「桜井梨穂子編 最終章 サヨナラ」 (Sakurai Rihoko-hen Saishuushou – Sayonara)
“Sakurai Rihoko Final Chapter – Goodbye”

They could have gone several ways with a childhood friend character and while I feel this was a unique way of going about it, I’m not entirely sure it would’ve been anywhere near the top of my list. I was already a bit wary of the prior three episodes and how the spark just wasn’t there between Junichi and Rihoko, and this finale episode didn’t really subside that feeling as the minutes trickled down. The real downer is that not only did the two of them not end up as a couple, but Junichi still couldn’t see Rihoko as anything more than a childhood friend even after this arc took the story well past Christmas and all the way to Valentine’s Day and the graduation ceremony. While I am a bit disappointed there wasn’t even an inadvertent kiss, I’m nowhere near as disappointed as some people probably are since I was prepared for such an ending back in Kaoru’s arc. The “remain friends” ending as Rihoko continues to try to get Junichi to notice her feelings undoubtedly leaves a lot to be desired, but I have to give the writers credit for having the balls to go with what will probably become the least favorite arc of the entire series.

I mentioned last episode that I simply wasn’t feeling the love was in the air, so for believability sake, it’s somewhat relieving to know that that is what they were going for. In what I would describe as bringing the anime viewer down to earth, Rihoko’s story depicts the way a childhood love will probably end up most of the time, i.e. as an unrequited one. Be that as it may, I’m still leaning towards the side that wanted to see a happy ending more so than a realistic one, especially when it concluded fairly open-endedly with Junichi joining the Tea Ceremony club as his way of congratulating Ruriko and Manaka on their graduation. As a consolation prize or sorts, it was nice to see Junichi decide to help Rihoko keep the club going and draw a very emotional response out of her though. It was at that point that I was hoping everything that his seniors had been suggesting to him would finally click in that thick skull of his, but alas, it was not meant to be. If I were to look on the bright side, Rihoko was happy to have his support in their final year together. On the other hand, the letdown was that her feelings still haven’t reached him, even after all the help from just about everyone.

For a really innocent and earnest character like Rihoko who does put in the effort to get her feelings across, it’s almost cruel for her to be in love with a blockhead like Junichi. However, if there’s one thing to take away from this route, it’s that Junichi remained the most respectful and respectable version of himself to date, because he never once succumbed to his teenage desires. As much as I enjoy seeing the girls themselves, I always have my eye on what kind of an effect they have on Junichi. Assuming that he and Rihoko eventually do start dating, I’m almost tempted to say that they’d make the cutest couple for the innocence in their relationship alone. The sparks definitely aren’t flying, but not all couples are like that to begin with. It’s just too bad they won’t be animated it, because this finale feels more like it should have been the third episode in the arc and there’s just one more on the horizon to seal the deal. For those who can’t contain themselves, let the rage begin. Tsukasa’s arc is coming up though, so I’d imagine Rihoko’s will be a mere afterthought before long.

 

Preview

72 Comments

  1. Rage!!!!! unfortunately this arc has to end this way… was hoping to see a happier ending with the childhood friend that fell for the guy since Kindergarten … now I really want to know the ending for the original game and the manga for her…
    and let the anticipation begin (guess it already begun a long time ago) for the class rep arc… I like the preview 🙂

    jrj
    1. Apparrently the possible endings are:

      Show Spoiler ▼

      It’s somewhere between the normal and good ending I guess.

      Smokex365
      1. I agree. A happy ending doesn’t mean “sex” -.- They both look pretty happy at the end, so I’d call this a happy ending. If you still don’t understand, let me just say that there was no “nice boat”.

        bunny
  2. WHAAAAAAAAAAT?! OMG! Such a major let-down! I was so looking forward to a love ending.
    It’s so disappointing that your favourite herione doesn’t get the same sort treatment and ending like all the other girls. So unfair. Poor Rihoko 🙁

    For those who want to know what happens in the game with regards to Rihoko’s story:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Antoine
  3. This arc has the same flaw as Ai’s arc. They both have interesting girls, but their arcs are ultimately BORING.

