Akebi’s Sailor Uniform episode 4 sees Akebi be the star of her classmate’s photos. While being in front of the camera, she struggles to prevent herself from getting embarrassed. Let’s talk about Akebi’s adventures in school in a spoiler-filled discussion!
Tanigawa’s model
In Akebi’s Sailor Uniform episode 4, Akebi is asked by Tanigawa to be her model for pictures. It’s a neat way of developing Tanigawa’s aspirations in the photography club. Needless to say, Akebi is thrilled to be asked and is highly enthusiastic about the whole thing. The issue that arises is that Akebi doesn’t really know how to be a model, and Tanigawa can’t quite capture the version of Akebi that’s in her mind.
Akebi tries to pose for photos, and while she’s as pretty as always, she laments that she feels kinda stiff. Tanigawa takes pictures of her throughout, but can’t quite find one she’s happy with. This sets up the “conflict” of the episode and contrasts nicely with the previous episode, where Akebi’s near-perfection is higlighted. Many of her flaws are seen here, and ultimately serve the character really well. It fleshes her out quite effectively and makes her far more sympathetic.
Touko’s baking skills
This episode also fleshed out Touko’s character significantly. After accidentally muddying Akebi’s clothes, she invites her and Tanigawa back to her dorm to get them clean. In the meantime, she demonstrates her amazing baking skills by serving them delicious cookies.
The girls are amazed by the desserts served. Touko explains that she had never taken an interest in baking, but felt that providing people with baked goods would serve her reputation well. This, coupled with the fact that Touko clearly has some skills in the field of baseball, rounds out her character and creates a very competent impression of her.
Touko is the latest girl to get a true fleshing out in Akebi’s Sailor Uniform so far, and adds yet another character that feels interesting and real to this story. It’s really nice to see, and again, plays to the show’s strengths.
Akebi is not perfect
One thing that Akebi’s Sailor Uniform episode 4 really highlights is how flawed Akebi really is. Almost to contrast the amount of perfection she exuded in the previous episode, this time around, we see Akebi having to deal with many mishaps. She’s awkward and unnatural when she tries to be a model, she’s embarrassed by the holes in her socks, she makes a disaster out of the crêpes she makes, and lets out an awkward burp in front of everyone.
All of these really serve to make Akebi a far more charming and endearing character. Like Touko says in the episode, it’s almost a relief to see that she’s not perfect. When it comes to character building, establishing flaws in a character is just as important as establishing strengths. To see Akebi fail in some aspects while still retaining all her best qualities strengthens the quality of this character, and makes the story far more rich.
Ultimately, this idea is hammered home toward the end of the episode, when Tanigawa takes pictures of Akebi, flustered and living in the moment, and says that this is the Akebi that she sees in her mind. It shows that Akebi really isn’t defined only by the things she’s good at, but is defined by all the little moments that make her feel human.
You can watch Akebi’s Sailor Uniform on Funimation and Crunchyroll. Episode 5 will air on February 6th, 2022.
©博／集英社・「明日ちゃんのセーラー服」製作委員会
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