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「そんなに見られますと…」 (Sonna ni Miraremasu to…)
“If You Look at Me Like That…”
Episode at a Glance:
After hearing about how much Nobunaga is looking forward to the summer comike, Yuuto runs into Shiina for the third time. Due to her parents’ circumstances, Shiina transfers to Yuuto and Haruka’s school, and winds up in their class too. Conveniently seated next to Yuuto, the two of them immediately refer to one another on a first name basis. Seeing this, Haruka is surprised that he knows Shiina, who immediately becomes popular amongst the other students. When questioned about her hobbies, skills, three sizes, and belief in fated encounters, Shiina looks towards Yuuto for the last one. Later on, Shiina is honored to meet Haruka, who turns out to be a two-time, consecutive, international piano concours (French for contest) champion. After demonstrating how she excels in her studies, sports, and even cooking, Shiina agrees to participate in a swimming relay despite not really knowing how to swim.
Upon consulting Yuuto and Haruka about this, Shiina gets some private lessons from them, which draws an unwelcome crowd with the likes of Mika, Hazuki, and Ruko; however, Shiina finds everyone quite amusing and continues practicing. On the subsequent day, Shiina attempts a practice swim in a proper race format and does surprisingly well. As everyone leaves the school, Mika, Nanami, and Hazuki are surprised that Yuuto’s walking Shiina home instead of Haruka, but she doesn’t quite catch on to what they’re implying, much to their disbelief. On the day of the actual relay, Shiina is unexpectedly nervous, but gets reassured by Yuuto that she’ll do well. With her confidence restored, Shiina looks like she’s about to win her race, but suddently gets a leg cramp. She is saved by Yuuto though, and later feels bad about not winning after receiving all that special training. Yuuto says it was out of her control though and understands how hard she’s been practicing, so he tells her not to worry about it. News that Shiina couldn’t really swim before reaches the other students, who are concerned about her well-being and promise to win on her behalf.
At the request of Haruka, Shiina gets driven home by Nanami and wonders if she sees Yuuto as more than a friend. Meanwhile on their walk home, Haruka tells Yuuto how cool he looked when he saved Shiina, which makes her a bit envious at the same time. Noticing this, Yuuto says that he’ll definitely save her if she’s ever drowning, putting a big smile on her face.
Next Episode:
「なつこみ…です」 (Natsu Komi… Desu)
“It’s… the Summer Comic Market”
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Impressions:
So as last week’s preview indicated, Shiina transferred schools and also had her third fated run-in with Yuuto, which of course wouldn’t feel right unless she flashed her underwear again. In revealing that Shiina knows Haruka through piano competitions, Yuuto also discovered how ridiculously talented she is, which should come as no surprise from the school idol. Realizing this made me think that Haruka really can do no wrong, being talented, modest, and most of all, innocent. Quite a “dangerous” combination in the moe category. In any case, they gave us the impression early on that Haruka may be a bit jealous of Shiina, but Yuuto is really on top of things and prevents any potential misunderstandings from getting out of hand. Because of this, I actually find it quite unusual watching such a believable, dependable, male protagonist given the typically unreliable ones you’d expect in a romance comedy series, but I have to say that it’s quite refreshing at the same time. As I mentioned before, Yuuto always seems to be able to say and do the right thing at the right time and this week was no different.
The next episode should revolve around the summer comic market (i.e. comike) that Yuuto promised to go to Haruka with. While the notion of a comike in anime gives me sudden images from Genshiken and Comic Party Revolution, I’m looking forward to seeing this series’ take on it. Also, I think it’ll be interesting to see how Yuuto handles being drowned in a sea of otakus, plus the other anime references they’ll probably have there. I would say that Shakugan no Shana is an obvious one, but hopefully there will be more “easter eggs” for us to spot. Maybe they’ll feature some other music as well, which would probably put a gitty smile on the face of an avid anime fan. Myself excluded of course. *cough*
Cast:
– Nogizaka Haruka (乃木坂 春香) / Noto Mamiko (能登 麻美子)
– Ayase Yuuto (綾瀬 裕人) / Hatano Wataru (羽多野 渉)
– Nogizaka Mika (乃木坂 美夏) / Gotou Mai (後藤 麻衣)
– Amamiya Shiina (天宮 椎菜) / Satou Rina (佐藤 利奈)
– Sakurazaka Hadzuki (桜坂 葉月) / Shimizu Kaori (清水 香里)
– Nanashiro Nanami (七城 那波) / Ueda Kana (植田 佳奈)
– Kamishiro Yukari (上代 由香里) / Matsuki Miyu (松来 未祐)
– Ayase Ruko (綾瀬 ルコ) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
– Asakura Nobunaga (朝倉 信長) / Takagi Reiko (高木 礼子)
– Nagai (永井) / Miyashita Eiji (宮下 栄治)
– Ogawa (小川) / Oosuka Jun (大須 賀純)
– Takenami (竹浪) / Yasumoto Hiroki (安元 洋貴)
– Asahina Mai (朝比奈 麻衣) / Toyosaki Aki (豊崎 愛生)
– Sawamura Yoshika (澤村 良子) / Kitamura Eri (喜多村 英梨)
– English teacher (英語教師) / Yamamoto Akiko (山本 彰子)
Looking good,but I wish this series had less random pointless eps like ep 4 xD! (though i loved the Shana reference)
Heh, a pool episode. It was bound to happen eventually.
