「逢いたい時にあなたはいない…」 (Aitai Tokini Anata wa Inai)
“You’re not There When I Want To See You…”

Even if this week’s episode didn’t tickle your fancy with certain scenes, there was still more than enough good material to balance out Sora’s insanely intricate and detailed fantasies. In a way, the story seems to have finally looped back to tackle the big problem that’s at least been on mind since the very beginning of the series — how does a college student raise three children while still maintaining his sanity?

If you compare Yuuta to how he was when first adopted Sora, Miu, and Hina; you have to admit that he’s come a long way. Honestly, I expected that his new found confidence and assistance from friends like Raika would have been more than enough to sustain his current lifestyle. But as we saw, it looks like the story hasn’t been giving any attention to all the small problems that were building up and instead opted to throw a swift swift straight as us.

And that curveball was once again the realistic problems that come with trying to be a single parent with not one, not two, but three kids to take care of. Just like Yuuta, I was certainly on the bandwagon that believed he was somehow managing the gigantic amount of responsibilities that a parent has. However, after listening to the stern conversation that Yuuta had with Yoshiko and the revelation that one of his Uncles would take in all three of his nieces I was slowly being pulled over to the other side.

For example, take all of the daydreams that Sora had this entire episode. Every time she snapped back into reality, she was sleeping somewhere due to the lack of sleep she’s had. While you can’t blame her especially if you take into consideration all of her other responsibilities, it still doesn’t put Yuuta’s perception in a good light. The same goes for Miu and the way Yuuta completely missed just how ill she was feeling! But the worst offense probably goes to the lack of responsibility he had with Hina — how could he even fathom missing one of her performances?!

While I hope you caught some of my sarcasm toward the end of that last paragraph, the story seems to be entering some dark territory. After witnessing all the faults in Yuuta’s ability to notice the finer points of raising children and the revelation that there is an adult willing to care for all three girls, things ended on a pretty depressing note don’t it? Plus, I call foul on the way they ended this episode! Not only was it a low blow to have Hina bring up her parents with a smile like this but can you imagine how creepy it would have been had that xylophone version of twinkle twinkle little star continued playing instead of the ending song?

Full-Length Shots for Your Consumption: 13 and 25

P.S. Dat Bellybutton.

P.P.S Hey guys! I’ll be heading out of town this Thurday until Sunday for a big conference called DCON which means my posts for BRS and Shana will probably be a little late. Just wanted to give the people who read my posts a heads up. And again, thanks you for continually reading my posts! <3

 

Preview

End Card

60 Comments

    1. Sadly that’s probably true. It’s usually not worth the anime original endings.
      But there are those outliers like trigun and elfen lied with amazing endings.
      … but then there are outliers to the other extreme like kurokami’s ending.

      Seven
    2. Judging from the preview, it might not be anime original ending Show Spoiler ▼

      Serapita
  1. So I know that he’s not going to give away his “children” (since the light novels are still ongoing) but let’s be realistic. He really should let his uncle take them. His only qualm earlier was that they would be separated, but that’s not longer an issue. I mean, all of them are tired all day, half of them are sick, Yuuta has over 9000 jobs…if he really loved them, he’d realize this life is a pipe dream and let them go. It’s not like he can’t visit them at his uncle’s place.

    tl;dr: look at Bass.EXE take an anime too seriously.

    1. You might have a point but raising children is not only about moneay, those girls alredy have an emotional atachment to him and seee themselfs as a family, separating them will only bring more pain at the end. He can managed somehow, I´m of the opinion that children should who the person that truly loves them.

      haseo0408
      1. But life is not about stars and rainbow, there are times life is just not fair and you can’t always have your way, if he truely loves them then he should really know what is best for them at this moment. He should hurry up finish his colleg get a decent job then he can have them back but at this moment a college student raising 3 kids is just too much for him, and is causing the girls too much stress as well. Love is not about being stubborn but doing what is right and what is best for those you truly love. So an uncle willing to take all 3 under his care right now is the best option.

        mike
      1. Well it sort of matters. The older girls aren’t related to Yuuta’s family at all. But then again, they’re not related to Yuuta either.

        By the way, did you notice they refused to even notify Sora and Miu’s maternal family when their parents died?

        cshin9
  2. I hope to hell he does not decide to give the girls to the relatives. Where were all these relatives when he was struggling to make ends meet? They could have sent some money to help out. I would rather the mom and dad come back from the dead (stuck on abandoned island all this time or something) then he give the kids up.

