First Impressions / Myself; Yourself

Summary:

After what happened last time, Nanaka is trying to think of what to say when she sees Sana again, but when the time comes, she isn’t able to say anything. She is later helping her aunt cook dinner when she sees a piece of fish start to burn, and it gives her traumatic flashbacks of a man standing in a wall of flames. Once she finally calms down and tells her uncle that she started to recall something, he suggests that she not force herself to remember. That night, Nanaka continues having nightmares about the fire and wakes up because of them. While going to get some water, she overhears her aunt talking with her uncle about taking her to see the doctor for some hypnotherapy so that she can get her memories back. Even though her aunt thinks that this could lead to them finding the person who set the fire, her uncle doesn’t think that it’s necessary. This causes her aunt to point out that it’s like he’d be troubled if Nanaka got her memories back, but her uncle denies it. Hearing this causes Nanaka to remember a similar scene with her own parents. Returning to own room, Nanaka thinks about how her uncle doesn’t particularly want her to get her memories back and remembers how the detectives had suspected her uncle right after the fire. She didn’t believe it back then and still doesn’t want to believe it now.

The next day, the entire group goes to the amusement park with tickets that Aoi had. After tackling a dizzying array of rides, Hinako is exhausted, but Aoi still wants more. Sana and Nanaka sit out during one of the rides, and at the concession area, they happen to run into Asami taking care of her relative’s son Youta. Asami and Youta join with the group, and everyone pairs off to explore the haunted house. Nanaka claims that she isn’t scared of this stuff, but when a monster falls from the ceiling in front of her face, she rushes into Sana’s arms. Hinako meanwhile tries her best not to be scared in front of Youta and manages to get out of the haunted house by keeping her eyes closed. The group then checks out the Animenger stage show, and all of them, including Nanaka, cheer loudly for the good guys. Youta even gets his photo taken with Anime Red. Afterwards, they head for the Ferris wheel, and Sana and Nanaka find themselves alone in one car. Nanaka uses this chance to finally apologize to Sana for everything she said last time, and he tells her what he wanted to say to her the most – they’ll stay together no matter what happens from now on.

In the other car, Shuusuke tells Shuri privately not to force herself because he can tell that she’s hiding her pain and pretending to be energetic. Shuri questions what she’s supposed to do and voices her frustration over how that woman came into their house right after their mother died, almost as if she was waiting. Shuri is only able to feel helpless and endure it, so she’s at a loss over what to do. Shuusuke feels that it’s okay for her to cry in front of him, but she doesn’t want to hear him say that since he used to be the crybaby. In the third Ferris wheel car, Asami spots Shuri crying, but she doesn’t give anything away when Aoi wonders if something is up. Shuri is back to being her normal self when they all get back to the ground, but Asami can’t forget about what she saw.

Preview:

So let’s see, there’s a little bit of everything this episode – Nanaka in the beginning, some fun amusement park stuff which was of no consequence to the story in the middle (featuring Wakamoto Norio as the bad guy during the stage performance), and Shuri focus in the final couple of minutes. The suspicions of her uncle probably won’t be completely confirmed until Nanaka gets her memories back, and I imagine that’ll require Nanaka to be exposed to flames again or something similar. The Shuri stuff meanwhile caught me a little by surprise because I didn’t think they’d go back to her story until a later episode. It probably serves as a bridge between this week and next week, which appears to be all about the twins (and no, I doubt it’ll end up being siscon or incest or anything of that sort). It’s also starting to look like Asami’s part in the rest of the story won’t be in Sana and Nanaka’s story but will instead will actually be with helping Shuri.

37 Comments

  2. Great, so it looks like we’ll be getting the Shuri stuff next and leave Sana for last at this rate. 4 episodes left, I hope they don’t rush any Sana x Nanaka stuff in the last episode.

