Summary:

Deciding that they need to help with Sana and Nanaka’s relationship, the Wakatsuki twins suggest a trip for their entire group to Kotsuchi-kawa. Shuusuke is particularly looking forward to fishing and the spa they’ll be heading to afterwards. They go to tell Nanaka about it, but Sana accidentally steps on her compact when it rolls under his foot as he’s entering the classroom. He offers to pay her back for it, but Nanaka claims that it’s okay since it wasn’t an expensive item. Later that day, she sees Sana and Asami happily shopping together in a gift shop, however it’s not until the following day when Sana gives her a new compact that she realizes what the two were doing. Nanaka then agrees to come with them on the trip, and as she’s looking at her new compact, she remembers how she had made cookies for the last trip their entire group took when they were young, so she decides to make them again.

When the day comes, Nanaka is surprised to find out that Asami is coming along too, and to make things worse, Asami got the same compact. The six of them eventually arrive at the river, and Shuusuke tells everyone a story of how Sana had tried to start a campfire without matches or a lighter back when they were young. Shuusuke then gets ready to do some fishing, and Sana brings over the same lure that Shuusuke gave him as a present five years ago. He also still has the mitten that Shuri gave him, and Sana telling Aoi that he’ll always remember her cake reminds Nanaka of how Sana remembered the violin piece too. As for the actual fishing, Aoi gets her lure caught on the back of her dress, but Sana manages to catch one. However, he has an adverse reaction to the bloody knife that Asami is holding after she guts the fish. He’s able to regain some of his composure and finds a pretty pink stone in the riverbed, but Shuri still notices something wrong when she comes to get him.

Even though he eats a lot during lunch, Shuusuke is still ready for dessert, but before Nanaka can pull out her cookies, Asami presents them with a tart she made. Because of her timing, Nanaka doesn’t bring out the cookies after all. The group then heads to the spa, and Shuusuke and Sana find that Aoi and Asami look good in their different swimsuits, but to their surprise, Nanaka has to wear her school swimsuit because it’s all she has. They all have fun in the pools and slides, particularly Aoi, and as they’re sitting at the snack bar afterwards, Shuusuke brings up how Sana wore his wristwatch into the pool. Sana reveals that it’s waterproof, and when he refuses to take it off, Nanaka suggests that it’s pretty important to him and Shuusuke wonders if it’s a present from a girl. This leads to Nanaka suddenly getting up to go back to swim some more.

By sunset, the six of them have arrived back home by bus, and Sana, Aoi, and Nanaka part ways with the other three. It is at this point that Aoi brings up the cookies that Nanaka had brought on their trip all those years ago, and after Sana remembers how delicious they were, Nanaka finally admits that she made more. The three of them go to Aoi’s house to eat them, and despite Nanaka’s own lack of confidence in her baking, Sana finds the cookies delicious. He even says that they have the same taste as before. Once the entire batch is gone – most of it wolfed down by Aoi – Sana remembers the stone that he found and gives it to Nanaka as a thank you for the cookies. This makes her quite happy, and, as she’s playing with it later, she thinks about how it is the gift from Sana for only her.

Preview:

It seems pretty obvious that Sana’s reaction to the bloody knife is probably a clue to his past. I don’t expect anything near School Days level of violence, but this opens the door to a death or murder or some traumatic event involving sharp edges. The wristwatch thing is probably a clue too, especially with the split-second shocked look that Sana had on his face when Shuusuke first brought it up. Maybe Shuusuke was right in guessing that it was a present from a girl, but the clues don’t fit together very well yet.

It’s almost surprising how quickly Nanaka has gone from being kind of hostile to the point where she’s really happy when Sana gives her a present and bothered at the thought of him with another girl. I really though it’d take longer, but at this rate, he could confess to her next episode, and she’d probably accept. That’s not likely to happen immediately, especially given that the preview shows the arrival of Hinako and appears to be more about Shuusuke, but the possibility is there, barring any big revelations that change everything.

78 Comments

  1. Despite problems with some of the voice acting (*cough* Aoi *cough*) this show is turning out pretty good. Looking forward to the subs for this one and hoping Sana gets a spine and doesn’t try to chase Nanaka for 13 episodes.

