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Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 10 – Quick Summary
In Amagi Brilliant Park episode 10, “Nothing Can Be Done!,” Kanie found himself becoming more and more desperate as the deadline approached. He saw no way to achieved the goal of 50,000 attendees. And then he learned something that made all other considerations irrelevant – and his stress much, much higher. What did he find out? And what did Sento tell him, despite Moffle’s prohibition?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
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Favorite Quote from Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 10
I admire Aisu’s honesty – if not her lack of dedication to her liver’s health! Capture from the Blu Ray.
Kanie was having a hard day. He and Moffle had gotten into a shouting match – again. He had learned the truth about Latifa’s plight. And try as hard as he might, push the cast and crew as hard as he could, he could not find a way to get enough park visitors.
He had crashed at home. Remember how he lives with his aunt Aisu Kyuubu? Well, he had collapsed onto her sofa. Exhausted, he stared at the ceiling.
Aisu walked in, a beer in her hand. She asked if he’d had a hard day. As he answered, you could hear her chugging her beer off screen. He asked if she ever had a bad day at work. As a previous editor, I can attest to the trials and tribulations she described.
In desperation, he asked her what she would do if things were going as badly for her as they had for him.
“Drink until I forgot about it!” she said with zero hesitation (17:35).
I admire her clarity of thought. But I have to question the long term viability of her plan. That’s just not healthy!
Favorite Moment from Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 10
Latifa didn’t want Kanie to know he had failed. Capture from the Blu Ray.
Setup: Kanie Was a Skilled Child Performer
Content warning: this goes a bit grim. If you’re here for fun and lightness, this isn’t the post for you. I won’t mind at all if you skip it!
This is the episode where, especially from Kanie’s perspective, stuff got real. Sento relented and told him that if they lost the park, they essentially lost Latfia’s life support system. He had been pushing hard to bring in enough visitors. Now, he was desperate. And exhausted.
I didn’t remember much about this episode, and after watching it for this review, I remember why. It ties directly into the reason I started this site. I think I can explain why and how if I first describe my favorite moment.
Kanie’s worries upset him so hard he could not sleep. Moffle found him sitting in the darkened park around three thirty in the morning. The two don’t like each other much, and one of the things I liked about this scene is that the narrative didn’t try to show Moffle and Kanie suddenly becoming friends. The two detest each other, and that’s not going to change. But they came to an understanding.
Not the best of friends. But they don’t have to be, to work together. Capture from the Blu Ray.
Kanie had been stewing in the memory of a failure that had hit him so hard, he tried to suppress it. It’s why he couldn’t clearly remember why he had seen the Princess’s tearful smile before. Now, the truth of the situation having been trust on him, he remembered. As a kid, he had found his way into her gardens. He’d just been a visitor, probably with his parents. He found her crying and asked what had made her sad. She spoke of the curse, and of how lonely she felt. In fantasy stories (outside of Tolkien, anyway), it’s generally hard for me to get a sense of the character’s emotional state. Here, the animation and Kanie’s voice actor, Kouki Uchiyama, made Latifa’s feelings personal.
Delivery: And it Didn’t Matter
Little Kanie did what most kids would do. He tried to cheer her up. He thought he had an edge, because he was a trained performer. But her reaction wasn’t what he expected.
As he told the story to Moffle, Kanie said (19:21), “She watched my performance and smiled, but she still looked sad. She was just trying to make me feel better”
This infuriated little Kanie. Did her reaction wound his pride? Was he furious with himself because of his failure? I suspect the latter, because then he said, “That’s why I told her, ‘I’ll save you.’”
Despite all of skill, despite his good intentions, he couldn’t help her. Capture from the Blu Ray.
This moment hit me like a bag of hammers. I’ve never seen a bag of hammers; nor have I physically been hit by one. But emotionally speaking, I now know what an imaginary bag of hammers feels like. I knew why I reacted that way, but I didn’t, you know? I had that feeling you get when you really don’t want to tell yourself something.
Kanie was the key. You know how he felt like his performance should have cheered her up? Remember his anger and shame at his failure? I’d run into that same scenario before. I talked about it back in 2018, and I’m not inclined to relive it. But the sentiment remains.
Sometimes, in the real world, even the proclamation that “I’ll save you” ends badly. It ended badly for Kanie, when he was a kid. It often ends badly in the real world. Sometimes, even progress that seems hopeful sputters and dies.
Sometimes, a Single Step is the Best You Can Do
Do you remember the push for civil rights in the late 1960s? If you think of that time now, the first thing that comes to mind likely isn’t a push to increase the scope of individual freedoms guarantees. It’s probably drugs or free sex. There’s a reason for that. Propaganda is a powerful tool, and it works as well on us in the present as it did in the distant past.
If you can get people to replace “civil rights” with “drugs and free sex,” you’re more than half way to erasing a memory.
Seeing Kanie’s failure to cheer her up, seeing that his proclamation that he would save her went unfilled for years, brought memories of my own similar failure back to me. We know how Latifa’s story ends. But out here in real life, not so much. We’ve seen a recent wave of brazen, successful attacks on individual freedom – to the cheers of an uncomfortably large segment of the US population. People I grew up with; people I trusted. People now turning their political power against their fellow citizens.
Sometimes, all you can do is take the next step forward, because standing still is even worse. Capture from the Blu Ray.
I started this site to celebrate anime, because that forced me to focus on the positive. The reason? I’m just smart enough to know how screwed we are, but not smart enough to figure out how to fix it. I figure if I keep my attitude positive, maybe I’ll come up with something, or live long enough to help someone else who comes up with the solution.
This episode reminded me just of how much I’ve failed, while at the same time, reminding me that the fight’s not quite done. Almost, maybe. Ain’t none of us knows how long we have. But if I can’t achieve victory, at least I’ll go down trying. It sucks that’s what I’ve been reduced to calling a win.
But it’s not the worst thing.
What did you think of the park lighting up at night? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 10: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: [Spoilers] Amagi Brilliant Park – Episode 10 [Discussion]
- Chikorita157’s Anime Blog: Amagi Brilliant Park – Episode 10 – Seiya’s Forgotten Promise and Latifah’s Secret
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 1: Not Enough Visitors!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 2: Not Enough Time!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 3: Not Enough of a Boost!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 4: Not Enough Secretary Competence!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 5: Not Enough Money!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 6: Not Enough Staff!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 7: Not Enough Pool Safety!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 8: Not Enough Love Appeal!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 9: Not Enough Teamwork!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 10: Nothing Can Be Done!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 11: Nothing to Worry About!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 12: Nobody Knows What the Future Holds!
- Amagi Brilliant Park Episode 13: Not a Good Promo!
