H2O Footprints in the Sand Episode 1: DID YOU TAKE MY SQUID RINGS?

You have to watch the squid pan scene

He walked with God. Left behind are their footprints in the sand. The glimmering light from the sky shone upon the footprints of their lives. Joy and happiness shone from the two pairs of footprints.

However, during desperate and troubled times, during times of overwhelming sadness, during times of unbearable pain, there would only be one set of footprints. Dear God, during my moments of joy and happiness, during those times, you were there for me.

However, when I needed you most, why were you not there for me?

The series begins with the set of lines written above. I felt that instead of a short introduction, those lines would make a better impression on the reader than anything I could come up with. More about the possible meaning of these words will be included later in my final thoughts.

Opening Theme: “Katayoko no Icarus” by Yui Sakakibara

Episode Summary

We begin with a tranquil shot of a beach, emanating feelings of optimism and happiness. However, the peaceful scene abruptly changes to one of violence and pain, as we see a young, dark-haired girl being knocked around and beaten up by two boys in the rain. In the end, the prologue closes with our first glimpse of the main character, Takuma Hirose, the young boy who has been blind since seeing his mother’s death.

After the opening, the same girl who was being beaten up is seen walking across a luscious pasture. However, her serene peace is broken when a yellow-haired girl, Otoha (Not our blogger haha) and Takuma come flying out of the forest chased by a wild boar. Takuma asks the yellow-haired girl why they are being chased by the boar and she responds by saying that they’re on his turf. Takuna demands if she knows how to speak boar to which she replies of course, as she is the ’spirit of the sounds of time, Otoha-chan’. Oh…kay…but anyways, once Takuma makes it out of the forest, Otoha suddenly disappears, leaving Takuma stunned and in disarray. The boar is right about to collide with him when the dark-haired girl tackles Takuma to the ground, keeping him safe as the boar rushes past. The girl asks if Takuma is alright but when he answers, he asks her name. When she doesn’t reply, he attempts to touch her face but ends up feeling her breasts instead, provoking a nasty slap. KAPOW!

The girl begins to lead Takuma back down the forest, as we are told a bit about Takuma’s past. He is blind for an unknown reason, as he is perfectly healthy. He attempts to apologize to the dark-haired girl, and tells her about how Otoha was the one that led him up the hill. She tells him to be quiet, but he still keeps talking, requesting her name once again. Instead of answering, she tells him the path to the school and heads back up to the pasture. He then asks why she isn’t coming to school with him, as he can tell from her voice that she’s a middle schooler as well. She tells him not to get involved with her, and leaves him without another word.

The scene switches to a shot of the school and two girls, Maki Kumon and Hamaji Yakumo, who are talking about a new transfer student. However, as they go up a flight of stairs, they encounter another girl, Hinata Kagura, who is carrying a large stack of books that seesaws dangerously from side to side. Maki quickly helps support Hinata but demands why Hinata just didn’t split the books in half and do two trips. Hinata ponders for a moment and “realizes” that wow, that would be a lot easier to do. Hamaji begins to laugh and comment how “Hinata never changes” but she is interrupted by a short, pigtailed girl, Tabata Yui, who begins to chase her around demanding why she skipped cleaning duties the day before. Maki tells Hinata to hurry up so they can meet the transfer student, which causes Hinata to fall and spill books all over the ground. Maki sighs and tells Hinata that she’ll put her stack of books in the room first before coming back to help. As Hinata is recollecting the books, she is suddenly poked from behind by a walking stick, none other than Takuma’s. Unaware of where he is poking, Takuma begins to lift up the back of Hinata’s dress until she sits back down, leading him to realize that he’s been poking a girl. He quickly apologizes and asks where the staff room is.

Takuma is introduced by his teacher to the rest of the class and is told to sit next to the desk of Kohinata’s. The council president, Hinata, is asked to show Takuma to his seat and Takuma instantly recognizes her voice as the girl he poked from before. As he gets to his desk, a the door of the class opens abruptly and the dark-haired girl enters the room.The teacher tells her that she is late and when she replies, Takuma instantly recognizes her voice as the girl from before and realizes that she is Kohinata. When she begins to take a seat, the teacher tells her that for being late, she must stand in the hallway. Takuma interrupts, much to the dark-haired girl’s displeasure, claiming that it was by guiding him to school he caused her to be late. The teacher allows Kohinata to sit, but instead of being happy, Kohinata tells Takuma that he didn’t need to help her.

