Da Capo / First Impressions

Summary:

In preparation for the upcoming ski trip with Yoshiyuki and the others, Yume buys a lot of first-aid materials because she’s been getting visions of an accident. On the way to the resort, Yoshiyuki notices that she’s not looking very energetic, but she denies that anything is wrong. Nevertheless, she doesn’t join the group after they reach their destination under the pretense that she’s too tired from the trip. Yoshiyuki doesn’t see her again until he returns to the lodge after a day of skiing, and though Yume laughs while with everyone else, she avoids eye contact with him. This leads to Yoshiyuki checking to see if she’s okay after dinner, and since she claims that she is, he suggests they try night skiing. Yume smiles because she wants to go, but she once again remembers the dream of the accident and turns down the offer. That smile stays with Yoshiyuki for the rest of the evening, causing him to remember how Yume smiled a lot back when they were young, and he wonders when she stopped showing it to him.

Later that night, after everyone else has gone to the boys’ room to party, Yume sneaks out by herself to ski. She enjoys the slopes at first, but her fun is spoiled when two guys try to pick her up. Fortunately, Yoshiyuki had followed her out there after seeing her leaving the lodge earlier, and he now comes to her rescue. After they get rid of the two guys, Yume really wants ask Yoshiyuki to ski together, but she can’t bring herself to say it and just skis away. Yoshiyuki chases after her, and though she is happy about that he’s doing this, she also remembers the dream. This leaves her so lost in thought that she doesn’t pay attention to the direction she’s going and accidentally skis off the edge of a cliff. Seeing what happened, Yoshiyuki immediately heads down to look for her. As he is approaching the snow bank where she landed, Yume tries to get away from him because she doesn’t want him to get in an accident like in her dream. However, she isn’t able to move because she hurt her leg in the fall, and when he reaches her, she questions why he came.

Yume ends up telling Yoshiyuki about the dream where they both got into an accident, but Yoshiyuki asserts that things will be fine and safely carries her back to the lodge. This makes Yume feel that it wasn’t a bad dream after all, but she also realizes that the future can’t be changed. In the aftermath, she gets her foot wrapped up, and both she and Yoshiyuki take another bath. Since he can hear her from the men’s side of the bath, Yume thanks him and then denies having avoided him today. Yoshiyuki stops insisting that she was avoiding him only after she offers to come over to his side of the bath.

 
 
 

Well, much of this episode felt unnecessary since it was just showing the group having fun on a ski trip, but I think there were a couple important things to take away from it. One is that it’s likely no accident that they displayed the pendant (the same one Yoshiyuki got from Sakura in ep 9 of the first series) so prominently on this second trip. I would guess that Yoshiyuki’s life is connected to it, and it makes me wonder what would happen if he took it off while away from home. The other is the idea that, although they cannot change the future, the circumstances surrounding it might not be what they expect. That sounds like the kind of thing that will come into play with regard to the sakura tree and how everyone’s fate is probably connected to it. Maybe Yume’s dream this time was also foreshadowing for more bad things to come for her or Yoshiyuki. In any case, we’re not even halfway through the series yet, so there’s still plenty of time for something big to happen.

15 Comments

  6. Man
    They rewrote the Winter Trip arc from the game (which would have only been possible by going via the Koko/Nanaka/Anzu/Minatsu paths) by sneaking Otome and Yume into the trip and turning the plot on its head, and even more, made Yume the focus of the plot. Plus they showed Yume’s power (the ability to see into the future) more explicitly.

    Sailor Moon
    Reply

  8. Actually, Sailor Moon, regarding the game…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    And yes, to Knowngni’s point, I agree that the art in this episode was particularly good and largely on-model, and some of the scenes in particular looked quite good. And of course, there’s a heaping helping of steam that’ll probably be “dealt with” on the DVDs… though, as Omni says, for a ski trip episode with a number of onsen scenes, it wasn’t as much a “fluff” episode as you often see. Very plot-focused episode, despite the setting.

    (Edit: Now featuring working spoiler tags, thanks to Omni! 🙂 )

    relentlessflame
    Reply

Leave a Reply

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