    Calawain
  2. “It’s almost surprising how quickly Nanaka has gone from being kind of hostile to the point where she’s really happy when Sana gives her a present and bothered when she sees him with Asami. I thought it’d be a more gradual thing.”

    Granted that was solved to a large extent in the last episode were Nanaka realized Sana never forgot about her.

    Drakron
  3. So does that mean that the slap was just because he did not recognize her and there is no deeper reason behind it? It would really make Nanaka seem bitchy and shallow if that were the case.

    Darklord
  4. Nanaka probably jumed to the conclusion that Sana hadn’t thought about her for the last 5 years or something. Either way, the slap was a little excessive and the cold-shouler was complete over-kill. Glad she’s finally warmed up!

    Aexile
  5. I wonder why people always seem to have this hatred of School Days? It’s not like anything that wasn’t expected happened in the series (even if you didn’t play the game)…why watch it if you knew you’d hate it?

    I’m impressed that she knew how to gut a fish…but even with the fanservice..that is one girl I do NOT want to be around when she’s fishing unless I plan to be on the menu as well…

    Taelrak
  6. It’s not that we all hate School Days (although I personally severely dislike it but I do not want to get into the reasons why).

    It’s just that it’s annoying that people compare every new harem/romance show to it, when it’s obvious that the two shows are very different. School Days is a one-of-a-kind show and it’s more like an exception for the harem/romance genre rather than a standard for it to which all other such shows need to be compared.

    There really is no need to jump to conclusions, for instance:

    “OMG…a knife! This show is just like School Days!”
    or
    “OMG…a train! This reminds me of School Days!”
    or
    “OMG…the main character looks like Makoto and listens to a walkman and is a wimpy harem lead – this means he is just like Makoto.”

    I think such comments can annoy people, especially if they do not like School Days.

    Besides, this thread is about Myself;Yourself and I think we should comment on this show itself, since it is a very good show so far and has a lot of material to discuss. An occasional insightful comparison to School Days or another series is good and all, but we should not get carried away.

    Darklord
  7. My favorite is still Aoi-Chan, I just love her cute clumsy way of doing things, with a cute voice( to me that is), great cook, a sexy killer body ( huge boob), and not to mention I kind of have a fetish of cute girls with glasses. Sana should just forget about everyone else and woo her into his arms. ^o^

    Tom
  8. @Tom: I wonder… how many people actually act like that in real life?
    @AL: When you have something as unique as School Days, it’s inevitable people will compare things to it. People are shallow like that.

    It’s almost surprising how quickly Nanaka has gone from being kind of hostile to the point where she’s really happy when Sana gives her a present and bothered when she sees him with Asami. I thought it’d be a more gradual thing.

    I think this shows that Nanaka actually has liked Sana this whole time, and that the slap thing was meant to either A) show how emotionally traumatizing it was for her to be the only one Sana didn’t recognize or B) to get our attention (i.e. “ZOMG, the first episode ended with a SLAP!”).

    cbhl
  9. i like this series it reminds me of Futakoi for some strange reason. Animation drawing maybe but rather than that i like the character relationships.
    School Days people? Come on…. ¬_¬ Its not going to be sick and twisted like that h-game turned “anime”

    Kill you geek pervs
  10. I agree with cbhl, Nanaka was probably just mad at Sana not immediately recognizing her. It’s likely she thought that he probably forgot about her, and it hurt even more when it was only her out of their little group. The piano scene changed that, which tells her he still thought about her.

    Kira
  11. i don’t know why, but have the feeling that sana is dying and that’s the reason for his return to his home town. you know, the calls from her mother (who’s obviusly very worried)…

    valthunder
  12. “So does that mean that the slap was just because he did not recognize her and there is no deeper reason behind it?”

    Likely, also notice Sana recognized everyone else besides her and he did meet her before at the temple.

    “It would really make Nanaka seem bitchy and shallow if that were the case.”

    Notice she did not slap him when they first meet, only when he recognized everyone else besides her that she did.

    Also notice her reactions when they meet in the temple, she is not “bitchy” since she would have done do in the temple and she is certainly not “shallow” because her reaction in the temple indicate she have feelings for him that remained unchanged, the slapping and cold shoulder was because he did hurt her, the reason she stop doing that is because she is now sure he did not forget about her and only failed to recognize her.