Between classes, Takuma begins to wow Maki, Hamaji, and Hinata by using his enhanced senses to figure out where each of the rooms are. Rather than calling him Takuma-kun or Takuma-san, the girls call him Takuma-sama because he seems to carry an air of respect around him. GOSHUJIN-SAMA ANYONE!!! Erhem. However, before Takuma and company can return to class, they are stopped by Tabata and her male followers. Tabata proclaims herself the queen and beauty of the school although in my opinion, she has one of the ugliest character designs, period. While she’s rambling on about herself, Hamaji tells Takuma to just ignore her, provoking Tabata to jump on Hamaji. Hamaji ends up bumping into Takuma, who loses his balance and ends up getting a grade A view of Hinata’s pantsu. That’s just too cruel, having that kind of opportunity but not being able to capitalize because of a disability.

Takuma ends up being taken to the nurses office by Hinata to treat a bump on his head (weaksauce), and despite his protests, is told to stay there until she fetches him later. As soon as Hinata leaves, Otoha, comes flying out of the window and onto Takuma. Unable to tell who’s on top of him, Takuma asks who she is and Otoha responds that she’s the ’spirit of the sounds of time’ once again. However, afterwards she also remarks that he is the Promised One, to which he doesn’t understand. Meanwhile, back at the classroom, Hinata returns and is shocked to see that someone has placed a journal with “Roach Woman” written on it on Kohinata’s desk. However, once Kohinata, who is also standing over the desk, glances at her, Hinata turns away.

After the commercial break, it is lunch time at the school and Tabata begins to serve out the meals. However Takuma is lost in his thoughts as we flashback to after when Otoha jumps in on him from outside the window. Otoha claims that she can make him see, to which Takuma demands how. Otoha asks why he won’t simply believe her, insisting that he is the Promised One. That is the only reason why Otoha will lend him her powers. Takuma begins to ask what exactly is this Promised One concept but before he can finish, Otoha grabs his face and puts hers close, saying “Don’t give up hope.” Takuma recoils backwards but realizes that he can now see, albeit for a short time as he is already blind again inside the classroom.

Hinata’s voice disconnects Takuma from his thoughts, as she says she can help him to eat. Before they can start though, Tabata begins to shout that the portions of squid are wrong and that someone took too many. After initially blaming Hamaji, who denies it fiercely, Tabata places the guilt on Kohinata. Tabata’s two boy underlings proceed to slam Kohinata’s head to the desk, but Kohinata still says nothing. Before the situation can get any worse, Takuma offers his squid only to be questioned by Tabata, who asks if he’s the guilty person. Takuma pleads not guilty and offers the solution that because he’s a new student, the portions are maybe different but Kohinata finally shouts out for him not to interfere. She breaks free of the two underlings and throws the squid tray to the ground before leaving the room. Takuma immediatly attempts to get Hinata to lead him to Kohinata, to which Hinata tells him to leave her. Despite his blindness, Takuma manages to catch Kohinata but trips on some stairs and begins to fall. But before he hits the ground, he is caught by none other than Kohinata. He expresses his thanks, and she tells him to call her Hayami because she hates her surname.

They go to an empty classroom where Hayami (might as well begin to call her this too, I can never seem to remember Kohinata) begins to cook some ramen. Takuma reflects on what happened in the classroom and acknowledges that the school isn’t as peaceful as he thought it was. As Hayami begins to eat, Takuma asks her if she’s eating miso ramen. Hayami asks if he’s got a problem with her eating that and he says that he doesn’t. His stomach starts growling in spite of himself and Hayami gives him a bite (SHE FEEDS HIM, LUCKY BASTARD). Takuma says it’s the best ramen he’s tasted but Hayami thinks he’s just trying to get more and tells him off. Instead of getting offended, Takuma just smiles and repeats that it really is good. Hayami stares at him but begins to smile, calling him an idiot for getting so excited over noodles.

Before Hayami can finish her lunch, the two underlings come crashing into the room accusing her of ruining their lunch. Takuma attempts to protect her but Takuma interrupts him, telling the other two to come to the back of the school with her, and for Takuma to quit butting in again because he can’t do anything.

The scene switches to a shot of Hinata and her grandpa discussing Hinata’s day at school. Hinata’s grandpa asks if Takuma was present, to which Hinata replies yes but while looking away towards the floor. Hayami is then seen walking from the school, covered in bruises and cuts from being beaten by the underlings once again. Back at Takuma’s place, Takuma is reminiscing about how Hayami told him he couldn’t do anything as a railroad scene flashes through his mind. Startled, he wakes up realizing it was just a dream and is approached from behind by Otoha. She takes his hand and they’re transported to a beach. Otoha runs out to the ocean and shouts for Takuma to come to her. Takuma hesitates but Otoha shouts that this is beginning. Upon hearing that, Takuma begins to walk slowly into the water and finally into Otoha’s arms. She tells him that “it’s not that you can’t do it. It’s just that you think you can’t.” She gives him the gift of sight but warns him that it will be short-lived and it is up to him to decide how to use it.

