Summary:
As Kotori continues to struggle with her feelings for Junichi, Aisia tries to understand Kotori and the meaning of happiness. She directly asks Nemu whether or not she likes Junichi, but Nemu fumbles around with an answer. Aisia gets the idea anyway, and walks outside to the swing set, wondering about happiness. Misaki (who appears out of nowhere) explains that Kotori is keeping silent for the sake of everyone’s happiness. Aisia believes it’s a mistake to do that, and goes to Kotori’s house. She invites Kotori over to the Asakura house to cook for them since Nemu isn’t around. In the market and on the way there, Kotori has several flashbacks of when she and Junichi were shopping together in the past. At the Asakura house, Kotori has a hard time finding all of the kitchenware because they’ve all been moved since the last time she was there. She makes a Yakisoba salad and goes to put it in the refrigerator only to find the exact same dish already there, courtesy of Nemu. As a result, Kotori quickly takes her stuff and leaves. Aisia confronts Kotori on her feelings for Junichi again, and as Kotori walks away, Aisia can only yell at her, calling her a liar.
Later, the entire group gathers to have fun at a night festival, though Kotori is noticeably absent. Junichi comes looking for her at her home after Nemu is recruited to help at the first aid station. Kotori tries to hold herself back, but she decides to go with him to the festival. The two have lots of fun until it starts to rain. Sheltered under a tree, Kotori gets close to Junichi and tries to confess. Before she can, Junichi hands her a present: the glass musical note that she’s been admiring for so long. It’s a bit damaged, but Kotori says that it’s ok. Junichi leaves to return to the group and Nemu, so Kotori finds herself looking at the ocean alone. Aisia, who watched the entire scene earlier, comes and asks her why she didn’t say what she wanted to. Kotori replies that she really is happy, and that’s not a lie. Kotori starts singing as the fireworks go off in front of her. The next day, Kotori delivers the pictures from the beach trip to Junichi and Aisia, but leaves even though Junichi complains that he’s hungry. Aisia still feels like she doesn’t understand.

This episode is a bunch of ups and downs for me. The good thing is that it’s a Kotori episode that explores how she much she feels Nemu’s presence and how much she likes Junichi. The bad is that by the end of the episode, we’re pretty much status quo. Kotori didn’t confess, and she believes that just being with and around Junichi is enough to make her happy. I’m split about how I think this is going to continue. On one hand, it’s possible that this is it, and that Kotori really is happy this way. On the other hand, despite her saying that she’s not lying, I think she still might be deluding herself into thinking that it’s ok. If it’s the former, then this might be it for Kotori storyline for a while. If the latter, then there continues to be the possibility for more angst like we had this episode. Ultimately, I liked this episode for giving us more Kotori plot, but it irks me that the message that we’re (still) getting is that you can’t win against Nemu.
Apparently this episode is where the animation budget went. It looks significantly better than previous episodes, particularly the latter half. We also get an insert song, thanks to Kotori, called 「アンダンテ」. It’s been a long time since we heard one of those…
I hope that the next episode offers more Kotori, but I have no idea what it’s about and the preview doesn’t help (it has Moe rambling on about nabe). There seems to be a play on words with “moe”, which is the name of the elder Mizukoshi sister and can mean budding (feeling of love), and the title of the next episode, 「芽生えた想い」, which means budding feelings. In any case, the title sounds dramatic again, so hopefully it’ll be good.

25 Comments

  1. A battle between Kotori and Nemu?

    Kotori’s too nice for that (Nemu certainly is bad enough to do anything), and besides, Jyunichi loves Nemu anyway…

    But as long as she’s on the spotlight, moves on, and finds some happiness of her own, I’d be happy.

    Ale
  2. The only character Nemu can compete equally with is the freakin’ bear.

    YES! NOW Second Season is starting to ignite its engine! Go Kotori!

    I feel the same as Ale, I don’t give a damn if Junichi doesn’t end up with Kotori, as long as she’s happy, that’s all that matters 🙂

    Rasmiel
  3. Indeed, eeeevil Nemu can have Jyunichi for all I care.

    I just want a nice Kotori closure this time. In season 1, it wasn’t all that good. But if she moves on and is happy, who cares if she ends up with Jyunichi or not.

