Sparks of Tomorrow

Episode 5

Nice try Sparks of Tomorrow, but shoehorning a baby-queer romance into your story isn't enough to make me forgive the shortcomings in this episode's story structure and conceit. While the first three episodes of this show had an interconnected narrative, Sparks of Tomorrow episode five and the previous episode are establishing a pattern where a new piece of electrical technology is used to solve the problems of people living in steampunk Kyoto. While there's a lot of potential and room for creative expression in this premise, it's clear now that this show does not have the character writing chops to effectively execute this setup.

Beginning with a cold open of a twenty-something-year-old man spying on a bunch of fifteen-ish-year-old girls (ew), this episode's OP focuses on the blonde-haired and blue-eyed Kate Okura's immigration to Japan, the awkward isolation she first felt when she arrived, and how making friends with Inako and pseudo-ninja girl Suzu Harashima helped her settle in. In fact, it's even implied that there might be something more than friendship going on between Kate and Suzu…but this episode doesn't have time to explore more of what's set to be the central relationship! No, instead half the OP is dedicated to the foppish Yosuke Mizoe hating the responsibilities tied to his aristocratic station and making the drive over to Kihachi's shop as the episode begins with him being thrown out by security.

Why the team at Kyoto Animation working on Sparks of Tomorrow chose to pivot away from the central characters of this episode to the largely unimportant to this episode is beyond me, but this misplaced focus goes on to define much of this episode. The adult man who was spying on these teenagers (ew, again) is a college student who's in love with Suzu and wants to use an electrical love tester that Kihachi invented to see if Suzu feels the same way about him. After testing the device on various pairs of characters to what's supposed to be humorous results, this teenager rejects this adult man's public love confession. The episode ends with Kate and Suzu having snacks on a bridge together at sunset and, while the scene is cute, I'm fairly disappointed that there's no acknowledgement of the burgeoning romantic relationship between these characters. I wouldn't go so far as to accuse this episode of queerbaiting, but I'm going to be really disappointed if we don't at least see Kate and Suzu's developing relationship turn into a recurring subplot as the anime progresses.

Also, this episode is a great summary of why I don't really care for genres that are broadly considered science-fantasy. The actual invention of electrical power and its proliferation throughout the world is an interesting enough story by itself without the addition of fake technology like a machine that makes you express your true feelings for another person thrown into the mix. Sparks of Tomorrow doesn't recognize what actually makes its characters interesting or trust its own premise to be appealing, and is rapidly becoming a slog to watch week after week.

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Lucas DeRuyter finds sparks of inspiration in all parts of his life, which would explain why his portfolio features such a broad array of interests and writing formats! To read what he's ruminating on more regularly, you can keep up with his regular contributions to ANN's This Week in Anime column.

Sparks of Tomorrow is currently streaming on Netflix.