    Well Tsukasa’s arc is next. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, but the last couple of unimpressive arcs worries me.

    fragb85
  4. I feel like I wasted a lot of my time just to see this crappy ending between the the two, but i have high hopes for Tsukasa’s arc, I’ve been hearing a lot of interesting things about her personality and took the liberty of reading her manga.

    haseo0408
    1. yeah,why must this happen?!! it’s like they downplayed her arc.she’s the only girl who got a dissatisfying end..GAH! SO UNFAIR! i feel bad for her in this arc..DX they must do an 0va continuation of this..X/

      keiOnDaisuki
  5. Sayonara ero-Fudgee-O, ahhh so many plot points and holiday scenes made me feel like i ws watching the 12 episode series in 4, but i have to agree with Divine there’s one episode missing! Maybe we’ll get a minute tacked on to the DVD that looks like Haruka’s future glimpse to satisfy the rage. lol I have no regrets she’s still my favorite arced character. Before we knew this was omnibus Ayatsuji was becoming my pick for the series so at least i can be satisfied with that.

    Breedo
  6. All I can say is to rid of disappointments is by playing the game, but then again that’s only if you can understand Japanese :/

    I still consider Tsukasa arc as on of the best arcs, next to Ai and Haruka imo

    Anonymity
  7. to be frank i really didnt fell much of romance in this arc. it really disappoint me that they didnt have lovely romance in this arc but just plain and steady feelings. what really in rage me is that their is no kiss. Not even in the checks.
    Anyways. im really expecting big in the Tsukasa arc. since from the looks of Tsukasa isnt the girl you can judge by appearance.

    ♛Croosboy♛
  8. i feel so sad about this..very much.. rihoko’s arc must have 0ne more episode to show the actual romance happening.. T_T it’s likely that they’d end up as a couple,yes,but that must’ve sh0wn it.. the other girls got some romantic closure animated,why n0t her? this is just so unfair..DX nwei, so far,HARUKA got the best closure w/ junichi xD And YEY! TSUKASA HERE WE GO!! XDD

    keiOnDaisuki
  9. … REALLY

    DAMN EVERYTHING…. WHY WHY WHY WHY…

    Now that’s lame.

    Anyways, onto the Final Arc… well not really if we continue the other 2 arcs we’re suppose to get, but to the end of Amagami, sniff… I’m going to miss this show.

    Sora no Kaze
  10. so far.. this is the only arc I haven’t watched yet. I didn’t liked Rihoko to begin with, so I was holding back. and now that I know how it would end.. I don’t feel like this arc is worth watching at all.. I’ll watch next week’s though ^^

    MrRei
  11. That’s kinda bollocks, because I actually want something to happened. Rihoko has become my most favorite character and I feel she deserves her moment more, but in the end something did happened that might actually make the two really close but it looks like we won’t see it happening. I was thinking that they should make one more episode to show some spark in their relationship so that we know something good will actually happened to those two that would make them a couple

    SilentmanX
  12. this arc is really a let down. it started really great but ended poorly..

    anyway it finally the arc which i was most looking forward to…let hope i wont have to face such let down again.

    Zone
  13. What the heck….The arc started off with a bang, but ends up like a sunken ship. Hey, amagami anime staff, YOU GUY SUCK DONKEY !@#$%. NOT EVEN A KISS OR AN EMBRACE, WHAT KIND OF ROMANCE IS THIS? I’m watching a romance series after all am I right? Amagami SS, and not TROLLGAMI SS let’sdrinkteaandeatdessertsalldaylawls!(If I wanted to watch that, I would watch K-on instead, twerps!). You know what else I hate? Those 2 teaclub senpai.(I hate them, I HATE THEM ARRGHHHH). They are not interesting and they always leech off as much screen time as they can whenever they appear. Remember the oden scene in Ai’s arc? Yea, that was retarded. Man, I thought Ai’s arc was boring, but Rihoko got shafted so badly that it’s not even funny. Seriously, how the heck are they going to sell the DVD/Bluray? Even with the extra scenes, It’ll be hard to convince viewers to buy after witnessing this failure. Is that how they promote the dvds? Way to go anime staff!

    Will Ayatsuji arc redeem the series? Maybe, but based on track records, I’m keeping my expectation low or just to none at all.

    *Ahem* I could rage some more, but I tried my best to keep it nice and clean for RC….:X

    Kururu
  14. What… I mean… it’s not bad but I feel bad for Rihoko, I thought this was her chance for love but naw…

    This is going directly to my “owww” endings.

    Next arc is “Final Boss” and damn… keep your children’s at home and lock the door!

    Lectro Volpi
  15. So,the production decided to sacrifice Rihoko’s arc so Tsukasa’s arc would look relatively better, and therefore a better appreciation to the series as a whole. I guess this is what happened when Junichi is not doing the attack. Shame on you Ero-NINI!

    katz
  16. Hmm. I’m taking a break for this series and I thought I would check the blog to see how it ended, and then decide when I should watch it. I was surprised at this ending, it really wasn’t what I expected.

