Thanks for the feedback!
The events do have random elements,. Would've liked to have more event types, but had to go with a smaller number for now due to the time limit of the jam. Ideally I'd like to add a few more event types that give more excitement to look forward to with each entry of the forest.
I'm less sure what the exact bug being described is. Sounds like when the forest began getting darker, the hourglass statue was used, or an item was picked up at the same time and the music didn't change? Then upon exiting in time, the character's belly size was reset? This is the first time I've heard the issue reported, so it seems like a rare interaction.
The title of "episode 10" was meant to emulate a random episode of an anime series where this a small side adventure for the heroine while the main hero is still training from the previous hypothetical episode.