REVIEW: ‘Insomniacs After School,’ Episode 5 — “Canopus”

Despite a few episodes where their photography hobby and astronomy club took precedence, Insomniacs After School is still at its best when it focuses on the two leads and what tethers them together. Namely, their chronic sleeplessness. In Insomniacs After School Episode 5, the series returns to that thread and the effect is immediate.

No doubt the series would run out of material if it didn’t engage with outside narrative beats and on the whole, it could afford to begin fleshing out supporting characters who actually attend school with Ganta (Gen Satō) and Isaki ’s (Konomi Tamura). However, for now, giving Ganta in particular the spotlight and the ongoing struggle to sleep and the stress that it causes allows us greater insight into a character as his peers continue to perceive him as standoffish.

He admits to Isaki later, in a moment of honesty, that he struggles in lighthearted games. He doesn’t expand on the revelation, but those watching can piece together the why’s as we watch him endure at least two nights in a row with no sleep. It’s difficult to enjoy the easy things when something that’s supposed to be the easiest of all eludes you. Food doesn’t taste the same and laughs don’t come easy for those suffering from insomnia. Everything is dulled by the wave of restless exhaustion, something that Insomniacs After School Episode 5 does a fine job of capturing.

With the class off on a camping trip (a hellish scenario to begin with), they’ve also been deprived of their phones, meant to immerse themselves in nature and fully take part in the class assignments. Ganta doesn’t even speak for most of the first portion of the episode, as we watch him suffer through interruptions as he tries to block out the noise while on the bus, to his volatile expression as he silently hopes his tent mates leave, to the full body recoil he’s drawn with to show his utter frustration when someone’s snore jolts him into full wakefulness. “Canopus” is an exercise in detailed animation that captures the distress Ganta is feeling and then the near delirious state of mind he lands in towards the end. His facial expressions for a large part of the episode are either shadowed or lined to show his exhaustion askew as he tries to keep his head afloat.

The episode’s narrative is simplistic but it helps elevate the characters by giving them time alone to confess to one another that they sleep better when they’re sharing space. So when they curl into one another at the end of the night, beginning hours of the morning, having shared a laugh and indulged in a hobby, the moment shines just like the stars reflected in the ocean they stare in awe of.

For a show so captivated by night skies, it’s a wonder that some of the most stunning animation takes place at daybreak, the skies clear from the rainy days behind them. Golden hues and the sensation of the ocean breeze overwhelm the screen as they rush back to where they’re camping with their classmates. It’s the second time this week that an anime has used the weather as a means to demonstrate a shift in a pairings relationship, with Skip and Loafer Episode 6 having a similar sequence where the sun breaks from the clouds after they’ve found closure. Ganta and Isaki still have profound troubles ahead of them, their sleep disorders won’t just disappear after a few hours of rest. But visually, it implies that this new day they’re racing towards might at the very least be better than the rainy one before it.

Insomniacs After School Episode 5 continues its slow-burn pace in developing characters and their dynamics with one another. However, the characters themselves and the background animation make for a strong enough pull to keep those of us watching engaged.

Insomniacs After School Season 1 is available to stream on HIDIVE