@Divine: I agree with you about the main character. Nowdays, we are over flooded with those usual incompetent male lead. I can only recall a reliable male character in an old anime, Banner of The Star. So it really is refreshing to watch yuuto acts.
I was completely surprised at how quickly Yuuto figured out what Haruka was thinking at the end of the episode. After all these shows with male leads acting quite oblivious to the emotions of their female companions, this was definately something different.
But I agree, it’s refreshing to finally see an understanding male protaganist.
Follow up to what I posted last episode:
I did a search for anime tagged “so moe I am gonna die”. Turned up quite a list, though it confirmed my suspicions: tags only get listed on the animes’ pages if many people tag it that (and the size of the tag indicates the number of people) – as indicated by the fact that very few on that long list have that tag in their list of tags. So that means that a large percentage of people who watched this show tagged it that.
On a more “…” note, I see at least one person tagged Junjou Romantica with that (it’s in the list). Wasn’t that a shounen ai series, or am I thinking of something else? 😛
I think the only time I’ve ever heard (or I guess read in this case) “so moe i am gonna die” was in a Touhou Project doujinshi.
lol koakuma
I dunno, Yuuto struck me as not being very distinctive, and more of the same in shows like this: having male main characters that may be unlucky or a bit perverted, but good people who do their best and end up in improbable and often (at least halfway) fortunate situations. In other words, characters that to some degree represent the average reader/watcher, and even more so what the reader/watcher wishes they could be or fantasizes about being.
It’s easy to explain why this is popular – more people identifying with the main character = more readers/viewers = more money. Of course a less cynical explanation would be that it’s always best to give the customer what they want.
mysterious:
It’s been awhile since I watched the Crest of the Stars / Banner of the Stars series, but hearing you bring it up makes me want to watch them again. Hmm, maybe I should blog some older anime…
I think I understand why they jumble up the sequence of events (comiket then Shiina being transferred over) – they might try to coincide with the next week event. Man I wanna go…
At last, I’ve watched episode 5 now, another panty shots again for Shiina Amamiya, again, now she’s learning how to swim.
and another 3rd party loveteam for Yuuto & Shiina, what will happen to Haruka if he’s with Shiina…. better watch the next episode
heh, just the screenshots are enough to tell me that drunkie-sensei will be awesome in this episode. Is it wierd that she’s my favourite?
well i personally love the totally oblivious people in romance series.
takes one to know one ^_^
but i find it refreshing to 😛
but here the (very cute )girl is the one how doesn’t understand yet how she feels.
@ruffles
No, don’t worry, Yoshinoya-sensei is an awesome character.
oh wait, wrong show
If the world is lucky maybe the trend of useless male leads in harem animes are coming to an end.
“If the world is lucky maybe the trend of useless male leads in harem animes are coming to an end.”
Nah, thats just how Yuuto is from the novels. Most useless male leads from harems come from eroge adpations..
@Divine: It would be good if you do it. Honestly, I find those old series far more better than the recent one even though they are inferior in term of drawing. And now, they have brought Slayer back, I just wished they make another sequence of Banner of The Star, Outlaw Star or Vandread is fine too.
Now back to this anime, haruka’s younger sister sure is picked on by the director. Every time she shows up, they have to show her panty, then lingers, and now swimsuit lost in the pool. Not that I complain though xd.
the director must be lolicon lolz
kudos to the director…. good job !! — pedobear 🙂
orale que bien!! se ve super bueno espero enkontrar el raw ya !!
whoa whoa whoa whoa… this goes against all rules ever established for a male lead in an anime!! they cannot be decisive and/or have a spine. how else can the writers easily drag out the show by constantly showing them angst and waffle about where their heart lies.
This series is very refreshing. You don’t have the usual super sensitive female heroine who goes berserk at the slightest misunderstandings (cough*Louise), or the thick headed male lead who is usually emotionless and oblivious to everything happening around him (cough*everyotherseries). Maybe watching enough anime to be an otaku teaches you how to avoid these scenarios :D.
Ah… I still get the feeling that Shina is going to be trouble for the blooming relationship later on. Still Haruka is definitely so cute. I think her sister tries too hard though.
I agree with most of the others about Yuuto. It is nice to watch a series where the male lead is not someone you want to hit. I grinned when I heard his line about saving Haruka if she was ever in trouble. Real smooth player.
“If you were drowning, I would save you too”
The romanticness of that statement is underwhelming. Very.
@Justin
Maybe, but it’s one of those statements, given Haruka’s personality and the fact that she obviously likes him a lot, that would make her smile.
Sometimes, it’s not what you say, it’s how they feel about you.
Like I like to say, the difference between a secret admirer and a stalker is how you feel about that person =P