    GP
    Reply

  3. Well, even if they did ‘rush’ you all could always play the game when its out sometime around 20th of December this year. I already preordered the collector’s box with the psp limited box of Haruhi, its gonna be a nice xmas.

    xD

    Silverwolf X
    Reply

  5. Anyone venture a guess on who was the arsonist in the pic? IMO it looks awfully a lot like Nanaka’s uncle, I mean I know in the pic there are no indications of a beard but I guess it is just me since I think that the hair perfectly suits her uncle’s hair minus the beard of course.

    X
    Reply

  10. yes, it is shuusuke, lol don’t expect any love relationship between the twins and other people. Also guys, it seems that the uncle was the one that caused the fire and he doesn’t want her to remember.

    golthin
    Reply

  13. The detective didn’t tell nanaka, but he put the idea in her head. She discarded it till now until she heard what his uncle’s wife told him, that the way he opposes for nanaka to recover her memory seems like it is something that will be inconvenient for him. My theory is that some kind of argument happened about allowing Nanaka to dance for the shrine.

    golthin
    Reply

  15. Oh I second my own opinion awhile ago that it must me her uncle lol. The picture didnt show a beard so I wasnt sure but i forgot that the fire happened like years ago right? So by then the uncle would be a little old and could possibly grow his beard. Thus my theory works out pretty well.

    X
    Reply

  16. Ya i also suspect Nanaka’s uncle and it is quite perfect for the story since there will actually be a conncetion, since it would be quite stupid for them to just bring out a random new character who was the arsonist. The only thing that i worry about is that i hope that both Shuri and Nanaka’s story will be over in the next two episodes. So that they can focus on Sana’s story which i hope is the best exposure, since Shuri’s and Nanaka’s story is quite weak, especially Shuri’s, Nanaka’s story was important to show what caused her to change.

    Nagasumi
    Reply

  17. Some new speculations.
    The real father of Nanaka is her uncle. That’s the reason why he burned down the house. If he really want to conceal it, he have done it a long time ago and killed Nanaka when she was still young.

    Or maybe with the property purpose, he kept Nanaka alive since the inheritance was already transfered to Nanaka and she will only get her hands on it when she turn 17.

    Or his uncle had save her.

    But way back episode 5, it seems Nanaka’s Uncle is guilty for having Nanaka dance and also why would he felt sorry in the 1st place so that makes me think he is Nanaka’s father. The only person that knows the truth already died in the flames.

    Well that’s it for the speculations interesting episode though with some another cooldown with Hinako.

    arigatou
    Reply

  22. Me has a feeling the ending will have a little below ‘wwooohooo’ impact. I’m not saying it’s gonna be not good, but still, there’s only fourep left and I dont know how the staff will pull off a good closure.

    raimaru2880
    Reply

  23. I think her uncle is guilty of the fire that it claimed Nanaka’s parents. He was in the middle of the flames (notice the hair in that episode and in the OP scene, it’s a match).

    After this is solved, I am still wondering about any connection between his wrist watch and his fear of blood. And also, if possible, about that creepy old lady that wanted to bury the cat next to a large sakura tree, but I don’t know if they’ll do all of them with four episodes left.

    Possibly a second season is in order.

    Ren90270
    Reply

  25. quite a lot of flash back in this episode. Also, the preview seems to show a laid back episode for next week… So I’m guessing… really an all-out ending with the clashing of all the arcs at once? (fire arson + Shuri’s issues with her parents + that old lady + Sana’s wristwatch and fear of blood). Too long for 4 episodes, so they’re trying to extend the episodes before we get to the end, perhaps?

    Hope they can pull it off with the last 4 episodes. Let’s end the series with a huge bang!!! I don’t care if it’s a happy or sad ending; I just want an ending.

    Jayars
    Reply

  28. For some reason the fact that when they showed Nanaka’s parents it looked like her father was berating his wife, I think the whole uncle thing is a lure. What we know for certain is that her uncle was there the night of the fire. I get the suspicion that Nanaka’s mom set the fire to kill the family and her uncle helped Nanaka to escape, he had to escape on his own because he couldn’t let the truth of a murder/suicide by Nanaka’s mom come to light, also this is why he doesn’t want Nanaka to remember because it would devastate her memory of her parents.

