Kazuki goes after Futami when she disappears and Kouichi realizes and confronts his feelings for Mao.

Impressions:

This episode was really nice to watch. It didn’t really have anything that drastically surprising, I pretty much had this exact picture of what would happen in my mind already and it really did turn out exactly like I thought it would, so it didn’t really have any surprises. Still, it was very touching and nice to watch as I thought in the end, the conclusions were great. Disregarding for a second any problems with pace they had, the endings for both characters’ stories were great.

I do have to say I thought some of the characters that weren’t the ending pair, Kazuki, Futami, Kouichi, and Mao still got some great conclusions. I thought Hoshino’s was interesting. I loved how Kai compared what Kouichi was doing, staying with Hoshino, to what Mao did by staying with him. I didn’t feel as sorry as I thought I would for Hoshino. She seemed to have accepted the fact he loved Mao a while before he told her. I thought the bit about her becoming braver and stronger thanks to him was nice and although it may be a bit tragic she doesn’t end up with him, someone will always have to be hurt if there is a love triangle. She got a far better ending then I expected. They didn’t do too much more with Sakino, she pretty much had her conclusion last episode and nothing much changed. Even her little talk with Futami was more abut Futami then her. Still, she too got a fairly good ending, as it didn’t really seem sad or depressing. And of course, Nana and Naru ended up as a yuri couple, that was nice (SHUT UP, don’t tell me otherwise, let me have this) Yup…yuri couple.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I really loved this show. I’m a giant huge raging romance fan and a show like this that seemed more shoujo like then some of the other romance shows was a great change of pace. Seeing actual romance be more the focus then some of the comedy really was interesting. Even more is they did have two pretty much completely separate romance stories going on at the same. Just overall, I love romance and this is a great show that has it.

About Kazuki’s story specifically, it was definitely the high point of the series. It seems to be a general consensus but Kazuki’s story involving Futami and Sakino was my favorite. Not only was it a love triangle, but it was so much more then that. Hell, it could be as great of a story even if Sakino wasn’t in the show at all and it wasn’t a love triangle. If it was just about Futami it would still be great. This sis one of the best examples of character development I’ve ever seen. This is actual development, not just revealing facts about the character and their back-story. She really genuinely changed throughout the course of the series. She learned real feelings and was facing them for the first time. It was funny and cute yet at the same time really intriguing to see her get shy when she normally acts extremely stoic and calm. Kazuki’s story really was pretty much just about Futami. Him falling in love with her and convincing her that love exists and making her realize her feelings. It was just incredible to watch.

About Kouichi’s story specifically, it wasn’t as bad as some people say I think. It seemed as if this would be the main focus of the series but then Kazuki branched off and got his own story and it became essentially these two stories developing at the same time. However Kouichi’s really seemed extremely slow, and it was. It took forever to develop things, as it just went about slowly developing characters feelings. However even though it may have had an issue with moving too slowly I still loved the story in the end. I thought the conclusion to it was incredible and loved it. In the end, looking at the story and now the pace at which it developed was great. His story really did cause me to be torn between who I wanted him to end up with in the beginning but I definitely leaned towards Mao. I thought even though it moved slowly, it was great and I not only absolutely loved the conclusion but the whole story in general in what it focused on and the character involved.

The school festival has finally arrived and Kouichi spends his day with Hoshino as it’s her last day before moving, and Kazuki participates in the big soccer match with Sakino.

Impressions:

This episode was alright, it seemed incredibly lax though in that nothing aside from an official rejection of Sakino came out of it. They didn’t develop Kouichi’s arc at all really and just focused slightly on Kazuki’s. I’m fairly happy with the way they concluded Sakino’s bit in Kazuki’s story. It’s pretty much settled that this will be the end of it, at least the end of Sakino’s inclusion in it. She confessed her feelings and kind of made peace with the face Kazuki liked someone else. As for the rest of Kazuki’s story, I’m sure he’ll go looking for Futami because she’s run away being all confused about her feelings and any harm she’s doing to others like Sakino for being with Kazuki. But Kazuki’ will find her and says something meaningful to her and she’ll be like, “/gasp” and it will be all better, the end. I’m pretty sure that is what will happen as it seems reasonable and would also be a pretty good end to it all, I wouldn’t mind that kind of ending at all.

