Asakomi

Ok.. in short - awesome. TSR continues to shine with its superb animation and engrossing story. Though in a way the show feels a tad episodic at the moment, I have no doubt that things are gonna heat up and all be tied together in the end.

Ok.. back to packing.

As it turns out.. I’m not going to have time to post any sort of in-depth synopsis for this episode or for FMP. I’m house sitting for a friend of mine until Monday, and I have a million things to do between now and the time my flight to Europe leaves on Tuesday.

So, in short, I have to say that one of the things that draws me to Suzuka is how realistic the characters are. Our core group is not at all over the top. They respond in ways that normal people like you and me would, and it’s definitely not boring. I really want to know why Suzuka seems to want to hold any feelings she might have for Yamato in check. There were multiple times in this episode when she seemed on the verge of admitting that she likes him, even if only to herself, but then at the last second she pulls back and ends up making some rude remark to him as a result of her internal conflict.

I also enjoy how Hattori isn’t *just* a player. He’s actually quite wise, which I think balances out Yamato’s naiveté when it comes to the opposite sex.

So, yeah. Suzuka rocks. I gotta give Mentar all the credit for recommending and getting me so excited about this show.

Hotarubi runs through the rain, Zaemon follows and flings a blade at her. (more…)

In the dark of night the Kouga gather around the ninja scroll. (more…)

First day of school! Suzuka, Miho and Yamato walk to school together. At the school entrace ceremoney Suzuka and Yamato learn that they are in the same class, though she doesn’t seem that excited about it. We see the shrine maiden from the last episode looking over a class list and finding Yamato’s name.

Suzuka asks Yamato to go shopping with her after class. They promise to meet after school and then Suzuka runs off with her track and field buddies.

Yamato attends class and feels left out since everyone else seems to already have friends, even Yasunobu. He’s feeling sorry for himself when our shy miko walks up to him. She seems to know him, though he doesn’t remember.

Even when she introduces herself as Sakurai Honoka the name doesn’t ring any bells.

Suzuka comes in and sees the two of them talking. Yasunobu tells her that he and Honoka were in the same junior high, and that it’s really rare to see her initiating a conversation with a guy. Yasanobu thinks that they must be talking about going out afterschool already. Suzuka doesn’t look impressed at this thought. Yasunobu continues on saying that since they are going out, well he and Suzuka might as well go out too, right? She doesn’t take him up on this offer.

As class starts Yamato tries to remember where he knows Honoka from. After class he sees Suzuka still sitting at her desk and asks where he should wait for her, but before she can answer Honoka interrupts them. Suzuka doesn’t look too happy and she stalks off in a pissy mood declaring that she’ll go shopping by herself.

After she leaves Honoka asks Yamato who Suzuka is.. meaning is she.. well.. is she………you know.. his…

…His friend of course, Yamato responds and Honoka has an obvious expression of relief on her face. Yamato then asks Honoka to explain where he knows her from.

They were in elementary school together and he came to her shrine to pray. She broke the bell while playing with it and Yamato saw her with it. She was worried that he was going to tell on her, but instead he helped her fix it, thereby saving her from getting into big big trouble. They promised to always keep the dented bell a secret between one another.

Now he remembers! He also remembers eating croquettes. Honoka makes a bold move and asks him if he wants to go get something to eat. Yamato is torn between keeping his promise to Suzuka and going out with Honoka…

Suzuka’s practice goes longer than usual and she hurries off to go get the sports drinks. She briefly regrets telling Yamato that she’ll go by herself, but she’s still pissed off at him for talking to Honoka.

However, when she leaves the school she finds him waiting for her. He’d been there for five hours and had caught a cold in the process. They bicker, but head off shopping.

Honoka thinks about Yamato while in the bathtub, and admires him even more for keeping his promise to Suzuka.

Suzuka and Yamato continue to bicker.

The next morning Yamato is still sick. He tries to get sympathy from Suzuka, but she says it’s his fault for wating since she said she’d go herself anyway. She’s going to school. Of course she can’t stay and take care of him, she can’t take the chance that she might get sick before the track meet.

Though it appears she’s being heartless, as she leaves she does give him a softer look which to me indicates that she does feel bad that he got sick because of her. She won’t let him see that side of her though.. ohh of course not. Heh.

Yamato is home alone since Ayano had to go out and Miho and Suzuka are at school. He feels like he’s getting worse. When the doorbell rings, he hopes it’s Suzuka coming to check on him, but it’s Yasunobu - the last person Yamato wanted to see. But he brought Honoka along, who asks in her faltering voice if he’s ok. Yasunobu leaves Honoka to tend to Yamato, an obvious ploy to put the two of them alone together.

Yamato tells Honoka how much nicer she is that Suzuka, who he doesn’t expect to come see him even though they live in the same house.

Honoka tells Yamato that she’ll go to her house to get some ingredients to make him something to eat, and as she leaves she vows to work harder than ever to make sure that she gets closer to Yamato than Suzuka is.

