***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for
Sweetness and Lightning. Reader discretion is advised. ***
Series Synopsis
Kohei Inzuka (voiced by
Yuichi Nakamura), a high school teacher, recently lost his wife and takes care of his daughter, Tsumugi (voiced by Rina Endo) by himself. Juggling work and being there for his little girl, Kohei is doing
his best, but he can’t do everything. The two live off boxed lunches and microwavable meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Kohei wants to give Tsumugi the best at all times, but he doesn’t have the cooking skills to achieve that ideal. Then one day he and Tsumugi find their
way to a small restaurant run by the family of one of his students,
Kotori Iida (voiced by Saori Hayami).
Kotori has been feeling lonely lately and would love it if she found a few people to spend time with. Despite not being that good of a cook herself, she's thrilled
when Tsumugi enjoys her cooking. She opens the restaurant’s kitchen to the pair and the three try their hands at a wide
variety of dishes.
Perhaps a little unorthodox,
Kohei, Tsumugi, and Kotori become like a family. Together they help one another
fill the holes that have formed in their hearts.
Series Positives
Ask me, just go ahead and ask
me why I was looking forward to this one. Everything, absolutely everything I
saw about this series looked adorable. And you know what, it was.
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| Kohei |
Sweetness and Lightning was fantastic. I can't think of another
anime were two lead characters were a father/daughter duo. Few come to mind and if anything, this show felt like a
prequel of sorts.
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| Tsumugi |
Had the series
continued a few years down the line, Tsumugi would've become the lead
in her own story. I know for a fact I’ve never thought of a show in these terms
before. So, Sweetness and
Lightning was in a territory I haven’t seen in anime form.
The Characters
The benefits of having a
small cast shine with this one. Many characters come and go
throughout the series, but the focus was on our main group of three.
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| Kotori |
You can add Kotori's friend, Shinobu
Kojika (voiced by Haruka Tomatsu), and Kohei's friend, Yusuke Yagi (voiced by Tomokazu Seki), as well. The chemistry between these two alone was enough to fill a show of their
own. Yet the story’s take on Kohei, Tsumugi, and
Kotori was fascinating.
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| From left to right: Shinobu, Yusuke, Tsumugi, Kotori |
As high school
characters go, Kotori is one of my favorites. I saw a lot of myself in her. The way she led her high school life was relatable. She preferred her solitude, but wasn’t anti-social. Kotori didn’t
mind or even shy away from public situations. Yet, if given the choice, she
would slide off to the side and do her own thing. Sweetness and Lightning did a great job with a character who
would rather be alone, but still got lonely. The two states are not synonymous.
Kotori had support she
could turn to in case she needed someone to be there. When one of those main
pillars became…unreliable is a harsh word but we'll go with it, it shook her up. Katori being heavy handed in trying to get Kohei and Tsumugi to
join her for dinner I didn’t think it was that weird. She hit a limit and an opportunity presented itself. I can’t say I ever went
as far as she did, but when I found an outlet to stave off my own loneliness, I was
pretty gung-ho about it.
For Kohei, if I found myself in his situation, I would turn out the same. Spouses
have passed away many times in countless anime. And I’m only referring to other shows in
the slice-of-life genre. The difference, in most other series a few years have gone by since the loss. Here it was fresh, to the point where it can't classify as a memory; Kohei was dealing with it.
How Kohei coped with it was when the show was its best because it irked at the heart.
Kohei's a good father and when his wife was alive, I’m sure they made a great
team. Now he has to perform all the parental roles even though he wasn't experienced in his initial ones. He made mistakes that got out of hand more times than they should have. On top of that, he still had to deal with the
grief of losing his beloved. He didn’t have the luxury of curling up in a corner. He had to be a dad to his daughter who was go through the same difficulties.
That brings me to
Tsumugi. She was cute, she was so f@#$ing cute. From her first words of the
series, I saw her as a daughter. It didn’t matter who she was with. Tsumugi had
the ability to make people fall in love with her. I though her
relationship with both Shinobu and Yusuke was interesting. For all intents and purposes, they
were an aunt and uncle to her. Kind of interesting since Shinobu and Kotori
were the same age and Kotori was more of a big
sister.
The best thing about Tsumugi,
she was a well-behaved kid, but she was still a kid. If parents
had a child like her, their jobs would be a hell of lot easier. Yet it wouldn't be a cake walk either. No matter how good a child may be, children get
into trouble and cause mischief. Their sense of what’s a good idea and
what’s not isn’t a thing which exists. Tsumugi was no different. She might have
been an angel most of the time, but she did complain, whine, and times was a
little bratty. It was great not seeing the perfect child and it made her character far more f@#$ing interesting.
Also, Rina Endo, the voice
actress for Tsumugi, was ten at the time of this show’s release. She gave a phenomenal
performance.
Having three lead characters with a lot going on, Sweetness
and Lightning was an fun watch. In reality thought, they were only cooking dinner. How the three helped each other grow gave this
series a special brand of charm. The problems and dilemmas of the show were as mundane as you could get. But, they were occurring during a volatile time for everybody.
To put it another way, these characters
found each other at the right time.
Series Negatives
This is another case
of me not having anything to say. I thought this show was good. So as I usually do in these
moments, here’s a list of things I would have like to have seen happen.
A list of one really.
Kohei, Tsumugi, and Kotori
worked as a team, I’ve gone over that. If fact, lets add Shinobu
and Yusuke as well. When it was these five, Sweetness and Lightning was at its
funniest and best. So, it was kind of a shame that the only space they ever
seemed to occupy together was in the restaurant.
There were other locations
and characters did meet up in a variety of different places. However, all five
together were never outside the restaurant. They didn’t have to go on grand
adventures, but they could have met up somewhere else.
For example, Kotori’s school had a cultural festival. Kohei worked there and Shinobu was a student, so of course they showed up. But why didn’t Tsumugi. Yeah there was daycare
and all, yet I can’t imagine it wouldn't have been hard to pull her out for a day. Hell Yusuke could have taken the day off work to watch over
Tsumugi as he sometimes did. And there you have it, all five characters in a new place.
Being grounded enough, Sweetness and Lightning could have taken a few liberties. But again, what this show did and how it decided to do it was brilliant.
Final Thoughts
I came here for the cuteness
and I got it. Plus, the fact that an awesome show came with was a nice little
bonus.
Sweetness and Lightning was strong from beginning to end. There was a lot
going on, but it never bogged itself down. It had an amazing cast of characters
that were complex and had different sides to them. The writing was funny, the
scenarios were charming, and many of the situations were down to Earth and
relatable.
A-plus all around. This is
a series that's worth watching and one that's certainly hard to put
down.
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