Asatte no Houkou ep.09

December 2, 2006 | 15 Comments

I'm sorry for the late entry but I forgot that I already promised to help a friend to move house today. Anyway, with only 3 or 4 episodes left, I wonder how the writers are going to wrap up this series. So far the story seems to be mostly focused on Karada especially after she runs away from Kanouchou. One thing that I wish will be addressed before the show comes to an end is what happened to Shouko prior to her arrival in Kanoucho. But at this rate, I'm afraid we won't be able to see this since it'll probably take at least one or two more episodes to end the Karada running away arc. That leaves us with either 1 or 2 episodes to solve the body swapping problem. I think this is one of the rare cases where I don't want to see a 'life goes on' ending with Karada and Shouko still in their transformed bodies.

The episode opens with Hiro returning to Kanouchou and not speaking a word to Shouko. On his way out to work, however, he meets Tetsumasa, who insists on talking to him. Fast forward a few hours later, Toukou wants to know what Hiro said to Tetsu but Tetsu ignores his sister and doesn't answer her question. Toukou is fed up with his attitude and tells his brother that since he is not a kid any longer, she expects him to answer when someone asks him a question. A flashback then reveals that a few hours ago, Tetsu was confronting Hiro because the postcard that he received from Karada has Kanouchou as a posting origin stamped on it. As a result, Tetsu knows that the postcard was sent from Kanouchou and not from her relative's home at another city. Hiro, however, claimed that his sister is no longer here or in Kanouchou. In the present time, Tetsu voices his fear to Toukou there is a possibility that Karada might not come back.

Toukou is eventually tired of listening to Tetsu complaning that he's not sure what to do now. She pinches her brother's ear and throws him out of her apartment. Tetsu is shocked to see this but Toukou tells him that she has a foolish younger brother but she can't recall of ever having a hesitant younger brother. She points out that he keeps complaining about not knowing what he should do but the truth is there is one thing that he wants to do. Because of this Tetsu goes back to his house to fetch Karada's picture before leaving Kanochou using a train in order to find Karada. While sitting on a train, a girl asks him if she can sit in front of him. Tetsu mindlessly tells the girl to go ahead. He, however, becomes embarassed when he realises that the girl is actually none other than Kotomi. She explains that she's on her way to the visit her elementary school teacher. Since he lives close to Kanouchou, he's been asking her to come and visit him.

Once they reached the city, the two decide to go their seperate way since Kotomi has to change trains while Tetsu intends on asking people if they've seen Karada. As it turns out, however, Kotomi continues to follow him, demanding to know what he is doing. Tetsu has no choice but to tell her that he's looking for his missing classmate. Kotomi is shocked to hear this to the point that she screams outloud inside a coffee shop. She explains to Tetsu that it's dangerous for a girl as young as Karada to get lost in a big city like this one. Since Tetsu insists on looking for Karada, Kotomi decides to help him. The two decide to produce flyers using Karada's picture and hand it out to the general public. At first Tetsu is embarassed about this but eventually decides to help Kotomi as well. Meanwhile inside a Pension called Isoka, a woman tells a man that lunch is ready so the old man asks "Satou-san" to join them. "Satou-san" turns out to be none other than Karada.

During lunch, the man tells Karada how relieved he is to find a good part-time helper since Karada seems to be a hardworker. The wife tells Karada that at first she opposed to the idea of her husband setting up a Pension. Karada finds it hard to believe since her cooking is delicious. The husband agrees with Karada and claims that the reason he built the Pension in the first place is to introduce his wife's cooking to the masses. While the wife goes to make a coffee, the husband suddenly burst into a philosophical talk about how a person's life comes from the sea. Later on the wife explains to Karada that prior to this her husband has worked hard for their life and had to put up with many things. Because of this, she thinks it's time to let him do whatever he wants to do. That day, Karada goes to make a phone call to Shouko to tell her that she's fine. Before Shouko can find out Karada's whereabouts, however, the girl already hangs up the phone.

That day, Hiro enters Toukou's cafe and finds Shouko sitting in a corner drinking juice. When Hiro asks Shouko why she wants to meet him here, she informs him that she got a phone call from Karada who wants her to tell him not to worry. In frustration, Hiro smokes in front of Shouko, prompting her to grab one as well, forgetting that she is now a kid. Thankfully Hiro manages to snatch the cigarette before Touko becomes suspicious. Shouko tells Hiro that she doesn't understand why Karada ran away because they never told her about their past fight. Shouko believes that Karada knows that she's not really Hiro's sister. Because of this, she asks Hiro why he never told Karada the truth. Hiro argues that it's unnecessary since regardless of the truth, they have become siblings. Shouko, on the other hands, believes that Hiro is running away because he's afraid of having to tell the truth to Karada. She also wonders why Hiro doesn't understand that this hurts Karada.

In retaliation, Hiro asks Shouko to stop. He knows that Shouko is worried but...before he can finish his sentence, Shouko already cuts his words and tells Hiro that she feels lonely that Karada is not around. She then leaves the cafe looking like she's ready to burst into tears. After Shouko left, Hiro gets up to pay the bill and is surprised when Touko tells him that his foolish brother is looking for Karada right now. Speaking of Tetsu, he looks depressed because despite his and Kotomi's efforts, they still can't find Karada. Kotomi, however, assures him that they'll find her if he does his best like today, surely he will surely find her. When Tetsu picks up a leftover leaflet and looks at it, Kotomi asks him if he likes Karada. Tetsu becomes embarassed about this and tries to deny it. Since Tetsu refuses to go home until he finds Karada, Kotomi decides to take him to her teacher's house. As it turns out, Kotomi's teacher is the owner of the Pension.

Impression:

I am surprised to see Shouko claiming that she's lonely without Karada. It seems she actually cares about her a lot more than I originally thought. I think if the series end up with Karada reverting to the way she was, there is a likelihood that she'll live with Hiro and Shouko as her surrogate parents. Speaking of Karada, this episode suggests that she's aware that she's not Hiro's real sister. It's understandable now why she feels guilty. Most people will feel guilty if they know that a stranger has sacrificed his own life in order to support their life. Having said that, I think it's really reckless of her to go off into the big city on her own. She's lucky that this is not the real world because I doubt that there will be someone who'd willingly give her a job at a Pension without proper resume. Come to think of it, the guy is supposed to be an ex-teacher but he doesn't seem to care that someone of Karada's age is not at school studying.

Moving on to other topic, I'm starting to get annoyed at the two male leads in this story. I've been pretty lenient with Hiro in the past but Karada probably wouldn't run away in the first place if he had told her upfront about the situation. It does make me wonder why he didn't tell her. Is it because he feels sorry for Karada like Shouko accused him or is it something a lot more complex than that like in the manga. On the other spectrum, Tetsu is a lot more proactive than Hiro but I can barely tolerate his tantrums. He seems to want to do a lot of things but in the end, someone else either has to motivate him (Touko) or help him (Kotomi). Props to him for recognising that the postcard came from Kanouchou though. I thought that is something that the show won't address but much to my surprise, they decided to do just that in this episode. I am also impressed to see his loyalty to Karada. Well it's either that or he's a lolicon (j/k I really need to rest).

Preview

© memento 2003