    Ale
  4. say tell me guys…didn’t kotori already confessed to jun’chi in the previous season??? wouldn’t she be getting the ame answer from him since he is still crazily in love with the girl who cannot be compared to even a freaking bear ?? hmm… come on D.C.S.S bring on more Kotori!!! we are not interested in seeing another episode focusing on another girl….. =.=””

  5. These last 2 epi. makes me feel like putting up a sign on my desk with “Down with Nemu!!” on it….

    As long as the next epi. is not a filler episode I be happy. Hopefully more Kotori storyline or maybe Sakura showing up but that’s hoping too much 😛

    Vinn
  6. I just saw the RAW, and I’m not even sure if Kotori is actually happy or sad in the end. She says she’s happy like this, no lies, and then in the end she runs away from Junichi, frowning. What the hell’s up with that?

    I think the next episode is going to focus on Aisia’s feelings towards Juinchi, since the title is “Blooming Feelings”.

    And I’m serious when I say Nemu can only compete equally with the freakin’ bear. Even Tamaki is too nice of a girl, and so is Mako, and I’m not too fond of tough girls. What about Miharu? Let’s not even go there.

    Rasmiel
  7. Hopefully they’re just warming up the drama, and Kotori will finally declare war on Nemu eventually (Or Nemu declare war once she realize what’s going on). They are probably just developing Kotori’s feelings from the two years that we missed.

    Bloodycomets
  8. Without Kotori, however, they’ll really be no drama whatsoever. Let’s face facts, we all know that no other girl can match Nemu in Junichi’s heart except maybe Kotori. If Kotori’s out of the game, there will be no alternative other than Junichi X Nemu. And if that’s true, the rest of the series will be a lot of Aisia-centric fillers! ^_^;;

    … if Sakura does come back for some reason, *that* might let to some drama but ultimately Nemu x Junichi will prevail. Blast it! Some of the girls should just become lesbians or bisexuals so we’ll at least get some other more “acceptable” pairings!

    moyism
  9. Lesbians huh, you know Miharu might like Nemu more then just being best friends. But she loves those bananas, its a toss up really.

    I feal like drawing Kotori for some reason…

    SRTargets
  10. Kotori can’t really match Nemu for Jyunichi’s heart. He doesn’t have good taste, the poor thing.

    Nah, seriously, Jyunichi loves Nemu and I can’t see that changing. I wanna see Kotori move on and find some happiness of her own, but unless Jyunichi has some sudden realization of how important Kotori really is to him after those 2 years (and it’s unlikely), she can’t win against Nemu.

    I’d be disappointed if this was the Kotori conclusion but it might very well be. Sakura has yet to come back and they’d probably concentrate on a Sakura/Aisha arc then. Hopefully they’ll give her a closure she deserves.

    Ale
  11. Nemu is hated, that’s a fact! Anyway .. I agree Junichi loves Nemu and that’s not going to change for sure.
    If only they’d focus more on Kotori and her life than having Aisia-filler-episodes >

    Shoujo
  12. I have this odd feeling that the anime started late so that the manga and anime would end at the same time, thereby leaving readers and viewers the same feeling of wtf…

    You know, the Nemu lovers are going to wonder why didn’t Jun’ichi stay faithful, and the Kotori lovers are going to wonder why didn’t Jun’ichi reciprocate her feelings…but in the end, I have this strange that the only couples at the very end will be a very distant:
    Nemu + Jun’ichi
    Kotori + Jun’ichi
    Miharu + Nemu
    Kudo +Jun’ichi (I’m not joking, anybody who played the games know a little secret)
    Suginami + Mako
    Aisia + Sakura

    Those are the only possible couples, and I fear that none of the ones with Jun’ichi mentioned in them will actually happen. (Except for Kudo; for some odd reason, I have a huge reason to believe those two end up together, despite being a Nemu and Kotori fan)
    Suginami + Mako is inevitable, and Aisia + Sakura is going to be a fun one :P.

    thenightsshadow
  13. I guess the Kotori vs Nemu sentiment still lingers with some people, but I’m a bit miffed about Aisia. She spends some time bringing Nemu and Junichi back together and now she’s trying to make Kotori happy as well? Oh well. Aisia’s expression at the end was kind of cute. In a conniving kind of way.

    Decagon
  14. Suginami and Mako? That’s possibly the last match up I expect to see…

    And I was reminded of how much I was disappointed with Kudo’s appearance in SS. *Sigh*

    DAMMIT. I feel like drawing Nemu in a crappy way on a recycled paper that has a gum stuck to it and run the face through with a knight spear.

    Rasmiel

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