Watched ep 10 before I went away for my 3 weeks of holiday. It was agonising. It really felt like I had something lodged in my gut for the 3 weeks. Images of Haruka/Akane finishing with Takayuki tormented my sleep. Occasionally I do get the good dream of Takayuki getting stabbed by Mitsuki or of all the girls finally walking out on him. (Though I rather they walk out of my screen :p). Well I guess I did get to watch 3 eps in succession.

Ep 10: This is by far the most powerful ep in the series (Ep 2 comes very close) And of course it is also my fav because there's plenty of Akane goodness. The focal point of the ep was Akane's harsh revelation to Haruka about the passing of ice age. Haruka fans' response was swift and decisive, calling a boycott on all Akane merchandise and severence of frenship/kinship with all bearing the name Akane. Of course there's another school of thot that claims that Akane had enuff of squeezing into that small, suffocating middle school uniform. Let me, as an obviously biased Akane fan, try to defend her actions. Without the benefit of ep 11, I had known that Akane was terribly tormented by her deceit to her beloved sister. This is probably compounded by her own guilt of liking her sis's bf. On top of that, she sees first hand, the suffering of Takayuki and surely feels for his pain (yeah we are always ultra-sensitive to the ones we are passionate abt, are we not?) Her own pain, Takayuki's and even the pathetic/sad circumstances of the sister probably pushed her over the edge. Granted, her revelation was quite clumsy with seemingly a hint of malice but hey she snapped alright? She's been so strong since the accident (as compared to Takayuki and Mitsuki), caring for the sis and getting with life (winning swimming championships on top of that), I would give her that little space to show that she is also only human.

Ep 11: This ep is characterised by the closure of Akane's involvement with Takayuki in the series. That little speech by the beach was both a confession to Takayuki and also a 'break-up' speech. Akane would now sought to care for Haruka for Haruka's sake alone, drawing upon her(Akane) own strength and not on her feelings for Takayuki anymore. That's integrity man. The will to do what seems to be the right despite it being utterly heart-piercing is one of the many things I really like Akane for. On the other hand, Mitsuki completes her headlog plunge into total self-destruction, drawing poor Shinji into this vortex of heartaches. Takayuki really don't deserve any of them. One really wonders about Takayuki and his alien brain processes. He's dog-sick, cannot find his girlfren but is contended with only finding her bag and yet just the night b4 he pulls an overniter to look for Akane on the streets? Well if he could reason properly, I wouldn't have been so hooked to kiminozo anyway. Go go Bakayuki!

Ep 12: Mitsuki dumped Takayuki. Sigh, Mitsuki needed to totally obliterate any remaining self-worth/self-esteem b4 she could finally let go of Takayuki. It really hurts. Mitsuki uses her body (she seems to use her body a lot as a tool to solve problems) to invoke a response from Takayuki and she gets nothing. No reaction. The worst possible outcome of her gambit has to be non-response. I really wonder if Takayuki truly loved Mitsuki despite all that he says. Maybe he is consciously trying to commit himself in loving Mitsuki as he says but deep down it seems to be Haruka. Whispering Haruka's name in his sleep really should count for something. Haruka wakes again and this time I wonder about her dubious claim of not remembering her earlier recovery from coma. My suspicions come from her immediate address of the mistakes she made in her previous awakening; the instant reconciliation of time, inquiring Takayuki's status etc (yes I am jumping a little to ep13). Is she pretending? If she is, she is much much stronger that I had thought she was. I personally felt that the story was structured such that Mitsuki and Akane had much more room for development and expression as compared to Haruka. Maybe they are trying to make it up to her in the last 3 eps.

Ep 13: Yes, the climatic slap that rocked the anime world. I must say Mitsuki may have tried to trivialise her relationship with Takayuki to make Haruka feel better but her version of the story only served to cheapened their love and her frenship with Haruka. I'm sorry but that slap was well deserved. Now b4 I get flamed by Mitsuki fans who felt that their heroine had suffered enough abuse, let me say that all the chars in the series, including Takayuki himself have suffered tremendously at the hand of fate. Much as we would like to point our accusing fingers at Takayuki, I have come to believe that there's not a single point where we can decisively say that/he is the genesis of the whole tragedy. Both Haruka and and Mitsuki like Takayuki for his kindness and thotfulness. But it is also these exact attributes that concoct a lethal brew when mixed with the tragic destiny that binds these 3 lives. As moths are drawn by the brilliance of candlefire and later consumed by that same brilliance, can we blame the flame for being radiant as it is fiery? One's closest attempt in faultfinding would have to be the folly of the moths in their love of the light/warmth. If so, it would have to be Haruka and Mitsuki's fault for loving Takayuki so completely and irrevocably, which is no sin at all to me but wonderful objects of praise and songmaking.

It will be heartrending, whoever Takayuki ends up with. I am prepared to bawl come ep 14.