Zettai Shounen – 12

Short Summary:
After the earthquake finally subsides, Wakkun pulls Ayumu to go, reminding him of his promise. Miku gets very angry and chases after them. She stops them, telling them that they’re making a mistake. She lectures Wakkun on how he shouldn’t keep trying to get Ayumu to go play and how Ayumu did not forget Wakkun. Wakkun eventually changes his clothes so that he’s not wearing Ayumu’s cloak, tells Ayumu that he hates him, and runs off crying. Miku faints from a fever soon after her sisters arrive. Back with the festival crowds, Akira is reporting about all of the mechanical fairies that they see. She notices the faint outline of Wakkun as he runs by. After the fairies disappear and the crowd starts to disperse, Miki tries to say something to Ayumu, but interrupted by Ryousuke. Miki and Akira, who drives by, both tell Ryousuke that they saw a kappa, referring to the outline of Wakkun from earlier. The next day, Ayumu goes back to Touya forest and finds Miki and Miku there. He takes Miku’s stuffed tadpole and throws it inside the forest. Back outside on the main road, Ayumu tells the sisters that he’s leaving for Yokohama. He promises to exchange mail with Miki after his father arrives to pick him up. As he rides off, he sees Wakkun smiling and waving goodbye to him, holding the tadpole that Ayumu threw. That puts a smile on Ayumu’s face.
Change the scene to Yokohama, we see a ratty and old looking Okakababa walk past a girl. She turns around and sees two fairies circling the cat.

For a series that started rather slow, I really liked the first “ending.” Part of it is that this is the culmination of the first half, the other being the great music that is used. The final song when Ayumu is riding away really sets the mood of the conclusion. And the teaser for the next half is just icing on the cake.
Since I’m sure Matthew will more than adequately cover Miku, I think I’ll talk briefly about Shione. I’m moderately pleased with how they concluded her story. While I feel bad for her since she is rather unhappy up until the very end, she does seem to come to terms with Miki and their laughter together counts for something. Maybe we can see a cheerful Shione sometime in this upcoming Yokohama arc (doubtful, but it could happen).
Speaking of which, the next arc greatly changes the cast and scenery, and we’ll finally get introduced to all those characters from the OP sequence that we’ve yet to see. wao linked me this picture that shows the new cast, including an older Ayumu on the far right. It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes from here, especially since Okakababa and Ayumu are still involved.