It does seem like Kouichi’s arc will suddenly burst forward with development and a conclusion or climax next episode as well. Though I can’t say this is the best way for his arc to go, going really slowly then suddenly exploding, given their situation I don’t’ really see much more of an alternative. If they gave some big drama any sooner then it wouldn’t have made whatever climax moment is coming up anywhere near as exciting. Even though the preview didn’t show much I read a lot into it. I’m kind of guessing that Hoshino and Kouichi will say goodbye but Hoshino will break off their relationship ending with the whole “We’ll meet again” line that the title of the episode has. However I think she’ll make it clear she’s kind of breaking up with him and that they wont do some long distance relationship. Not because she doesn’t like him but because she knows his and Mao’s true feelings and does this because she can tell Kouichi cares about her and if she’s around they will both just end up hurting themselves. I’ve got to say that even though Kazuki’s story is much more interesting and has been the better one so far if this does in fact happen with Kouichi’s arc it will give it huge points in my view.

Everyone holds a farewell party for Hoshino the day before the school festival.

Impressions:

I wasn’t really impressed with this episode at all. Really looking back at it it didn’t do anything. Nothing happened at all. No big events, school festival is still in the future, Hoshino hasn’t moved, Mao moved last episode, the movie isn’t done, and EVERYONE is still confused as hell about their own feelings it seems. The story doesn’t really seem to be progressing much. I really hope it picks up soon. I rather like this show and it’s not bad but at this point, this close to the end, they should pick things up a bit more. Not just for the sake of making the individual episode more interesting and entertaining but if they keep going at this slow pace by the time things get exciting there wont be enough episodes left to show it all very well. Hell, even Futami’s bit isn’t done it seems even though she got great progress earlier. There still seems to be some doubts she’s having regarding her feelings and Sakino liking Kazuki as well so it’s not even like we’re down to one arc yet.

The arc I’m concerned about the most is Kouichi’s. Kazuki’s has already proved to be interesting and at this point tops Kouichi’s yet it seems like they’ve been working on Kouichi’s for so long that if it doesn’t get a good end or some kind of closure it will hurt the entire series in general. They really have moved as slow as physically possible though this arc. We get it, Hoshino senses something is up with the feelings between Kouichi and Mao; we get it Mao likes Kouichi but doesn’t want to cause him trouble, WE GET IT how about…doing something about it? It just seems like they are wasting so much potential here. Building up the situation is important but they’ve done it way too much in this case.

The school begins preparation for the school festival while Kouichi deals with the news of Mao moving out of the house.

Impressions:

I do have to say on a bit of a rather unimportant note it was a bit surprising to see this episode end without some giant cliffhanger at the end. That really seemed to be the formula that nearly every single episode until now had. It would go along a bit slowly and then pick up near the end and then finish with a big moment cliffhanger. Then the next episode would already be calm and they would flash back to it a little later explaining how it settled down. It’s not really important but it was like that every single time it’s just a bit interesting to see it deviate.

This episode really wasn’t anything that special or spectacular, in fact it was a pretty dull. It kind of showed the situation, showing Futami and Kazuki’s relationship and showing Kouichi dealing with Mao’s leaving but it didn’t actually change anything, it just showed in a big general way how people were feeling. I really hope the Mao story picks up soon. I defiantly like Eriko and Kazuki’s the best but I also don’t hate Mao and Kouichi’s story. It can defiantly end up being something interesting if it picks up.

I have to say that it was amazing to see Eriko acting like that. She’s really changed from how she used to be. I would say that this is one of the best examples of character development I’ve ever seen in an anime. Several anime will give a character “development’ by essentially just revealing information about them and kind of showing their motivation but that’s not really “development’ For Eriko it really was. She started out one way and though the experiences really did change at a fundamental level which was amazing to see. It seems like we aren’t over with her arc though. They still have to give Sakino some conclusion but it looks like it will end up involving Eriko more then I thought. I thought Sakino would kind of give up or tell Kazuki how she feels even though she knows nothing will happen. However, Futami kind of gave a look like she knew something was a bit off so perhaps it’ll be more complicated then I thought.

Kazuki keeps approaching Futami to talk about his feelings for her even thought he experiments are over when Futami tires to ignore him.

