Summary:
Elis is in the hospital after her accident, but it appears that she got off with relatively minor injuries. She feels that she’s being a burden, and Hiroki does his best to cheer her up. Her friends come to visit, though Tomoko is noticeably absent because she had something else to do. Kiri also comes bearing flowers. She and Hiroki leave to fill the vase with water, and on the way back, Kiri confesses that it’s her fault that Elis had an accident. Kiri can’t stop saying sorry or crying, so Hiroki pulls her up close and tells her that although he doesn’t know what happened, she doesn’t have to apologize. Elis, who came out of her room looking for something to drink, catches the two embracing. She stays out of sight and wonders why she’s feeling so lonely if she already gave up on her brother. That night, Elis tries to use the color red while painting, but fails to squeeze it out of the tube. When Hiroki makes her go to bed, she tells him that she wants him to sleep beside her. Hiroki joins her in bed only after she says that when she goes to France, she won’t be able to depend on him any longer. Elis takes his hand and holds it to her face because it’s the hand that cooks, the hand that washes her favorite shirt, and the hand that paints.
The next day, Elis gets a visit from Shouta. He brings with him another vase, but notices the one that Kiri had already put the flowers in. Elis tells him that it was brought by the girlfriend of the person that she likes. Seeing Elis’ sad face, Shouta transfers the flowers over to the new vase. He then tells her that his own feelings towards her haven’t changed. After Shouta leaves the room to wash out Kiri’s vase, Elis once again tries to use the red paint. This time, the memories of her accident cause her to have an anxiety attack. It quickly passes because Hiroki shows up, however Elis isn’t happy that Kiri is standing right behind him. Shouta returns with the vase, which Kiri tries to take back. The ever-so-wise Shouta puts two and two together and blurts out his realization that Kiri is the girlfriend of the person Elis likes. This catches everyone off-guard, and Elis runs out of the room in tears. She ends up outside by the Christmas tree, which is being decorated by some kids under the care of Tomoko. Tomoko tells Elis about her own heart problems and hospitalization, but then notices that Elis has been painting because of the red markings on her hand. However, Elis says that she still can’t use red. Tomoko reveals that she’s been running away from her surgery. But she doesn’t feel that way anymore and instead thinks that if she’s alive, she can do anything. Elis feels ashamed that, in terms of her brother and in terms of painting, she’s only been going around and around in a circle without moving on. As night falls, Hiroki finds Elis still outside by the Christmas tree. She admits that she still likes her brother, but her brother is her brother and she doesn’t have any more feelings past that. The Christmas tree lights up at this point, bathing the two in white and red light. Elis feels that the red color is beautiful. She’s ok now.

LOL@ Shouta for screwing things up. That scene seems like it’s supposed to be serious, but I laughed really hard when Shouta blurted out what his bright mind just figured out. Of course the overall episode has a much more serious tone, though I’m not entirely sure I wanted to see another episode of Elis angsting over her brother. I thought we were past that after episode twelve. And it still remains to be seen if she can actually use red to paint. So overall, I feel that this episode is treading over ground that we’ve already covered, serving mainly to recover Elis from her accident (which turned out to be a lot less traumatic than I would have guessed).
Having said that, I did enjoy how the important scenes were carried out, from Hiroki comforting Kiri (and Elis discovering the two) to the final scene where Elis tells her brother she’s ok. Maybe it would have had even more impact if it were actually December instead of March and I was in a more Christmas-y mood to hear The First Noel (that’s the background song playing at the end).
I’m pretty sure now that Elis is going to go to France and that Hiroki will end up with Kiri. All that’s really left for them to develop is how Hiroki gains back his drawing ability. Only two episodes more episodes left!

38 Comments

  1. Elis seems to say she’s fine at the end of the episode, about red and/or her brother (I could be wrong though). I still don’t trust that interpretation entirely. Hard to tell what Hiroki’s thinking, as usual.

    The look on Kiri and Shouta’s faces in their last scene before leaving the hospital was way too similar, both despondent. Hopefully Kiri hasn’t given up again.