    LaN
  17. Simply not enough time to build a relationship between the two, given how much effort would be needed to break through the childhood friend barrier. Could do a whole series on that alone.

    EliteF22
    1. I thought Kaoru was the most popular character but it looks like it’s Tsukasa (at least in Japan).

      Being the pet from the series and the centre of everything (look at the opening), we can assume that her arc is the only one good enough to coup d’état Haruka’s arc.

      “RIHOKO GOT FRIENDZONED… IN HER OWN ARC!!!”

      Wow, you make it look bad!

      Lectro Volpi
  18. I’m actually not too surprised they ended this in an anticlimactic way. Everyone knows you have to give the shaft to at least one of the girls… or deny it, IYKWIM >.> Remember how people raged when Nayuki got denied?

    Yeah, it’s over, people shouldn’t have expected much to begin with since they always downplayed her character. Great character development, I admit. And yes, it is a disappointing end, but can you really blame Juinchi for not going for it?

    Also, hooray for composed Juinchi considering his “Oppai! Oppai!” childhood days.

  19. As with the majority in this thread,
    ~takes a deep breath~
    Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
    Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!
    It had to end this way……
    siiiiiiigh~

    Onto the last arc w/c I’m guessing a lot are waiting for.

    Hagiri
  20. Well that was……….that I guess. You know I was hoping for more, Rihoko’s arc had been a joy to watch and I was hoping for a more relationship orientated ending that what we got. Still appropriate but lacking, so it looks like Rihoko’s arc ranks towards the bottom of my list so far, being from best to worst Sae, Haruka, Ai, Rihoko, Kaoru. (Ai still had the best ending theme though).

    Next up the arc ive been waiting for since I first started watching this series =)

    Thundershock81
  21. You know what this episode reminded me of? RL, and when anime does that, it seems to take away the whole purpose of watching it. It seemed like every other romance anime out there, with every step being able to guess correctly.

    But OOHHH yeah, the next arc with Tsukasa Ayatsuji is what we’re alll waiting for, I mean, she IS the cover girl, and I pray to the flying spaghetti monster that it’ll blow away my mind.

  22. Well that was incredibly unsatisfying… Rihoko’s romance was the one I was looking forward to the most, seeing the childhood friend finally get her guy! But no, denied again… what the hell… This arc was okay, but definitely not as good as the others.

    Aex
  23. And I thought that Sae’s arc got shafted bad… Ugh. Granted, Rihoko was not one of my favorite girls in this series, but her ending was lackluster. (Yeah. What was the point again of the alternate continuity formula?)

    Okay, on the bright side, Junichi joining the Tea Ceremony club (and deciding to help Rihoko with running it) was heartwarming in its own way. And to be fair, the various endings for the girls have been spoilered left and right, so they (AIC) have to work on how to keep a sense of unpredictability, yet somehow satisfy at the end. Of course, Rihoko fans already feel like they got the short end of the stick… 🙁

    Feel free to cue your Kimikiss: Pure RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE~!!! flashbacks…

    The Precious Diary extra chapter was a much-needed lifesaver though. Otherwise, I would have gone “Pure Rage” as well.

    Anyway…Tsukasa arc next week! As M. Bison would put it: “YES! YES!”
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Incognito
  24. worst ending possible to an amagami ss arc. it’s probably because we already seen the childhood friend card played in Kaoru-arc and they probably want to make ayajitsu arc…. legendary……….. =D
    tsukasa ftw

  25. but I have to give the writers credit for having the balls to go with what will probably become the least favorite arc of the entire series.

    errr… i beg to disagree. that title belongs to sae’s arc. lol.

    anyway. i was like “what the hell was that?!” after i saw the ~fin~. it would have been a bit better even if junichi showed some interest in her before it ended. a little blush and a smile while looking at rihoko at the end would have been nice. oh wells. on to the last arc. the most awaited i guess?

    kc
  26. Actually I rather liked this arc and the way it ended. Leaves open possibilities (though unlikely) and it feels more ‘real’ than the others.

    Plus I like the fact how it followed the schoolyear to the end instead of stopping at X-mas.
    Since Persona 3 and 4 I’ve become more and more interested in those school life series.

    Morridin
  27. Speaking of Persona 3…
    Remember Rihoko is the protagonist in this arc, she choose the wrong flags (promises to follow her diet but didn’t happen) that cause it to endup quite normal. If only Hamuko Arisato is the protagonist in this arc, perhaps she have her way with the male characters all over the place that includes Ai’s younger brother.

    pedobear

Leave a Reply to Lectro Volpi Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *