Summary:

As they make their way through the month of December, Kazehaya and friends finish exams and start planning a Christmas party. Sawako really wants to go, but she remembers how her family normally celebrates Christmas together and is hesitant to sign up. When Kazehaya urges her to go to the party, she makes up her mind that she will, however when she gets home, she’s unable to tell her father because he’s too busy thinking about presents and what they’ll do at home. To make matters worse, she finds out that her parents consider Christmas important because she was born soon after on New Year’s Eve, so Sawako feels that she has no choice but to not go to the party. She thus decides to give Ayane and Chizuru their homemade presents early, and through this Kazehaya finds out that she’s not going after all. When Christmas Eve finally arrives, Sawako’s father accidentally discovers the hat that Sawako had been knitting for Kazehaya and mistakes it for his own present. Sawako can’t bring herself to tell him the truth because her father likes it so much, and she spends the day with her parents.

As the night is winding down though, Sawako thinks about her friends at the party and gets a phone call from Chizuru and Ayane. They put Kazehaya on the phone, and this causes Sawako to start crying because she really wants to be there with them. Seeing this, her mother takes the phone and chats with Kazehaya who tells her that everyone would be happier if Sawako were there. Sawako meanwhile asks her father if she can go see her friends, so her father gives her his present, a cell phone, and sends her on her way. Unfortunately, by the time Sawako finally gets to the meeting place, the party is over and everyone has already left. Everyone, that is, except for Kazehaya. He uses this chance to give her a present – a cell phone charm – and so she shows him the cell phone she just got and gets his number. She also accidentally gives him the present she originally knit for her father, a haramaki, and Kazehaya mistakes it for a neck warmer.

Preview

This was an episode that had some touching moments (mainly when Sawako started crying) and a sweet end but a very frustrating middle. With the way things tend to work out in this series, I thought the misunderstandings would get cleared up earlier than they actually did and that Sawako would be able to go to the party or Kazehaya would bring to party to her somehow. Ultimately I enjoyed the episode and was happy to see things work out for the two of them, but I can’t help but blame Sawako a little for letting herself get into that situation in the first place. A little more assertiveness would have taken her a long way. I do have to applaud Production I.G though because this episode looked really good, and I’m a sucker for snow effects.

Anyway, we’re now nearing the end of the series, and if I had been paying more attention, I would have realized two weeks ago that The Television magazine revealed that this series is actually going to be 25 episodes total, not 24 as originally listed. The final episode will thus air on March 30th.

20 Comments

  1. loved the episode!… pretty emotional, i say

    its too late for this anime to be considered as one of the best this season

    This anime was SUPPOSED to be one of the highlights this season, but it seems like it didnt live to its expectations. the latest episodeS have been pretty cool so far, but MOST of the previous episodes were bad or mediocre.

    Alec
  2. @ kwantum0

    i everyone does, even i feel the same.

    this episode was most likely/ (definitely) done so that many people can relate to it, giving this episode an awesomeness boost. (awesome ep + awesome boost = ????? ) sumthin hard to explain. anyways they were pretty successful at doing it…

    ( the “I WANT TO GO,BUT I CANT GO” is something pretty common in real life. it probably didnt take that long to brainstorm..could they have done sumthin else???…idk..w/e nvm…this isnt making sense nemore anyways awsome ep!!!!!!!, but still not the best this season -_-)

    Alec
  3. This is one of those episodes where i can relate. this kinds of episode (which have been less and less) is why i fell in love with the series and they should have more of this.

    minami
  4. even with that extra one more episode to make this a 25-episode run, it’s still gonna be an anime original ending, which i hope they wouldn’t mess up on. if only the pace was somewhat faster, at least they could have gone all the way up to where the manga chapters are right now.

    i’m just comparing it with how another rom-com, Lovely Complex, which had twice the number of tankobons, could stay as close to the manga story, and wrap-up the ending perfectly.

    all in 26 episodes.

  5. hope the last/next episode will make up to this one, i really annoyed with Sawako character in this episode, just go ahead and tell your father! see, crying didn’t solve anything

    treble89
  6. just peeped chap#39……………..the whole situation…is that a cultural thing?…..TRULY MADDENING!!! are all shoujo’s this “beat around the bush?”..
    love the dad though-especially when he stole the hat haha!

    BROOKLYN otaku
  7. Jesus, Sawako’s cuteness in this episode is a half-life short of a meltdown for fans like me.

    LOL at her dad, the doting father >.<

    And props for Kazehaya, he’s a man. Wait there in the snow for her, you slave of love!!

    People are putting the latest episodes down because they aren’t entertaining enough to live up to all the other drama they’ve probably seen in romances, but this is as real as it gets; its pure, its beautiful, and you have to appreciate it for what it is and not what it ‘lacks’. You may thinks is overdramatic, but if you take a minute to fully understand her position, step into her shoes, then you will know that nothing is being over played. For those who’ve had something special like what Sawako and Kazehaya have to each other, or those who haven’t; beating around the bush is the best part; you’ll miss the butterflies when they’re gone. ;P

    Final note:(I feel as if this show wants to resurface the innocence and purity of teenage emotions (angst, jealousy, requited/unrequited love) embodied in the different characters. This is how it still is and isn’t at times, untouched by outside factors. I’m a huge fan of Clannad but I can’t find myself comparing it to anything, it wouldn’t be fair–that’s when I know I’m watching something gold, it doesn’t move me in a dramatic kind of way, it touches me–how they end it, original or not, wouldn’t take away the smiles I’ve been given.)

    Dawn
  8. Darn, I was totally expecting the dad to go into GAR mode with a “YOUR HAPPINESS IS MY HAPPINESS” speech. 🙁

    But yeah I agree with Dawn’s view of the episode; it didn’t felt so much melodramatic as that it was actually touching in a simple, relatable way. In fact, I think this episode shows another hurdle that Sawako has jumped over, that is her past inability to say what she wants and not just go along with everything other people wants. Her dad’s Santa act also symbolizes this, as the dude still thought of her daughter as a little girl that nags Santa for presents, even though she already knows and is just afraid to burst his bubble. In the end though, the dad realized this; that’s why he is able to give Sawako the cellphone using his own name instead of Santa’s.

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