Sarazanmai Episode 6 Discussion

In the Ishikawa and Kochi Prefectures, they are said to be a type of kappa, and there are stories told about how they engage in sumo with otters. In places like the Hokuriku region, Kii, and Shikoku, the otters are seen as a type of kappa. In the Kagakushū, a dictionary from the Muromachi period, an otter that grew old becomes a kappa

Sarazanmai has coded desire to water imagery. What does that mean? Water’s notoriously all over the stock footage; weaponized during the singing, exploding all over after the kappa zombies are defeated, and again dominating the screen during the connection sequence. Perhaps most importantly, it appears in key moments during the cryptic Reo and Mabu dance. Haruka is now the living proof that when the otter machinery tries to process love it gets rejected by the system, but on a nearly weekly basis we see what happens when desire gets dropped into it: a huge water splash, forming a crown – perhaps a reference to Black Keppi’s royalty status. And speaking of the d-d-d-darkness devil himself, we saw him burst out in a desire malfunction within a room flowing with water. In the Reo and Mabu sequence, it’s the one cut with Black Keppi in the background that’s entirely underwater as well.