Da Capo Second Season – 08

Short Summary:
Nemu runs through the rain, with Junichi’s words still ringing in her ears. At home, Junichi is angry, depressed, and worried. He has a vision of Nemu running in front of some headlights, causing him enough alarm to go out and look for her. He gets a big surprise when he finally sees her: she’s dozing off in Akishima-sensei’s car. The next morning, Aisia wakes up to find Junichi busying himself with the housework, his behavior very odd. The two go out shopping and spot Moe working at her job with a trained monkey. They leave after the monkey causes a scene by pulling Moe’s top off. Junichi is lost in thought and wanders off even though Aisia stops to look at a music box. Aisia looks up to find him gone and Kotori there instead. After hearing that Junichi has been acting strange, Kotori tells Aisia not to worry, then explains about Junichi and Nemu and how they are lovers. Aisia decides to use her magic to make everyone happy, and Junichi arrives soon after looking for her. At the sight of him, Kotori forces a smile. Arriving home, Junichi and Aisia hear the twinkle of a bell, which could only mean that Nemu is there. However, the siblings immediately start to argue all over again. Junichi calls Nemu a liar for saying that she stayed at Miharu’s home, since he saw her ride off in Akishima-sensei’s car. Aisia, trying to diffuse the situation, conjures a music box and starts to play it. Junichi, in his anger, smashes it on the ground. At this point, everyone is close to tears. Junichi makes up his mind and, the next day, meets with Akishima-sensei himself. Junichi asks him what his relationship with Nemu is, but of course Akishima-sensei is only training her. He recounts how when Nemu was in school, her brother was her motivation; she even wrote a letter every day to him. Junichi, realizing Nemu’s feelings, feels like an idiot for not understanding earlier. In the infirmary, Nemu has a sad look on her face as she holds a stack of letters addressed to him.

There are two important unresolved issues at the conclusion of this episode. First, Junichi has finally realized Nemu’s feelings (again…), but we end before he can do anything about it. Of course I want Nemu and Junichi to be happy, but this second season shouldn’t be just a rehash of the first. I want someone to step up to challenge Nemu and the obvious choice is Kotori. But with Junichi realizing Nemu’s feelings now, I don’t see how Kotori can be successful in any way. Even if Nemu were to leave, Junichi would now have a strong enough impression to yearn after her until she comes back. And short completely seducing him (which is hard to imagine happening), I don’t see Kotori being able to overcome Junichi’s feelings for Nemu. On the subject of Kotori, you can’t help but feel bad for her. She forces herself to smile for Junichi on top of having to explain that he and Nemu are lovers to Aisia. And she manages to put up a strong face through all of it.
For what it’s worth, I think Nemu should leave and let Junichi suffer for a while, if nothing else. She’s given him plenty of chances to make up, but each time he gets angry and argues with her. Ideally I’d like KGNE levels of angst, but that seems unlikely (see below).
The other unresolved issue is Aisia’s shock after Junichi smacked the music box out of her hand. Something as simple as an apology could fix that situation, but I imagine that Junichi is concentrating his efforts on Nemu for now. Still, he should definitely be aware that he hurt her feelings when she was only trying to help diffuse the situation. I have a very hard time predicting what the director and storywriter have in mind for her as a character. Right now, she’s not a contender for Junichi’s heart, though she is a major character. The only thing I can think of is that she’ll be an integral player in whatever relationships are in store for Junichi.
All in all, I am loving the drama that we’re getting instead of the normal each-girl-gets-their-own-episode format (for now). But all this coming so early leaves me wondering what the rest of the series has in store for us. As Matthew point out last week, according to MOON PHASE, episode ten does indeed start the aforementioned format, meaning we have only next episode to finish this arc. Given that, I just can’t see Junichi anguishing (or being together with Nemu) through all the lighthearted stuff. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’s a good sign that the production team is doing their job when we look forward to each week’s episode.

Edit: Apologies for the lengthy writeup; I guess I had a lot to say -_-;;