    Karmafan
    1. I would rather the mom and dad come back from the dead (stuck on abandoned island all this time or something)

      Haha, yeah, like every “dead” Marvel hero ever. “Oh, remember when that guy died? Nope, he just went to another dimension. He’s back now. Yup!”

  3. oh my indeed with all this just happen must wonder what next?

    sora oh my you’re going “liking” on miu but false alarm it lead marry yuuta oh it a dream.
    sora & raika on market going some talk mention yuuta another dream sora with raika’s “size” for yuuta?!
    after long day time to relax, school work, & oh clean hina.
    sora’s dream no.3 oh it’s the parents some talk with yuuta’s sister & see a letter.
    yuuta & sora some talk about mention his sister & things will be fine.
    yuuta worry on phone of here raika to touch hands.
    sora’s dream no.4 in car driving to door lead happy with everyone.
    yuuta arrive home see place all empty oh it’s the aunt.
    sora got call that hina got fever then all 3 went back oh see the aunt & busted.
    after giving hina some rest & aunt mention the letter.
    sora’s dream no.5 2nd drive going fast oh no a cliff more no yuuta gone oh bad dream.
    sora & yuuta go mention aunt, letter, school, pressure, etc nearly alot give yuuta tried his best.
    next day hina all better sora see letter it’s from other family member one with the glasses.
    letter said that having recall what said & make-up from saying by to take care of all 3 sisters together so yuuta can focus on his school & etc.
    dinner time everything ok then hina mention the parents yea bit hmm… & twinkle star.

    hmm indeed looking next ep oh my what might happen???

    CAPTAIN MAR-KLAC-VELOUS
  4. “Not only was it a low blow to have Hina bring up her parents with a smile like this”
    Takaii, the picture under the “smile” link is not the correct one; I think it should be the next picture…

    J-Luke
  5. Hina, that…that was like a punch to the gut T__T I’m sorry Hina, they won’t be coming home…

    Side note: all they really need to be setup muuuuch better is 1) a better job for Yuuta (or financial assistance…whatever lets him work less crazy hours) and 2) for the two older girls to transfer to a school closer to where they live. Do those two things and they will have enough time to stay healthy, sane, and happier. Ya crazy kids.

    Stilts
    1. Ah, my Lord Hina is so innocent, it smashes my heart also. But acquiring a job with decent pay is hard to find when you are a college student. I vote for the notion of Yuuta and the adorable three living with Raika-san. Wouldn’t that be a great series in itself?

    2. Yuuta do us all a favour and transfer those 2 girls on a school closer to your apartment. Please and thank you!

      Raika, you yourself is justice! Just marry Yuuta and I’ll be happy (I bet Yuuta will be too).

      0927123
  6. Personally, I’m all in favor of Yuuta giving up the girls. I’ve watched my nieces over an extended period before and it was hard enough just keeping three pre-teen girls alive for a week and a half, that’s with me taking time off of work as well. A full time student pulling several part time jobs to make ends is not a healthy or conducive environment for those girls.

    If Yuuta wants to keep the girls, he needs to put school on the back burner or stop going to school period – and get a full time paying job. It isn’t difficult for a high school student to get a full time job that will pay for a two bedroom apartment plus utilities and necessities (and I speak of that from my experience living in Japan). I think Yuuta is being selfish – he takes on three living, breathing, REAL girls and thinks he can keep up a care free lifestyle, so long as he takes care of the status quo (in his mind, having a job)! For me, getting a dog and taking on the responsibilities of training her, feeding her, and keeping her safe takes up noticeable toll on my wallet and my personal time. I can not fathom what luxuries I need to give up for a single human child – let alone three!

    If Yuuta wants to continue on with his academics – by all means, good on him – but it ain’t just about him no more. That seems to be the most important concept that Yuuta seems to be overlooking or is just ignoring. It’s no longer about his wants, his needs, his desires, his dreams – it’s about those girls and their physical, mental, psychological well being!

    Grandier
    1. Personally I disagree that Yuuta is being as negligent as all that, but I do agree that trying to balance school and the girls is a bit absurd. He believes he’ putting them first, but the only reason it feels like he’s even still going to school is because it’s expected of him. Whenever Yoshiko shows up it feels like she’s saying “if you can;t handle both worlds, you have to give up the girls”. She never actually says that, but it feels implied to me.

