Xebek\’s Blog

Yuiichi hears some rumors about Mai getting into trouble and when he finds out her past of being accused for vandalism, he tries to come up with a way to improve her public image.

Impressions:

Wow, this episode was absolutely amazing. Not only did it have several comedy parts that just had me laughing very hard, but also it had Mai. Mai has always been my favorite character. Ever since the first series her arc and character has been my favorite. First off Mai is pretty hot and an all around good looker, but I also find her personality hilarious and just fun to watch. I love the way she is a loner but not I the way that a lot of other characters like her are in other animes. Things like when Yuuichi held the flyer up in her face and she just calmly stood there saying it was too close over and over instead of moving or anything like that. As for Mai’s story, they seem to be moving really fast into it. Already the next episode is the ball where a lot of stuff happens. I wouldn’t be surprised if episode 13 or 14 ends her arc just because of the pace they are moving. It’s not necessarily bad though. I like they kept the broken glass and the problem with her being a delinquent in, because when they previously showed Mai they didn’t mention that.

I really like that they didn’t dwell too much on Makoto. I feared this episode would be a lot of grieving towards Makoto but they hardly touched on her being gone at all, which I think is a good thing. If they drag that on too long people aren’t going to care and its going to get boring, and also it takes away from the other characters who have equally interesting and some better story arcs. The comedy was great in this episode. Probably because they went without comedy so long to keep Makoto’s arc sad. I loved the small things like at lunch when the three of them pushed the lunch boxes around. I also loved the whole back and froth between Nayuki and Yuuichi. I thought that was just brilliant.

I love the pairing of Ayu and Nayuki. They never rally touched on this in the previous series. Ayu never stayed over at their house for any long period of time like it seems is going to happen in this series. So far it turned out to be pretty good. I think it will be a great opportunity to add some character development to Ayu without having to focus on her.

Spoilers:

WOW there was so many things in this episode that foreshadowed and hinted to everything else. The last couple episodes we hardly got anything because they were finishing the Makoto arc and not focusing on any thing else. I have a lot of spoilers this time :D

First and foremost, there was Ayu. There was even more foreshadowing that something is up with her because of the fact she forgot her parents were on vacation. That seems like a very hard thing to completely forget so it does raise some eyebrows. Second they only briefly mentioned this but what school does Ayu go to? They never showed her in any kind of a uniform, and never once talked about what school she goes to. They did bring it up though so hopefully Yuuichi will ask Ayu. “My school is the greatest, it’s a tree!” “What!?” “Yup, it’s a tree where I almost died; I’m half dead right now.” “Um…”

The preview brought up even more Ayu goodness. They showed the wish doll. Now, this obviously has to be a flashback because right now in the present the wish doll should be buried around the tree where Ayu and Yuuichi played around as kids. The one in the preview was all new and clean, so they seem to hinting at some of that stuff. I just hope they actually don’t talk about it too much because it will take away from Mai’s focus.

The other thing they touched on is Kaori and Shiori. Although only slightly there were several small points that hinted at them. Kaori seemed kind of pissed off that Yuuichi was taking miracles so lightly, when the only thing that would save Shiori’s life would be a miracle. Second, Shiori didn’t want to go to school because of the teachers and “that person” She is afraid of running into Kaori because she thinks that Kaori hates her.