    Dan
    Reply

  31. crazydumbek:
    Very nice twist! Love it!

    Hey, this is fun, let’s twist the story a bit more!

    What if,
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Hehe, how about that for a nice twist? Ties different arcs together nicely doesn’t it, especially now that we only have 4 episodes left. 😀 With this twist, we can tie 2 loose ends at once… Woohoo!!

    Boy this is fun… wonder if anyone else have any other weird, out-of-this-world speculations.

    Jayars
    Reply

  32. Oh man, Kimikiss better than this show? Are you people sane? In 8 episodes between the two shows way more character and plot development has happend in M;Y while in Kimikiss it’s been boring. The only thing that can keep kimikiss a bit interesting is people guessing on the pairings.

    Kimikiss is gemeroc, everything about it is. It’s trying to be original but falling down hard at doing so.

    Myself;Yourself on the other hand has a interesting story to go with it. You aren’t left with a bunch of silly love-triangle d0rama only like in kimikiss. Instead you have more questions and not just who will get with who, which isn’t even a question anymore in this show. Hell it was never a question in my mind from the start of this show. It’s not trying to hard either, if it was the story would be even more complicated, but it’s hardless that. You are just left with blank points in the story which get filled in with each episode. Great peacing and overall development. But hell if you want to watch kimikiss and it’s 24-26ep long borefest that’s fine. Maybe it’ll get interesting around episode 18 if you’re lucky.

    GP
    Reply

  33. Hmm, attempts to compare Myself;Yourself to Kimikiss is kinda dumb, but insulting a show along with its fans (directly or implied) is over the line and plain childish.

    Both Kimikiss and Myself;Yourself are of different genres, hence targets different people. Kimikiss lies on the lighter side of things; Myself;Yourself on the darker side.

    Speaking of generic, both shows are freakin’ generic. Heck, Kimikiss’ formula has been done to death, but so has Myself;Yourself. Just because a series has more things happening does not make its characters better developed.

    Heck, almost ALL of the girls in Myself;Yourself, aside from Nanaka (and a little bit of shuri) has been truly developed. Asami hasn’t been doing much, except showing hints of interests in Sana. And even for Nanaka, her character is based on the Women-in-refrigerators plot device, something that I believe even people without a background in writing would have seen before.

    The pacing for Myself;Yourself also does not exactly scream amazing. It’s functional. The same can be said for Kimikiss. While none of the characters have “dramatic” backgrounds that some people can’t live without, they DO develop many more of the characters in the series at once. As for the pacing, once again, it’s functional. As a matter of fact, if one were to make comparisons, Kimikiss SEEMS (at the very least, from one person’s POV) to have a steadier pace, compared to Myself;Yourself. Myself;Yourself has its intense moments, but there are episodes that just drag on and on. Rationalize and call it “change-of-pace” or “saving-for-the-better-episodes”, but I call it irritating and a mood-killer. Besides, a story with a faster pace doesn’t equate to more plot-unfolding. Instead, unless done correctly (which in my opinion, Myself;Yourself has started to fail), ends up being poor story-telling.

    Bottom line: Both series are based on generic plots of different genres. You have shows that you like and hate, and so do we. If you want to discuss, please do so with courtesy.

    NanaXSana
    Reply

  35. Maybe you need to step back and direct your comments to those who first compared to Myself; Yourself to Kimikiss and said how stupid M;Y wise and so on. Then maybe after you’ve given them your lecture about courtesy you can come back and discuss the shows with me.