    Interesting that the next episode preview was done by Tomoko and Hagino.

    MonkeyBrains
  2. Looks like Hiroki is finally doing what he wants and is keeping with Kiri

    From the looks of it, he was just staying with Elis for old times sake

    does look like Elis has a go at Kiri though, that or tells her to be with hiroki!

    General Cox
  3. Thats wahy I hate anime series from H-game, you never know how will be until the vry end, like Shuffle! jejeje, but in this case, I don’t get mad if Jikori ends with Kiri, becasue I don’t have any feelings for th characters at all. Only two more, fine with me.

    Syaoran Li
  4. Shouta needs a 9mm brain hemorrhage. I wish they would have just got rid of that character.

    Anyway, After watching the episode, It seems it could go either way at this point. Even the previews on the website are really vague about the last two episodes. I just hope it doesn’t go the DaCapo route . . . . .

    LOPLOP
  5. “Shouta needs a 9mm brain hemorrhage. I wish they would have just got rid of that character.”

    You are speaking my language. Why doesn’t that damn random charactrer just disappear like the random character he is? God, I hate him so much. I mean jeez, who gives a freakin’ crap about his feelings (let’s be honest, who here once hoped for him to end up with Elise)? He should be the most random character of all random characters, yet there he is appearing in important episodes.

    I think I’m going to go mad if there’s any more plot twists. I’m praying for the original ending. I loved it so much and I don’t see any reason to change it now that everything is set.

    Rasmiel
  6. For some awkward reason, I have the impression that Hiroki’s affection towards Kiri is, at best, the fundamental form of the continuation of mundane high school romance while his concern for Elis appears so much more profound. The part where he starts envisioning living with Kiri gives me the feeling that he hasn’t accessed his true emotions yet and can easily be dismissed as a misconceived, and momentary, excitement. The way that staff/anime victimizes Elis in the last two episodes, in depicting her as aspiring for independence and being increasingly considerate towards others’ feelings suggests at the potentiality of an Elis ending. Also, I’ve noticed how selfish Hiroki and Kiri has recently behaved, to the extent of even forgetting Elis’ dinner in episode 21. Notice that everytime Hiroki furthers his relationship with Kiri, it’s always immediately accompanied by a thought about Elis. Hiroki’s sudden realization about what’s going to happen with Elis if he lives with Kiri demonstrates the surfacing of a thought that has remained unconscious until now. It also seems as if Hiroki is trying to comfort himself by constantly reminding himself and reiterating that Elis will “progress fine even without him.” This demonstrates the underlying concern that Hiroki has yet to resolve. What do you guys think? 🙂

    nietono no shana
  7. Hmm, good point! But there is also thr possibility that Hiroki does this, because Elis is like a sister for him and he doesn’t want her to get hurt. But, maybe all the facts you mentioned really mean, that Hiroki loves Elis.. Well, we’ll see. Next episode will definetely give us more stuff to think about.

    *Chi*
  8. It’s all a matter of interpretation. I never really saw the Hiroki and Kiri as being selfish, maybe a little too selfless in holding back for the sake of Elis. Hiroki suggested Elis get takeout, and a lot happened that day. And I’ve never really seen Elis as becoming more considerate. I might have around episode 10-12, after being rejected by Hiroki, but she’s been spinning her wheels and retreading things since then with her relationship with Hiroki. Like Omni points out, what was covered in this episode was also covered back then.

    Having said that, I can see the possibility that this might lead to ElisxHiroki (which would require an acknowledgment that Kiri is part of his past that he needs to move on beyond), but it seems kind of doubtful. They’ve been dropping a lot of statements these last few episodes that HirokixElis is a brother/sister, and practically a father/daughter relationship. If anything, that appears to be Hiroki’s concern for Elis.

    Time will tell.

