Episode Type: Beach Party!

I have noticed that are many common themes that run through different anime series. They vary from food, school, field trips, festivals, and a lot of other experiences life has to offer. Or, what is frequently cyclical in Japanese culture. You can find the same patterns in American TV shows too, i.e. prom and other uniquely American situations.

We're on the verge of the summer. It's so close we can taste it. Luckily for me, I'm in California and in about 45 minutes, official California distance measuring units, I can taste the salt in the air. What I'm getting at is the beach episode. Just about every series has a beach episode in there somewhere. Here are a few that I remember:

Bleach: As often with the beach episode, it is a shameless attempt at fan service. This episode was in the same genre. I remember something about one bikini clad character showing the other how to make a bucket with their large chesticles. Insert some giggling and Ichigo sighing as he rolls his eyes and we have the episode in a nutshell. Not my favorite Bleach episode, but it was... I don't know. A relief between fighting? I think that was the point... and bikinis. I think bikinis was definitely the other point.

Outlaw Star: This one kind of falls into the category of hot springs, but it's all the same.
Characters - Clothing = Beach Episode
It was a pretty funny episode with Gene Starwind collecting caster shells from two male priests for exchange of scandalous pictures of the third female priestess. If you don't remember what the caster shells are, they're like magic bullets with different spells 'cast' on them. It takes a special gun to fire them [insert tutorial on making your own caster gun!]. It never aired on American TV because of nudity and other such, but you can see it on DVD. Nakie people or not, it was just fun to watch.

Anti-Beach Day Evangelion: Magma Diver: I would call this an anit-beach episode. While all the other students went on an Okinawa beach trip, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei are all stuck back at NERV HQ. But Asuka doesn't waste the opportunity to wear her risque (for 14 year old) bathing suit. There is a lot more swimming in this episode than most. We get to see them hang out at NERV's lap pool... That you never see them hang out at again. As Shinji catches up on homework, we learn that Asuka is a physics genius. As always, they are interrupted by an Angel and Unit 02 get's a volcanic dive suit. Plopped down into the belly of a volcano, Asuka and Unit 02 'thermally expand' the Angel, and a hand from Shinji, they save the day! Huzzah! What a great anti-beach day, huh? Relaxation, stressful interruption, getting dropped in a VOLCANO!, imminent doom via 3rd impact, and victory. All in a day's work, right?

Genshiken: I love this series. Unless you're really into anime, this one gets buried in the background of flying robots, huge... body parts, and shojo romances. It is basically a bunch of otaku, nerdy anime kids living out their college years. They make reference to just about every anime on the block just like nerdy anime people do. (Wow sweetie! Your hair looks just like Rukia!) Their beach episode was spent with them analyzing all of the anime that had a beach episode. They threw in some spice with the nerdy obsession to keep pale, but that subsided to fun in the sun and all that. They also talked about the fan service issue as the guys looked at their female compatriots. It was a really great mix of fun and references.

Take the total activities in these episodes and put them together and we have the Beach Episode archetype! Yay beaches!

If you have any beach favorite episodes, feel free to leave a comment!