Sakurada Reset: Episode 4 (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlexThis week’s latest episode of Sakurada Reset reveals the mystery surrounding the MacGuffin...sort of. It was a week of weak, almost closures mixed with action. Let’s jump right in. Missed my last review? Catch it here!Mirai Minami reveals to Asai that she went to the mountains to look for a vampire. Asai later learns from a phone call from Tsushima calls Kei that Minami was killed by a guy named Yoshi. Yoshi’s ability is that he can turn knowledge into nourishment and feed that off people. Apparently, Minami had a lot of information he wanted, and when he tried to take it from her, he fed too much. Minami died with that information.As Haruki and Asai discuss resetting to bring back Minami, they run into Murase. Murase tells them that she plans on killing them with her ability to disappear and recall objects. As she plans to land a killing blow on Asai, he asks her about the MacGuffin. This seems to distract her long enough for her ability to fade. Once it has faded, he has Haruki reset.Now experiencing July 13th for the third time, the pair meet with Tsushima to discuss what is going to happen with Minami and Murase. Asai also asks what a MacGuffin is, to which Tsushima responds that it is an object that can control all of the abilities in Sakurada. He also informs them that it’s just an urban legend.Asai and Haruki meet with Murase to test the waters and see if she still wants to kill them, and are met with amicability. Furthermore, Murase mentions she tasked them with saving her cat to see if their abilities were canceled out by hers, or vice versa. This reveals to Asai that Murase can remember things from two timelines ago, but not from the most recent one. The appearance of Tsushima interrupts his thoughts. He tells them that the MacGuffin has been stolen, and has been taken by Yoshi, also known as Hitsuchi-kun.As Asai and Murase search for Hitsuchi-kun, Murase talks of her plans to dismantle and rebuild the Bureau. She invites Asai to join her on her mission, and he tells her he’ll think about it. They arrive at Hitsuchi’s apartment, only for him to reveal that he does not have the MacGuffin, but knows who does. While Murase and Haruki wait outside, the two call Minami, who arrives with the MacGuffin. Murase attacks her for it and flees. As Haruki prepares to give chase, Asai tells her not to bother. Immediately after with Asai meeting Tsushima in the café. Tsushima reveals that he intentionally told Murase about the MacGuffin to see how she would react. He also tells Asai that Murase’s brother died a year ago and she felt that if the Bureau used abilities effectively, they could have saved him. For her injuring of another ability user, a severe punishment must be delivered. Asai tells Tsushima to send a message to Murase, telling her that he will join her in dismantling the Bureau and to meet him by the river.They meet on the morrow and through a confusing fight, Asai gets Murase to admit she had them reset to save Minami. This is done by Asai literally sticking his head through Murase’s hand and dying, only to be saved by a pre-recorded message telling Haruki to reset. The universe is reset and Murase agrees to be friends.This was an extremely confusing episode. I felt that the plot was all over the place, and I had to watch several scenes two or three times to fully understand what was happening. It felt like the producers weren’t sure what scenes to make important, so they didn’t put emphasis on any scene. In the final moments of the episode, Murase and Asai basically rush through their conversation. I understand that they’re battling, but the lines are said with such nonchalance, it’s almost like the producers want you to miss that something important is happening.Nicknames and formal names are also used interchangeably, which gets extremely confusing. Yoshi was mentioned both as his formal name, and as Hitsuchi-kun with no reason for the nickname. There also was no outcry from any characters over Yoshi killing Minami, which I found bizarre. It was just an all around weird episode. There was no discernible character development, and no breakthroughs for any of the characters. The animation and music was still great, but nothing really jumped out at me. The plot felt rushed and as if it didn’t understand what scenes were important. Hopefully the next episode is more put together.[yasr_multiset setid=11]