Asakomi

December 2, 2005

Suzuka 20

Filed under: Suzuka — Ren @ 8:11 am

A depressed Yamato blames his own self-centredness for the demise of his relationship with Honoka. Hattori tries to cheer him up by saying that it’s never just one person’s fault, but Yamato firmly believes that it’s his fault alone. I’m not sure if I agree or not. Hattori is right that responsibility doesn’t usually lie in just one person when a relationship fails. But in this case, maybe it was just Yamato. Honoka was certainly assertive, kind, sweet, affectionate, and honest from start to finish. But she couldn’t force him to like her more than he likes Suzuka, and she certainly couldn’t (although I think she would like to), make his feelings for Suzuka just disappear. They were always there, and she knew it from the beginning. Still, she took a chance and I think she should be commended for that.

I love how Miki correctly pegs Hattori as a perverted man and how irate he got. Bahaha. Actually, I loved all of the Miki moments in this episode. From her thinking that Yamato was bummed over doing bad in a test, to her correct assertion that what he told Suzuka about the breakup was a lie, to her hilarious antics at the restaurant and efforts to cheer Yamato up. She’s great.

Hattori may have fallen from his pedestal of perfection in my eyes, but at least he didn’t tell Miki about Yamato and Honoka. Sometimes he’s dumb, but at the end of the day I think he’s a good friend, or at least tries to be.

I firmly disagree with Nana saying the problem is that Honoka doesn’t have enough confidence in herself. If we look at her from the beginning of the series until now, she’s practically a different person. It’s because she has gained so much confidence that she was able to break up with Yamato. Heck, it was because of confidence she was able to ask him out in the first place. All of her actions thus far show incredible courage. Of course she still has her insecurities, but I think in the case of worrying about whether Yamato still liked Suzuka they were well founded. It’s obvious that he does. Not that I doubt that he liked/likes Honoka, I just believe that Suzuka is still his “first choice” and he remains infatuatated with her.

On to episode 21..and then I’m all caught up.

2 Responses to “Suzuka 20”

  1. Mentar Says:

    Thanks for this entry. You mirror my sentiments 100%, and since almost nobody on any board seemed to see it this way, I was starting to wonder if I was somehow turning strange with my old age ^_^

    I will remember Suzuka as the anime showing the amazing growth of a non-lead character, Honoka. From timid and insecure in the beginning to a much higher level of self-insight and maturity in the end, born out of some real courage. She took her heart into both hands and took the plunge. She tried hard and did what she could do. When it was crunch time, she didn’t flinch, but did the right thing. While still hurting, she was able to correctly assess the key problems in her relationship, and she’s been drawing the right conclusions, determined to work on them. This already deserves some gigantic kudos from me. And the story is not quite over yet - I hope that they divert from the manga a bit and show a key decision of her which happens AFTER the anime ending, to complete her metamorphosis. Sometimes, if you love somebody, you gotta set them free.

    (Though I should add that if I were able to pick a Suzuka girl for a relationship, it would be Miki)

  2. Mohammad Says:

    I’m sure Mentar will generously tell us about Honoka’s last decision after the last episode is aired (wink wink nudge nudge)

    I must agree because the real delight of this show was to see how Honoka’s character developed over the course of the series. The Honoka arc was really exciting compared with previous and later arcs and it reminded me of the old shoujo shows I used to watch which were filled with drama, angst and emotional suspense. I used to watch those shows on the edge of my seat because I was always biased towards one of the characters and extremely against another character. I should commend Suzuka (the show) for managing to ignite that emotional thrill in me again (I just realised that my last sentence is very similar to what Captain Kaiji said in episode 10 of Gun x Sword: “Kono Thrill wa Suki de”) (^_^)

    Where I come from, there is an old saying that goes “True love is only for you first love”. As much as I hate to admit it, this is exactly what has happened in Suzuka. Suzuka was Yamato’s first love and as things are going now, she is his real love interest. Let the finale begin !!

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