    MonkeyBrains
  9. Like MonkeyBrains said, it’s all in the interpretation. As far as I’m concerned, Elis is the selfish one, or perhaps if I put it another way, the immature one. It was blatant to me when she said she “couldn’t read Hiroki’s feelings” because he doesn’t paint anymore, as if she thought she had every right to know everything he’s thinking and feeling like she owns him. In my book that’s Invasion of Privacy, and I sort of experienced something like that with my younger brother long ago, and all it did was piss the hell off of me. At least she’s started to wise up after that talk with Tomoko, realizing she can’t depend on Hiroki to solve her own problems, because only she can do that for herself.
    As for Hiroki and Kiri, theirs is a romance that started long ago and just didn’t get to develop enough because of the incident with Yanagi, and Hiroki trying to be considerate to Kiri (in other words, Kiri already had a stake on Hiroki’s heart long before Elis did). Anyway, I hardly saw anything selfish about Kiri, at least after she got the whole story of Hiroki’s problems (in fact right after that she gave Hiroki a wide breath of space, and didn’t really try to pursue him again until she got some prodding from Yanagi and Shie).
    Anyway, let’s wait and see. But the way I’m see things, it’s leading towards KirixHiroki.

  10. How is Elis being selfish? She has her inner problems, as confirmed with her talk with Sumire and many other things, but she’s not exactly bothering anyone with them. She used to whine more to Hiroki at the start, but for a while she’s been trying her best to be a good person. Just my opinion anyway.

    Ale
  11. They may not be brother and sister, but they are first cousins. That’s pretty dang close on the old family tree. But it’s a cultural thing about whether or not that’s “right or wrong”. If you can accept that first cousins can get together, then yeah, there’s nothing wrong with them getting together any more than it was for, say, Junichi and Nemu to get together in Da Capo (of course, at least Junichi and Nemu had NO blood relation, Nemu was adopted).

    Elis still bugs me after what she did to Kiri in episode 9. I will grant you, I think she has toned down somewhat from before, in the sense that she’s internalized it a little more, and I found it interesting that she’s been overcoming the red issue on her own, but she’s still focusing on her wants and desires over what Hiroki may want, she’s trying to run his life (such as he is running it anyway). In theory, maybe she’s changed after this episode, but again, this supposed change in episode 22 happened way back in episodes 10-12 as well, and that change didn’t take.

    Kiri, on the other hand, has been a lot more selfless (although probably mostly out of fear). When she first arrived, she did pester Hiroki a bit about his painting, but that’s because she didn’t realize he had chosen to stop. She backed off about the painting once she realized he had made that choice, and she focused on helping Hiroki with what he wanted now – to teach. She kept quiet after what Elis did in ep 9, when she probably could have or should have said something, and Kiri even went further and helped Elis out in episode 11 with her lingering Hiroki issues. I can almost guarantee that Elis would not do the same for Kiri (and certainly Elis never has yet – she’s been nothing but an obstacle to Kiri, but there’s two episodes to go, maybe she’ll finally let Kiri and Hiroki be happy, but Elis’ track record suggests otherwise). After the revalation of Yanagi, she backed off even more from Hiroki. It took a lot of prodding for Kiri to finally work up the courage to even tell Hiroki how she felt again. Granted, sometimes Kiri probably should have been more forceful, but Kiri’s had my sympathy a lot more than Elis has…

    Anyway, it is all opinion. We see what we want to see in characters. It seems from the few actions and words from Hiroki, he seems to see Elis purely as a sister or a daughter (even if they are only cousins). And from his actions, the only one he has seen romantically has been Kiri.

    Compare, for example, episode 19 to episode 22… Nobody asked Hiroki to sleep with Kiri. He had the phone call from Shie, and Kiri touched his hand, and he chose to stay with her through the night. Elis, on the other hand, has to pester Hiroki to sleep with her (or, as she did in much earlier episodes, sneak into his bed).

    Anyway, without Hiroki actually telling Kiri, on screen, that he likes her, I still do not say 100% that it’ll be Kiri (just high 90’s). I just want the choice in the end to fit the characters as they have progressed through the story. And ElisxHiroki does not seem to fit as much as KirixHiroki in how the story has progressed so far. And with 2 episodes to go, I can’t see that changing in a satisfactory way. I could be dead wrong, though.

