Summary:
During school one day, Tomari spots Yasuna taking a bite of a strawberry and then feeding the rest to Hazumu – an indirect kiss. But the big news in class for the day is the new biology teacher: Sora Hitoshi, aka. the alien living in Hazumu’s closet. After class, while he’s explaining to Hazumu that he’s here to observe the school environment, Yasuna is being asked out by a guy. She ends up using Hazumu as an excuse to go to the library instead. During track practice, Tomari notices Yasuna standing alone outside the building and learns that Yasuna is waiting for Hazumu. Tomari tells Yasuna about how happy Hazumu was to become friends with her. After Hazumu walks off with Yasuna, Tomari only has track practice to occupy her mind.
Hazumu and Yasuna try on and buy matching green dresses, and then happen to see a pair of lovers who are wearing the same shirt. The two get embarrassed after Yasuna wonders aloud about looking like lovers. Yasuna spots one of her friends come out of karaoke, and so the two girls decide to go in. Meanwhile, Tomari remembers the indirect kiss again and starts to practice harder in order to forget it. Inside their own room at the karaoke place, Hazumu recalls the times she came here as a boy with Tomari and the rest of her friends. She ends up fumbling the microphone and tripping on it, right onto Yasuna. Yasuna mentions that the first time Hazumu stumbled on her, he was still a boy. This time, she reaches for Hazumu’s cheek, but Hazumu pulls away. At home, Hazumu is in a daze thinking about what happened. Sora tells her that it’s love.
When Tomari comes by Hazumu’s house to return a CD, Hazumu asks Tomari to go shopping with her next time and even offers to introduce Tomari to Yasuna. Tomari is unhappy to learn that Hazumu went out shopping with Yasuna and that she had a good time. After leaving Hazumu’s house, Tomari ends up reading shoujo manga in a store when Ayuki finds her. Upon seeing Tomari’s state, Ayuki tells her that she only has two choices: to get on the stage or to get off. At school the next day, Tomari watches as Hazumu goes off with Yasuna again. Thinking about Ayuki’s words, Tomari breaks the umbrella she’s trying to fix. On the rooftop, Yasuna recounts how Hazumu always took care of the flowers. From the music room, Yasuna always had a view of them growing on the roof. To her, Hazumu had the power to make the world beautiful. But Yasuna also has something else very important for Hazumu to hear: a confession. Hazumu is caught off guard, but before she can respond, the wind blows away Yasuna’s umbrella, so Yasuna takes refuge under Hazumu’s. Yasuna closes her eyes and leans in for a kiss, but it is Tomari’s yell that stops them and sends Yasuna running off. Tomari herself runs into the rain trying to figure out what she just did. Yasuna finds Tomari and apologizes, but then reaffirms that she likes Hazumu. As she starts crying in the rain, Tomari accuses Yasuna of having hurt Hazumu before (when Hazumu confessed as a guy).

As a manga purist, I would have to say that it’s almost a travesty that they changed the scene where Yasuna confesses to Hazumu. In the manga, Hazumu panics and uses an opportunity provided by Asuta to get away. Here, Tomari is the one getting in the way by stopping them. But as a lover of romance series, I kind of prefer it this way. It’s bringing the girls to face off against each other all that much earlier. Hazumu spends most of the episode with Yasuna and has several close calls with her. Tomari is stuck alone, and Ayuki’s words about stepping up onto the stage finally got to her. As I’ve said before, the animated version is taking a much different path that is leading to a lot more early friction between Yasuna and Tomari.
If I had to choose, I’d want Yasuna’s to “win” Hazumu at this point, even with her semi-creepy tendencies. Tomari needs to figure out her feelings for Hazumu quickly, or else Yasuna’s gonna steal her away. Next episode looks to be mostly about Yasuna and is probably going to end with *that* scene again (the same one that ends volume one of the manga).

23 Comments

  1. Gyaaaaaaaah. Poor Tomari – having to watch Yasuna and Hazumu bond, right down to dressing identically…. ouch. Although it’s good to see Yasuna’s somewhat happy, this… well, poor Tomari. And Hazumu’s caught right in the middle, and appears kinda… dense, when it comes to seeing how Yasuna and Tomari act towards him/her.

    This is going to get interesting – and poor Tomari again.

    Haesslich
  2. I’m still cheering for Tomari – the friend, versus someone who’s a little… stalkerish. But the conflict is half the fun, so I don’t expect thigns to be resolved quickly or easily.

    Haesslich
  3. To be fair someone’s gender is big part of their attractiveness. Yasuna didn’t really do anything wrong. I still support Tomari though. Accepting Hazuma’s new form is pretty impressive.

    dojikyo
  4. Yasuna is definatly Kaede material don’t you guys think?

