neko's thinkbox

Ah, I’m torn. Sure, I’m glad I caught up, because I was clearly missing out on a couple of quality episodes, however now I’m plagued with the long wait for the next episode again. Ah well. These last four episodes contained so much food for thought, I’m sure I will be in for yet another tl;dr conjecture and fake psychology session today.

As I hastily mentioned in my previous blog post, the masks are dropping ever so slowly, and in these last few episodes, it has culminated into a festival of revelations, the ones more surprising than others.

Kitamura, unable to face the departure of his loved one, desists and dyes his hair blonde. Being a kinpatsu is usually perceived very negatively, it’s pretty much in relation with delinquency and foreignness. It does seem quite like a childish act of Yuusaku, who always seemed so pragmatic and mature, but more than anything, it was an act of despair. And yet, within his visible pain, he still kept silent from everyone, and smiled and joked around as usual.

To the exact contrary, Kanou became tougher, harder to approach. She loved him too, but could never confess because of her future transferring abroad. She was careful all along not to let Yuusaku get too close, neither to attach herself too much to him. On the one hand, this was very surprising for me, as I thought she would eventually say she already had someone else (in sight), or even just say she was not interested in him, but on the other hand, she was thoughtful enough not to make it any harder for both of them. That extremely hard shell was equally hard to figure out, and it really took a Palmtop Tiger to literally beat the truth out of Sumire.

Yes, episode 16 was a damn great episode. I do agree with Will that this series does indeed contain a lot of clichés here and there, but this episode was surprisingly spared of those.
To pick one example, Kitamura kept his promise of confessing to Kanou after being elected – it could have happened all alone on the school rooftop, preferably within the glowing sunset, or in the backyard like Taiga did – but he chose to do it publicly. He even skipped his speech. It was outrageous. And he got ridiculed in front of the masses. For some reason, I feel like I have seen a similar situation many times before, but this felt (or at least I believed it to be) so extraordinarily non-cliché, it almost felt real. I absolutely did not expect Kitamura to cry over that public humiliation at all, but on second thought, I figured out he finally let it out, he dropped his mask.

That episode was marked by many profoundly emotional moments, especially the clash between Taiga and Kanou in the classroom. I have to admit (wait, you already did it in twitter you retard -natsuneko) I was quite moved by that scene. Such vehement (not to say hysteric) expressions of desperation, backed up by the soft music in the background, and lots of tears; that is the exact recipe that often gets me teary-eyed, and probably is exactly the targeted emotional effect anyway. (I still remember the last few episodes of ARIA…)

Besides, what Taiga has done was quite unlike her. Or not. Actually, it’s hard to tell – she definitely would have welcomed that opportunity of getting rid of a rival (had she actually known whom she was), but from another point of view, deep inside, probably through her subconscious inferiority complex, she knew her hazy character was no good for Kitamura and/or that she was not his first choice anymore anyway, and thus could not bear seeing his happiness being destroyed. What the noble act, Taiga.

Taiga herself has become a lot more thoughtful, or should I say, caring, as of lately. She already has had rare moments of lucidity and repentance in the beginning, where she realized how selfish she can be, but now that she is closer to Ryuuji, she can open herself up more to him, she can finally find the words that match her emotion. At the same time as him, we get deeper insights into the mind of that little troubled child we thought to be incurably tsundere in the beginning.

Well… I do have to admit she is pretty interesting now during Christmas period, she suddenly has adopted a nice attitude at life. She’s so refreshingly altruistic, it is quite unlike her to have such innocent thoughts and intents. Seeing the world through pink-colored glasses, sugarcoating everything… Does believing in Santa really make people think better? In which case, wouldn’t that be the same as believing in a God? Shit, I told myself never to start any religious debate here. (Why do you even mention it? That’s reverse psychology, asshole. -natsuneko)

Yeah, in the end, I don’t really care much about Taiga anyway so I’ll just stop talking about her. She’s cute like that, but sadly it won’t last, period. :|

Now what I noticed these days is that Ami is not playing much of a role for the moment – she’s the passive observer who, full of her adult self, seems to have figured out how everyone around her ticks, but still is unable to manipulate our usual trio: Taiga, Minori, and especially Ryuuji. For quite a while, she has been trying to find a way to fit into Ryuuji’s field of sight. But no matter how subtle her methods, Ryuuji always managed to disarm or avoid her traps (like when she told him Minorin was not the one for him). And from what episode 18 is suggesting, she’s going to grab the bull by the horns soon – she wants her second chance badly.

But right now, she attempts to brainwash him again, this time associating him to a caring father who’s concerned about his daughter, in this example, Taiga. Her assessment is quite correct from the third person’s point of view, but in reality, he himself doesn’t know how he feels about Taiga. He loves Minori, perhaps more than ever before, but he’s grown so close to Taiga that he’s probably not able to let go anymore. Especially now that she’s getting closer to Yuusuke, he feels troubled, the distance between him and Taiga seems to be increasing – see episode 17.

In a sense, Ami could have been right, but then Ryuuji would have immediately adhered to that idea of father-daughter relationship. I don’t know, perhaps it is still too soon to call. What’s certain is that Taiga is almost in the exact same position: she has free “access” to Kitamura, but she’s too dependent of Ryuuji, too. Ah, Ami sure launched an interesting concept. Let’s see how it develops from there.