    MonkeyBrains
  12. Nay, the ending definitely has to be KirixHiroki now. Anything else wouldn’t make any sense. Even an alone ending wouldn’t at this point.

    Before I say this, I’ll tell ya that I like all Elis, Tomoko, Kiri and Hagino, but Elis is my favourite of the 4. So if you see biased opinions, althought I’ll try to be objective, you’ll know why that is. 😛

    You’re right in that it’s all opinion, but I was interested in knowing what exactly bugged you about Elis, so thanks for expanding your point on it. Personally, I think she did some bad things, but I’m pretty sure she’s been trying to improve and solve her issues herself. I still remember when she told randomguy that she thought he was very admirable and she wishes she was as nice as him, and many of her inner struggles that she never externalized. I won’t deny that her feelings and thoughts can be selfish (but then again, whose aren’t? although Kiri’s more selfless, but everyone gets selfish thoughts), but if you ask me her actions aren’t, and in the end of the day that’s what counts for me, since she’s been trying to do the right thing. She’s made mistakes when she got a little hotheaded, but she’s improved a lot even in that as the episodes passed.

    And of course, Kiri’s much more mature than her. That doesn’t mean I like her better, but yeah, I agree with that, easily. In fact, Kiri is a pretty damn cool character, though I wish she had more of a backbone. That’s not necessarily bad, though, since she’s one of the nicest people there.

    And well, sympathy? Kiri didn’t really evoke that kind of reaction from me although I definitely want her to be happy and end up with Hiroki. And not exactly because I don’t care…I just didn’t feel like I had to pity her any time during the show and I was always pretty confident that she’d find a way. Elis, on the other hand, did, more than once. To each his own, I guess.

    And I think Elis has been trying to let go for a while. In episode 21 when she met Kiri at the street she tried to act as if everything was fine (although I admit, she sucked at it >.>), so I do think she wants to do the right thing, despite what her feelings are.

    Ale
  13. May I give a little tip to people who are expecting specific ending? DON’T.
    Really, those expectations will just let you down, so don’t expect a specific ending. I’ve learned it through Da Capo and Shuffle!. You’ll only get angry and you won’t be able to enjoy the show. Just sit back and empty your mind, and have open affinity to all characters. Being a H game player, this is hard to do; however if you are not one, it shouldn’t be too hard.

    2cents.

    Rasmiel
  14. May I give a little tip to people who are expecting specific ending? DON’T.
    Really, those expectations will just let you down, so don’t expect a specific ending. I’ve learned it through Da Capo and Shuffle!. You’ll only get angry and you won’t be able to enjoy the show. Just sit back and empty your mind, and have open affinity to all characters. Being a H game player, this is hard to do; however if you are not one, it shouldn’t be too hard.

    It’s not that I want Hiroki to end up with Kiri because Kiri’s my favourite, but after all this they really can’t pair him with anyone else. It’d just not make sense with the story. They can prove me wrong maybe, but at this point that’s what I think.

    And we all knew they’d go with Nemu’s route since the first episode of the first season. Hell, since it was announced. Just that 2nd season could’ve shown us more of everyon else…oh well, we talked about this to death back then, remember. ^^

    Shuffle? Well, personally I liked it a lot. I liked every character there anywhere, with Sia a bit ahead of the others.

    Ale
  15. As for having an open affinity to -every- character, meh, that’s impossible to do. I will always like people and dislike people depending on the things they do. I’ll find them interesting or boring, kind or selfish, bratty or mature, etc. Some characteristics are more important than others, and it’s pretty hard for me to -dislike- someone, but yeah.

    Ale
  16. I think you’re right Rasmiel, if this were the first couple of episodes, you shouldn’t expect a specific ending. You enjoy the characters and stories for what they are. I mean, I liked a lot of characters in this show, as characters. Tomoko, Hagino, Shie (who had more to her than I would have thought). Didn’t want and didn’t care if they hooked up with Hiroki. They were just interesting or humerous. Heck, there are even parts about the Elis character I liked. I liked her growth in terms of getting over her red issues on her own (pretty surprising compared to the game), and I really liked her interaction and friendship with the other students. I’m not a big fan of her interaction with Kiri or Hiroki, as I ranted earlier. Kiri, I’ve already talked about too.

