Summary:
A girl wishes that, in this dream that always repeats the same scene, she can slowly fall asleep and when she opens her eyes again, she’ll see a different scene. It is morning when Yuuichi wakes up to the voice of his new alarm clock, which sounds like Nayuki. Right after he opens the window and feels how cold it is outside, Yuuichi hears a shrill ringing coming from next door. He makes his way to Nayuki’s room where the alarm clocks are deafening, yet somehow she continues to sleep soundly. The sound gets Yuuichi aggravated enough that he shuts all the alarms off and takes it upon himself to shake Nayuki until she finally wakes up. At breakfast, Yuuichi doesn’t put jam on his bread because he doesn’t like sweets. Akiko claims that there’s jam that’s not sweet, a statement that causes Nayuki to excuse herself from the table. It becomes apparent why when Yuuichi tastes the orange-colored jam that Akiko puts on his toast, which causes him to feel dizzy. What’s more, the type of jam is a secret, according to Akiko.
As Nayuki and Yuuichi are leaving, Akiko tells Yuuichi that dinner will be oden, so she wants him to buy ingredients on his way home. Along the way, Nayuki asks if Yuuichi remembers the neighborhood that they’re walking through. Although he doesn’t recall anything now, Nayuki thinks that he will sooner or later. Yuuichi feels that it’ll be ok even if he doesn’t remember, but Nayuki thinks that it will be sad – if there’s even one person who wants him to remember, then he should remember. The two then notice that they’re running late, so they rush to school. They make it in time for the bell and see Kaori and Kitagawa by the shoe lockers. With Yuuichi as the new student, all four of them are in the same class, and they sit right next to each other. After school, Nayuki has track practice, but she walks with Yuuichi as they leave the building. He asks her not to tell anyone that he’s freeloading at her house, but it seems it’s too late because Nayuki had already told everyone.
As she’s running down the stairs, Nayuki accidentally slips and falls right into a pair of girls named Mai and Sayuri. Yuuichi notices that they have blue ribbons, meaning they’re third-years. Afterwards, as Yuuichi and Nayuki go their separate ways, she cautions him not to get lost in their school. Despite this warning, Yuuichi gets lost anyway. He finds himself at various classrooms and even on the roof where he trips on and falls onto the accumulated snow. Yuuichi eventually gets found by Kaori, who leads him out. She thinks that, just like how Nayuki had said he was, he’s a mysterious person. She also mentions how happy Nayuki was when Yuuichi came to their classroom. After the two part ways at the school gate, Yuuichi goes into town to do the shopping Akiko asked him to do. However, he hears and sees Ayu coming straight at him, in a repeat of what happened last time. He attempts to dodge, but for whatever reason, Ayu goes the same way he does and the two end up crashing into each other yet again. She drags him off and runs away again, explaining later that the taiyaki incident happened again, except this time it was a dog instead of a cat.
The two end up eating the taiyaki and plan to go back to apologize later. However, they soon realize that they’ve run so far that they’re now lost. Yuuichi reveals that he doesn’t know the area since he moved and had last been here seven years ago. This makes Ayu realize that Yuuichi is the Aizawa Yuuichi she knew from her childhood. She’s very happy that he has returned and kept their promise. Yuuichi starts to remember who Ayu is, so she runs to him with her arms out to welcome him back with a hug. Unfortunately for her, he takes a couple of steps to the side and she runs right into a tree instead. Right as Ayu is accusing him of avoiding her, the two hear another falling sound and see a girl with her groceries strewn across the snow. Ayu is still pissed off at their lack of an emotional reunion scene after seven years, but Yuuichi turns his attention to the new girl and helps her pick up her stuff. On the way back, Yuuichi learns that this new girl is a first-year, which is one year below Ayu. He comes to the sudden realization that this means that he and Ayu are in the same grade. When the girl goes on a different path home, Yuuichi remembers to stop her so that he can ask how to get home himself.
After apologizing to the taiyaki stand owner again, Ayu tells Yuuichi that she was really happy today. She makes him promise to meet her again and they pinky swear on it like they used to do long ago. Ayu then runs off without leaving her contact information, and Yuuichi goes to the store to pick up the groceries. However, as he steps out of the store, he is confronted by a cloaked girl who claims to have finally found him. She has a grudge against him and starts weakly hitting him to little effect, but then faints because of hunger.

