Otherside Picnic (Episode 2) – Surviving Lady Hasshaku
Something has happened to Sorawo’s eye and Toriko’s hand. It had to have something to do with the wiggle-waggle, but other than that, they’re in the dark. Toriko takes Sorawo to see her friend, a prominent Otherside researcher.
What happened?
Sorawo’s right eye has turned a brilliant blue while Toriko’s left hand has become translucent. It’s certainly pretty strange and concerns them enough to go see Toriko’s friend. She’s the one that was willing to pay for the cubic mirrors. Kozakura is a researcher who specialises in the Otherside. She’s never been there, but her old partner who was Toriko’s close friend had and that’s where she vanished.
Unfortunately, Kozakura isn’t much help, but she does pay for the cubic mirror which Toriko splits with Sorawo. She then asks her to come with her to the Otherside again and help her search for Satsuki.
Sorawo agrees, but she is not entirely enthused about it. Regardless, she meets up with Toriko and they go to the elevator, follow the steps, and return to the Otherside. Sorawo tells Toriko that she spotted a building in the distance and thinks they should check it out.
On the way there, they have a bit of a falling out, but that is interrupted by a man with a rifle. He tells them to freeze and then shows them why. There are glitches that incinerate anything that moves above them.
The man reveals that he is looking for his wife who vanished from their apartment. He had considered a number of things before moving his investigations to the supernatural. That was how he found a gate in an abandoned shrine. If you pass through it at the right time and at the right angle, it takes you to the Otherside.
While searching together, they found some footprints that lead them to a large building. Inside, they found a tall woman with dark hair, but it wasn’t his wife and it wasn’t Satsuki. Sorawo tried to stop the man from getting too close. She was too late as he vanished before her eyes. Then, she saw Toriko moving towards the woman and desperately tried to stop her. That was when Toriko stopped her. Sorawo realised then that she had been tricked and was holding Lady Hasshaku’s hand!
What did you think?
I have got chills! This episode was haunting. I’ve heard of the ten-foot lady so was pretty excited to see that she had been included in this series. It would appear that it’s going to be centred around the supernatural, including urban legends and fairytales. The moment that you realised that Sorawo was the one being tricked and not Toriko was insane. I can still feel the shiver running down my spine.
I wasn’t overly impressed with Kozakura and felt like having a character that looked like a little girl didn’t really fit the role, but that’s probably just a minor concern that will fade away over time. As long as the episodes continue to deliver these sorts of creepy vibes and haunting moments, I will be more than happy.
What have you learnt?
We found out a few things about the world and how people get to the Otherside, but that just raised more questions. The one thing that really stood out to me was the accidental nature of the gates. Like the crazy combination of button presses in the elevator, the idea of walking through a gate at the right time and at the right angle was interesting. Odds on it would be incredibly unlikely that someone was walking through at that moment, but not impossible.
This opens up an endless array of possible ways to get to the Otherside. They are complicated enough that people aren’t just appearing there all the time, but the occasional person could accidentally open a gateway and disappear. There are still so many questions to be answered, but I can’t help but get excited about the way this show is developing.
Other reviews in the series
Anime
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Wiggle-Waggle Hunting
- Episode 2 – Surviving Lady Hasshaku
- Episode 3 – Big-Head Village
- Episode 4 – Space, Time, and a Middle-Aged Man
- Episode 5 – Station February
- Episode 6 – The Meat Train
- Episode 7 – Resort Night at the World’s Edge
- Episode 8 – Attack of the Ninja Cats
- Episode 9 – Mrs. Sannuki and Karateka
- Episode 10 – How to Get to the Barbeque Restaurant by Elevator
- Episode 11 – Operation Rescue U.S. Forces
- Episode 12 – Sorawo and Toriko
Manga
- Series Review
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The scary visuals of the monsters being described in its urban legend source have nailed the feeling of genuine scares. Because if I didn’t feel genuinely scared while watching this episode, it would’ve been another Mayoiga, a ridiculous & stupid horror series that’s not genuinely scary & unfortunately became a tasteless bad comedy show.
I didn’t watch Otherside Picnic as my seasonal watch probably because I wasn’t sure of the (main leader) anime studio Liden Films’ capabilities. They are either a hit or a miss when it comes to animation quality, but for this series, it’s a genuine hit to me despite the first episode being an okay start given I wasn’t sure why Toriko insisted on having Sorao on going to the Otherside.
As for Kozakura, she does have a lot of screentime in later episodes, but luckily her childish personality gets overshadowed by our main female leads moving the plot forward.
I’m at episode 6 at the moment and am absolutely loving it. It’s creepy and unsettling. I get chills as I put the reviews together and see the images again.
It was one the caught my attention and instantly made it onto my to-watch list. I’m glad I didn’t watch it seasonally as having to wait a week between episodes would have been horrible.
I assumed that Toriko didn’t want to go alone, especially after finding someone on the Otherside for the first time since her mentor went missing.
I did prefer Kozakura in the later episodes I’ve seen so far, so that’s good. I’m excited to finish this series, but also worried that I’ll miss it once I have.
The horror elements aren’t cringy, that’s for sure; thus having nailed me to get myself “embracing for emotional impact”, not to mention, the animation quality of the monsters are in good shape to me.
As for Toriko, I know she didn’t wanna go alone, but at that moment, I was wondering there has to be more than that. It turns out there was another reason why she kept on insisting for Sorao to come with her in a later episode.
Can’t spoil it here, but I can say that it really makes sense & once Sorao found out that reason, she starts to feel insecure & doubt how Toriko sees her if that reason didn’t exist from the beginning. Now that got me intrigued to find out how these two grow & maintain their relationship in amidst of that said reason.
I looked forward to getting to the bottom of things. It’s definitely been a good one to dive into and figure out how it works.