    However, with 2 episodes to go, I think you should be able to expect one ending over another, if there was a story being told. Shuffle, Da Capo, they were both pretty obvious long before their last couple episodes. As Ale said, episode 1 made it pretty likely it would be Nemu (which was cinched up when Junichi bought the ring for Nemu). DCSS made it clear it would STILL be Nemu when she returned. Shuffle also put Asa in the lead in the Primula arc, and then cinched it up shortly before the Kaede arc. So with 2 episodes to go, I think it is reasonable to expect a “specific ending” based on how the story has progressed.

    Anyway, it’s fun to talk and debate this stuff. Pointless, but fun. Just like the shows themselves.

    MonkeyBrains
  17. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try and figure out the ending. That happens to everyone whether they like it or not. However when it comes to expectations, it’s a different story. For example, many people HOPED and EXPECTED for a Kotori ending in DCSS (of course, that was not realistic–some people failed to see that). What happened when the series came to its end? Although it was a happy ending, fans errupted and threw out lava from their heads because they had HOPED and EXPECTED for a Kotori ending. Now if this was just a theory and not an expectation, the ending would be much more acceptable and more enjoyable because you didn’t expect the anime to end the same way it did in your head. Anger comes from failure to meet your expectations.

    Ah, Da Capo. The series that’s started my Kotori fanboyism. I was naive. At first I didn’t particulary like or dislike a character, but as the series progresses, I began to hate Nemu and love Kotori. I’m sure similar situation can be applied to everyone. Here, there are two options; to expect, or not to expect. I chose the first option. I expected Junichi to end up with Kotori because hey, I like her, why wouldn’t Junichi? Of course, we’ve seen the ending of Da Capo, and let me tell you, I’ve lost quite a number of my hair. What if I had chosen option 2 instead? What if I chose to just enjoy what’s there of Kotori? Junichi ended up with Nemu? Who gives a crap? This is why I didn’t like DCSS. It’s not because the ending sucked, it’s because there simply wasn’t enough of Kotori to see. This came from my divine affinity for Kotori, not expectations. Of course, I’d be lying if I said the minus affinity for Nemu didn’t count, but she’s a hate bait anyway.

    For Canvas2, I never expected a single ending. I merely tried to figure out which ending. I concluded that the ending will be Kiri’s. But that does not mean I like her more than anybody else. Like Ale said, it makes much more sense story-wise if we end up with Kiri ending. But hey, I like every single characters in this anime, from Elise to Kiri, Kana to Misore, from Tomoko to even Aya, and so far it’s been enjoyable although it isn’t the ending that I actually WANT. This was also the same reason why I enjoyed Lamune so much. All characters were loveable and the ending was obvious right off the bat. There isn’t a better condition than this in a harem anime where you are FORCED to look at only one possible ending. In that case you don’t have to expect, therefore there will be no disappointments at the end.

    Bottomline? Hate yourself, not the anime.

    Rasmiel
  18. I think Gai Daigoji put it best when he said, “enjoy it for what it is”.

    (Although believe it or not, there are crappy anime that one can hate, just like there are crappy TV shows and movies in America. It’s not all gold.)

    My point of view about an ending for one of these shows is always simply that the ending should be one where the characters are true to the narrative that has been created. One’s opinion about who is a better character or not shouldn’t matter in terms of the ending (after all, how many people actually like the male leads in these shows?) as long as the ending makes sense in terms of the narrative that has been shown and the characters themselves, as they have been shown.

    Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with thinking one character is better than another, as a character. Completely different issue. You’re supposed to think that. A story is about the people in it. And you have to form opinions about the characters too. Otherwise, why would you bother watching?