Preview:

Each of the girls seems to get a little screen time this episode, including Makoto and Shiori. Makoto had a great entrance, with that cloak being thrown off in such a cool fashion, and she’s also got that cute “Auu~.” So I guess it’s now Auu vs. Uguu vs. Gao…. Anyway, my favorite girls so far are probably Makoto (because of the aforementioned reasons) and Kaori (because I love how Kawasumi Ayako voices her). Maybe that’ll change when Mai/Tamura Yukari gets more lines.
Speaking of Kaori, several people have pointed out that there appears to be a small Suzumiya Haruhi reference in this episode: the scene in the classroom where Kaori tells Yuuichi that he had an unexpectedly normal self-introduction, and Yuuichi subsequently responding by saying that he’d like to see a non-normal self-introduction. That is, of course, exactly how you would classify Haruhi’s self-introduction (“If there are any aliens, time travelers…”) from the second episode of that series. With Kyoto Animation and Sugita Tomokazu, perhaps there are more chances for these kinds of things. I’m suddenly reminded of the shouts Itsuki made during episode 07 of SHnY…
Anyway, I’d like to end this entry with a question that’s been bothering me. What the heck is with that jam?

30 Comments

  1. looks like uuguuu~ goodness. I can’t believe they’re already introducing Makoto already, and I don’t remember her terrified face looks so cute, (must download raw and make that my wallpaper).

    mangamaxx
  2. I think from this episode, I decided to stick with the series. It seems like they’re actually putting more effort in it then I originally thought. This episode kind of scared me in a way though, I guess it’s Kyon’s image just projecting on Yuuichi that’s scaring me. Stupid KyoAni…

    Likkun
  3. Just noticed, there is another SHnY reference – when Yuuichi is called by Kaori while he is lost, he makes a comment that when he turned around, Kaori was standing there – and Kaori asks why he narates (so he said it out loud). That mirrors how Kyon’s internal monologue has the tendency to leak 😀

    Gloranor
  4. well, we all know by now that kyoani likes to reference their previous animes (remember itsuki doing the ‘fumoffu’ and ‘second raid’ attacks against the giant cricket?), so kanon shouldn’t be any different. good work spotting them… i was too busy staring at the hair animations to notice anything else.

    jaalin
  5. All the Kyon references were introduced by KyoAni.

    The Jam however is NOT by KyoAni – that one was in the original game… not sure if they ever explained what was in it, though.

    Gloranor
  6. this episode make me think that it’ll use the same ending as previous one. hope we’ll see more Mai.
    err, may someone explain about the jam reference? I only remember Kalinin’s special borscht that can make someone thrilled as that.
    sorry for my bad english.

    Toujouten
  7. It’s not a reference – it was in the original game. She makes a special jam from secret ingredients, which she loves – and everyone else absolutely detests (at least I can’t remember anyone liking it).

    Gloranor
  8. Jejeje the same feeling four years later… and feels good

    ^_^ Is funny how in the 2nd episode, Yuuichi & Ayu suddenly remember each other in that way… like some dud saying “ONG it was you?”

    Good pace with Kanom…. and yes, Lady Ayako Kawasumi FTW

    Syaoran Li
  9. the line that yuuichi said while walking along with shiori and ayu about not having to pay with his own money is most likely another shny reference… or, at least it seems like one to me :3

    kablaq
  10. @ Toujouten

    I’m surprised the first episode didn’t make you feel that way, The way Ayu was talking about her dream with the red snow and a child crying.

    Oh, and scoop, I think his seat was there in the first anime as well.

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