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「どうして…」 (Doushite…)
“Why…”
As Mei and Yamato are slowly but steadily climbing up the stairs of hardships, the toughest step so far has appeared – the love rival. While it is a very common stereotype in most shoujo series, the love rival is a great way for the main couple to realize their insecurities. In Mei’s case, watching Yamato working with the straightforward Dessert model Kitagawa Megumi (Kotobuki Minako), made her see that she isn’t strong. Mei is honest, straightforward, and very down-to-earth – because she has been isolated. There was never anyone she could deliberately hurt. Now that she has Yamato, she is afraid of doing something that might disappoint or hurt him. She has someone she doesn’t want to lose now, therefore she can’t express her sadness, in case Yamato will be upset.
Yamato on the other hand has slowly learned to see that he doesn’t have to please everyone, but now that Mei supported him taking on the modeling offer, he thought this was his way of making her happy. There are so many more obstacles in this couple’s path…
One thing that is quite unique to this series’ love rival character is that she, unlike most shoujo’s challengers, doesn’t share a past with the male. Megumi’s interest in Yamato is very shallow as it is based completely on looks. It’s undeniable that beautiful people are attractive and interesting to us, but usually most of us keep that attraction for ourselves. Megumi is obviously a very social girl. As a model she is talented, and everyone looks up to her. For her it’s easy to voice her thoughts without thinking of the consequences. She takes people’s admiration for granted. It was nice to see how Yamato rejecting her, and not only because he is in a relationship already, but also because he can now see how artificial the “feelings” most girls had for him were.
Of course, Megumi won’t give up. She seems to be the kind of girl who must have it her way. Her sly way of using work as an excuse to spend time with Yamato worked very well. She has also befriended Asami which shows that she will slowly worm her way in Mei’s circle of friends to perhaps, exclude her from it. It is a mean way to get what you want, but Megumi is famous and respected so it is bound to work. Things aren’t looking good for Mei, especially not when even her friends are all swooning over Megumi, however, let’s not forget that Aiko is a friend of Mei too. She has a bit of an attitude but her feelings are genuine; she has also overcome the stage where looks meant everything, so hopefully, Mei won’t be alone in this. But the most important person in this is Yamato.
He loves Mei, that is for sure, but he still can’t see her insecurity or her fear of losing him. It is hard for me to understand whether or not he really can see how much Mei cares about him. While the modeling part was just an act, he didn’t even notice his girlfriend crying. Perhaps he was very into the job. It is hard to blame him when Mei was fine with it, but it’s frustrating to see Mei who finally found some light in her life having that taken away from her by someone whom she just met. But surely, Yamato can be trusted. He wouldn’t betray Mei, hopefully, however, that doesn’t mean that Mei’s life is about to become any easier. Megumi is the ideal girl to many men, and for someone like Mei, that is hard to beat. But Mei has one thing Megumi doesn’t, and that is a kind heart that is capable of loving. That heart of hers is what makes her so lovable, don’t you agree?
Random thoughts:
- That’s a, uh, rather strange way to test your cookies…
- Megumi is a Dessert model. A fun fact is that the Sukitte Ii na yo. manga is serialized in Dessert.
- Asami and Kenji sure like to express their randy feelings!
- It looks like the studio is using Adobe Camera Raw through Adobe Bridge (correct me if I’m wrong)! I prefer Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
- Double glomp!
- Full-length shots: 11, 28, 36
- Eyecatch: B-part
Preview
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Gosh, did Yamato’s sister tell her to test the cookies like that?
and thus the bitch appears.
Just curiousity : Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
And here goes the shipping…
Show Spoiler ▼
I do not know, maybe cause it is my own personal fantasy of getting with someone famous and super beautiful. I just cannot hate Megumi even after all the crap she does by Chapter 23.
Show Spoiler ▼
Give Yamato the benefit of the doubt. Mei is in shadow and he has bright photo lights shining in his face. If he knew how Mei felt and that the was crying, he would be out of there in a shot. I think he’s that kind of guy.
It sure is nice of them to throw Megumi in there early like this. However since this is only episode 6 means that she’s not going to be too much of a problem & she’ll also help Mei develop jealousy. But this is Yamato we’re talking about here. He dated like half the bloody school. So he should be able to handle Megu-tan w/o too much trouble when push comes to shove.
It might not be so nice to see Mei beat herself up over this but she needs to grow up sooner or late, relationship-wise.
But GD, Yamato not being a model is a terrible waste. He could take over the world with those glasses – although I think he would look better with black wire semi-rimless.
Love rival appears – very cliched But I’m still enjoying it!!
On the bright side, Mei refers to Kurosawa has “Yamato” twice in the last two minutes =)
I did not mind much about Yamato getting carried away by the moment during his job. He has shown by his rejection of Megumi that he will never leave Mei for her.