    MonkeyBrains
  19. Ah, Da Capo. The series that’s started my Kotori fanboyism. I was naive. At first I didn’t particulary like or dislike a character, but as the series progresses, I began to hate Nemu and love Kotori. I’m sure similar situation can be applied to everyone. Here, there are two options; to expect, or not to expect. I chose the first option. I expected Junichi to end up with Kotori because hey, I like her, why wouldn’t Junichi? Of course, we’ve seen the ending of Da Capo, and let me tell you, I’ve lost quite a number of my hair. What if I had chosen option 2 instead? What if I chose to just enjoy what’s there of Kotori? Junichi ended up with Nemu? Who gives a crap? This is why I didn’t like DCSS. It’s not because the ending sucked, it’s because there simply wasn’t enough of Kotori to see. This came from my divine affinity for Kotori, not expectations. Of course, I’d be lying if I said the minus affinity for Nemu didn’t count, but she’s a hate bait anyway.

    Heh, exactly my thoughts, except I never had hope that Jyunichi would pick Kotori, not even back in season 1, and I didn’t really care either, except for the focus she’d get if she’d been a main character. It was too obvious that it’d be Nemu; if you’d played the game before you’d know that it’d be either her and the only other one who had a chance was Sakura. And yeah; of course if you like one character you’ll want to see more of him/her. And if you dislike the main characters it’s gonna be hard to enjoy a story, especially a love story about them, them and them with 52 episodes. First season was alright, but second season could’ve been different. Pity, because I loved the games and they could’ve done more with so much time I think, but to each his own. I know people who enjoyed it, and I have to admit that what they did do, they did it well; everything made sense.
    As for Nemu, I don’t get it myself really. I don’t think I ever disliked any anime characters like that. Found them boring, annoying, etc.? Sure, sometimes. But yeah…she’s gotta be a hate bait. Exactly the kind of person I dislike both in anime and IRL, tbh.

    My point of view about an ending for one of these shows is always simply that the ending should be one where the characters are true to the narrative that has been created.

    Anyway, MonkeyBrains is spot on. But like I said, no one would enjoy a love story if the main characters are unlikable, if you can’t relate to them, feel sympathy, wish them to be happy, care about them. Even if they’re kinda boring it’s fine, as long as they have enough nice moments, and they can give you feelings of concern sometimes. There are a few people in my list ahead of Kiri and Hiroki in Canvas 2: Elis, Tomoko and Hagino. But no way I want any of those to “get the guy”, Hiroki and Kiri belong together.
    I doubt I’d want to break them up if I didn’t like them either, but I’d surely be bored. Well, that’s assuming the anime was all about them, anyway. Canvas 2 gave everyone more than enough focus, so I think that even then I’d like it.

    And of course it’s good to form opinions on the characters. It’s supposed to be this way in this type of show.

    And that was a long post wasn’t it?

    Ale
  20. Oh, and of course, one of the greatest points about Canvas 2 is that only Elis and Kiri like Hiroki. You don’t have to see the rest of the girls fawning over Hiroki for no apparent reason and you don’t have to see them suffer in the end. Another of the reasons why Lamune was enjoyable, eh?

    Ale
  21. The only thing I don’t get it… what is the point if all girls gave up her love at the end for the sake of theris lvoed ones. You know, Shuffle!, Da Capo SS, whats the point here? In Elis’s case, after episode 12 she forget everything about her feelings, at least make her fight a little bit more…

    Well, I guess everyone has its own opinion about it, so let it be.

    Another romantic filler series.

    Syaoran Li
  22. “The only thing I don’t get it… what is the point if all girls gave up her love at the end for the sake of theris lvoed ones. You know, Shuffle!, Da Capo SS, whats the point here? In Elis’s case, after episode 12 she forget everything about her feelings, at least make her fight a little bit more…”

    Truly, that’d be more of a suspense and entertainment. KGNE excelled at that, but to pull off something like it, they need to focus on only small number of characters. Series like Da Capo and Shuffle! focus on development of all girls, so they can’t be KGNEesque. Personally, I originally thought DCSS was going to follow the path of KGNE (with Aisia and Kotori as the main leads), but I was dead wrong. They had to waste number of episodes on that “girl of the week” thing.

    Rasmiel

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