special place.

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The aquatope on white sand is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Mercedez is a JP-EN localization editor & proofreader/QA, pop culture critic, and a journalist who also writes for Anime Feminist, where she's a staff editor, and But Why Tho?. She's also a frequent guest on the AniFem Podcast, Chatty AF. When she's not writing, you can find her on her Twitter or on her Instagram where she's always up to something.