Sparks of Tomorrow ‒ Episode 7
With episode seven of Sparks of Tomorrow, the thematic potency that endeared me so much to the prior episode falls away and is replaced with character actions, motivations, and scenarios that feel nearly nonsensical to me. While the previous episode helped me accept that this show is dealing more in vibes than the structure of storytelling as a craft, and the lavishly animated chase sequence at least makes this episode entertaining, I need something more to grab onto than what Sparks of Tomorrow is giving me. While this episode's cliffhanger finale promises to finally reveal the relationship and motivations of nearly half of this ensemble cast, these characters have been too undefined in the story so far for me to really care about them.
This episode begins with a looming engagement ceremony between the foppish Yosuke Mizoe and the fifteen-year-old Inako (ew). A background anxiety for much of the main cast throughout the show so far, this episode largely follows Sasaki and Inako's escape from Inako's father and Yosuke to a neighboring community so they can meet with Kate's father who supposedly has the other half of the electrical catalogue. However, this escape sequence broke my, fairly generous, suspension of disbelief and made me feel more frustrated than excited for these characters.
This plan starts with Inako's sister subbing in for her sister at this betrothal ceremony and, even if she was doubled-over for the majority of the proceeding, I don't believe for a second that this ruse would by the main characters any amount of time considering Inako's sister is a foot and a half taller than her. Joining Yosuke in his pursuit of Sasaki and Inako is the physically capable soft-boi Kengo Kuga who nearly apprehends the youths when he manages to get onto their riverboat…but then he decides to support them instead when Sasaki reminds him (for like the fifth time now) of Sasaki's brother and Kengo's war buddy Seiroku.
I understand characters having a change of heart and their allegiances shifting as a result is an established narrative beat in fiction and a part of the human condition, but change of heart for Kengo fails to work as the emotional crux of this episode for a couple of reasons. The first is that this character is pretty poorly defined outside of his affection and allegiance to Inako's sister and his commitment to doing whatever he can to support her family. In a better written show, Kengo being a hyper effective tool that's utilized by shifting factions until he decides to start acting in accordance with his own beliefs and values would be inspirational, but in Sparks of Tomorrow it instead feels more like Kengo is just now starting to become a real character in the series.
This is due to the second problem with this narrative progression, this character development comes way too late and feels less than motivated. Kengo has been inspired by Sasaki previously in the show to an even greater degree, and it doesn't feel at all like the character reaches a tipping point and decides to ally himself with Sasaki in this episode. Instead, it just feels like the main tension in this episode had to resolve itself because the characters were written into a corner with no other means of progression.
Even if Sparks of Tomorrow can, on occasion, present its themes in an impactful way, it's clear after this episode that it cannot make me care about its characters and their underexplored and less-than-enhanced struggles.
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Lucas DeRuyter finds sparks of inspiration in all parts of his life, which would explain why his portfolio features such a broad array of interests and writing formats! To read what he's ruminating on more regularly, you can keep up with his regular contributions to ANN's This Week in Anime column.
Sparks of Tomorrow is currently streaming on Netflix.
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