Xebek’s Blog

Nagisa stays at school with Etoile and Miyuki over summer while all the other girls go home for the holiday. There is a huge development between Nagisa and Etoile as they get closer from their time together.

Summary:

We start off learning that Summer School is now over and mostly all of the girls are heading home over the summer holiday. We see Chiyo biding a sad farewell to Nagisa as well as seeing all the other familiar characters leave. Tamao and Nagisa stay behind and they see Miyuki and Etoile there as well. Nagisa ask if they are returning home and Tamao says they haven’t returned home in the six years they have been here. Nagisa then asks Tamao whys he isn’t’ going home after her telling Tamao that she can’t’ go back because her parents are overseas. Tamao says she has to go back but doesn’t want to because she doesn’t want to leave Nagisa. She says she worries if she would leave Nagisa alone, and looks over at Etoile across the room saying that ever since summer school ended Etoile has looked at her differently and she fears something will happen if she is gone. While talking amongst themselves Miyuki and Etoile head over to them and Tamao and Nagisa jump from shock. Miyuki tells them that Nagisa needs to work on her studies since she barely passed French before. Tamao kind of relaxes and says she can go home after all since Miyuki will keep Nagisa busy with studying. Tamao returns home after giving Nagisa the ribbon from her neck and tying it around her wrist. Nagisa works with Miyuki studying, even though it is incredibly hard on Nagisa and she continually gets things wrong. She asks out of frustration why this wont all end and Miyuki says she can’t stand her already. Nagisa is a bit taken back by this and Miyuki continues to say that she and Etoile will graduate next year but Nagisa has only three more years left. Etoile interrupts and says they should take a break.

Nagisa takes a walk down the hallways when she sees someone struggling in the closet. She finds out its Amane and the two of them head outside to talk while taking care of her horse. She says how she didn’t leave because she has to take care of her horse. Nagisa then tells Amane about Miyuki’s kind of explosion and Amane comforts her. Amane says how Nagisa really is an extraordinary girl. Nagisa falls over backwards off the fence they are sitting on and Amane gets up close to her face while she is lying on the ground. She says how all the other Miatre girls seem like they are birds trapped in cages except for her, that she really is extraordinary. Etoile then shows up and the two of them get up. Etoile, with a kind of pissed look on her face says that the break is over. Nagisa heads inside and she says to Amane that she is supposed to be “Spica’s Prince” and her princess is in Spica. Nagisa and Etoile study some more together and when they are done Etoile says she will show Nagisa the festival for all her hard work. They head outside and watch the fireworks in the distance, although they are too far away to really hear them. The two of them talk for a while, Nagisa saying how lonely she was at summer school and how Etoile makes her feel different. Etoile says she has the same feeling about Nagisa. Etoile pulls Nagisa away and they get real close together. Etoile then sees the ribbon on Nagisa’s wrist and asks what it is. Nagisa says it’s a charm from Tamao. Etoile starts to take it off but Nagisa yells no and they end up falling in the outdoor pool together that was behind their looking place for the fireworks. In the pool, the two of them still embracing each other Etoile kisses Nagisa and her charm from Tamao unravels and falls off. They hold the kiss for a while in the pool.

We see a bit later Nagisa in the shower washing off, mesmerized from the kiss. She gets out and wears some of the cloths Etoile prepared for her as Etoile takes her shower and Nagisa waits in her room. Etoile comes in and they briefly talk. Etoile guesses how it was Nagisa’s first kiss but Etoile says it wasn’t hers. Although, with Nagisa, she could be her last. Etoile gets really close to Nagisa again and when trying to back away Nagisa falls onto the bed. Etoile gets on top of her pinning her down and just stares at her face. Nagisa seems to be in almost a trance and Etoile gets really intimate, almost taking off Nagisa’s clothes and getting close to kissing her chest. She whispers Nagisa and an image flashes in her mind of someone saying Shizuma. She said previously how she was the room assistant for the girl who was Etoile when she was Nagisa’s age. Etoile just stays there frozen from that image and Nagisa snaps out of it and pushes Etoile back and runs out of the room while Etoile just stays there on the bed frozen in shock. The next morning Tamao comes back saying how she could only stand to be away from Nagisa for that long. Nagisa notices Nagisa’s cloths and sees the charm is no longer there. Nagisa seems really out of it, and apologizes in a sad tone saying she lost it. Nagisa seems really sad about it and just almost traumatized from last night and Tamao says it’s ok and hugs her and comforts her.

Impressions:

Wow…just, wow. This episode was huge. This is probably one of the biggest episodes so far. Not only did they kiss which by itself would have been enough, but they almost took a huge next step, and even in not doing so it still almost happened which is big enough. The thing that really surprised me was Shizuma being the one to stop. I didn’t really expect them to go through with it but I expected something like Nagisa breaking out of her trance and pushing her away and all, but it seemed like she flashed back to when she was young and was in the same position as Nagisa with the Etoile at the time. It made her stop and seemed like she didn’t want the same thing to happen to Nagisa, which is why she stopped. This kind of puts a hold on their relationship as its not so much innocent and carefree, chasing after one another and all. Before there was some potential for a build up to them but now after that incident it’s almost as if the doors got kind of closed.

Amane seemed important in this episode. While I still say that with a headshot only, Amane looks like a guy every time I see her without seeing her body. Etoile even made the comment she was Spica’s Prince. Although, that brings me to that part in the episode. Man, Etoile looked pissed off when she saw Amane and Nagisa so close. With her comment that she was Spica’s Prince, and her princess, Hikari, is supposed to be in Spica. It really felt like Etoile was jealous and almost marking her territory of Nagisa over Amane.

One thing that seemed important was Miyuki looked pissed and reacted really strangely to Nagisa almost giving up on her studies. She yelled that she ONLY has three years left and stuff which wonders if she has plans for her or something. Perhaps she is wanting Nagisa to be the next Etoile, since both she and Shizuma, Etoile, are graduating next year there would need to be a new one and perhaps since everyone says there is something about Nagisa, especially that bit with Amane saying Nagisa is one of the only girls who doesn’t seem to her to be a bird trapped in a cage, that she is something exceptional.

Up until this point I could guess at what would happen in the future. Up until now I thought there would be a gradual progression to an Etoile and Nagisa ending but now I’m not so sure. With what happened in this episode, and Etoile being the one who stopped it from going any further it seems like that possibility, while not impossible, is further away. As if Etoile doesn’t want Nagisa to end up like her because she kind of saw in her, herself at a young age as basically it was the exact same situation although probably ended up differently. The whole Tamao’s charm thing made Tamao more important to the story I think. Even though Nagisa was with Etoile and all, and seemed to previously be after Etoile because of her feelings she refused to untie Tamao’s charm when Etoile tried to and seemed really devastated after loosing it, which makes me think Tamao is more important to her then I had previously thought.