Amagami SS / First Impressions

「中多紗江 後編 オネガイ」 (Nakata Sae Kouhen – Onegai)
“Nakata Sae, Second Chapter – Wish”

We come to a close that turned out to be quite a strong arc! Sae keeps strong, Junichi goes through his redemption, and Miya eats as always. Although I do not personally enjoy Sae as a character, her arc’s development was pulled off well, including the things that make Amagami arcs enjoyable.

At its core, without the nice little extras here and there, Sae’s arc exceeded my expectations. The narration continued to hold the story, the conflict deepened more from last episode, and it ended fairly well. Although the pacing was a teeny bit rushed, as it is with almost every other episode, it’s forgivable, considering the two-episode constraint. What fit into these two episodes was heartwarming and humoring, cats and all :).

Similar to Divine’s views, I was hoping to see Sae and Junichi switch roles, where she’s now confident and he’s…less confident than he was before. The fact that it actually happened is a huge plus, though I feel that they could’ve highlighted this switch more aggressively. Last episode was great in terms of development, and this episode almost made it as well, if not for the lack of conflict. Personally, I thought the closure could’ve been stronger if Sae emphasized the stress of council work more. The time they set aside for it, I felt, was too short and too shallow, which was something Junichi easily fixed.

However, the little tidbits here and there made up for it. Cat costumes, camera stalking, and most of all, a time skip! I feel with the theme of the show…every character deserves time skips like Tsukasa, Sae, and Haruka have received. It’s such a great closer that any arc that misses it…is missing out on 30 seconds of potential!

I feel this arc was a good primer for the next one: the coy princess herself! Of all the endings in the first season, Haruka’s was probably the most emotional. It was a pleasant surprise when Amagami pulled off that ending. The fact that Haruka could hide behind both her own personality and the metaverse of a B-list Romantic Comedy made it a fulfilling ending. To see it continued is well…INEVITABLE KINKINESS APPROACHING!

See you all next week!

P.S: If you didn’t notice already, ALL the images have alt-text. I will try to do this for every episode I blog from now on.

P.P.S: Full-length images: 7, 20, 30, 33

 

Preview

End Card

34 Comments

  4. Hm… Sae’s arc is really the weakest in the series. Unlike Rihoko’s arc in plus where the direction is different, Sae’s arc direction was more or less quite the same as the previous season, and the previous season of Sae’s arc wasn’t exactly as memorable like Haruka’s or Tsukasa’s (or arguably Rihoko’s)

    That being said…. HARUKA IS NEXT! Let’s rejoice for the queen! Wait, Tsukasa is the queen… let’s rejoice for the kinky senpai!

    underMebius
    Reply

  6. hmm, they wasted not time… timeskip with babies ftw!
    kudos to Ayatsuji-san for some sage advice on managing the stress of leadership!
    Haruka is next… and she gleefully announces kinkiness is about to commence – can’t wait!

    ewok40k
    Reply

  13. The moment I’ve been waiting for (two years) in the Sae arc: where they show her with a kid, and a bun in the oven, so to speak. It was so important I had to abuse the replay button. I would like to thank Kotomine Kirei/Joji Nakata for narrating this arc. My wish was finally granted.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagami%20SS/Amagami%20SS%20plus%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2027.jpg – Sae-chan’s sweet revenge for all the times she was groped by Miya-chan (who kinda likes it from behind). A cat is fine too. XD

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagami%20SS/Amagami%20SS%20plus%20-%2010%20-%20Large%20End%20Card.jpg I would also like to see a Amagami SS+ Plus Kindergarten spin-off. Kindergarten!Tsukasa vs. kindergarten!Kaoru would kill me by sheer moe. Studio AIC, fund it!

    It seems when the Amagami girls (Tsukasa and Sae, at the very least) have daughters of their own, they change hairstyles and their daughters inherit their previous hairstyle.

    Now onwards to the last arc. Are we gonna see the “Amagami-Shed-Where-Kinky-Miracles-Happen” again? Will Junichi kiss/lick another unexpected part of Haruka? Will Umehara the Ultimate Bro & Love Martyr find true love? *probably not* XD

    The_Magus_Killer
    Reply

  14. lol at Kaoru and Ayatsuji in the end card. I thought for a sec Ayatsuji was gonna go after Sae but i guess she won’t stomp Junichi’s girl. Also interesting that Nanasaki fills in Sae’s role as Miya’s best bud when Sae is Junichi’s gf. I love that aspect of the omnibus all these alternate realities.

    Breedo
    Reply

  15. +1 to alt text! Though I feel it can be at times tricky to think up of something witty. Definitely brings back the days of jaalin’s post.

    Personally not a fan of the time skips and her arc in general partly because of the narration guy, nonetheless the arc wasn’t too badly done.

    Of course we all know that Sae’s arc was merely filler for Haruka to take the stage next week.

    LightnDark
    Reply

  19. I like the alt-text captions – thanks for adding them.

    Just a minor point of note: the title of the chapter should be “中多紗江 後編 オネガイ” – what’s currently written (前編） says front chapter.

    Masaka
    Reply

  21. First off, congrats to Zanibas on his first post. It was nice to have the narrator back to switch things up a little for an arc, and I loled when Junichi broke the fourth wall…

    Zen
    Reply

  22. Great post Zanibas! I hope to read more of your writing! And I am with you, if only they could make 4 episode arcs like they did for the first season, we would see a lot more emotion, something we want to see in every Romantic Comedy. 🙂

    Missingnomer
    Reply

  25. I remember some guys got mad at the furry ending in the first season, saying something like: Where is my beaver rape scene!? No, I mean Show Spoiler ▼

    Last time in my opinion Haruka had the best arc (even though Kaoru is my favourite character, see?), I wonder if she is going to topple everyone again.

    Lectro Volpi
    Reply

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