First Impressions / Myself; Yourself

Summary:

On his way home from kendo practice one day, Shuusuke helps out an elementary school girl who’s getting picked on by some boys, but in the process he drops his student’s handbook. The girl uses the ID inside to track him down at school the next day so that she can return it. In doing so, she introduces herself as Mochida Hinako, and she ends up coming every single afternoon to see him from that point on. One night sometime after that, Sana is getting ready to make some curry when he realizes that he forgot to cook the rice, so he decides to go out to eat instead. When he runs into Hinako at a family restaurant, Sana learns that she’s here alone because her mother is busy with work. She insists that he doesn’t treat her like a kid anymore because she’s already 10 years old, but she gets embarrassed when her children’s set dinner arrives. Sana can’t help but laugh at her, so Hinako tries to explain that she got it for the Yeti-kun toy that comes with it. To help her collect all six, Sana orders the children’s set dinner too and gives her the toy.

On the way home from school the next day, Hinako says that she wants to talk with Sana, so they go to his apartment. Sana starts changing clothes right in front of her, thought he stops when she makes a fuss over it. The thing Hinako wanted to talk about was her feelings for Shuusuke, but when Sana starts laughing, she gets angry and decides to go home. In trying to apologize, Sana accidentally trips over the leg of the table and falls onto her, and it is at this moment that Aoi shows up with some cake. Once the misunderstanding gets cleared up and Sana explains Hinako’s love, Aoi advises that she find out more about Shuusuke first. This leads to Sana asking Shuusuke at school about the type of girl he likes, and after a bit of thinking and staring at his own sister, Shuusuke decides that breast size is most important to him. Because of this, Hinako goes to Aoi for help on how to get bigger breasts, and unable to really explain it herself, Aoi refers Hinako to her mother. Aoi’s mother advises good eating, sleeping, and playing, though she also says that a girl’s chest is full of dreams.

Since that didn’t quite work out, Sana goes back to Shuusuke to ask him about a preference for something other than large breasts, and this time Shuusuke says cooking. Aoi offers to help Hinako learn to cook, however the resulting special curry makes Sana sick. With Shuusuke still treating Hinako as a kid, Aoi decides that Hinako will have to confess her feelings to him. The plan involves Sana inviting Shuusuke to go to the aquarium and meeting Hinako there by coincidence. Because things start off well, Sana leaves Hinako and Shuusuke alone in the aquarium so that they can have a date, but they find him again a short while later. Noticing the sad look now on Hinako’s face, Sana figures out what happened and suggests that they go home. Once they’re alone, Hinako admits that she got rejected, but she claims not to be sad because Shuusuke had treated her as an adult this time. Although Hinako is trying not to cry, Sana hugs her and tells her that even adults cry when they’ve had their hearts broken. Since Sana tells her that it’s okay to do so, Hinako starts bawling to him.

That night, Sana reassures his mother over the phone again that everything is fine. He asks also her about confessing, but he tries to deny having found a girl that he likes.

Preview:

This episode was pretty much all about Hinako’s crush on Shuusuke and how Shuusuke’s ideal woman is big-breasted and can cook (which ironically describes Aoi pretty well). There didn’t appear to be any more hints about Sana’s past – unless you want to count the brief scene of him thinking about confessions – so this was more just a Hinako introduction episode than anything else. Actually, with all the clock imagery in the OP during the Shuusuke/Shuuri and Hinako parts, I had been under the impression that there was some secret time aspect to all this (as opposed to simply emphasizing the age difference), but for now that doesn’t appear to be the case. Anyway, next week will return the focus to Sana and Nanaka with the sakura festival. It’s probably the same one where Sana had given Nanaka the bracelet all those years ago.

41 Comments

  7. Well the presence of Hinako in this series would make Sana feel comfortable finally he has a little sister somehow to take care of by chance.. Shuusuke really likes Aoi upon the description it explains everything.

    arigatou
    Reply

  8. i figured out why sana doesnt like school

    1.why he doesnt go to school-he doesnt like school because he gets bullied for being the new transfer student
    2.why he doesnt take off his watch-he doesnt take off his watch because he cuts himself.the watch is to cover the cut marks
    3.why does he cut himself-because he gets bullied so he tried being emo but that didnt work

    king
    Reply

  13. Once again I stress that I hope Sana’s reason for hating school or being severely traumatized by that blood in the knife the last episode wasnt just an EMO reason just like King said. I do think that it isnt, cause that is pretty stupid, Sana would just look like a pathetic person and the audience would not sympathize with a ludicrous reason like that.

    Also I hardly doubt that he would do such a thing for just getting bullied. Also he is the type of person who could befriend someone easily, hey look at Asami and Hinako, he got close to them so fast. So I hardly doubt that he is getting bullied and tried to commit suicide, that is just stupid. Since if you recall the last episode it seems that Shuusuke was right on when he said that the reason why Sana wouldnt take off the watch could be because it was given to him by a girl, which obviously connects to his past.

    X
    Reply

  14. One thing I am sure of is that Sana did not try to commit suicide. Some people may think so, like he is trying to hide a wound, but he did took off his watch when he was at home ready to go to sleep in the first episode, his hand didnt have any scar of some sort. The watch must have something to do with a girl in his past.

    K1
    Reply

  17. I do like the emo theory because it makes the sense as of now. He might been emo for different reasons say he found another girl during those 5 years but something tragic happened or something the like.

    Thatguy
    Reply

  22. I wonder if Hinako will start thinking of Sana next since he did do all those things for her (rebound guy) but who knows. They could really make it a harem but so far its only two contenders fighting for Sana

    Knowngni
    Reply

  25. @ julies i couldn’t agree more with you man. A sexy voice wouldn’t hurt, would it?

    So far, none of the questions about the dudes past have been answered. I have an hypothesis though, i think Sana killed his father. Therefore, the dude is running away from the feds. (^_*)

    No rice for you sir
    Reply

  28. his mom got raped by a teacher(s) during a parent teacher conference.his father tried to get revenge but got killed instead.his quit going to school but some girl/woman told him to go back to his old town

    this is a pretty good idea on why he doesnt like school and blood.the watch could be from the woman.if what lol said is true then he is just talking to himself on the phone.probably in the end he will end up killing himself or getting killed or all the girls pitty him and it becomes a harem

    king
    Reply

  30. Hmm… this episode was pretty interesting, IMO… perhaps they were trying to get viewers to relate to the characters a little more.

    (Think about it: Have you ever been rejected? Have you ever had a crush at an uber-young age that didn’t work out? Have you ever been asked for advice on a relationship? Have you ever had a chance meeting with someone way younger than you? Have you ever helped someone out, only to have those actions exaggerated and misinterpreted? Chances are pretty good you fall in at least one of those categories, IMO…)

    cbhl
    Reply

  31. Another speculations
    I think Sana killed his parents due to their abuse or they died in an accident and due to despair tried to kill himself…. The only friends he could trust are his former friends that his purpose for returning. The one keeps on calling him was his current guardian since she is worried.

    Probably Sana won’t feel any love right now due to those options.

    arigatou
    Reply

  41. No one played the Game of Myself, yourself?

    not far but apparently sana comes back because he doesn’t get on well with his mam. fear of blood – really can be anything, maybe his mam accidentally hurt him or summit. maybe just a fear of blood as a normal person, that theres no real reason. The watch thought who knows till we watch more. could be from a girl, or maybe a gift from mam before they stoped getting along well?

    Anubis
    Reply

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