    Drakron
  13. man!! i knew it!! there was no DEEP SECRET reason why that chick was hateing on that dude. it was just cuz she thought he forgot her ,dumb ass broad “and lord knows she’ll probobly be the one that gets the win in the end…BLEEHHH! i hate it. wish they would switch it up and have aoi get it, they drew her SMOKING HOTT, he can get over the voice

    BROOKLYN otaku
  14. The plot is nothing like School Day’s but I can’t help to have this nice boat feeling >..>.. Even if you didn’t have a social life for 5+ years that’s still no reason to wear a school swimsuit T_T.. Maybe the Japanese find it attractive but I sure as hell don’t.

    Selenite
  15. And for “School Days” … two things.

    1) “School Days” is a terrible show, from plot to characterization … the whole thing ends up failing and the ending was just catering to popularity … many of us do not want a repeat of that.
    2) “School Days” was quite unique in that disaster of a ending, expecting what are romance or harem shows to end up like that is very annoying to us that are watching those shows for the romance/harem elements.

    No matter how much I would like “School Days” is not going to be forgotten as one of the failures of the ’07 Fall Season but I REALLY do not like to be reminded of that pathetic failure, especially when I am reading about a show that shows promise as a romance/harem.

    Drakron
  16. @Drakron:
    Actually Sana did not recognize anybody at first. He just reacted to the others’ recognizing him. After figuring out that a person recognizes him, it was pretty easy for him to figure out who that person was. For instance, Aoi knew he was coming, so her reaction at the door made Sana realize he used to know her in the past. With the twins’ case his name was mentioned out loud so the twins reacted to that right away and Sana made the connection immediately. With Nanaka it was a little bit different, since she did not expect to see him at the temple, so she might not have realized it was him. If she had recognized him and called out to him at the temple, I’m pretty sure he would have remembered her.

    Anyway, my calling Nanaka “shallow and bitchy” wasn’t based on the behavior at the temple, since at that time both of them were probably unsure who the other was. It was based on her behavior in the classroom – the SLAP was definitely overkill and so was her cold behavior afterwards. He made a simple mistake, but she just assumed that he had not thought about her for 5 years, which is way off base – and her reaction to that was too extreme. The “bitchy” part referred pretty much to her behavior after the SLAP and before the piano song which was also unwarranted, now that we know there was no deeper reason behind it.

    Darklord
  17. “Kill you geek pervs at 7:28 pm on October 16th, 2007
    i like this series it reminds me of Futakoi for some strange reason. Animation drawing maybe but rather than that i like the character relationships”

    That’s what I said in the first episode! It looks so familiar.

    By the way, we’re not comparing every romance shows to School Days (Well Im not anyway). Sometime it just reminds one of our worse show or best (depend on people). Well, of course some people are going overboard.

    What am I getting annoyed its people keep talking about Aoi’s voice. It’s disturbing, so what? Just get used to it or close the volume when she talks. I meant its ridiculous how much people are talking about it in each episodes. We get it!

    Aznsoulboy
  18. Is it not kinda obvious when you see the bloody knife and Sana not taking off the watch?
    The watch is concealing the scars of when he tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists.
    The bloody knife triggered a bad memory of that event. This is what I concluded when I saw the episode.

    Danny
  19. KNIFE
    noun; A small blade used for household purposes such as cleaning fishes, cutting rope, stabbing the neck of your boyfriend’s mistress and cutting the head of a dead love one…

    Currently giving the benifit of the doubt since this one is good…

    moondoggiebuiscuit celestial mode
  20. I agree with Danny. The first thing that hit me when I saw Sana’s reaction to the bloody knife and not wanting to take his wristwatch off was that perhaps there were cuts or something on his wrist from him trying to commit suicide.

    It could be possible that Sana was suffering from some sort of illness or family problems and thus tried to commit suicide and become seemingly distant from his family. Then again, it might be too early to speculate, but with the clues at hand so far, this theory is plausible. Just giving my two cents ^^.

