We’re back with the second week of Yomu’s amazing collaboration and this week we have more fun themes to pick from. I decided to focus on scenes outside the art room thinking there’d only be a couple given I’ve been busier this week and then I watched the episode. Well, almost all of it takes place outside the art room. On the other hand, I enjoyed this episode significantly more than episode one so there’s a plus. Allow me now to walk you through This Art Club Has a Problem Episode 2: Scenes Outside of the Art Room.
We begin our episode with an exterior shot of the school (I assume) before we transition to a long corridor lined with windows and four girls walking side by side toward us.
In another story I might think this was some kind of show of power the way the girls spread themselves across the entire walkway but here with all the glass, reflections, and general drab colour going on in this scene, they mostly look tiny and insignificant. When we zoom in on their conversation in which one of Usami’s friends gives her a false horoscope, that impression is more of less confirmed.
As to why the corridor needs to be so long or we needed this long shot of the girls, I’m really not entirely certain.
There is a transition in between where we see what happens inside the art room, but our next external to the art room scene involves Usami reaching the end of that hallway, bidding her friends goodbye and then eyeing off the clearly acting suspiciously Uchimaki.
With no clue what has transpired inside the room Usami is puzzled by his behaviour but also impatient to get inside the room. The exchange between the two is therefore brief but it does yield this corridor shot where we realise that speaking characters are not the only people who exist in this school, and that every hallway is equally drab as the one we started in.
Again some stuff happens inside the art room but the outcome of that is we end up at some sort of exhibit where Uchimaki’s art work is on display as it has been awarded second place in some competition. Usami is annoyed that it got a place and Uchimaki is upset that it only got second. The President is just kind of there, an ongoing theme for his appearances.
What should be noted though is that the exhibit is as poorly attended as the school seems to be and equally drab in its choice of colour scheme.
And so ends the first of three stories that will be told in this episode.
The second story begins again with an exterior shot of Usami’s house (again, I guess) before we transition to seeing her in bed and discussing Uchimaki with her friend. We don’t get much of a view of the room though what we do see of it implies there’s a lot of books stacked about and that the bed is really too narrow for the two girls to be sharing it.
The friend ultimately manages to get Usami talking about why she likes Uchimaki and we go into an extended flashback of a mission the two went on to buy paint. How extended? Well the friend falls asleep before it is over. Kind of a shame really given it was a fairly good story.
The basic outline goes that Uchimaki used all the paint to produce waifus and so Usami and Uchimaki had to go buy paint supplies. Naturally, in anime world, that means Uchimaki carries all the supplies and complains about their weight despite there being only two fairly thin bags in his hands, and Usami makes dated comments about gender roles (okay, that might have been a little catty).
While they are walking we transition to a sunset scene, because why not, and then we get to the crux of the story. A mother beseeches them to find her missing child and the two set off on a search and rescue operation.
Actually, finding the child isn’t as difficult as convincing the child they are actually there to help her, not aided by a masked primary schooler who turns the conversation weird. Anyway, Uchimaki draws a picture of the girls mother to reassure her that they are going to help her find her mother and off they go. We transition back to Usami’s bedroom and the sleeping friend and so the second story ends.
The third and final story involves Usami turning down a confession while his senpai’s from the art club do the worst tree impersonations ever. I did like how they drew a tree in between Uchimaki and the girl who confessed as it really helped to make it clear there was a gap between them and that this was not going to be a successful confession.
While I am a little baffled as to how the girl didn’t notice the two hiding behind the bush, this scene was otherwise pretty straight forward, though I am curious as to the overall layout of the school and whether or not this takes place anywhere near the art room.
With that I’m done with episode 2 and I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour of scenes that are not in the art room. Remember to go to Yomu’s site to check out other entries or get on board and join in.
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“While I am a little baffled as to how the girl didn’t notice the two hiding behind the bush…”
I actually thought that was one of the more amusing bits of the whole episode XD
This episode was better than the first but I’m with you, this school is super lifeless. It has like, 10 students at most?
I get that we’re mostly seeing it after school hours when clubs are on, but surely there should be more students around.
It would certainly help lol.
Haha the school is indeed quite drab and lifeless.
If only they would consider my tips form episode 1.
Maybe the school will become more lively as the anime goes on? Somehow I doubt it though
They could spill red paint in the hallway instead of the art room. That might liven it up some.
OK, this is probably going to sound a little weird, but please bear with me: the hiding poorly in the bushes thing is such an overused trope (meme, whatever) that I’ve decided that the people hiding usually aren’t as badly hidden as shown. I think that part comes in as the animators try to make sure that we (1) notice them and (2) notice them HIDING. My working theory is that they (the anime making folks) are worried that we’ll pay so much attention to what’s actually happening that we might overlook these hidden characters were they too well (or at least, adequately) hidden. Yes, it’s partially for laughs, but also to scream at us “Notice this!” At least, that’s my take.
My theory is that the only anime characters with peripheral vision are clearly ninjas or assassins as everyone else can only see what is directly in front of them. Seriously, this trope is ridiculous.