Turkey!-Time to Strike

Hilariously enough, this week, the girls learn about climate change and gravity. Right off the bat: yes, it’s true that Sengoku Japan had cooler climates—sometimes referred to as Japan’s “little ice age.” It lasted for several centuries and is often considered to be a key component of several famines. I’m honestly a bit shocked at how easy it was to look into this, because as you can probably imagine, studying historical climate and weather patterns is often rife with discourse that doesn’t always come from a terribly sensible place. This goes double for periods as far back as this one, where methods of measuring or recording the weather were a lot less formal, and it’s not unusual for surviving sources to not go into much—if any—detail beyond, for example, how many damaged roofs they saw in the aftermath of a storm.

But getting back on track. Since it seems like a fool’s errand to wait for another storm, the girls have decided to take matters into their own hands by… actually, let me back up. Even though she attempted to explain herself, I’m still not sure I entirely follow Nanase’s logic. And I think that’s the point, but still, it doesn’t make it any less confusing. Essentially, Nanase is just hoping that if they throw the ball off the cliff, a miracle will happen… just because? Again: it makes no sense, but I think that’s the point. But alas, that old bully gravity is at it again, keeping those pesky, heavy bowling balls on the ground and not inexplicably taxiing them a few centuries into the future. Life is, indeed, cruel.

By the way, this show could’ve used any excuse as to why they couldn’t use Mai’s ball. Nozomi could’ve just offered up hers first, and Mai wouldn’t have to make an excuse in the first place. But, “it’s my dead parent’s ball” just feels so out of pocket that I can’t help but find it funny. The fact that she was so casual about saying this only adds to it, as though she were, well, telling you about the weather. It’s jarring in a way that, to be fair, suits Turkey!. Hints have been dropped about something like this, and even now it’s not detailed, so I guess it’s not entirely as out-of-left-field as “hey this is a time travel anime actually,” but still. This moment was right up there with, “I’m not listening” [Nozomi’s disembodied voice]: “But I was listening.” as the funniest of the episode, for sure.

But anyway, we got a more Nozomi-centric episode this week—the first since this show began. Up until now, she hasn’t made a mark on the show, so it was nice seeing her get some time to shine. The same can be said for Anzu, who, up until now, has been nothing but hostile to the girls. But as it turns out, she has a softer side—and an understandable curiosity about smartphones.

I recently talked about how, despite the girls being super concerned about butterfly effects early on in the series, as time goes on, they’ve been more lax about it. And this episode was nothing but butterfly effect-bait. And as I also said before, episodes like this one confirm that I think this is likely. I don’t think those warnings were pointless, and we’re going to see some payoff for it by the end of the series. Whether or not it’ll be played seriously or as a joke is another matter, but I can’t imagine Anzu getting a battery-draining amount of screen time without an impact.

But speaking of impacts, Nozomi was the one who left the biggest one this week—and not just because she fell down a cliff. I know it’s tempting to want to say she has a bit of a selfish streak, but I don’t think that’s quite right. I think it’s more accurate to say that she has a firm sense of self-preservation in a group of friends where that isn’t exactly the norm. Which isn’t to say I think that in different circumstances they’d all be sending in their audition reels for Jackass, just that the others have different priorities. Still, Nozomi didn’t let that stop her from helping Anzu, even if it meant putting her physical well-being into jeopardy. It was sweet, and I hope this means that we’ll be seeing a different side of Anzu as the series goes on.

Relative to others, this felt like a less substantial episode this week. Still, especially considering Nanase’s fanciful idea this week, I’m curious to see what manner of isekai light novel-esque solution she’s going to try out next week. At nearly the halfway point, this is one of the shows I’m enjoying more this season, which is a pretty big accomplishment. If you’ve heard one thing about this season of anime, it’s that it’s stacked with shows destined to become massive hits—if they’re not already proving to be just that. So that Turkey! is managing to hold its own against these heavy hitters, I’d say, is a pretty big deal, and a huge point in its favor.

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Turkey!-Time to Strike- is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.