    Until then, stating that the shows can’t be compared because they’re in a different genre is a copout. People will always compare different shows regardless. And M;Y does have a better peace than Kimikiss, first off more has happend in the same number of episodes between the two shows. How you can just write that off is odd when it’s something that’s well noticed. And for the record I never said M;Y was original and or not generic, but what I did say was that it had more going on in the story besides your “generic plot” of which guy will get with which girl. A story that’s got more things going for it is better than your overdone romance bit, and at the rate kimikiss is going nothing “exiting” will happen until the 2nd half.

    The fact is, M;Y’s story leaves you wondering about more than just “who the guy will get with” and Kimikiss doesn’t. The ONLY thing kimikiss has is that you are left guessing at which pair will come out at the end. Nothing more nothing less. Do you care about what happend to them in the past? Heck no! Does that have anything to do with the current story? Not really. But that’s different for M;Y. And even if the characters in M;Y fall into some “generic” charagory as you say, they are (Nanaka, Shuri and Sana) more developed than any of the characters in Kimikiss.

    GP
    Reply

  36. GP,
    I have a feeling that your last comment was for me, since I think I’m the only one who used the word “courtesy” in this comment section. Well, in any case, if my previous comment felt directed to you, you have my utmost appologies. As you had suggested, it is (and has been from the start) actually directed to EVERYONE who had insulted (be it starting or retaliating) Kimikiss or Myself;Yourself AND its viewers. While I don’t mind (in fact, I LOVE) discussions on the good/bad parts of a series and the occasional name-calling, I find statements that derogate viewers based on their preferences and tastes to be very offensive.

    However, I DID wanted to get my opinion across about the pacing and characters development. In my opinion, quantity is useless without quality, and I think Myself;Yourself had failed in some parts. Eg, in just 5 minutes, we see a dad, a stepmom that has no speaking role, a slap across the face, and no follow up in the next episode. Myself;yourself really struck a note with me when it first started, but when they start a bunch of arcs at the same time (grandma, shuri’s dad, etc), I find the whole pacing to be spiraling towards a huge pile of messy events. Not that I think this storytelling method is bad, but that M;Y is going a tad too fast to enjoy, and does not seem to be doing a good job at tying them together.

    As for the characters, my opinion is that a character does not need to be impaired in any way to be well developed. In fact, I consider all characters that have deep problems to be of the same kind: They are simply meant to invoke a sense of sympathy/empathy from the viewer, which was why I brought up the “women-in-refrigerator” plot device. Even with different characters and series, almost all of these type of characters rarely bring up any emotions other than sympathy and sorry. For me, it’s a feeling that is so common that it makes the characters in M;Y even more stale for me.

    On the other hand, I think characters like the ones in Kimikiss are slightly better, because the story is not being driven by the mishaps of the characters. While these characters are created from a generic template, they do have their little quirks that gives viewers a unique feel for each of them, although unfortunately, are often overlooked by some viewers.

    So the difference? I don’t think M;Y is better than Kimikiss in terms of char dev, and vice versa. M;Y might make you care about the characters’ past, yet Kimikiss leaves me (and I’m sure other people as well) with a STRONGER impression in terms of personalities, habits and daily lives of its characters.

    I find M;Y to be driven by a strong plot, whereas Kimikiss is driven by its characters and their development (falling in love, realising their feelings, etc), which was why I said it is kinda dumb (but DEFINITELY not impossible) to compare these two series. Fans of one series will definitely find numerous faults in the other, because they have come to expect things that are not the main focus of the other (eg, who-pairs-with-who, versus so-what’s-the-answer-to-all-the-mystery? ).

    That is why I have come to accept statements that call a particular series stupid/godly. Heck, I too, love to compare different series occasionally, since I AM a happy (dumb) fool. But I do hope that everyone else will refrain from going beyond that and insulting other people.

    See ya in the next episode’s review!

    p.s.
    As for GP’s “at the rate kimikiss is going nothing “exiting” will happen until the 2nd half.” comment, I think it’s actually safe to say NOTHING exciting/major will happen with Kimikiss… EVER. 😀 Not sure about other people, but that’s one reason why I am loving the series.

    NanaXSana
    Reply

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