The anime shifts to the next morning, where we see a bandaged Hayami walking over the pasture seen in the beginning of the episode. She is thinking about Takuma and how he expressed genuine happiness over eating some of her ramen. As she glances to her left, we see that Takuma is with her and that he is looking over the fields for the first time. As he turns, Hayami is shocked to see that he has regained his eyesight. Takuma stretches out his hand and asks Hayami if she can go to school with him together.

Ending Theme: “Kazahane” by Haruka Shimotsuki

Final Thoughts:

I actually kind of liked this episode in spite of myself. I absolutely hate most of the character designs, including the one for Takuma, as I feel that with his eyes closed, he looks way too feminine. His seiyuu also sounds way too feminine, for when I closed my eyes, I couldn’t tell him apart from any of the other girls. The animation wasn’t exactly the greatest as well, as many times the characters’ mouths kept moving after they stopped talking. Also, that scene where Hayami throws the squid pan looked so bad that it was hilariously funny to watch. I think I’ve rewatched that scene about 10 times now. Putting that aside, the background art is gorgeous, as the trees and fields are highly detailed and beautifully drawn. Despite the bad character designs, everything is drawn solidly, with no major inconsistencies in the artwork. The contrast between the vibrant colors used when the mood is optimistic to the drab and bleak coloring used during times of sadness also works well in this first episode.

Hayami fit the generalized tsundere stereotype decently, although she’s not exactly snapping at Takuma and feeling embarassed in her own little corner either. Hinata is the nice girl of course, but I think that she’s may end up a bit like Hoshino from Myself;Yourself: Nice outward personality but ridiculously twisted on the inside. What I’m confused about is Otoha. Is she real or not? I’m getting some “A Beautiful Mind” vibes from her, as I think that she only exists in Takuma’s mind because she instantly disappears once another character comes into contact with him. However, in one scene it looked like she was waiting for Hayami to walk to school, as seen in one of my screenshots above so I’m not sure. Otoha will most likely be instrumental in Takuma’s character development but I really hope that he doesn’t shrug her off like what John Nash did in “Beautiful Mind” to his imaginary friends as she’s kinda cute.

The attempts of humor were really bad. I don’t think this series should do anymore panty shots or any form of fanservice. It just reminds me of School Days too much. If I see Hayami taking chopsticks and ramming ‘em through Tabata’s eyes or something, my otaku days will be officially over. The problem with humor in this genre of romance is that it doesn’t work well once the more serious matters arise. Rather than trying to add a comedic element in order to attract more viewers, I think the series would be more successful if it retained a more serious nature.

So, more about the prologue. The narration begins with Takuma Hirose, who says the first couple of lines. The anime begins with a shot of the beach, bright and well representing his words of hope. However, the anime abruptly switches to a scene of a girl being knocked around by most likely Tabata’s underlings. The narration then switches to a girls voice, Hayami’s, who in spite of being mishandled and battered, is talking about how God has been there for her in her times of need. The narration finishes with words from Takuma, who ends the prologue with “However, when I needed you most, why were you not there for me?”

Here’s where it gets complicated. I think that Hayami and Takuma have similar pasts, with someone dear to them dying in their arms. The pairs of footprints belong to each of their respective loved ones, as they disappeared along with death. Though God was there for the both of them, I think who they’re asking for is each other. Rather than needing God the most, I believe the prologue is talking about how they weren’t there for each other in the times of pain and sadness. Readers will most likely have other opinions on how to interpret the prologue, but this is just what I feel works the best. I’m willing to bet that in the end, there will be an epilogue with these lines, but the lines will be slightly changed, as they have found each other.

One last sort of random thing. With all of the fighting going along, I’m kinda wondering, what the hell happened to the teachers. Aside from the one that introduced Takuma, and even she disappeared, there were no signs of professors or any staff at all in the school throughout the entire episode. I mean, Hayami’s head was slammed into the desk and everyone just sat there, not even trying to get a teacher to help. They must have evaporated or something.

I wish to see how other people interpret the prologue so get crackin’ on watching this episode people ^_^. Sorry for the long summary again, first episodes are killers. Toodles~