More is revealed about Hinata’s past and what happened to her sister Hotaru.
Impressions:
Wow…this episode was huge. I would definitely say this is one of the better episodes of the show. I didn’t expect Hinata to actually be Hotaru like that. I’m still just in shock about how fucking horrible that is for her to go through. Having her grandfather and her relatives all say how they wish she would have died instead of her sister. That alone is just absolutely….horrendous. Then to have to live your life as someone else and hear the villagers say they are glad who they think you are died….wow. That just adds a whole new level of horrible experiences. I would say that is worse then Hayami’s situation almost. Going though your whole life knowing that people are glad you died instead of the person you are pretending to be is just….It was a huge episode and I am really glad at the way it ended. I’m just curious as to where they are going to go from here as they’ve pretty much given both Hayami and Hotaru (It’s going take a bit to get used to calling her that) some big development. Hopefully they will still deal with her grandfather but it also seems they have to deal with Otoha/Hinata and Hirose’s blindness issue.
I do have to talk a bit separately about the pace of the show. Although part of the show really gets hurt by the fact they seem to skip some time and don’t explain it well, overall I think it does have a purpose. I’m referring to the fact that they seem to accept pretty big things rather quickly. They seemed to instantly have no problem with Takuma’s eyesight and now it seems like they have all readily accepted Hayami. However while that may seem to be a bit odd I think it has a valid purpose. I mean, if they were to spend the time showing every single even that lead up to those revelations then the show would have no time for other stuff. I really don’t think it’s a matter of people readily accepting things but a combination of that and a time skip that they don’t really explain. Sure they could do a better job at explaining they had a time skip but as far as not showing it I’m fine with. I mean really, they could spend two episodes in between this one and last showing people getting used to Hayami but in the end it really won’t matter. If you can just realize there are time skips it does help the show out a lot.
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This was a very interesting episode. With Hinata- I mean Hotaru’s story nearly complete, it a go ahead for Hirose’s eye sight to go bye bye again. Given that the next episode deals with Otoha(Real Hinata), Hirose may lose his eye sight and will get the support of the people he’s helped get it back. Anyway, Hotaru’s story is one of the more tragic stories of any character’s I’ve seen. First, the cause of death for your sister that you admire was you, then all your relivtives tell you to pretend to be someone else and then listen to everyone say that it was better for (you) to die. I think the last trial for Hirose is against Hotaru and Hinata’s grandfather, given that he has to make that guy accept Hotaru as Hotaru and that Hinata(Otoha) doesn’t want her sister to be her replacement.
I can understand that they are trying to use the time skips for a purpose. But if feels more like bad writing than anything. If they can’t figure out how to deal with aftermaths of situations they should consider what they want to have shown in the series. Its like starting up a major battle and then skipping to afterwards where they are drinking tea or something. You can’t just cut out things. Could have cut out the entire beach episode and Hamaji revelation if they really needed the extra time so badly.
Leads to the question of what the heck is wrong with this village? Are they bloody sheep that just accept things without a single problem? Can’t be a large time skip since the grandfather hasn’t done anything in retaliation for revealing this information. Pacing has been the critical flaw in the series.
Hirose magically regains his sight. No questions, concerns, doubts about whether this guy was lying in the first place. Just its accepted and no one even acts like he was ever blind. Hayami gets this peace offering from Yui and suddenly everyone is buddies with her. Yui can’t be the only one who has had personal problems due to Hayami’s family, and yet they are just fine now? Now we get the huge revelation from Hotaru. This isn’t some minor thing here. Its a major event that the person they have known all this time as Hinata isn’t. Instead of really getting into how people would deal with the situation they gloss it over. Shouldn’t someone have wondered if she was insane? Or how can they trust someone that has been lying to them for all these years? Cutting out major things like this really hurts the quality of the episode.
Moving on from the rant. Were a lot of revelations coming to life here. How Hotaru’s story about Otoha actually comes true and her sister becomes this spirit trying to help the village. How a family could be so messed up as to hide the fact about which child was dead. Amazing how a village could be so stupid as to ignore that Hinata looked to be some years older and yet no one wondered about it. Though I guess with this place that shouldn’t be a major shock.
Can only imagine the mental nightmare that Hotaru has been living with. Being forced to take another identity. No wonder she was so ruined by the good girl thing and gave up the relationship with Hayami so quickly. Seeing also how words can be passed around and come full circle.
Not going to try and compare Hotaru and Hayami’s problems. Losing your sister who was in a sense everything then being forced to ‘die’ and come back as your sister is horrible. But losing absolutely everything literally, having no friends, and being assaulted regularly is no picnic either.