      Aex
  7. did anyone else read the LN (or, at least, the translation on baka-tsuki)? I think that the anime is going along with Volume 1 of the novel, with some sort of event at Hina’s daycare

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Random Otaku
  8. Hrmm…so they didn’t have to go through a Hina-centric episode to show that. I’m not sure how they tackled it in the LN, but in the manga, Show Spoiler ▼

    In any case, there you have it folks o/ The reason why Hina’s always happy~!

    Beedle
  9. I think Yuuta’s original motivation was/is sincere in that he wanted to follow
    his sister’s wishes (and return the kindness shown to him when he was
    younger) and keep the girls together. I see no darkness in his actions.

    His biggest problem is that he lacks some of the tools to do this correctly.
    Emotionally, he’s basically there, but there are only so many hours in the day.

    While they haven’t been a large part of the series, the girls’ family has
    done little to support him or the girls except with pressure to give them up
    .
    So, I’m not entirely on their side sine their initial solution of splitting the
    girls was based on their selfish motivations – especially in light of the fact that
    they (almost by definition) are in a better life position and have far greater
    resources at hand. So I’m reluctant to assign a halo to them.

    This series is a good mix of slice-of-life and some pretty realistic drama. It’s
    important to note that emphasis was placed on him being a father to the girls –
    a far more series role than that as an uncle or reluctant care-giver (as the girls’
    family would have been). This shows a huge commitment on his part and why I
    believe the girls have bonded with him, and why his emotional investment
    runs deep, too. So, it’d be a serious blow to him to give up the girls and I think
    this episode did a great job of laying that groundwork.

    I hope the ending does justice to the story so far. I think there good material available
    for more episodes, too.

    mac65
  10. Huh… so Yuuta’s best isn’t good enough for them, yet it’s still better than what anyone else has been willing to even try to do. Funny how that works.

    Personally, I’d want some legally binding document signed by the family that says the three girls will always be able to live together before I even considered turning them over to anyone. That way one of the “adults” can’t take care of them for a month, decide that taking care of all three really is too taxing for them, and split them up anyways without telling Yuuta. Call me a cynic, but it’s not like the family has generated any good faith since the funeral.

    Otherwise, it’s a tough call for Yuuta. Sending the girls to another uncle sounds like the obvious choice, but how well does Yuuta really know this guy? Talking like the girls were weighing Yuuta down was a pretty dirty thing to say. There are just too many unknowns for him to just give up the girls, and in the end the only difference between Yuuta and any other family member is money. Yoshiko can literally afford to make Yuuta look bad because she has the money to. I’m not saying the family should pay for the girls, but would giving Yuuta at least little money every month be such a bad thing if it makes the girls happiest? Yuuta would still be responsible for them, and it’d be less than actually taking in the girls. Seems kinda an obvious thing to do really, with how much the family was saying they care about the girls.

    I’m ranting too much lately… damn penultimate episodes XD

    Aex
  11. The fact that the family suddenly has an interest in keeping the three girls together speaks of a truly selfish way to gain credit of all the tragedy. Yuuta is making the monumental effort to care for the three without any backing at all just for the main family to get into the issue without any real resolve to care for the girls at all, but to be -and sorry for the comment- the attention whore in public eye. Typical of an egotistical mid-to-high japanese household.
    Options for Yuuta? The only real one is to “hell family” and continue to be the real responsible adult in the story. As for the girls, right now, they want to live their lives with Yuuta. Being apart would be as painful as the loss of their parents, a fact that the family hasn’t thought at all.

    SeedStriker
  12. All decent parents know from experience that they screwed up at least a few times, especially with their first child. Yuuta took on a task Hercule himself may have hesitated to tackle, and the family members had to know that perfectly well. Still they left him on his own (one might say ‘again’ considering his own childhood), and now they want to claim the moral highground ? This is going way beyond your typical hypocrisy and into assholery territory !

    The argument that the girls will be happier living with regular adult parents is dubious at best. Parents that work (especially in Japan) already clock very little time for their children, and let’s not even get into the whole ‘real child’ vs ‘adopted child’ potential fallouts. The only real advantage that they would have would be financial (admittedly that’s a pretty big one, as this is the root cause of many of the Yuuta household issues).

    What does Japanese law has to say on such a case ? I would think that Yuuta can make a decent claim as next-of-kin for Hina, but certainly not for Miu and Sora. The Takanashi family probably had the legal high ground to press the issue in the direction they wanted to, with several other factors weighing in: they are on the Father side of the equation and they are well-established working adults as opposed to a dirt-poor college student.
    The fact they did not press the issue means one of two things happened:
    * either they genuinely agreed to give Yuuta a chance to raise the three girls together…
    * or they were glad to be rid of the problem(s) entirely.

