URAHARA Episode 7: Three-Person Friendship To Go

The end of the previous episode of URAHARA dropped quite the revelation – in episode 7, we see how Rito, Mari and Kotoko react to that.

Misa reveals the truth about herself

The episode begins with Misa revealing to Rito, Mari and Kotoko they they have evolved part humanity – they are becoming Scoopers. Misa herself is actually a Scooper, and the girls have been caught up in a plot to take Scoopers that are creative back to their home planet.

Mari is worried that they might be losing their creativity due to becoming Scoopers

As you can probably imagine, Rito and the others are pretty despondent after hearing what Misa had to say to them. They return to Park, but depression hangs heavy in the air.

Kotoko suggest that they aren’t any different from the Scoopers

The girls feel like perhaps they have only just been copying things, rather than being creative. This causes a rift between the three of them, and Mari runs off. Whilst she is alone, Mari checks her phone and sees that the number of her followers is decreasing.

Rito stops by Sayumi’s place

Rito and Kotoko head out to look for Mari. Rito stops by Sayumi’s place, where Sayumi once again helps to reassure her. She gives Rito some sakuramochi. Sayumi uses that to demonstrate that being different is perfectly fine, and that Rito should tell Mari and Kotoko how she really feels.

Sayumi prepares on ‘three-person friendship to go’.

With the sakuramochi in hand, Rito departs in order to try and find Mari and Kotoko. Naturally, both Mari and Kotoko are still having a hard time of it.

A young Kotoko shows off one of her inventions

Kotoko recalls how she was isolated when she was younger, as we have seen before. However, earlier on Ebifurya promised her a spring break that would never end, and Kotoko is very keen to spend forever with Rito and Mari…

A young Mari shows off her dance moves

Mari is still concerned with her followers, the number of which has dropped to zero by this point. Earlier Kotoko said that she just copied others when it came to dancing, and it seems that has had quite a negative effect on her. Frustrated, she throws her phone aside.
As these things tend to go, the Scoopers descend upon Harajuku once more. The girls are separated, and Mari and Kotoko aren’t exactly in their right mind at the moment…
Rito attempts to deploy the Urahara, but she isn’t strong enough to do it alone.

Mari revels in the attention she gets for saving innocent people

With the city unprotected, the civilians are at risk. However, Mari absolutely loves the attention she gets from them when she saves them, so she happily blasts every last Scooper she comes across.
Eventually, Rito is able to catch up to both Mari and Kotoko, and the sight she stumbles upon shocks her.

Both Mari and Kotoko feverishly eat the sweets that the defeated Scoopers become

Eating the sweets left by defeated Scoopers seems to be the very reason the girls are turning into Scoopers, and Rito discovers Mari and Kotoko stuffing their faces.

That is where the episode ends, and I’m starting to get the feeling that the flash forward we witnessed in the first episode wasn’t exactly how it appeared. Thanks to Sayumi, Rito has retained her sense of self – perhaps she will do something drastic to get Mari and Kotoko back to normal.

The suspicions that everyone has had about Misa since the beginning have pretty much been confirmed. I doubt this comes as a surprise to anyone, particularly as there have been several hints as well.
Still, though we had our suspicions about her, we didn’t know what she intended to do. Her plan has been revealed here, though it may be more accurate to call it Ebifurya’s plan…
She is also still wearing that ring she created with the beads, and I can’t help but wonder if that will be important later on.

With this episode, I feel that the second half of URAHARA could potentially be better than the first – particularly as we have now got something resembling a plot with the whole turning into Scoopers thing – as opposed to a Scooper of the week thing. I don’t know how (or even if) they’ll overcome it, but I am pretty keen to see what happens next.