She opens the door and encounters Suzuka. They speak civilly but awkwardly to each other.

Honoka makes some food, but it gets eaten by Yasunobu and Saotome instead and there’s none left for the poor sick boy.

Then Saotome tries to give Yamato a shot, but he dodges her every effort. So if the patient won’t accept a shot then the obvious next step is to… strip him? Huh?

Eventually everyone leaves, and Suzuka shows up with some eggs she made for Yamato. She also gives him some honey and lemon juice.. without the honey since she didn’t have any. Yamato drinks it anyway and tries to eat the mirowaved eggs but they end up exploding in his mouth. Ok, so she’s not a good cook but at least she did something nice for him in the end.

What I like about both Yamato and Suzuka is the fact that they both have personalities. Suzuka’s moody, mostly due to all the pressure on her, but at the end of the day she’s really a good person. She doesn’t fawn over Yamato like a big weeny. Her whole life isn’t wrapped around whether or not he likes her. What I like about Yamato is that he can hold his own in arguments with her and, so far, hasn’t just turned into a whipping boy.

I found Honoka a bit boring, but she’s got plenty of time to prove me wrong. The groundwork that’s been laid for the rivalry between her and Suzuka was very realistically done. Instead of screaming their faces off whenever they are in each other’s presence and making a big dramatic production of it, instead they are forcedly nice while they stew and brew and plot how they’re going to win on the inside. Though I think Honoka is a little more honest with herself about her feelings than Suzuka is, which at this point could give her the upper hand.

           (more…)

No detailed writeup this time because I’m just not feeling up to it. I’ve had a really bad couple of days. For a play by play and some great thoughts head on over to Mentar’s site.

But I will say that the the op is starting to really grow on me. It’s super catchy. So, some character development and a character intro this time around, as well as some incredibly funny scenes between Yamato and Suzuka. My personal favourite was their quibble over toilet seat covers.

The Op:

Love it. Adore it. When is it being released so I can have it? I’m glad they brought back Shimokawa Mikuni to sing both the op and ed. She’s got a fabulous voice.

I’m not gonna do an incredibly in depth synopsis because when I watch FMP I usually end up staring and drooling and forgetting to type (especially when Sousuke is on screen… hehe).
(more…)

Maya practices dance and sucks horribly. In fact, in all of the practices she seems to suck horribly and gets yelled at by all of her teachers.

At her part time job Maya ends up serving a group of boys from her old school. One of them is Sakurakouji. I can’t remember if we’ve seen him before, which is sad because there’s only been four episodes before him, but methinks Maya has a little bit of a crush on this boy. Or maybe she’s just blushing because she’s not used to boys in general talking to her.

Back at school Tsukikage announces that they are going to put on a play, however the only lines any of the students will be speaking are “Yes. No. Thank you. I’m sorry.” Maya takes the sheet of words and wonders how they could possibly do a play with only these words to use.

As she continues to ponder how she can make those meager lines work, a fellow student offers some candy to her. Maya stares at the candy, and then thinks about the rain falling all around her. She then makes a connection: the word “ame” means both candy and rain. “Up until now, I’ve been using words without really thinking about them,” she realizes. But words can have many meanings, and a slight change in tone or inflection can change their meaning entirely. She then spends the evening studying words and their various meanings.

At work the next day she’s still focused on the word thing. Sakurakouji comes again and shows her a poster to a play which Ayumi will be performing in. Of course Maya wants to go, so Sakurakouhi brings her to the theatre company where Ayumi is practicing.

But as Maya attempts to watch Ayumi go through her lines she’s bombarded by reporters who want information on Tsukikage. Luckily Masumi is there and he bails her out before she’s forced to divulge any information.

Back at the school, it’s time to practice for the play. It’s also a test. One of the teachers is on stage, and each student will get a turn to perform with him. He’ll ask them questions and their challenge is to only use the list of words Tsukikage had previously provided to them. One by one students go up, and fail. Then Ayumi shows up and takes the place of the teacher on the stage.

Tsukikage chooses Maya to perform with her. It’s a hard performance, with Ayumi purposely trying to make Maya fail. But our girl comes through in the end!

The end result is that the other students in the school finally accept Maya as someone who has talent and who deserves to be at the school with them. She may suck at dancing, but she definitely doesn’t suck at acting!

Yay!! I’m so happy for Maya. It’s so horrible to have to live and work in a place where you feel unwanted and unaccepted. And though she shouldn’t have to prove anything to anyone to be liked and accepted, I’m glad that she was able to. The girl deserves some good encouraging friends, besides Tsukikage who I think is a little off her rocker. I wouldn’t want Maya spending too much time alone with her.

Well, I’m back to waiting another six weeks for the next sub to come out. Boo.

We begin by viewing our male lead, Akitsuki Yamato, walking past the school in Tokyo he is about to attend, a few days before the semester is to begin. There he sees a girl practicing high jump, and he stops to watch her and marvels at her beauty. Of course he doesn’t believe he could ever get a girl like her.

Cue the OP:
     
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