I mentioned this in passing a couple of weeks ago, and this episode really drove it home - I think the overall theme of this series is “earn your iyashikei.”
It is an iyashikei in the long run - it’s comfy and soothing and heart-warming. But none of it’s just handed out for free. You (and Yachiyo) have to work for it.
The hunt for a replacement part got genuinely scary for a bit there, and then the way she finally found it was sad and touching and beautiful.
I really love this series, and I suspect it’s going to remain a sentimental favorite for years to come.
Her whole journey I was preparing myself for the worst. Then, just when I am finally feeling ok, she hits me with that line. For an episode that had remarkably few spoken lines of dialog, that was an effective one.
Done!
I do wonder about the whole parts-compatibility issue. There’s a tendency when you’re constructing an electronic device today to standardize on common hardware and interfaces as much as possible, because it makes manufacturing cheaper. I would have expected the male and female humanoid-hotelier-bots, at minimum, to be distinguished only by cosmetics and programming, not functional hardware. I suppose the parts from the bots in the robot graveyard could have been damaged by improper storage, but still . . .
(Also, I was suspicious of that “horse” from the beginning, because equine facial marking Just Don’t Look Like That.)
A trojan, if you will
That was really nice
I just caught up and this show has been an absolute gem.
