Suzuka – 04

Short Summary:
During gym class, Yamato, Yasunobu, Honoka, and Suzuka are measuring how high they can jump. Yamato is proud that he can jump 72.5 cm, but that record and pride is quickly shattered by Suzuka and Yasunobu, both of whom can jump 84 cm. Yamato stays depressed until he decides to put his all into running a sprint. His energy and spirit impresses Suzuka so much that she’s reminded of the sempai she has a photo of. He ends up clocking an amazing 5.93 seconds and gets his confidence back. Unfortunately for him, Suzuka doesn’t act very impressed. However, that night over dinner, Suzuka can’t stop staring at Yamato.
On another day after school, it is raining outside. Yamato spots Suzuka’s umbrella and wants to go home with her, but she gets called away for club activities. Honoka approches him instead and offers her umbrella, but Yasunobu quickly takes her away. Yamato ends up moping alone in the classroom until he gets worked up and decides not to wait any longer. Just as he’s taking out his shoes, Suzuka appears and offers to go home together after noticing he doesn’t have an umbrella. As they walk down the street, a car drives by creating a splash that pushes Suzuka into Yamato. After embracing for a bit, Suzuka finally stops holding onto Yamato, picks up her bag, and walks off alone.

This episode (and next episode) centers around Suzuka getting closer physically and emotionally to Yamato. We see her comparing Yamato to her sempai, then later ends up in his arms. Ultimately, this is setting us up for the climax of the second volume which will probably occur in episode 6.
The big difference in this episode from the manga that bothers me is during the embrace in the rain. In the manga, Yamato apologizes immediately and almost pushes her away, but she holds on tight to him, which makes her feelings seem rather strong. In the animated version, he only says her name in a surprised way. I really feel that takes a bit away from Suzuka’s feelings. Also, to make it slightly more dramatic, they could have left it as a cliffhanger as they embraced, like the manga chapter did.
I agree with Mentar when he said that the preview spoiled a bit too much. Either way, next episode looks to include the blackout scene.

Edit: Out of complete boredom, I transcribed all the kanji and kana from this week’s chapter (70) of Suzuka. Just thought I’d mention it, since it’s a good chapter (if not a bit predicatable).