Summary:

After hearing both Rina’s perfect performance and a tape of Yuki’s raw vocals, Touya heads to the roof of the recording studio, and that’s where Rina finds him. The two talk about how he didn’t want to hear Yuki in that way and how Eiji and Yayoi are trying to tell him that Yuki doesn’t have time to waste on him, and Rina in the process reveals that she’s no longer her brother’s favorite. She tells Touya how her brother quit being a singer because he was sick of it and how he lost interest in the himself who couldn’t change anymore. That led him to put his sister out into the entertainment world, but now, two years later, she’s reached a similar point, and he’s moved on to Yuki. Rina tells Touya to believe in Yuki’s talent like her brother does, and she also asks him about Yuki not being a goddess. Touya’s answer is that he sort of found Yuki around him, so Rina claims that she’s not envious but a little frustrated. Rina feels that Yuki is still in a place where Touya can reach her, and she jokingly tells him not to think of herself as a goddess anymore because she could become a devil the next day. She also gives him her schedule and invites him to come see her whenever he wants.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Touya, Haruka is being accosted by a couple of thugs on the street. Mana fortunately saves her, but one of them still gropes Haruka before running off. Afterward, Mana tries to talk to the Haruka about the person Haruka refers to as her brother, and Mana herself ends up talking about the person she refers to as her brother, except that the details she gives are from Touya’s life story. Haruka stares at her but doesn’t respond, and that leads to Mana questioning if that person is really Haruka’s brother. Mana accuses that person of being her boyfriend, but by the time Haruka says clearly that Touya isn’t, Mana has already disappeared. Touya – who spent the night helping Misaki – finds Haruka in his bed the next morning, after apparently having entered his apartment via his balcony. Regardless, Touya goes about his life for the next several days, not taking Yuki’s phone calls and helping Misaki whenever he can. Yuki eventually decides to call Touya’s father’s house, and when Misaki picks up because Touya is out, Yuki assumes that Misaki is helping take care of Touya’s father.

Touya is at that moment out with Haruka in order to search for a birthday present for Rina. Haruka wonders about Yuki, but Touya knows that Yuki’s own birthday isn’t until the following month on Christmas Eve. Neither of them notice that they’re being followed by Mana. The next day, over at Ogata Production, Eiji is on the phone with a rival company’s president and has to allow them to take an arena as a venue because he lost a TV ratings contest. While he’s in the middle of then telling Yayoi that the stage has been set for next month, Rina interrupts him, so he tells her what he was about to just say about Yuki. Yuki meanwhile is still unable to get in touch with Touya, and she’s not able to talk to him until she accidentally runs into him at the studio giving a birthday present to Rina. There’s a stark silence between the two when given some time alone, and Yuki finally asks Touya what he’s doing on Saturday, the day of the school festival. Touya thinks that he’ll probably be on school campus, so Yuki suggests that they go, and she then leads him to the recording studio. Touya is subsequently confused to see Yuki at Rina’s recording session and wonders why Yuki is singing Rina’s songs. Yayoi ends up taking him home, and when she tries to make a move on him this time, he embraces her back.

ED Sequence

There were some more new images for the ED, this time much prettier than the previous ones thanks to the snow effects and other animation combined with scenic photography. The song’s been growing on me as well – it’s probably one of the better songs from this season.

Preview

I found this to be a much more interesting episode than the past couple of weeks, partially because there’s less Misaki and more of everyone else and partially because big things actually happened this week. After all that distance between Yuki and Touya and the silence when they finally did meet by accident, I don’t really see them as a couple anymore, and Touya unconsciously or not probably realized something similar. Yuki didn’t even get all that jealous when she caught him giving presents to another girl, or at least she didn’t show it. In other words, there’s a question of how much they really love each other. That’s not to say that Touya is justified in finally giving in to Yayoi since he’s technically hasn’t yet broken up with Yuki and since he’s more at fault for not doing anything to save the relationship than she is, but at the same time there have been a lot of forces working against him, and I find it hard to really hate him (at this point anyway). I still wouldn’t mind if he somehow ended up with Rina instead, and Rina might be open to that as well.

In any case, it looks like this might be the start of a lot of the big angst and drama, and I can’t say that I’m not looking forward to it. Any type of song competition between Rina and Yuki would probably be pretty fun too.

