Kashimashi 4

Tomari's disquiet over the growing warmth of Hazumu's rapproachment with Yasuna. Sharing a strawberry on the rooftop garden, going home together in the rain, enjoying shopping together and then sharing an umbrella on the rooftop with Yasuna confessing her feelings for Hazumu and then trying to kiss her. Tomari stops it by yelling Hazumu's name. She and Yasuna lash out at each other in the rain while a stunned Hazumu remains on the rooftop.

Again significant changes from the manga. The rooftop confession is Yasuna's first confession in the anime while it was the second in the manga - manga Yasuna had wrote a letter to and met Hazumu to confess in Ch 2. Also the addition of the windy and rainy weather made the scene softer, gentler and more poignant - providing a reasonable setting for Hazumu to offer her umbrella to Yasuna and for Yasuna to take the opportunity to get even closer. In the manga, Yasuna practically slams Hazumu against the fence and tries to force a kiss on a clearly reluctant and protesting Hazumu who only manages to escape when Asuta stumbles upon them. The anime version seems rather more well thought out even if they have decided to characterise Yasuna very differently (which I prefer btw).

I think this episode was really Tomari's - even though the most yurilicious moments were between Yasuna and Hazumu. Tomari was shown to be struggling with her own unacknowledged feelings for Hazumu whom Yasuna is threatening to steal away from her yet again. Despite her tough exterior and tomboyish mannerism, Tomari is also shown to be emotionally vulnerable and all the pressure finally explodes in her yell to stop Yasuna from kissing Hazumu. Hazumu, on the other hand, is hit by the realization that her two best friends want to be more than friends, to the exclusion of the other.

One thing that made me squirm a bit was Hazumu's dad underdoing one of her dress' strings for a more sexy shot. Am glad Hazumu's mom subdued him with another one of her wrestling moves. (What is that move called btw? See Random Curiosity for the screenshot.) Little scenes I liked included Ayuki singing enka (she'd probably be able to easily subdue Urd - and actually all the scenes with Ayuki are good, she's like MariMite's Tsutako - Voice of Keen Observation), Hazumu imitating Tomari's imagined reaction to her super girly dress - and somehow I just imagined Kurogane having an explosive nosebleed when Hazumu did her knee-wringing thing when saying how cute the dress Yasuna picked was. LOL Also liked how the studio slipped in a pair of lilies in Yasuna's memories of Hazumu making the rooftop garden bloom. The manga in the conbini with the Hazumu and Yasuna lookalike characters was also funny.

In all, another good episode with the stakes raised and all parties realizing things can't go back to the status quo. 90 screencaps ahead.

Related posts:

1. Kashimashi 7
2. Kashimashi 8
3. Kashimashi: Girl meets Girl Vol.1