    Them raising their heads now after some time (am I the only one that wonders how the Aunt knew everything about the girls’ school lives ?) again may come under the heading of genuine concern… or plain old greed if they realized the girls have solid claims to the couple inheritance, including (but not limited to) a pretty damn cosy house.

    Let’s see what direction the story will take. Who knows ? Maybe Yuuta will formally adopt the three girls. Would that entitle him to some financial help from the State and/or the inheritance ?

    Kit-A-Ron-Ron-Kat
  13. I don’t know about the other people here, but for me I have this little “irritated” feeling with how the series favors/spends so much time for Sora’s fantasies like this episode did. Honestly I would be very glad if the series will like feature more of Raika and Yuuta getting to know each other than watch Sora’s fantasies.

    I for one agreed on Takaii’s post about the 3 children.

  14. I have to agree on the views of the other relatives.

    I mean, just look at the letter Yuuta’s uncle sent. He had to have a FULL OUT DISCUSSION with the aunt AND ALL the other relatives before he FINALLY decides just to let the 3 girls stay together.

    Sure the girls may be better off financially and housing-wise, but would be they be HAPPY?

    It sounds like the other relatives just see the girls as obligations more than anything.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  15. Pretty bitch maneuver for his relatives to pull. After all this time when they’ve had nothing to do with the girls nor even given any indication that they wanted to, not even sending financial support, all of a sudden “WELP WE’VE CHANGED OUR MINDS HAHA GIRLS PLZ.” I can’t believe their family hasn’t been helping them all this time, if the uncle can make it work financially to take all 3 of them permanently then there’s no reason he couldn’t just send like $200 a month or something, that’s way less than he’d spend if he took them and even that amount would be a huge stress relief in their current situation.

    Beckett
    1. I think people tend to forget that this isn’t an American culture society. In Japan, it’s practically a slap in the face to someone to give them money out of charity – especially if they did not ask for it.

      I do not understand why people want to vilify the relatives, yet put Yuuta on a pedestal. In principles, I can agree with Yuuta’s actions. However, in practice, I felt Yuuta jumped head first in without realizing what he really decided to take on – and consistently refuses to accept the reality he needs to make a lot more sacrifices. The family may have been selfish and splitting up the girls – but, as I stated previously, – it ain’t a cup of tea to raise a kid. Everyone assumes the uncle who has volunteered to take on all the girls doesn’t have any financial problem (or any of the other relative for that matter). I think it’s only fair to also accept the idea that the Uncle decided he’d be willing to stretch his wallet to the extreme – even going into debt – to take on those girls. Now lets also transfer that mindset over onto the relatives who were willing to take in the girls individually.

      I think the relatives haven’t directly interfered because they wanted to see if Yuuta can live up to his responsibilities – I’m certain the relatives don’t like the idea of splitting up the girls either, but their personal situations may not allow for them to take on all the girls. Yuuta has been given a fair amount of time to show the relatives that he can handle it and he’s failed. If not for the aid of the SS club and the charity of the Manager’s (who was and still is within her rights to kick Yuuta out), Yuuta wouldn’t have made it as far as he did.

      Grandier
      1. Let’s face it, the relatives should NEVER have accepted Yuuta offer if they really cared and had a shred of common sense. Any single one of them was probably in a better situation than him. And yet they still left such a huge burden in his hands. If it is known, this would be extremely badly perceived by other japanese families, whatever their rationale was at the time. This is ground for public disgrace in their neighbourhoods !

        The fact they still did accept to let him take resposibility of the girls means either that they really saw this as the best possibility to keep the girls together (social consequences be damned), or they didn’t give a damn about them and just wanted to be rid of the whole issue. Nothing has been shown until now to point me toward the first case.

        Kit-A-Ron-Ron-Kat
      2. Well, that’s fair. As an American, I do look at it from an American perspective. I don’t know enough about Japanese society to know what the “correct” way of handling this situation would be there. All I can give is my personal opinion, which is that essentially telling Yuuta “You suck, we could do way better than you” when they haven’t even TRIED to help is a bitch move.

        Beckett
    1. Thought they mention it already back in episode 2 or 3, Sora mom sadly is pass away, Miu is missing not the same kind of an airplane crash but missing in living in a different country or just lost contact all with her.

      mike
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