Episode 18: The Big Fish is Huge, Baby!

I admire the amount of creativity Space Dandy has put into this episode! Initially I thought Masaaki Yuasa directed this, it looks so much like his animation.  I was entirely wrong here- ended up being  Kiyotaka Oshiyama.  This guy has done a ton of stuff in the animation department for Space Dandy, I can clearly see now how his vision works with this show.  This episode was great- and very different!

Watanabe must have some kind of passion for fishing because this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the crew of Aloha Oe embark on a sailing journey with poles and lure.  The character designs look so much like Miyazaki’s, it was enthralling to see!  Erssime’s eyes were right out of one of his films and her personality was genuinely compassionate for all things unusual.

Oshiyama did an amazing job at producing a cozy story and and artwork for this episode!  Would have been even more appealing to see where the other villagers lived on this oddly-designed planet.  This single episode improved the overall quality of Space Dandy.  Collectively this show has been about Dandy finding rare aliens and getting money yet over the course of the adventures its not even about that- more consideration is poured into its side-cast.  This reminded me a lot of a Mushishi episode- how there is this mystical  atmosphere that draws you in with the backgrounds and its people.  It would be awesome to see Nagahama and ARTLAND do an episode for this series.

Erssime a young whimsical and energetic girl believes the stories she’s told that here is where we see craves adventure.  L’Delise is a crotchety aged-man with values and morals of a long-forgotten past and set of traditions- which is why he probably holds the legend of the Munagi so tightly.  It’s incredible how much this one episode pays tribute to Daniel Wallace’s book, Big Fish- adding in a quaint spin on a mythical story.  Did anyone notice how the tracks they chose here and the order in which they were played were very similar to Episode 5?  Interesting.  An hour-long feature of this story would have been very pleasing to see.  Space Dandy is getting better and better in its second half!

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 10/10

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