Insomniacs After School

Episode 3

While this episode stepped away from the idea that our main characters have insomnia, I appreciate how the specific nature of their circumstances naturally flows into the development of their current situation. Ganta and Isaki continue to use the observatory, the only place they feel comfortable enough to sleep due to their insomnia, by creating a proper club. They take photos of the sky and engage in astrology activities at night. While it's unfortunate that insomnia is barely brought up in this episode, it's nice to see Ganta and Isaki genuinely excited about something.

I like the introduction of Yui, who shares a similar sense of social distance to Ganta, albeit under less stressful circumstances. My favorite joke in the episode was when Ganta tried to call Yui out for being a loner. But he ended up projecting so hard that he felt hurt by every comment he made. Yui doesn't come off as a bad person at all; she's just someone who is used to being lonely but still craves a connection with people. I get the impression that the people she interacted with, like her former club members, weren't always on the same wavelength as her. It's cool to see her get excited about people who not only share the same busted sleep schedule as she probably does but also have a genuine interest in photography and astrology. I have a very similar camera to the one mentioned in this episode. While a lot of the insight into getting the camera to work was surface-level, it was still accurate, so kudos to the author for knowing how to get all that stuff to work as intended.

My only real complaint about this episode is that Isaki seemed to have been sidelined. It makes sense since the episode focused on introducing Yui and having Ganta step up as the club president. However, Isaki was given little to do as someone responsible for putting the club together. I appreciate her carefree attitude and whimsical nature, but I hope future developments will involve both Isaki and Ganta in a more balanced way.

Rating:

Insomniacs After School is currently streaming on HIDIVE.