Asatte no Houkou ep.10

December 9, 2006 | 7 Comments

Shoboi's Calendar suggests that episode 12 will be the last episode for this series. I can't help but being worried about this because there seems to be quite a lot of unresolved plot threads. In the space of 2 episodes, the series must: reveal that Karada's true identity to Tetsu, show the two of them returning to Kanouchou, provide conflict resolution between Hiro and Shouko, and most importantly, revert Karada and Shouko back to their current form. Of course it is entirely possible that the series will end with Karada returning back to Kanouchou but her and Shouko's body will remain unchanged. However, I don't see the point of doing this since the story has diverged quite a bit from the manga so I don't think the writers intend on waiting until the manga is completed before doing second season. At any rate, I just hope that whatever ending the writers have in mind will be as good as their efforts thus far.

This episode begins with Karada asking Tetsu if he'd be sharing room with Kotomi. Tetsu is embarassed about this and turns his face around to say otherwise. He, however, ends up being surprised when he notices the person he was talking to. That night Karada looks jealous when she notices Tetsu joking around. She then goes to the kitchen to bring the plant that the wife asked her to find. While helping the wife, Karada reveals that she never used oven before (didn't she baked cake a few episodes ago?) because she doesn't have any at her house. Karada also finds out from the wife that Kotomi is her husband's ex-student while the guy is just Kotomi's friend. That night the teacher tells Kotomi that she doesn't have to pay for the food or accomodation since he was the one who invited her to come. In exchange of their kindness, Kotomi decides to help out the next day. The wife also asks Tetsu to stay since it's going to rain tomorrow.

All of a sudden Tetsu asks Karada what happened to her because before this, she was staying with Hiro. He immediately assumes that they two split up so Karada decides to play along. Because the others overheard their conversation, Tetsu has no choice but to tell them that Karada is a friend of his classmates' brother. The teacher decides to tease Tetsu by saying that the two looks like couple. Kotomi quickly corrects this perception by saying that Tetsu is committed to his classmate to the point that he's looking for her this far. Tetsu immediately covers Kotomi's big mouth while Karada goes from being jealous to being surprised. She finally realises that Tetsu is still looking for her whereabouts. The next day Kotomi is surprised when she sees Karada cleaning up the house so early in the morning. Karada explains that she has to do this before the customers start coming in to the Pension. This reminds Kotomi that she promised to help.

Kotomi was about to asks Karada another question but she was interrupted when they overhear Tetsu talking to the teacher about going to areas where he can look for missing person. After Tetsu left, Kotomi wonders if it's going to rain since the day looks good. Karada assures Kotomi that she can leave the cleaning up to her but Kotomi doesn't mind helping so the two end up helping out the wife serving lunch to customers. After lunch time is over, Kotomi finds out that her teacher is slacking off at the pier while everyone else was busy so she comes over and criticises the guy. The teachers claim that he's just looking for supplies for tonight's customers but Kotomi tells him that there won't be customers coming at night. While Kotomi enjoys the seaside's weather, the teacher starts waxing poem again. He claims that if a person writes his/her lover's name on the sand and it gets washed over by the sea, one day the person will meet this lover again.

Kotomi tells him that if he told that to someone else, no one is going to believe him. The teacher tells Kotomi that he once told her father about this and the guy seemed to believe him. He wonders if Kotomi's father is doing well but Kotomi doesn't seem to know. Meanwhile, Karada is back at the spot where she and Shouko once talked about their secret. Back then Karada told Tetsu that she made a promise using the wish stone. However, when he asked her about the wish, she claimed that it's a secret. In the present time, Karada is startled when Tetsu suddenly appears behind her and asks her what secret is she referring to. Karada refuses to answer his question and instead question the guy why he is here. Tetsu admits that he and Karada once came here together. Karada decides to follow Tetsu and asks him if he's been searching for Karada ever since that day. When Tetsu confirms this, she wonders what would happen if he can't find her.

Tetsu refuses to accept the possibility and tells Karada that he'll definitely find Karada because he likes her. The two of them start blushing for completely different reason. Tetsu also thinks that maybe Karada running away is his fault. A flashback then reveals how he often doesn't help Karada when she's in trouble. Tetsu is completely embarassed at this point and decides to jump on his bike and makes an escape. After Tetsu left, Karada tells herself that the person he's looking for is here. Back in Tokyo, Shouko has finished packing up her clothes into the suitcase. Hiro then comes and asks her if she's moving out today. Shouko confirms this and tells the guy that the only thing that tie the two of them up till now is Karada. Now that she's not here, they are better off on their own so Shouko can no longer stay in his apartment. Before she left, she asks Hiro what he would do now. If he's just going to wait until Karada returns.

That day, the rain pours as expected. As a result, Shouko is fully drenched while she tries to drag her suitcase along the road. Inside the Pension, everyone is concerned for Tetsu because he hasn't gone back despite the heavy rain. In the end Karada decides to look for the guy on her own. At the same time, Tetsu is seen trying to drag his bike back to the pension. In the process, however, he injures his leg and ends up getting soaked by the rain. Thankfully Karada arrives in time to take him back to the Pension. That night Tetsu is suffering from fever so Karada asks the wife if she can look after Tetsu. Inside the room, Karada cries because she feels that Tetsu ends up like this because of her. Tetsu wakes up and tells her that he needs to go back and find Karada. In order to stop him, Karada convinces the guy that if it's him, he'd certainly find Karada again. After Tetsu falls asleep again, Karada tells herself that her name is.....

Impression:

You have to commend Tetsu for being so loyal to Karada when there is 'Satou-san' nearby. This makes me wonder if your loved one flirts with a different version of you, does it means your loved one cheated on you? Anyway, I think it's highly likely that 'Satou-san' will reveal on next week's episode that she's actually Karada. Maybe this entire transformation is to show Karada that her being an adult doesn't actually make life easier for those around her. If anything, it makes their life difficult because they end up looking around for her. I am also surprised to see the latest development between Hiro and Shouko since Shouko seems heavily obsessed with Hiro a few episodes ago. In comparison, she now realises that the only thing that bind the two of them was actually Karada. However, since she's no longer staying with them, she has no reason for staying with Hiro either. I think this works out for the best since Hiro doesn't seem to care about her.

Speaking of which, Hiro's inaction really gets to me this time around. I can understand that he probably no longer has feelings for Shouko. However, it was heartless of him to let her drag her own suitcase in the middle of the rain. Although Shouko will probably refuse if he offers to help her, it won't hurt to ask. I also think that he looks strangely calm even though Karada is missing. I am not sure if I'm supposed to compare him with Kotomi's teacher but the two of them seem to be the kind of people who run away from their responsibility. Kotomi's teacher is a romantic at heart but he doesn't seem to put that much of effort to make his wife happy. At the very least he could have help her when she's busy in the kitchen. If Karada and Kotomi were not there, I don't think they can run the Pension properly. On a hindsight, that's probably why they were looking for a part-time helper: because the husband is a slacker who rarely helps his wife.

Preview

On next week's episode: Hopefully Tetsu will find out about 'Satou-san' true identity.

© memento 2003