Sakurada Reset: Episodes 5-6 (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlexI’m back with not one, but two episodes of Sakurada Reset! Without further ado, let’s jump into the mysteries surrounding Sakurada. Missed my last review? Catch it here!Episodes 5 and 6 of Sakurada Reset deal with past incidents that come back to affect the present residents of Sakurada. More specifically, Kei and Haruki. We see Kei and Haruki submit their application for their Service Club. We also see them solve one of their first cases, which is helping a fellow classmate who is trapped in a marble. Their classmate – Sewako Sera – is a stickler for rules and obsessed with pure things. Her ability is to enter reflective objects, such as mirrors – or in this case – marbles. The problem is that she has only activated her ability a couple of times, and always on accident.Her purity obsession began in elementary school when her teacher told her to close her eyes and picture her pure object. This act of mindfulness has stuck with Sera all these years, and has resulted in her doing everything to maintain her purity. The day she lost herself in the marble is the day she decided to break the rules and skip the entrance ceremony; to live a little. This caused her to believe she lost her pure object, which triggered her ability.Once Kei figures this out, he has Haruki reset. As Sera restarts her entrance ceremony day in a similar fashion, Kei intercepts her. He convinces her to eat a piece of candy, despite the fact that it is against the rules. Sera acquiesces and cries, fearing she has lost her pure object. After Kei tells her that she hasn’t broken any school rules (which he is also a stickler for), Sera is immediately relieved.Back in the past   , we see Kei traveling to Sakurada on a train. While on the train, a stranger sits next to him, then tells him he has a phone call. Kei answers the phone, and speaks to a Witch. The Witch warns him not to get off at Sakurada.In present day, Kei meets with a man named Sasano, who has the ability to enter photographs and relive the past. This ability was stolen from him by an unknown girl with red eyes, and he seeks the MacGuffin in a hope to regain his ability. With the help of his Hitsuchi, Kei learns that Sasano founded The Bureau.Tsushima warns Kei that he and Haruki are to meet a high-up official at the Bureau. While there, Kei finally meets the Witch, who apologizes to him for calling him all those years ago.  She tells Kei that her ability is to observe the future of people, which makes her especially useful to the Bureau.The Witch also reveals to Kei that she is going to die soon; a revelation that ends up going nowhere.As Kei leaves the room and building, her crosses paths with a girl with red eyes. Her name is Eri Oka, and she and Kei have known each other for years. After telling Kei she took away Sasano’s ability because he’s a villain, she reveals she has more planned. First, she is going to steal the MacGuffin from Kei. Second, she’s going to take away Haruki’s reset ability. All because she hates Kei.Episode 6 is part one of a three-part saga, which is good because I would be less forgiving if it wasn’t. This episode felt extremely disjointed and left things unsolved in a sloppy way. The reveal of Oka and the Witch’s anticipated demise felt shoe-horned into the plot and rushed, and left me with a bad taste. It differed greatly from the previous episode, which wrapped up so well with Sera’s relief. I’m hoping that parts two and three of this saga wrap up just as nicely.[yasr_multiset setid=11]