Impressions:

This was a HUGE Futami episode. I was constantly in shock with all they had with her and thought it was just too freaking cool all of the times they showed her get emotional when she is always trying not to be. They were just pure win. I loved her freaking out when she saw Kazuki bring the flowers and really not knowing what to do. I also thought the bit where she laughed and then immediately insisted she didn’t laugh at all was funny and while along the same lines the crying bit wasn’t so much funny as it was jut kind of cute to see her have these feelings and try and hide them. It was definitely a huge episode for the two of them.

I still feel a bit sorry for Sakino. She doesn’t stand a tiny miniscule hope of a chance really. Unlike Kouichi’s story there isn’t this big of a no hope situation for one girl. She’s pretty much done for yet we still see her and we see her trying to get the courage to talk to Kazuki about her feelings and so forth even though she’s already lost, so it’s a bit sad seeing that.

Although Futami and Kazuki’s story really got the most attention, and the bigger attention, there were still some bits of Kouichi’s story that broke though which seemed pretty important. Even though they only had a couple of scenes they made them important enough to mean something without taking away from Futami’s focus. Hoshino realizing Mao likes Kouichi isn’t a huge deal but she also pretty much guessed and realized that Kouichi likes her as well which is pretty big as Kouichi hasn’t realized that himself yet, at least not openly. Also the cliffhanger, like each episode has, was about their story as Mao is deciding to leave. I’m sure that will bring some interesting drama as well.

Mao confronts Kouichi after confessing to him and the two of them try and interact like nothing has happened, though they can’t forget their exchange.

Impressions:

This episode was pretty big. I was just captivated by the end. Even though that’s when they usually have huge story moments and progression, it seemed exceptionally big this time. The exchange between Mao and Kouichi was great. Even though it was for the movie they said that it wasn’t in the script so those were pretty much their real feelings. Not only was it emotional for Mao but Kouichi really meant what he was saying too it seemed and Hoshino definitely noticed something was up. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects things but sadly the way this show progresses things it won’t be made a big deal until the very end of the next episode. Still, it was pretty exciting.

I was a tad disappointed that they didn’t really give Futami a lot of important parts in this episode. Even though they did show her I the shower, you couldn’t see anything! Well…apart from that it still felt her part was lacking a bit even though there was the one scene with her. I was hoping more would happen. However, fro the preview it does seem like a large portion is focused on her and Kazuki. The downside though is that they just got to an extremely emotional and important part of Mao and Kouichi’s story and shifting the focus too much may seem weird. There really isn’t a good way around it, hopefully one story won’t suffer too much, but I’m definitely extremely anxious to find out how both of them progress and eventually end.

Mao and Kai break up and Kouichi tries to find out what’s wrong when Mao comes home sick from the rain and depressed.

Impressions:

This episode was alright. It really didn’t seem to be anything that special until the end. The shoe defiantly likes to progress things this way, as it’s been the case since the first episode. It will have a rather slow but steady progression of the plot and character development. Nothing dramatic but throughout all but the last minute it will go slowly and then at the end there is a huge explosion of plot. Then, the first minute will sometimes deal with that and then go to the really slow pace till the end again. However, it’s not really bad. As I said this episode was pretty good. The ending revelation for this episode was certainly big. I’ve pretty much even waiting for her to admit that and say that the entire series so now that it’s finally come I’m very pleased. I just hope they manage to take this great opportunity and really use it instead of dismissing it. Though, it’s pretty important so I don’t really think they can dismiss it easily.

I am curious as to where they will go from here. I kind of said from the beginning that in order for anything really interesting to happen Kai and Mao had to break up and so far that’s kind of held true. They broke up last episode and this episode there was a huge plot movement where Mao confessed to Kouichi. The ball is pretty much in his court now. I’m not sure how they’re going to progress though mainly because he’s so close with Hoshino. It’s not like he was thinking of Mao constantly when with her like Mao was with Kai, though there were some moments like that just not as much. Kazuki’s story has kind of reached a stale point. Until something big happens it seems like nothing big will happen at all.

Mao tries to go on beign with Kai but struggles due to her feelings for Kouichi.

