First Impressions / Shigofumi

Summary:

Having just shot Fumika, Kirameki turns around and uses it as an example in lecturing her on why the gun is dangerous. Kaname reacts to this by punching Kirameki and repeatedly hitting him while he’s on the ground. They end up locking Kirameki up into a room full of toys, and it turns out that Fumika is able to expel the bullet magically out of her body, heal the wound, and even repair her clothes. At the urging of Natsuka, Fumika reveals that she used to be Mikawa Fumika, her father is Mikawa Kirameki, and her mother divorced her father soon after giving birth to her. Her mother was actually an actress named Aizawa Kirei, and Haruno knows that she’s now remarried and living overseas somewhere. The result of all this was that Fumika was raised by her father, and when she was young, he was very kind to her. One day, however, Kirameki told her that it was art time, and this involved writing words about life after death on her naked body with a glass pen. He had gotten caught up on the word kirei (beautiful), and his entire attitude towards Fumika changed in that instant, leading him to string together the concepts of dirtiness, women, lies, vanity, and betrayal.

Fumika knows that what he was doing was using her body as a place for him to gather and draft his ideas. Though she hated it and was scared, Fumika could do nothing but endure it because he was the only father she had. At one point during his ranting and ravings, Kirameki had said that he hated her and told her to disappear, and the trauma from all this caused a second consciousness to develop in Fumika. The two parts of Fumika knew each other as Fumi and Mika and became each other’s only friends. It wasn’t until junior high that Fumika actually attended school, and that’s where she met Natsuka. Mika is the one who is now explaining all this to Natsuka, Kaname, and Haruno, and she reveals that Fumi was the one who attended school and rejected Kaname, though that was because she was surprised and not because she hated him. Their conversation is then interrupted by a small explosion, and Mika correctly guesses that Kirameki did something. He had used gunpowder from firearm cartridges to blow open the door, and he is now looking at his wall of guns with the intent of dealing out some punishment. Right as Kirameki notices that one of the guns is missing, Mika enters the room and questions if he remembers that she shot him.

A scared Kirameki first tries to throw a knife at her and then tries to shoot her, but she quickly closes the distance between them and punches him. When Kirameki lashes out about hating her and wanting her to disappear, Mika reveals that, even with all that he had said and done, Fumi had always loved him. It was Mika who finally used the gun to shoot Kirameki during one of the torturous art sessions. The consequence was that Fumi became convinced that she was the one who shot him, secluded herself, and could no longer hear Mika anymore. Mika wants Kirameki to die now, but before she can kill him, Kaname and the others burst into the room with the help of Kanaka. Haruno calms Mika down by touching her hand, and she proposes that Kirameki work to pay off Fumi’s hospital bill. She wants to read what Kirameki writes and encourages him to do so even after he claims that he can’t without Fumika. In the aftermath, Kanaka gets Fumika to agree to not have any more secrets since they’re partners, and she realizes this Fumika is waiting for the hospitalized Fumika to wake up. Natsuka and Kaname want to wait with her because they like Fumika just like she does.

Preview

Wow, there were some very intense parts in that episode – most of it due to Kirameki’s ranting and raving. I kept thinking that he was going to kill Fumika. That was part of what I felt made this a pretty strong episode – along with the fact that this answered a lot of the questions I had – but my one complaint is that it got rather anti-climatic towards the very end with the way Haruno diffused the situation and with everyone just leaving. I realize that we’re only two-thirds of the way through the series, but I was hoping for something a bit more conclusive with regard to Kirameki and Fumika. Instead, they sort of set up the rest of the series as a wait for Fumika to wake up, and that’s not an entirely comforting thought because it could mean more sub-par episodic material like two weeks ago. On the other hand, maybe Fumika’s mother will appear or something. Anyway, next week looks like it’ll be a hot springs episode, but it does involve Chiaki, so hopefully it won’t be a complete waste.

23 Comments

  6. Is there a noticeable censoring/editing in this episode? It would seem like they left it intact, from that bloody scene and all the other things.
    (The official website stated that this episode had been altered due to recent circumstances).

    Reikalover
    Reply

  9. The story’s actually not very confusing if you’ve been following it. This episode actually clarifies on a lot of things as Omni said.

    From the trauma of being tormented by her father, Fumika formed a separately personality known as Mika. Fumi (the original personality) loved her father and despite his continuing behaviour, she only blamed herself for being a “bad girl”. As a result, Fumi’s personality turns out to be one of relatively low self-esteem. She’s willing to endure almost any torment that her father puts her through without question.

    So in short, the personalities separated when Fumika was torn between her love for her father and her rationality (i.e. what he is doing to her is wrong). Fumi embodies the side that loves her father, whereas Mika embodies the side that’s rational and sensible.

    When Kirameki was shot by Fumika, it was actually Mika’s doing out of defense for Fumi. Mika felt that Fumi wouldn’t be able to endure this any longer so she took control of “Fumika” and shot Kirameki. Evidently, the whole ordeal traumatized Fumi and that’s why she’s been in a coma for the past 3 years.

    Mika’s personality ended up being the Fumika (Shigofumi yuubin-san) we know of today and this explains why she still ages–it’s tied to her physical body that is still alive in the real world. i.e. the sleeping Fumi.

    On a separate note, Mika explains that Fumi didn’t reject Kaname back in middle school because she didn’t like him / hated him. It was simply because she was caught off guard and didn’t know how to react. This isn’t all that surprising given Fumi’s personality.

    divine|s
    Reply

  12. So I was half right…but also half wrong…I knew Fumika wasn’t Mikawa Fumika…should have thought of Dissociative Personality Disorder (It’s NOT schizophrenia dammit) though…but the red herrings fooled me…shame…

    …I have far to go…I am humbled…

    Zzz...
    Reply

  19. hmm…. i think fumika wants to be a shigofumi because maybe she wants to read a letter that she killed… fumika killed his father maybe her father had a letter for her or something…. =P

    shurikens
    Reply

  20. The series is getting better by the episode, and based on the summary, this could shed light more of the difference between Fumika and Mika, but in essence: they are the same person but of different personas’ (did I make sense here?).

    Anyways, can’t wait! I also can’t wait for the OBLIGATORY beach and hot springs episode 9 (like every anime has one).

    dx
    Reply

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