RYO MIYAGI STRIKES BACK
Keiichi Arawi‘s City is a sandbox that Taichi Ishidate and his team at Kyoto Animation have had an absolute blast playing with. It’s infectious energy, off the wall antics, and wide cast of characters gives one so many avenues to explore comedic adventures, adventures even I’ve been suckered into playing along with with my own writing. But beneath the silliness lies a actual story that’s slowly but surely been expanding as more and more characters have come to play, all building up to something I’ve not really seen a comedy pull off before. What I’m talking about this time is of course the 4th City Race, a slapstick filled setpiece to end all slapstick filled setpieces, also known as City the Animation Episode 9. This episode is the end of many roads, a climax to a half dozen character dynamics and overall just a hooting and hollering good time that hides a secret, it might be the singular best written episode of the year. Yes, we’re here again, yes it’s another City post and yes, Episode 5 might have just been topped. Anyway let’s get off to the races, we have a lot to cover!
A long time ago, on a streaming service I basically forget I have half to the time there existed an entity known as City the Animation #4(take a shot every time I say City, you’ll literally die!). This episode was many things like all episodes of this peculiar show are but in my memory it was the Niikura vs Mimineko entry where infamously the poor lass lost her locket, containing a picture she could lean on for comfort whenever she needed to and the women has since become increasingly more irate or pardon my French déjanté. This loss has dogged her forever since like a soccer ball to the face and it’s sad watching her begin to fall into substance addiction to get by, nobody and I mean nobody should be snorting dried ramen packets at 2 AM. Than there’s her friend Midori whose situation is even more desperate, she be poor innit. As her college funds slip away and her very independence threatened with actually kidnapping Midori has jumped on every opportunity to earn a quick buck. All she has to show for it is 2, nay make that 3 bugs. Congratulations girl, you’re officially a brokie. The final member of this trio here is Wacked Mole. He is a mole, he is a tripping hazard, OSHA has been notified, thank you for your attention on this matter.
Episode 4 is important to today’s discussion for a multitude of multifaceted reasons but mainly because it introduced Ryo Miyagi to the world in their storyboard and episode director debut. Alongside animation director Nobuaki Maruki they delivered an episode that built slowly but surely into an extensive action scene, the aforementioned Niikura versus Mimineko, before pulling the rug out at the last second to hand off the punchline to one Minoru Ota. Because the law’s of math tell us 5 is after 4 I must now say that City #4 was followed by City #5 and the rest is history. If you want that history repeated well screw you I already wrote too much on that subject and so here’s a link to that essay. As for what that episode has that links into the future there’s 3 main points to make. No. 1, ain’t no way they ever top this* No. 2 The Tanabe family are a dangerous crime family that will stop at nothing to please their lady and finally No. 3 Niikura does not get her pendant back. That episode was a high point for the artistic expression of the staff of the anime, the skill of Ota‘s storyboard and screenwriter Masashi Nishikawa in balancing so many threads at once and how ecstatic City can be when all the dots connect and everything happens at once. It felt big, it felt climactic, it felt… kinda impenetrable. I mean it was literally impossible to follow everything on screen at once so while there were threads leading into that episode the catharsis was in the style, not the substance per say. Something I only realized when we got an episode that accomplishes everything #5 did on an artistic front but also packed to utter bursting with intricate, fully formed character beats for half the cast. City the Animation Episode #5 was never the peak, it was the prequel.
Episode 9 is Ryo Miyagi‘s second coming to City, their second storyboard and episode direction ever and suddenly the already impressive debut for #4 turned into a launching pad for this humongous feat of craft. The pulse pounding, wonderfully set up chase that culminated that episode turns into an episode long set piece, the 4th City Race, but with somehow even greater scope, attention to detail, and most importantly this time the punchline is theirs to land. Oh boy did they land the punchline. The other 2 staff members that I can credibly credit because of the official website is Animation Director Nobuaki Maruki who was also with Miyagi on #4. The third member is different though because the screenplay was Masashi Nishikawa‘s this time(4 was written by Ayano Sato). Now I am not particularly smart or well versed in anime production and I haven’t read the original manga so I have no clue how much credit this man deserves. All I’ll say is the 2 greatest anime episodes in years, ones that balance dozens of characters and a particularly insane amount of plot points to were written for television by the same man. This guy, idk if my praise is even logical but this guy knows ball, respect! Of course we must also praise the animators whose work can only be assumed by a non kanji reading nitwit like myself but nevertheless this episode too features yet another all timer animation cut, a 2 minute long one take that ducks and weaves through the final leg of the race that just sends my heart sky high like I too was one of the characters being rocketed away from the finish line.
As the race begins the cast starts exploding with the continued rivalry between Midori and Obaba being the first showcase of the shenanigans that will unfold, shenanigans bought and paid for by the Tanabe family. Some backstory is in order. After making their introduction in #4 the Tanabe crime family has further entrenched itself into City at the behest of their lady and in she recently found her next target, one Tatsuta Adatara. This race itself is a ploy to get her into his willing arms as only duos can compete and if is own strength at princess carrying wasn’t enough we bring out the big guns. No literally, Mr. Butler is picking off anyone who catches a whiff of their cheating, it’s a bloodbath. They’re not the only cheaters though, just the best as Mr. Tekaridake himself is running with the full troupe over his shoulder, he needs that bag just as much as anyone. Unfortunately the bag he already has over his shoulders carrying his cute critters breaks and Fighting Monkey and Co eat dirt so hard he is instantly disqualified. After a creative eyecatch that shows the current rankings we get to the heart of the issue, why does Niikura still fight on!?