Impressions:

This episode was pretty good. It has more or less followed the path of all the other episodes in having one really exciting thing happen at the end of the episode while hter rest of the episode is rather tame in comparison. Still, its not as though this makes the show bad, as it was pretty interesting. It seemed almost werid, thoughout a large portion its not htat nothing excieng happened but nothing at all happened. It kind of just showcased everyone’s feelings, showing brief shots of them, including pretty much everyone, Kai, Mao, Kouichi, Hoshino, Kazuki, Sakino, and Futami. The show seems to be at the point where everything has been built up enough. More building up wont really help so hopefully we’ll see the things they kind of summarized in this episode really explode soon.

It looks like next episode will defiantly continue from the rather big event this episode of Mao braking up with Kai. I’m just wondering how much this will affect Kouichi right away. Its nearing the ne dof summer, so Hoshino will have to leave soon, however Kouichi promised to still be with her so it will defiantly be filled with drama when/if Mao does something. I aaid before that for anything really interesting to happen in regards to Mao and Kouichi she had to break up with Kai first and since that has happened it has effectively opened the gates for some more interesting thigns to happen now. I just hope that they do indeed happen now, as this show doen’t seem to concerned with moving at that fast of a pace, it really has been rather slow and I just hope that is remedied a bit when it gets further along.

Mao continues to push her feelings for Kouichi aside as she sees him together with Hoshino and Sakino confronts Futami about the experiments she’s doing with Kazuki.

Impressions:

This episode was pretty big. It didn’t just have something in the last 30 second that made it interesting, it was pretty interesting throughout. It seemed to focus on both stories, Kazuki and Kouichi’s story instead of just one. Both of them are progressing rather well and at this point things will just get more interesting. This episode really made me feel sorry for so many characters. First off is Mao. It’s blatantly obvious how seeing Kouichi with Hoshino is hurting her. She obviously has feelings for him and has pretty much realized them herself, yet has to see them together and kind of support them to continue her façade. She’s just pushing herself with Kai try and ignore and push her feelings for Kouichi away. I feel sorry for Kai because Mao doesn’t like him but is being with him anyways. He’s bound to be hurt by it because he’s really a nice guy. Then as I said I feel sorry for Mao who is going though all of this, seeing Kouichi with someone else.

Kazuki’s story really took off this episode too. This episode made me feel really sorry for pretty much all three characters. First off Sakino, she really likes Kazuki and is pretty nice. She hasn’t’ done anything wrong but pretty much has no chance with him. That and she found out that Kazuki is with Futami but even worse is that its all just a game for Futami in a way which causes her to know Kazuki is going to get hurt. Then, I feel sorry for Futami because she really doesn’t know what love is. She doesn’t seem to be doing this to hurt Kazuki, but will. She realizes this and acknowledged she’s being a horrible person and ends the relationship with Kazuki for his benefit, but still leaves her with these feelings she has no idea what to do about. Then Kazuki, who really does seem to like Futami but has the relationship suddenly ended. Although for his benefit, he won’t see it that way. Really, everyone’s kind of been screwed over in the relationships going on.

Kouichi takes Hoshino to the beach for a date so she can have some happy memories before transferring.

Impressions:

This episode was pretty good. Like all the other episodes though, it didn’t get really interesting until the very end when the two of them kissed, but that was pretty big. Of course, Mao seeing it doesn’t help to make things any less interesting, as we’ve seen before she obviously has feelings for him. Actually seeing him kiss her will probably impact her pretty heavily. However, I still feel that right now Kouichi’s story isn’t that interesting, at least not as interesting as Kazuki’s which they didn’t’ touch on much here. Until Mao actually confesses her feelings, Kouichi’s arc is really just dealing with a relationship where both people like each other and just have to get over one of them moving away. It’s not a love triangle at all right now until Mao actually confesses or does something.

Although it’s not really anything important or big, I did really like Kouichi’s mom’s character. She was hilarious in how she dealt with the news of Kouichi being with a girl. I just loved how she told Hoshino all his favorite foods and so on, then leaving to give the two of them some time alone. I hope they show her a bit more later on, although she won’t be important to the story, it would still be nice to see her around for something else.

It looks like the next episode will be pretty big. The show seems to continually release little bits of development that make things interesting, but for the most part it moves pretty slowly. The next episode, jut from the preview, does seem like it will be a bit more high drama then the rest, as Mao seems to go off about something, she cries to Kai, Sakino confronts Futami, and asks Kazuki about the experiments. All of that just from the preview, I’m guessing the episode itself will be pretty big so I’m looking forward to that.