REVIEW: ‘Let’s Make a Mug Too,’ Episode 11 — “I Want to Win a Prize Now”

Last time with the Pottery Club, Himeno worked towards completing her ceramic cushion. Only, she got a bit stuck on how to glaze her piece. However, thanks to the community surrounding her -namely, her friends in the Pottery Club- Himeno was able to decide on a glaze that best showcased her piece. Now, in Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11, the contest is in full swing. Will Himeno place? Let’s find out.

Episode 11, “I want to Win a Prize Now,” starts off with all of the memes of the Potter Club carpooling to the 41st Minoware Contest. Anxiety is in the air as the girls arrive with their pieces and get ready to showcase them. It’s quite a thrilling start to this peaceful series about crafting and definitely feels like we’re close to next week’s finale episode for sure.

Post-OP, Himeno is feeling quite relaxed about finishing the contest. That is until Nao reminds her that her cushion will be judged. Judged, because of course, this is a competition. Somehow, Himeno seems to have forgotten that. But, her relief is too great, and when she smells her father cooking some baked curry, she quickly forgets her woes, and chows down. It’s a cute scene, and leads to Himeno’s father developing a brand new curry for the shop: chazuke curry, which he plans to put in a bowl like the one Himeno made for him.

Then, things get weird, and we have another episode 8-esque sequence full of magical realism. While the sequence does connect to Himeno’s inner turmoil, it also feels… out of place. Out of place and strange, given this is one of the last episodes before Let’s Make a Mug Too ends. Thankfully, it doesn’t consume the entire 14-minute episode.

Naturally, things build up to Himeno and the Pottery Quartet heading to the Minoware contest. Himeno is, expectedly, quite anxious. A lot of Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11’s back half deals with her anxieties and keeps viewers in her head. In the end, we’re left on a cliffhanger, in large part because this is the second to last episode. It’s to be expected and certainly has me curious for next week’s finale.

Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11’s live-action focuses on making curry, which kind of perfectly matches the animated episode. Also, the voice actors will finally get to “meet” the plates they made over the past few episodes. It’s actually a quite heartwarming segment, especially in a time where it’s still quite hard to meet and break bread together. Seeing the voice actors enjoy a really delicious meal that they made together is lovely. I think, to some degree, I’ll actually miss the live-action segments more than I’ll miss the show itself.

Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11 is… interesting. It has some tension, but honestly, doesn’t feel like one of the last episodes in this series. I’m fairly sure that, at this point, this will be all fans get for Let’s Make a Mug Too. For this episode to be so weak feels like a waste. And it really is a shame because most of Let’s Make a Mug Too has been quite good.

That’s not to say that Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11 is bad: it’s just not very focused on the actual contest. Instead, it revisits Himeno’s anxieties in a way that feels like treading old ground. And that ground gets trodden on so often that it kind of diminishes the growth Himeno’s experienced all throughout Let’s Make a Mug Too. Then again, I suppose part of putting your heart into artwork is feeling vulnerable. Perhaps I should be a bit more generous: maybe all of us viewers should be.

Critique aside, I still largely enjoyed Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11. It was nice to see so much pottery from the club members. It was also interesting to see Touka thrown off her game as well. Thus far, she’s been the voice of reason and the most responsible of the girls. Seeing her get a bit of dimension feels really good, even though it’s coming right near the end. All together, Let’s Make a Mug Episode 11 gives me hope for a pretty satisfying finale. I don’t think it’ll be the best of the Spring 2021 season, but I do think it’ll be pretty enjoyable.

Let’s Make a Mug Too is now streaming on Crunchyroll.