Sasameki Koto 01

Summary:

Ushio and Sumika walk in on two girls kissing but, as they were not singing about forgetting stuff, manage to escape detection; the former touches the latter's hand, blushing ensues. [See the brilliant dissection over at Fuzakenna] At lunch, Ushio complains about the social non-acceptance of yuri which startles croquette-loving third wheel Hiyori. This is old news to Sumika who relates how Ushio failed to get into an all-girl's school because of a Kimura-sensei moment during her interview. Her next target is her library club senpai and is all smitten as Sumika, who had been acting all disdainful of Ushio's out and out yuri, watches from her stalker camping position. The next day, at lunch, Ushio is fangirling about library senpai which Sumika pours cold water on and predicts that Ushio will be on the way to self-destruction again.

Later, just as Sumika predicted, Library-senpai shows her nervous attraction to a guy who has borrowed a book. At the next lunch, Sumika is about to approach Ushio when teacher interruptus. Her classmate, Akemiya Toumo Masaki, tries to chat up Sumika who saves him from a falling box with a superb kick. Ushio is told by Library-senpai that the guy she likes is attracted to Ushio and comes to the library just for her and asked Senpai to ask Ushio if there was anyone she liked and shows her eyes of intense resentment. Sumika sees Library-senpai dash past her and finds Ushio crying in the library and comforts her with a hug. Walking home, they make up and Ushio asks Sumika to be her friend forever and grumbles about one-sided love. At the next lunch, Sumika helps herself to Ushio's sausage octopus that she had been craving for earlier. After the credits, Ushio asks Sumika about her Fumi-chan moment during lunch which the latter brushes off as recalling a movie and returns to the support from yesterday i.e. more handholding.

Reaction:

Due to Sumika's chara design, the first thing I thought of when I saw her was "Fumi-chan!" [E Minor makes a graphic note of this but, sadly, it was lazily one note] but I was thankful that she was a totally different kind of person with her dark and gloomy side being her more public persona and reserving her tender side for Ushio when they are alone. Apparently Ushio is supposed to be a cool and widely admired chara but it didn't come across at all in this episode, except with the ironic unrequited bizarre love triangle, mainly because of the way she was dreamy and flustered by Library-senpai. Girly boy Touma doesn't have a hope in hell wrt Sumika who clearly has long held a torch for Ushio though he should try crossdressing instead of melting into a decidedly non-moe blob.

What Others Are Saying

• CrazyAnimeGyrl takes particular note of the scene where it is established that Ushio only likes cute girls which, by implication, Hiyori is not. This, in turn, creates the big barrier for Sumika - although she knows that Ushio is a lesbian, she does not know if she is "cute" enough to jump ladders from friendship to lover - something that is expounded on at length over at Unmei Kaihen (love the Escaflowne reference though the slogan is not actually a positive demonstration of the expressed aspiration).
• I was going to take issue with GGS's claim that SasaKoto breaks new ground - "for once the inherent difficulties of homosexual love in a heterosexual culture are brought across, something you really never see in yuri." But I suppose what he she had in mind was how yuri in mainstream anime has tended to be implied/buried (Sailor Moon), played for laughs (Azumanga, Shinobuden), unproblematized (Utena, Burst Angel manga, El Cazador, Mai Otome, Strawberry Panic, even Aoi Hana) or fake yuri (Maria+Holic, Kashimashi, Kampfer) but what about the Forest of Thorns arc in MariMite or the whole doramaz that drove Kannazuki no Miko?
• Divine opines that Chiwa Saitou as Taema Miyako was no Senjougahara Hitagi; indeed, I did not even notice her voice acting. Which may be a good thing since she was typecast as squeaky types for far too long. Her breakout into fascinating bishoujo lead roles will probably only take place in the next season or after.
• While Sleepy found the first episode "intense", tsuiteru compares SasaKoto unfavourably with Aoi Hana, declaring the former to be less subtle. An assessment shared by hashihime who also mentions the manga's LOL potential (which Xebek was surprised by the absence of in this first epsiode) - I felt the humourous aspects are already foreshadowed by the abundance of chibi which, together with Octavia, I found charmingly lighthearted and cute.

BTW was there any significance in (the title of) the book that Sumika was reading [JA wikipedia's entry is blank]?

Related posts:

1. Sasameki Koto 06
2. Sasameki Koto 12
3. Sasameki Koto 13