Finally, the most endearing, yet complex character: Minori. I called it in my last post, that she is hiding something hurtful deep in her heart, but as of now it’s still unknown to me what it could be. She has gotten a lot more serious. In episode 15, she said an interesting line “Not being able to understand someone you want to understand”, and I think she is referring to herself. Is it because she identified a certain bond between herself and Ryuuji, because she is unsure of her own feelings, because she cannot tell anyone who she actually is? I mean, after her very serious analysis of Ami and Yuusuke, Ryuuji tells her she is a very kind person – and then she rebutts with “I am arrogant and unfair”? Sounds complicated.

And it continues into the next episode, where Minori winces at Ami’s comment about her feelings of guilt. Note that she already seemed depressed when the girls comment on the photo with Taiga and Yuusuke. On a side note, we were not able to see the photo below that one, but I very well presume it is a picture of Ryuuji (or perhaps even… Minorin? No, scrap that, muri muri. (*)). So, what kind of guilt could it be? Is might be related to Taiga loving Yuusuke, so… Is she relieved that Kitamura is not together with Kanou, so Taiga can have her go at him? Or to the contrary, is she disappointed of that fact, for any reason possible?
(*) The reason why I am even mentioning that is because I am taking Minorin’s line in episode 13 quite seriously, that she might have a liking in girls. We all know that Taiga loves Minorin as her best friend, but how is it the other way round… Stop. I know, it’s so stupidly wrong. But I just can’t stop myself from thinking that. Gosh. No.
Besides, this doesn’t really match up with her behavior in the next two episodes anyway. And even so, wherein lies the “guilt” Ami speaks of? (Shit, nekosasu, just STFU and proceed! -natsuneko)

Next, in episode 17, we find out that Minorin had been avoiding Ryuuji for two weeks, and her behavior, even though it had always been quite unique, became really bizarre. Never mind the bald wig or her singing, she didn’t seem all too happy to see Taiga after two weeks, and told Ryuuji off quite violently. She did try to play it down as a joke, but I do believe she meant it pretty seriously, I don’t know why. And even with Taiga back in school, she still avoids (refuses to) having lunch together with Ryuuji. Worse, she doesn’t even show up at her part-time work, either, despite using that as an excuse not to join Taiga and Ryuuji in their studying session.

Why is she avoiding Ryuuji so much? Fine, both of them had a dispute over Taiga’s father previously, and she totally understood his concern without approving it because she knew what kind of father that guy was. At that time already, why did she care so much? Being best friends aside, could it not be that it reminded her of her own parents, and her own wish to avoid her parents clashed with Ryuuji’s own wish to meet his father? –Unlikely, she didn’t mention anything, but I still threw out this thought in open space. In the end, she teamed up with him anyway, won the race and then made up with him.

Then comes the photograph, and the dozens of things it could suggest, most likely that she realizes something between them. Is she shamed of her own feelings? Feeling inferior? Feeling out of place? Not worthy of Ryuuji’s friendship? Not as good as Taiga? Is she actually feeling jealous of Taiga for being that close to Ryuuji? Shit, I think didn’t even consider that. But Minorin wouldn’t be that type of girl, would she…? (Why am I suddenly reminded of Aiko from True Tears… must be the hair color, yes.) God Minorin, you are so complicated…

Now in episode 18, Minori suddenly appears to be open for discussion (both her and Ryuuji remark they haven’t talked much to each other), but is now busied out with club activities. Inside the gym hall, the rest of the class builds up that huge Christmas tree, and, on top of it, an expensive-looking crystal star, Taiga’s valued decoration piece. Adding something like that in this situation, it was fairly obvious that it would break, by what else but a baseball that was sloppily pitched by… Minori, of course (although I thought it would happen in episode 19 only). Minori takes full responsibility, and tries to fix the star herself. Old Ryuuji won’t content himself with her protests, and helps her fix the star.

While I don’t really understand why Minorin is crying like that (I guess Ryuuji’s down-to-earth kindness must have finally gotten to her) or what the load on her mind is, I found that scene extremely touching. (She’s crying, idiot, and you like that. Have a hug, roner. -natsuneko) “You’re cuter than before”, Taiga says. (I approve! :3) Slowly but surely, she must be trying to accept his feelings, most likely even her own. Or even that which seems to be plaguing her under that mask of cheerfulness, which has now dropped…

Next episode? I suspect she will attend the party. That or Ryuuji (or even Taiga) will find her and drag her along. Perhaps that encounter will be quite emotional, and the truth will finally emerge? Haha, wishful thinking. Anyway, what will you do, Minorin? I can’t wait to see it. :D

Ah well, that’s enough chatter for today. I already ranted that this post was getting long, but 2150 words is getting a little overboard. (Well had it been other blogs, people would gladly read it, but you’re too superficial and stupid to attract interest, neko. Next time, let me post oK? -natsuneko)

Anyway, if I am going to post next episode, then it will be from Venice. ;) I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow.

…I still haven’t said a word about the new OP/ED yet. Well- (NO STFU! I know what you’re going to say, “less COLORS, more SRS, MOAR ZOUNDS” blablabla. You know they all SUCK, all right? Lemme go now! I wanna Yuri-chan-sensei! -natsuneko)