Thoughts of the feisty women Niikura first befriended help keep her going even as they mix with the current reality of Midori being a useless slob. The great maze they immediately find themselves in almost makes her lose hope altogether but it’s at this most hopeless situation that Midori finally locks in, reaching out to her friend in a heroically framed gesture before throwing her over her shoulder and taking off in a sprint that alongside a glue trap keeping the crime family under wraps puts them right into first place, are they going to do it, will Niikura win back not just her locket but the person contained within!? The answer to this query will rocket this episode into it’s wilder second half.
All is not daijoubu for Wako Izumi. Here she stands before her hero and what happens but that pesky editor trying to pull a fast one on her. A flashback to #6 that doesn’t actually happen would remind you that she’s been here before and this time Yui Ishikawa can’t bless me with her “daijoubu desu’s” in response. See this excitable young women wants a autograph from mangakaman also known as Oni, creator of Mr. Bummer. Unfortunately his editor jumps at the opportunity to entrap a women…I mean gain a actually talented mangaka in Wako and lay’s out his cards, if she serialises with him she can get that autograph. Unlike her confident rejections previously Wako is stumped, really chewing on the proposition with that waterlogged brain of hers. Eventually she consents, the editor consents but is there someone they forget to ask? I don’t know actually because Wako is suddenly lifted away by her teammate Obaba whose obtained a drone through probably violent means and with an inelegant cranium crushing hold flies off with Wako to parts unknown, leaving editor with Mr. Bummers real life self. It’s a sad turn of events for these 2 useless lads but hey they can turn this around, IT’S NOT OVER JUST YET HEY WHY ARE WE YELLING NOW, WHAT IS THAT NOISE!?
The mad scientist had gone and done it, his latest prank after his death fake out might’ve finally pushed Makabe over the line. The old codger has somehow turned the family mascot into a racecar and with an inflatable dinghy trailing behind with a wailing chef inside our last place contestants blow past the competition with frightening speed, the finish line is now there’s to steal most cruelly. Enter the hero, Wacked Mole. Wacked Mole is a mainstay of the slapstick of City, a mole who only pops out of the ground to get tripped over by characters in flight at the most inopportune moments and here he returns to face down the vehicle, can he save the legitimacy of this scandalous race. The car hits him full on and goes flying, leaving behind a mole whose head has doubled in size but nonetheless has done his job. Gold Medal to Wacked Mole and hey waitaminute did the flying car just transform into a rocketship, egad it has the madman has done it now. It’s joever, the race is decided, we can’t compete with a literal rocketship. And thusly the 4th City race officially jumps the shark. Damn I’m now mad they didn’t visualize a shark jumping gag now.
The rules are off, everyone can join in, it’s first come first serve for winner of the race and Midori finally breaks. She can’t go on anymore, the chances she wins the prize are now population of City vs Team Niikura and that prospect is enough to return her to slackerdom. Cut to a shot of Niikura’s locket closing slowly, the picture of her friend contained within literally and and figuratively disappearing forever beyond her grasp. But Niikura as played by Aki Toyosaki is not a pushover nor a stable women, indeed verbal abuse is her modus operandi and so she gives Midori one final call to arms. It goes tremendously well. If by tremendously well I meant her speech was so embarrassing Midori sucker punched her in the face to shut her up before deciding that yeah, they can still win this and with the now unconscious bro thrown over her shoulder the duo set off for the final push. Elsewhere the glue trap yields it’s catch and the Tanabe crime family begins their push with an entire army in tow.
The 2 minute long take cut that closes out the 4th City Race is one for the history books says I after having seen it again and again and again. This episodes already been pretty dense storywise but no section is more jam packed with information than here at the climax when just about every contestant and their mums get an explosive sendoff. I’m not actually joking this time for some reason now everyone is getting blasted into the air as the racers begin to be picked off and in the case of the Tekaridake Troupe turned into celebratory human fireworks. It’s utter, gleeful chaos but here’s the important bits. The mad scientist and Makabe got Challengered and didn’t actually finish the race, Midori never once stopped running, Niikura discovered that the soccer boys lied about the locket and sets upon them like a air shark, all while the greatest sound in human history greets my ears, Yui Ishikawa giggling. Amidst the chaos no one hears the steady tunk of aluminum cans on pavement or notice the two middle schoolers walking steadily on through the destruction. Just like that Eri and Matsuri cross the finish line and the 4th City Race has it’s winners… wait Eri and Matsuri who!?
I now humbly apologize for my devious, plodding prose and misleading maybe even biased summary of events. This episode was never about Niikura and her locket, it was never about Midori, and heck Wacked Mole only appears for less than a second. It was about them and it wasn’t but at it’s heart this was always Eri and Matsuri’s race to win, or in the words of The River Pedestrian it was their’s to win, with help. She set the bombs at the end to clear the path of these two youths who unlike our MC’s don’t have all the time in the world but in all their good nature deserve it. A locket that reminds you of a better time is cute and all but always making the most of the time with those you hold dear is these two’s motto and with Eri’s impending journey to the great beyond they’ve not only made a precious memory in the now but also have wads of dough for future fun. This dynamic duo is the beating heart of City, a pairing that explodes with childlike creativity and joy for the world they live in but one grounded by an incoming separation that even this wacky work play’s as close to straight as it can get. You can’t hide these feels behind a pumpkin head, they’re real and earned and the excesses of this episode land on a punchline that makes you smile so hard you wanna cry. This is City the Animation at it’s most funny, it’s most absurdist, it’s grandest but in the end it’s most sincere and heartwarming self is what shines brightest. City the Animation Episode 9 is one of the greats says I.
Oh yeah should probably mention but Eri isn’t dying or anything, she’s just moving to England. Wait is there a difference ok byeeeeeee!
*I must say, I think we topped #5 huh ok ok bye for real now.
City the Animation can currently be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
The Manga Meets Moron Blog 