33 Comments

  1. 7updnL, not by a long shot. True tears had more charisma and better characters. And for a drama, True Tears still had a lot of color (in every sense of the word). The only thing I didn’t like about True Tears was the ending. I really really hoped for the main character to end up with Noe (the eccentric short haired girl)

    magnumslinger
  2. Relationships do not always have to be officially ended before starting a new one, at least not in the real world. When two people grow further and further apart, their relationship is practically ended – it does not need to be official. That’s what happened to a friend of mine recently anyway – he started seeing another girl and broke up with his old girlfriend afterward. She was fine with it, since she also knew their relationship had ended.

    I see no reason to hate Touya. The only reason why I could hate him is if he does not break up with Yuki the next time he sees her and just pretend they are still together and give her false promises.

    I realize, though that most people wouldn’t agree with me and start rooting for a “Nice Boat” ending.

    Darklord
  3. Finally it is blogged. ^^

    I really needed it cause i was so confused on why Touya suddenly became depressed and cheated on Yuki. Although i would prefer Touya to end up with Haruka, i get the feeling that no matter what he still ends up with Yuki. I would be nice to get an unexpected ending to spice things up. Like a sudden new character and he ends with the new character.

    banzemanga
  4. @Darklord:
    I think we can blame Touya for not communicating with Yuki when he had the opportunity. He should put an end to their unfruitful relationship, then he can move on to another girl. He is doing it wrong. Not even trying to contact your supposed “girlfriend” for weeks is despicable. At least he could have asked Rina to pass on the message that he was living at his dad’s…

    Son Gohan
  5. I highly doubt that’s true, Syllen. Then we’d end up with cell phones broken or missing or turned off like in other anime.

    I kind of wish Yayoi hadn’t been the catalyst. Too bad it wasn’t Rina.

    Nellie
  6. well obviously those types of things cant be helped but generally it would solve most of the problems they are having, ie not being at home and going back and forth between their meeting place and such

    Syllen
  7. ~yawn~ I don’t really hate this show anymore but it’s definitely getting boring as hell. It reminds me of a soap opera. It’s trying to stay passe with the indecisive guy & the stupid chicks that flock to him but its much too ‘real’ to be a true anime. It could work out very well being a dorama instead. Not to many anime can achieve that. I’m not saying that’s a good or bad thing, its just unique, boring but unique.

    Megas
  8. Does he deserve Rina? We’ve all seen how awesome of a boyfriend he is, after all. Faithful, but just enough to let other women hang around him like puppies, and always willing to lend a hand to a woman in trouble.

    Rawr
  9. @Son Gohan

    I’m not saying I approve of him cheating or not trying to fix his relationship with Yuki. He certainly could have handled a lot of things much better. What I was trying to say was that the mere act of sleeping with someone else, while still “officially” being with another is not enough to condemn him, that’s all. It all depends on how he handles things afterward. I think it’s very realistic, what he’s going through, and stuff like that happens to a lot of people around me – relationships degrading until the point where they are relationships just “in theory”. I see no problem with him going with someone else and then breaking up with Yuki – and I suspect she would just accept that as well.

    Darklord
  10. As a character I kinda like Touya, hes a screw up and flawed as hell but he feels more real than most harem leads. I want to yell at him that he is messing up but I never despise him because I could have made those same mistakes at his age. Real world relationships are messy and some times they fail quietly like this. Just my two bits.

    P.S Mana FTW 😉

    carbon
  11. Touya has undoubtedly made mistakes, but he is not entirely to blame for the way things are going. Misaki and Haruka seem to depend on him too much, Yuki has been torn away from him, and Yayoi is throwing herself at him for whatever reason. He could’ve done more to save his relationship with Yuki and could’ve stayed away from the other girls better, but he isn’t a bad guy. I actually think his reactions are very natural, no guy would be able to handle a real life version of this situation well.

    Brosuke
  12. Nobody reacted to the last thought he got in the ep while kissing Yayoi? “Sorry, Misaki, I’ll be a little late” instead of thinking about Yuki Oo. I was like: But seriously, what are his priorities?
    However, Yayoi is a hottie 😡 though cold at the same time.
    Rina is just the perfect match imho. Just Love her.
    Yuki’s being too indecisive.
    And hell, how annoying it is not having cellphones. It was frustrating to watch them missing each other the whole day -_-.
    Anyway, the show must go on.

    Angelyro

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