    Another thing to I should point out to people who dont speak manderin is the cleaver word play when the alien writes his name on the board “宇宙仁” pronounced in manderin is identacal to manderin 宇宙”人” AKA SPACE MAN.

    Hypernova
  5. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Yasuna is a lesbian, the reasons for her actions are better explained in the manga but I’m prety sure from the preview for the next episode they will cover this part. Shes always loved Hazumu even when he was a guy its just her condition were she only sees men as blurs (This is not a recent condition either, this was from birth. She has never seen her fathers face as you’ve seen in the anime already. Even at this point of the manga it is not clear is this is a spychological or physical condition) thats prevented her from total comitment, now that Hazumu is female that reason / excuse is gone and she wants to commit herself to Hazumu fully. In the manga Yasuna takes Hazumus transformation way better and is even happy about it… but then again just before Hazumu had his sex change Yasuna said out her window to a starry sky “If only Hazumu was a girl”. The next episode should clarify her emotions / feelings about everything.

    I’ve always liked the original manga over anime adaptations but I really like the way this anime is being done so far. The story line is a bit diferent but the overall plot is still there and the characters are remaining true to their manga counterparts.

    My only gripe is the downplay by Tomari over Hazumus transformation. In the manga she gets really upset over how easy people are taking him becomming a girl. In the manga the point they make is that Hazumu was so girly to begin with as a guy that him becoming a girl phisicaly wasn’t so big of a thing to accept. I always though this is why Yasuna could accept and partialy see Hazumu when he was a guy.

    Neko
  6. Show Spoiler ▼

    Neko
  7. i like the way they change this hazumu and yasuna coming back together thing.. very different from the manga which was quite unrealistic.. saying that Show Spoiler ▼

    i also like the fact that its hazumu chasing yasuna back and not the other way around… good anime that might just win best romance for the awards this year

    Rashunkou
  8. It’s only February – too early to be handing out awards already (especially with the 40+ anime series coming this spring), though I do agree that Kashimashi is turning out to be a lot better of a romance series than I had expected.

  9. Hmmmm, I can see why you’d prefer yasuna over Tomari. but I’d like to see Hazumu end up with Tomari for the simple reason that Tomari doesn’t seem care too much on whether Hazumu is a girl or a boy. While Yasuna is only acting this way towards Hazumu now that he’s a girl.

    mangamaxx
  10. They’ve already hinted at it with Ep 3 and Yasuna’s memories of her father, and how she didn’t really see other guys… although the explanation is yet to come, which will probably show up shortly. I’m still on Tomari’s side, myself – if only to support the camp of ‘longtime childhood friends who’ve stood by the main character should have their chance’. 😀

    Still, with the way Hazumu’s pulling in the suitors, I’m surprised that she HASN’T noticed that Yasuna seems to be reciprocating the crush that she/he confessed to way back at the beginning.

    Haesslich
  11. Poor Yasuna.

    So many people against her.

    You see a shadow confessing to you. Really, what the hell do you do?

    You can only see girls’ faces so why in name of god, would you not fall in love with someone you will be able to see their beautiful eyes, those lustious lips etc?

    I’m on Yasuna’s side even if I didn’t like the way she acted in the park in the manga about Tomari’s call.

    Plus, it’s really very rare that old freinds end up together in anime/manga.

    The way I see it, Hazumu will end up with Yasuna to help her with her condition.

    If she can help her before the end, then maybe she might end up with Tomari.

    But wait, what about the third girl(with glasses)?

    I haven’t yet grasped whether she digs Hazumu or Tomari?

    Maybe she will decide the fate of Hazumu/Tomari when she decides to show who is is aiming for.

    Demon Eyes
  12. Demon Eyes: if you remember Ep 3, Yasuna kinda remembers Hazumu in color – or at least, her memories of him are illustrated that way, unlike even her father… who appeared in grey in her memories from a third-person perspective, which was not the case with Hazumu. She DID see him… somewhat. Maybe it was because he was very feminine, or just very non-threatening and she liked him somewhat – but that’s coloring her experiences here, especially now that Hazumu’s very ‘safe’ and appealing.

    And the rareness of the old friend getting the buddy is why I’m cheering for Tomari, honestly – that, and she’s continued to like Hazumu, even as he’s become a she, and realized in Ep 2 that he/she hasn’t changed all that much… and is the same person she’s always had a bit of a crush on. However, given this is only Ep 4, I expect a lot more conflict (and a possible quadrangle with Ayuki involving herself) before this is all over.

    Haesslich
  13. Well If we take what learn from shuffle just because she looks like she winning does not mean she really is. Pluse you have to respect Tomari girl/boy her feeling did not change.

    jim_hawking75043

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