「決意」 (Ketsui)
“Determination”

I just hate it when people are meandering over miscommunication and the angst that goes along with it, but I can really feel for the characters here. Yes, everything can be resolved if one person is able to break past their insecurities, but when no one can, you just want to get in there and do it yourself. Once you start thinking that way, the story’s already sucked you in. I believe a more correct term is “captivated you”. Well I’ll be damned, they got me here. With the rumours spreading around last time, I was hoping that Sawako’s bluntness and constant attempts to clear misunderstandings would’ve reconciled everything. However, one missed opportunity led to another misunderstanding and so on until the whole thing snowballed into a dismal mess. i.e. Nobody’s happy yet nobody can seem to do anything about it no matter how hard they try.

Luckily, Kazehaya goes for the direct approach this time by waiting for Sawako after school. While she’s been able to suppress her emotions and maintain a cold exterior in class, she can’t do the same when she’s face-to-face with him. At that point, she spills the beans on how she’s been avoiding them because of the rumours saying she brings down their image. However, Kazehaya tells her he only cares about the Sawako he sees (which is easy for him to say when he’s head over heels in love with her). Whatever his reasons may be, he’s able to lift the huge emotional burden from Sawako’s heart, especially when he makes her realize how much she’d hate it if he, Yano, or Yoshida started avoiding her because of some rumours. Revitalized, Sawako decides to clear things up with Yano and Yoshida the next day, who are still struggling to figure out if the Sawako they know is the real her.

Yano in particular is annoyed at Pin for getting in their way the other day, but gets encouraged about dealing with problems no matter how unreasonable they may be (even if they’re caused by him!). She later heads to the library and notices all the ghost story books Sawako had checked out, bringing about both happy and sad memories. With the help of Ryuu, Yoshida soon realizes that Sawako doesn’t even know about their middle school antics that the rumours are based on, nor does she have anyone she’d talk to. At home, she’s also reminded of Sawako’s kindness from her handwritten study notes, which happen to contain a poorly drawn picture of herself in encouragement. Yano and Yoshida meet up later that night and discuss how much Sawako’s changed. Over the course of their discussion, Yano brings up how she’s happy about seeing Sawako’s natural smile, since she used to be among the insensitive crowd that treated her as an outcast. Yoshida though, wonders what Sawako meant with her apology, not calling them her friends, and not outright saying she likes them. Seeing how they’re both thinking of her this much, they soon realize that Sawako’s their friend and they love her a lot.

The next day, Sawako wants to clear things up but is worried how to do so without disrupting their studies. She then overhears some other girls talking about the rumours in the washroom and tries to clear things up. However, they only laugh at her before saying they know all about the yankee criminal and the slut. Cornered, Sawako clenches her fist at what they just said about Yoshida and Yano.

So what I’m thinking at this point is, why can’t everyone just be happy when everything’s exactly like they hope it is? God damn stupid rumours from stupid bitches. That said, I can’t imagine Sawako punching the girl in the face, even though she deserves it. The important thing here is that Kazehaya now knows why Sawako’s been acting that way, so even if she can’t convey her true feelings and clear things up, we still have him to rely on. The preview seems to indicate that Sawako will be able to do it herself, but the last shot makes the end result questionable. (If only Yano had her arm around Sawako.) It’s pretty safe to assume that everyone will get back together eventually, but my cynical side is expecting another misunderstanding before it’s all said and done. For now, at least we have some new people to direct our hatred towards. On an unrelated note, some of the lush backgrounds in this episode looked really nice.

* I forgot to mention that I’m just helping out Omni with this series as well. If you’ve enjoyed his coverage of this series thus far, don’t fret; he’ll return to his regular blogging next week.

 

Preview

30 Comments

  1. This anime is so good, its being faithful to the manga so far… and yes, stupid bitches. Why can’t they get a life of their own instead of fucking someone’s else? They deserve to be shot in the face

    manu
  2. Love this manga/anime. Bought the first volume when it came out in states, after having read it already as far as it’s been translated online, and been watching. Great show and it keeps well to the manga.

    Silivious
  3. The beginning of the episode almost had me in tears…Almost lost it right before Sawako cleared that misunderstanding with Kazehaya. It’s been a very long time since an anime series made me feel such emotions.

    Reni
  4. Sawako is weaker now that she’s let her guard down and opened up to people. being cornered in the toilet seems odd when compared to how everyone would clean house the first 2 episodes when she is near. Didn’t read the manga but quite comfortable with the pace.

    Gmoney
  5. The pacing is good so far for me. Too much of a good thing can spoil the fun. I liked the way Yano and Yoshida with the help of others realized how the rumors can’t be coming from Sawako. Still they are confused about her, this is human relation candy at its best. Will see how the pacing doesn’t get in the way of the story telling

    island esper
  6. this show… and the manga… god…. one of the purest forms of cuteness and beauty I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying T_T…

    the lack of fan service and moe corruption truly allows me to enjoy this to it’s fullest extent

    Putang
  7. la verdad esta muy chido este anime pero lo que mas me gustó fue la parte que Sadako le devolvió a Kazehaya los 125 yenes del té que le llevó

    la verdad que es uno de los mejores animes de esta temporada

    espero que lo sigan blogeando

    gracias divine & omni for this review

    Jezreel
  8. I still don’t like how Yano and Yoshida continue to call Sawako by her derogatory nickname despite caring so much about her now. I’m loving the anime, never read the manga, but the pacing seems a little slow so far.

    Kevin
  9. it’s kindda funny that it’s actually Pin and Ryu who give advice to both of the girls, but that help a lot in the character development in ths series, since Ryu always the passive one. Each episode just gone better and better, and it’s really fun to see how each character interact with each other. There’s one part i did’t understand about Sawako is that why she need to complicate the meaning of friendship, i mean if you stay in the same class and have fun together, you’re friend, oh well……i was really hope in the last scene, Sawako will raise her hand and slap the girl face though (;p), which i think Sawako would never do

    treble89
  10. “So what I’m thinking at this point is, why can’t everyone just be happy when everything’s exactly like they hope it is? God damn stupid rumours from stupid bitches.”

    Welcome to reality: never understimate human stupidity :S

    I beg anime gods to make sawako do a german suplex to that bitch.

    LoL
  11. HaHa, Ryu’s got a Red Hot Chili Peppers hat! I didn’t realize until I read this chapter of the comic and it was there was well.
    The design is different from the comic but I guess that’s to avoid copyright problems.

    Kora
  12. “There’s one part i did’t understand about Sawako is that why she need to complicate the meaning of friendship, i mean if you stay in the same class and have fun together, you’re friend, oh well…”

    I guess that it doesn’t mean that just because you’re classmates and are having fun together, you’re already friends because sometimes they’re just simply classmates/acquaintances. There are others who think that friendship is more than just having fun and talking.

    And in Sawako’s case, she’s never had a chance to experience those until she met them so I can somehow understand where she’s coming from. I just hope that those misunderstandings will be resolved next week and yeah, that girl needs to be slapped really hard.

    ski

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