    Halcyon
  21. Ideas that came to my mind after watching 3 episodes…….
    I think Sana did something bad by accident and to be free from this kind of guilt he thinks the only way out is to commit suicide that how I see the development of his story for the past 3 episodes. Only his old friends can save him from forgetting such trauma, that’s the reason he returned to his former town.
    Nanaka seems also suffered some sort trauma over an incident (The opening reveals some clues about it, the tears and the flames) to only the twins know about it and they decide not to tell about it making other alibis. This could also explain why Shuusuke is saying something to Sana and can’t hear due to the sound of the train. The root of her tsundere started moments after Sana have left. Only Sana can make her return to the usual personality she has back then though somehow it would be delayed due to Asami’s presence.
    Aoi is the one that makes the sadness embedded to this anime. Good thing she is such a clutz making the depress Sana or sad Nanaka laugh or forget such bad moments.

    Looking forward to unravel the secrets next episode…

    I still feel that Shuri is somehow like Satoko of Higurashi Series haha…. (my opinion only)

    arigatou
  22. Since everyone is giving out the common answer, I figure I must take one that just out of the realm of possibility. I think that one of Sana’s hand is actually detachable, due to an incident a long time ago. The which hides the gig-line and Sana doesn’t want to remove it out of embarrassment. That being said, Aoi was just absolutely adorable in this episode. The girl’s got me hooked, line, and sinker.

    Remy
  23. Lol @ Remy’s comment, it would be amusing if it were actually just covering the lines of a prostetic….

    But I gotta agree with everyone else, it seems fairly easy to figure that the presence of an irremovable watch, an aversion to blood-soaked knives, and the mysterious circumstances of him returning (mysterious being us not knowing why and him not answering the one time it was asked), that there was at some point in Sana’s past a traumatically scarring incident (literally), which will of course come out later and require the bonds of love and friendship to overcome. I’m tearing up already….

    pandakwee
  24. “The watch is concealing the scars of when he tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists.
    The bloody knife triggered a bad memory of that event.”

    Exactly what I was thinking.

    “i don’t know why, but have the feeling that sana is dying and that’s the reason for his return to his home town. you know, the calls from [his] mother (who’s obviusly very worried)…”

    She’s calling to make sure he hasn’t tried to kill himself again. This of course means there will be a night when he doesn’t answer the phone, and something will come of it, probably everyone finding out how he tried to commit suicide, when his mom flies down to where they are and raises holy hell looking for him.

    “i know this dates back to the first ep, but i wonder what shuunsuke yelled out to sana when he was on the train”

    He was yelling, “Wouldn’t it be cool if harem anime stopped using this tired-ass trope?” ^_^

    quigonkenny
  25. Even more proof about the suicide attempt would be his one-handed piano play. I found it odd how played the piano with one hand, despite being talented at it when he was young. It makes sense now, he can’t use that other hand effectively.

    tempoblade
  26. ohh this might be the reason~ Show Spoiler ▼

    well speculation start~ ehehe

    Nekozama
  27. I would somewhat agree to the people who speculate that Sana could not use his hand effevtively, and also the reason being that either he tried to commit suicide, maybe because of something traumatizing that happened to him and the girl who gave him the watch (like the generic, he couldnt protect the girl), or someone tried to hurt him, or most likely something traumatizing event that involves an injury that happened to the girl.

    Either way this is the only reason I could think off, i sure hope that it whatever the reason was for him being traumatized, that it would be understandable and not something stupid. For sure i know that it has to have something to do with a girl he probably met during those 5 years, and a tragic incident may have happened. I dont think that him being so shocked like that was only because of his parents and family issues.

    X
  28. @ arigatou at 12:02 am on October 17th, 2007

    I agreed with you at Nanaka’s part. Granted that the OP actually told us a lot of hint
    (the lyrics sync with the animation pretty well), There should be another reason why she
    turned from a shy, nice girl into this cold and harsh one. In Ep.2 we saw the sign that
    only the twins know what actually happened, but they decided not to tell Sana…
    This get me really curious… waiting for next episode!

    HeliumHe
  29. Nicovideo crowd for this show is hilarious, and unfortunately that’s the only reason I watch this show.

    A lot of people hitting on School Days, but… how is this show any better, really? It’s like School Days without the hyperboles… which = eroge turned run-of-the-mill romance anime.

    Rembr
  30. @Danny
    Great analysis, I didn’t catch the bloody knife/watch/possible suicide angle, now this series has a bit more intrigue for me I may have to keep watching it.

