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Summary:
While Kobato is enjoying autumn and nature, Ioryogi reminds her that she only has two seasons left to get her wish granted. At the nursery, Kobato finds two of the boys fighting over some toys, and part of their unhappiness stems from the oldness of those toys. Kiyokazu gets angry about this, but Kobato recognizes that he’s actually sad, and Sayaka wishes that they could get new ones. In lieu of this, Kobato decides to take Sayaka and the children to play at a huge gingko tree she had discovered. The children love it, and the two boys from before even apologize and make up. Unfortunately, some men arrive to cordon off the area because the tree is due to be cut down the next day as part of the area’s redevelopment. Not content with this, Kobato decides to head out early the next morning to try to save the tree.
Kobato finds Kohaku already there and fills her in on what’s going on. Several of the neighborhood people pass by as well, but none of them really care about the tree, and Kobato thinks that it might be lonely. Kohaku is fortunately able to communicate with the tree, and she reveals that it’s actually happy, citing how all the children had come to play. She also relays that it’s thankful and that it says goodbye, but Kobato refuses to give up and even comes up with the idea of moving the tree. Kohaku, however, tells her a story of another tree that was similar to this tree and had been happiest watching over people. She then lets Kobato hear the gingko tree’s song, and Kobato starts to sing her own song for it, with Kohaku joining her. When they finish, the tree starts falling on its own, and Kiyokazu arrives on the scene in time to protect Kobato. It turns out that the trunk of the tree was hollow, so it was due to die sooner or later, and Kohaku tells Kobato that the tree was happy because Kobato sent it off with her song. In the aftermath, Kobato finds a konpeitou in her bottle from the tree, and she also later comes across Kiyokazu carving new toys from its wood.
Preview
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So this was actually a somewhat touching story with a more-sweet-than-bitter ending concerning the gingko tree, and Kobato and Kohaku singing her song was very nice touch. It was also interesting seeing how Kiyokazu arrived to save Kobato – that’s got to be a flag of some sort. The only thing that I think was a little bit disappointing was the fact that Kobato magically has all those extra konpeitou, which I guess we’re supposed to assume came from others that she’s helped. I had always thought that we would get to see her gain all of them and that at some point she’d gain a ton of them from one act. The positive way to look at it, of course, is that they saved us from an even more dragged out series and from having to sit through Kobato helping dozens of people. It might also mean that Kobato will actually attain her wish at the end of the series. Speaking of which, what’s with Kobato’s hat? I assume it has something to do with her very existence…
Great episode and just love to hear Kobato sing
The story is picking up and it’s going to be interesting to see if Kobato, actually leaves to fulfill her wish or stays with the nursery?
So you finally picked up on the hat. 😛
I really liked this episode. Kobato may not have the most complex story, but it has enough going on to always keep me interested. 🙂
@Roxy: I was thinking the exact same thing. I’ve been wondering for ages when they’d mention it. =D
Just a question to anyone who might know: how close is this series following the manga? Thanks.
What is the name of the Manga? Ive looked on a couple of sites and neither of them seem to have a Kobato manga.
The name of the manga is the same as the anime series, Kobato.
Do you think she’s hiding something under the hat. I mean she always has either a hat or some kind of band like thing on her head. Animal ears maybe?
I’d wondered how Kohaku would know Kobato’s song. Her angelic powers, I suppose. I get the feeling we were on the brink of discovering something…
@Splash: go to mangafox. They’ve got all scanlated chapters there.
oh and, @Phocus: they follow the same very basic plot (ie collecting konpeitou to fulfil Kobato’s wish) but the anime is barely related to the manga.
My personal theory is that Kobato actually has a different form, like Loryogi. I think if she loses her hat she may revert to that form.
Or she could be bald and wears a wig… I’m just tired of making assumptions especially after recent Bleach chapters
I didn’t think much of when Ioryogi yelled at her about the wind almost blowing he hat off. “Just his usual nagging” i thought….but I suppose it’s something important.
Aside from having to wear a hat, it seems like she does not recall anything from her past such that she has no memories
imo, she has horns on her head cause shes a devil lol
this chapter got to me bad. We had an old avenue and the median had gorgeous trees. As a measure of “progress” all of them got cut down. Some activisst chained themselves to the trees as protest. It got ugly, eventually progress won and all of them got teared down. and asphalt replaces the median to add 2 lanes to the avenue 🙁 …
So hell yeah I was crying when the gingko hit the ground. Is redevelopment that great? No is not. and yes I played a tree hugger night elf in WoW and feel pround when the police dragged me thru to street to cut the trees. Sorry for the emo post needed to vent.
She must be hiding her dioclonus horns, waiting for the right moment to take it off…
But about the episode: Such a nicer story than the previous ones as of now. I accidentally started watching this at the halfway point, but even then I was impressed!
LOL Good guess, Gmoney. 🙂
Either she’s hiding the typical nekomimi or some other animal ears under that hat of hers, though my guess is that she’s hiding long elven-like ears. I remember Ama-san from Shuffle doing just that (wow I actually remembered that).
And wow, where on earth did Kobato get so many konpeito that fast? Did we miss something? Oh well, at least it saves from having to drag the story too long and get straight to the crux of the story.
Mangafox has Kobato
She ain’t never gonna fill that bottle! slow-bato!!
I’m loving Kobato, it’s so nice just to watch an anime that makes you feel happy. Kobato always seems to make me smile.
I didn’t think much of the hat but not that you mention it, good point! I can’t wait to find out where Kobato wants to go.
The series has a lot of frequent time skips, like in the manga, so I wasn’t all that surprised. But considering how she gathered all of those to fill up..1/5-1/4 of the jar between summer to fall, I think it’ll end up almost finished. Or. Knowing CLAMP, it might end as a cliff hanger, and we might even get a second season. It’s happened with Tsubasa and Holic so far, along with OVAs, so who’s to say it won’t happen to Kobato, right? (Despite the manga being… really slow cause it’s monthly ;A;)
Yay~ I also loved this episode as well. ^__^
I guess the manga hasn’t that much progress yet.
And i also wanted to know more about Kobato-chan’s story so badly..>w< hehe..^^;;
I also feel sorry for the tree..;__; Kobato-chan wanted to help it so badly.
I’m guessing Kobato might need to keep her hat on to stay in this world.