However, what surprised me more was Asami and Kenji. I am sure both of them knows about the relationship between Yamato and Mei. However their actions and their comments throughout the episode seemed very insensitive to Mei (Asami instantly asking Yamato to show Megumi around and Kenji’s comments on how Yamato and Megumi looks like a couple). While Kenji realized what he said was wrong, the damage has already been done.
The resolution to this arc will be interesting. Here is to hoping that our lovey dovey couple gets back together soon!
Well, at least for Asami, you’ll see what happens between her and Mei in regards to Megu.
If Megumi has appeared, then you-know-who will soon come too…
I wished they took a more subtle approach to Mei’s jealousy.
I find it really hard to believe that someone her age has no idea what jealousy feels like. But then again, animes do the whole “why do I feel this way?” thing a lot in order to build tension and stuff but I honestly think it cheapens emotions. I would like to see Mei coming to terms with having jealous feelings (a lot more realistic) rather than having an epiphany where she discovers that she is humanly possible of feeling jealous. Yes, there is a huge difference
You forget, Mei’s isolated herself since elementary school from her peers (until she meets Yamato). What would she be jealous about? Anything related to friendship would be categorized as “they’ll hurt you soon”, which also would normally include romantic feelings as well. Besides, we saw a bit of jealousy in Mei when she found out that Yamato had already had sex.
another day as usual mei & yamato include mei trying to bake cookies with yamato’s sister give phone message & yea no longer weapon version.
give til meet female model aka Megumi Kitagawa who has fallen for yamato yet while sure trying get yamato yet mei in the way oh well hmm & so have model pic shooting with yamato?
give it all look fine with yamato with glasses then pic shooting got mei like feeling bit lonely & why?
Mei’s mom is way hotter than Mei herself 🙂
Agreed. She’s a MILF. And she’s voiced by the lovely Kobayashi Yuu.
I thought the model storyline was a little over the top, but the writing played some interesting points about our couple –
Mei doesn’t know if she has the right to trust him yet, or rather, the right to challenge his trustworthiness. He’s said many
beautiful things to Mei, but this is the first time that he’s going to have his mettle put to the test to see if his words have merit.
Quite frankly, I’m a little disappointed. For a guy portrayed as being super-confident with all of the girls to not understand
Megumi’s dumb-blond manipulation tactic to get him to model (our agency’s in deep trouble — only your face can save it) —
well, you know what I mean.
When I add that into that he allowed and accepted Mei’s “permission” as the result of peer pressure, rather that ask her
in private, I think that he wanted to do this with a lot less reluctance than he lets on. Hate to say it; he’s being a jerk/dog to
a girls who is showing early signs of romantic dedication. I don’t see Megumi struggling to make cookies for him!
Don’t get me wrong, he does like Mei. But seriously, he’s helping a friend in need, contributing to the strength of the Japanese
economy (by rescuing the modelling agency from bankruptcy), and only accepting top dollar for model with no experience
in front of a camera (okay, I made that last one up) — Mei should totally be on board with that (rationalization) — right?!
Mei’s feelings of confusion/jealously are 110% genuine girl – a girl responds emotionally before she responds intellectually.
Boys are the exact opposite, they quantify (read rationalize) their feelings before showing emotion. Which is why boys can
do stupid acts/things without regard or consideration or the glossing over of other people’s (i.e. Mei’s) feelings.
This brings me back to that pivotal line above. If it was no big deal for Yamato to tell Mei that Megumi just “confessed” to him,
why didn’t Yamato tell Mei that “fact” and let her decide for herself if she should trust Yamato’s “rejection”…
IMHO, this episode played this out pretty well.
only thing i got out of this episode is that i really think that asami’s character design is way prettier than megumi’s..
in the photoshoot scene with yamato in it, megumi’s outfit is actually hideous lol. there aren’t any screencaps of asami’s outfit of her watching but damn it is so much nicer, and i’d actually wear that.
ok that is just my two cents on fashion
I love how Yamato rejected Megumi. It was like saying, hey I dgaf how pretty you are I’m not that shallow.
Hang in there Mei-chan! Ganbatte ne! 🙂
Ugh Megumi…I cannot stand her.
If I was Mei I would’ve walked out of that photo shoot without a second thought Q__Q Actually I probably never would’ve gone and saved myself the pain LOL
So far this show has brought out all emotions from me. T_T
Beyond my overall enjoyment of this episode, some random highlights included: Mei’s test to see if she moved passed “weaponized cookies” was hilarious, Asami and Kenji being so lovey-dovey adorkable is fun, and the budding friendship between Mei and Nagi is so sweet. Seeing Yamato showing perhaps shyness about modeling (especially his friends seeing him) I think gives him a more well-rounded personality.
Wile this episode partially broke my heart and drop-kicked it, and I thoroughly despise “Megu-tan” for her shallowness and unappreciative nature regarding how much others compliment her, I can’t wait to see how this turbulent time in our favorite couple’s life concludes.