hontou ni » Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana 11

Zyl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:18:21 +0000

Kou asks for Akira's help to pick a present for Kyouko but Fumi becomes paranoid when she sees them. Yasuko makes preparations to go to university in London, Kyouko manages to keep it together after finding out and bidding farewell via (phone) email. The girls have a Christmas party, after which Akira and Fumi visit their old elementary school and the latter finally recalls her first love.

What!? That's it!!? Can I have second season?

My favourite moment in this episode was when Mr Okudaira asked Mrs Okudaira if she wanted to join him to have a drink and she said: "No!" even before he could finish asking his question, no one saying anything about the love letter that had been thrust into the hands of Akira's elder brother (whose name I cannot even be bothered to remember). Like Akira, I have no idea what she sees in him but I also agree with Yaa-chan and Pon-chan that it will, at least, be entertaining.

Speaking of Pon-chan, she is awesome. So that time when she went to interfere with Yasuko x Fumi's conversation wasn't just a one-off. Incidentally Kabitzin's absolutely right wrt the power of cold, hard content; I had a hunch it was Pon-chan who said and did that delightful 'Yosh! Let's go interfere!' but after trawling through the AnimeNano aggregated entries, I finaaaally found confirmation in only one place i.e. on Blue Blue Wave. Phew!

Aoi Hana 10

Zyl — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:52:11 +0000

Summary:

It’s Kazusa x Masanori’s big day. Kazusa bribes Yasuko with a delicious secret in order to get her to smile and to congratulate her. Yasuko promptly rubs Kuri’s face with the revelation that she now knows that she loved the same man; apparently Masanori never received her love letter though. Akira and Kyouko have been invited to fill the pews. Just when they thought they were able to shake off Oniichan Shinobu and Fiancee-in-name-only Ikou, both are extended an invitation by Yasuko.

Fumi, who is trying to be less Hirasawa Yui-like, decides to ring up Akira for a day trip to Enoshima. Yasuko invites herself to join in and Shinobu tags along too for maximum awkwardness; the former comes out to the latter. He’s stunned, of course, but just wait till he sees the OP. Yasuko reveals that she had cut her hair to cultivate a stronger image, it didn’t win her man’s affections but bred an army of fangirls. Including cute but annoying stalker Kyouko who followed her lead. During their cave walk, Fumi tells Yasuko to stop trolling her, that she has completely given up on her and that Yasuko should grow up. Yasuko can apologizes thrice but mostly to her candle.

Reaction:

Oh man, my love for Kuri grew to new heights, especially with that twitching left eye. Aaah so good. While it was so uncool and lame for her to have loved Masanori too, it explains a lot about her current snarkiness being her own embarrassment projected onto Yasuko. It also accounts for some of her mean streak, which is what I like most about her. Though Shinako’s ribbing of both her younger sisters also showed her mischievous side nicely.

This episode also made me take my copy of John Dower’s Embracing Defeat off the shelf and re-read the first chapter. Kasuza just completely owned both her sisterly rivals and Yasuko and Kuri’s stares during the bright and happy wedding ceremony reminded me of the over-awed Japanese delegation arriving onboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, surrounded by tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of warships and overflown by thousands of fighters and bombers. It’s one thing to know that someone doesn’t love you but it’s quite another sinking feeling to realize just how happy the significant other they have chosen makes them and - as per Hirohito’s surrender exhortation to ‘bear the unbearable’ - to be happy for them.

On another front, I was most pleasantly surprised that Fumi, who has been characterized thusfar mostly as a crybaby and emotionally needy, was able to put her foot down and completely turn the tables on Yasuko. The truth really burns, so much more than lies and falsehood, when it’s delivered straight up, without any fluff, sugarcoating. Can’t say I have that much sympathy for Yasuko though.

Aoi Hana 9

Zyl — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:02:38 +0000

Akira realizes that everyone has someone they love and wonders if she'll find someone too. Given the utterly spoilerific OP, the question now is not If but the ~~5Ws~~ 4Ws (we already know Who) and 1H. She hasn't made the observation that it's 100% unrequited, within her sample population, at this point though.