    Nanaka is still my least favorite female leads of all time, there is no reason for her to slap Sana out of the blue for any promises made when they kids.

    The only possible reason I can think of would be if she knew Sana tried to commit suicide and was deeply hurt by the attempt, any other reason makes her a shallow and rude cow.

    Also, I’m not sure why everyone is upset at Aoi’s voice in this anime. It seems to me a majority of female anime voices could easily pass for a toddlers (voice), this seems to be part of the cuteness formula. Just because Aoi’s voice is a half-octave higher doesn’t make it any more annoying.

    KLined
  31. Bloody knife + Watch = Suicide attempt? That plus his mother telling him he sounds lively…

    Also Nanaka’s mood change happened so fast, she did overreact in the first episode and they probably don’t want to dwell on the Sana forgetting thing to much but still she changed her mood pretty fast.

  32. The knife, the watch. It seems Sana has tried to kill himself. Unless the clues are part of a plot to make you think thats the issue. It does seem a little bit too obvious though. Maybe he’s hiding the fact that he’s depressed/suicidal.

    At the end of the episode his mom calls again, and makes a comment like “oh you sound happy” acting like he’s normally depressed or something. Also she’s constantly asking if he’s going to school. Maybe he was skipping school back home due to depression? He also seems deeply depressed when he is talking to her. Maybe It’s something to do with her?

    Another thing I thought of. Maybe he watched a friend die or suicide or something. And the friend was the one that gave him the watch? Also his reasons for coming back was he couldn’t stomach being around his home/school and decided to move back to take his mind off it.

    Zhemos
  33. Nanako’s change of mod was too fast after her behavior in episode one and two, but well I guess it was predictable after Sana’s confession about the song. Now Sana’s past is the interesting thing here… I wonder what happened to him… something has to do with his mother for sure.

    Syaoran Li
  34. Well i think that the wristwatch was there to hide something on his wrist instead of any other purpose. Maybe that’s why he reacted that way to the bloody knife cause he or someone else cut him there before and he wanted to hide it. Can’t compare it to school days though, Aoi-chan’ll make it look like a Hamtaro horror flick.

    cytam
  35. Not reading through 4 pages so I may be posting something already discussed but I’m think that the watch isnt important, but whats underneath. I bet theres a scar or something there.

    Camon
  36. Nobody can’t say that this scene don’t remind him of school days, that’s a fact, that’s all.
    Now, I think Sana may have witnessed a bloody event in Tokyo (a slaughter maybe ?) so that’s why he came back to it’s city.

    41nano
  37. I don’t know if someone has pointed out here this but, reading another fellow blog in the anime community, they made a good point. The reason for Sana to fear a bloody knife and don’t wanting to remove his watch could be maybe because reminds him a dark memory, maybe he tried to kill himself cutting off his left wrist. That would explain why his mother called him every night, to make sure he’s till alive. The question is, why did he attempt suicide in the first place?

    What do you think of that theory? It has sense to me.

    Syaoran Li
  38. I don’t think it’s an suicide related for Sana. For one thing if he attempted suicide he wouldn’t be affraid of knife gut ripping. I think it has more to do with either him seeing a murder at first hand of someone dear to him (who’s watch he wears now as a memory) or he has a serious medical condition and that watch is like a monitor, like say a heart monitor. Maybe he has some advanced desasies related to blood.

    jubeihimura
  39. what type of parent would let a suicidal child out of their view? Anyways the watch could have belonged to someone who committed suicide which is why he refuses to take it off and is scared of the knife, but it is more likely him trying it. I’m just saying it is plausible that something else could have happened.

    Jehunity
  40. I’m not sure if anyone else got this… but when I looked back at the old episodes, I couldn’t get a single good shot of Sana’s left wrist. The large watch is unlikely a gift from another girl, and I’m guessing, from the look on his face, his conversations with his mom arn’t that enjoyable. The finnal clue was his reaction to the blood stained knife. The only thing I can think of is that he might of tried to commit sucide, due to depression, and according to a doctors advice, was allowed to go back to his childhood town. This was propably his condition not to do try it again. Of course, if my prediction is correct, It begs the question… Why is no one watching over him? ( maybe that was a part of the condition too )

    ~Random thoughts EPUH.

    epuhnefrin

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