Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「遠い春」 (Tooi Haru)
“A Distant Spring”
THE ACCIDENT
I had some mixed feelings about this ‘accident’. At first I thought perhaps Shii had broken her leg, hence why she wasn’t able to move and was lying on the cold river. Then we found out she could actually move. Not enough to climb back to the road by herself, but enough that she could’ve gotten herself out of the frozen river while waiting for help–there was a very obvious big rock that she could’ve sat atop of–instead of freezing to unconsciousness. Positive highlights of the rescue were Koguma frustratingly slapping Shii back to life and coming full circle with the whole ‘carrying Shii in her basket’ thing. To answer my own question from last week as to why Shii called Koguma instead of her own parents, what seems to be the case is 1) an infatuation and admiration towards Koguma’s character, 2) teenage hormones, which contribute to illogical decisions and 3) a keen taste for dramatics–if Vivaldi’s Winter has any say on that.
“Is the ambulance on the way?” yeah, no. Get up and let’s go home so you can take a shower.
This week has given me a new perspective into Shii’s character, perhaps a bit unfavorably, but that’s fine. The whole “I’m begging you, Koguma-san please make it spring for me, right now. Please save me again with your Super Cub. Please take this cold, dark winter and send it away somewhere. I’m begging you.” monologue was a turn off for me. Was that meant to be cute? I found it whiny and childish. But my personal impressions aside, Koguma-san had many praises to sing in her favor, acknowledging the girl’s sense of purpose and recognizing that was something she had been chasing after.
THE SLEEPOVER
In the aftermath of Shii’s rescue Reiko comes over bearing the little girl’s phone and her broken Molton. What follows–aside from unreasonable wishes–is a territorial claim in the form of Reiko’s unabashedly nakedness “just doing my usual thing at my girlfriend’s house,” Koguma’s ace cooking and her boiled eggs and Shii’s embarrassment over her own underwear. This marks the first ever sleepover amongst this newly grounded trio of friends.
As far as their dynamics go, the gap between Shii and Koguma has become smaller, but I can’t say the same about Reiko and Shii. Although extroverted, Reiko has strong social boundaries in place and Shii appears more interested in Koguma. I wonder if we’ll see a development in next week’s final episode.
HANAMI TRIP
Cherry blossoms are in bloom in Kagoshima! At first, Koguma thinks the three of them visiting might not be possible, much to Shii’s disappointment. But after some deep thinking she changes her mind. This opportunity could be a way to “give” Shii what she wished for. While Koguma and her Cub can’t change the seasons, they might be able to take the girl to an area in which spring has made an early appearance. What a knight in shining armor (or in a shining Cub). “To me, she’s the girl who’s responsible for introducing me to my Cub, and whom I met through my Cub.”
After a quick search on the net a new Honda Super Cub extra seat costs on average USD100 which is ~JPY11.000. For Koguma’s budget that’s a lot. And even after getting a free yearly deal at Beurre, I can’t see her spending this much. Will she get a second hand one? Or, perhaps, she’ll buy just the rear rack and ask her teacher to make a padded seat? Will she find a different solution altogether?! If the Hanami trip really is the endgame and main event of Super Cub’s final episode, I’m curious to see how the girls will solve this!
Full-length images: 36.
After watching the “rescue” scene, the rest of the episode just left a HUGE, ugly taste in my mouth. Shii should’ve dialed 1-1-9 and/or her parents. Koguma should’ve dialed 1-1-9 and Shii’s parents (not “or”). Shii had another chance when she lost control due to the road conditions. Then, she called Reiko instead of Shii’s parents to recover the bike. Is recovering the bike really that important given the conditions? Complete turn off. The series started out strong and is ending in disbelief.
It seems like almost everyone is ragging on this series for Shii and Koguma’s decisions without stopping to understand why the author chose to do things this way. The entire story won’t be ruined because of one moment, and it is very tiresome to read comment after comment disparaging Super Cub. Hence, I was quite glad to read one opinion that actually makes an effort to rationalize why Koguma and Shii did what they did.
Said author even brings in a little brain chemistry into things, and after doing a little research myself, brain development seems a lot likely than teenage hormones to be what drives Koguma’s choices.
They’re 17 years old and old enough to drive. They’re female and, generally, more mature. Nothing shown suggested Shii was trying to hide anything from her parents. (I think Shii even asked where was the EMS.). There’s no reason not to call EMS aside from a forced plot point.
ViolinStar: teenage hormones was more of a joke, I thought that was implied after I mentioned the keen for dramatics and Vivaldi’s Winter. And also I was speaking about Shii’s actions and not Koguma’s. But it’s also less likely to do with brain development and more to do with what was written in the novel, like @Firechick mentioned below and I also didn’t know, since I haven’t read them.
Shii should have called her parents yes. Its pretty obvious why she didnt though. She was embarrased. Dumb move? Well yes. A human one? Also yes.
It. would have been complete waste of time calling for an ambulance. The time for a local to get to her would be MUCH shorter.
They’re all very local. They go to same high school by bike (not train). The shortcut is a well-known route. It would be easy to describe how to find her by local EMS.
Part of it is the anime leaving out a key scene. In the novel, Koguma does consider calling Shii’s parents, but Shii tells her not to, reasoning that she doesn’t want to worry them. I’m not sure why the anime felt the need to cut this part out.
That definitely is key information, I wonder why they cut it out.
Come on, the rescue was just a plot device to highlight the Cub’s basket, which is indirectly used to highlight the Cub itself.
Shii should have called her parents. If she wasn’t physically injured and laying in the lake then she was suffering hypothermia, and with Koguma’s pacing in her actions, Shii should have frozen to death by now.
This segment is as bad and more cringe-worthy than the explicit Cub marketing on the second half of the school trip a few eps back. Going through it was a grind, but I am happy that’s it’s done and over with.
Me, for the bulk of this episode: have you called her parents yet? Have you called her parents? Do they know she’s not coming home tonight? Do they know she’s sleeping over? Did Reiko just call them? Oh, okay, there they are, presumably they called them at done point I guess? (when? How long were they waiting and wondering?). I don’t blame her for calling Koguma instead, but I wish they had shown Koguma or Reiko telling them she wouldn’t be coming home tonight.
I approve that this episode did not revolve around buying a new part at least. Looking forward to their trip, hope it doesn’t involve too many new parts. 😆