Maya wants to start an anime club at school — partly because she loves anime, partly because she has a crush on Gabe, and mostly because she’s trying to process the recent death of her Japanese grandfather, Ojichan. Anna supports her (while also trying to seem cool). The club pitch goes predictably badly. But the emotional core? Maya listening over and over to an old voicemail of Ojichan saying “I love you” in Japanese.
The way this episode went from “let’s make an anime club” to me sobbing in 22 minutes… 😭📼
1/6 This episode starts with Maya trying to start an anime club to impress a boy. Ends with me weeping into my cereal. PEN15 - Season 1- Episode 3
🎧 Best moment: Maya alone, listening to the answering machine message from Ojichan over and over. 💔 Most cringe: Trying to turn grief into a school club pitch.
One of the most underrated episodes of the season. It’s PEN15 at its best: raunchy and silly one minute, quietly shattering the next. Maya wants to start an anime club at
4/6 Also: the scene where Maya imagines Ojichan as an anime mentor while she fights a shadow monster? Brilliant visual metaphor for grief.
2/6 The way Maya replays her dead grandfather’s voicemail — “Ojichan loves you” — is maybe the most devastating 10 seconds of TV that year. But the emotional core
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (if you’ve ever lost someone and pretended you were fine)
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