Midori no Hibi ep.7

May 16, 2004 | 3 Comments

Unfortunately I don't have any comment on this episode that does not in some way includes spoiler, so I think I'll use this space for a little trivial fact. Every time I watch the opening of this show, I can't help but noticing the monorail tracks that are featured in it. I've always liked monorails and I think the use of this method of transportation helps to differentiate the setting of this show from other anime out there. I also noticed that the monorail seems to be a peculiar kind but it's definitely not a futuristic design or anything like that. It's actually a French Safege system type of monorail. So, I decided to google the term to see if there is such monorail in Japan.

The search yields two places that have similar monorail to the one on the show. The first is the Shonan monorail while the other is the Chiba City monorail. The Shonan monorail runs from the Ofuna rail station to the coastal area of Enoshima, which is 20km from Tokyo. The Chiba monorail connects the suburbs in Chiba prefecture to the downtown main rail station. Between the two, I think the one in Chiba prefecture is closer to the design of the monorail in the series, especially with its dual beam design. Anyway, if you're interested, you should check out the official site of Shonan monorail and Chiba monorail.

The episode itself begins with Ayase looking busy inside her room. It turns out she's been drawing up a 'Get Sawamura' plan and looking excited about her upcoming 'date'. The next day, Seiji and Midori are seen waiting for Ayase in front of the monorail station. This is the first time I see a guy and a girl waiting for another girl to go on a date. I supposed there is a first time for everything. Seiji is excited about the movie that he's going to see. Midori, however, quietly worry that Ayase is going to put the moves on Seiji. Her fear is confirmed when Ayase shows up in front of them looking all dolled up. Ayase also doesn't waste time to indulge herself in one of her imaginations. However, it looks like the animators are trying to save their budget. Therefore, in this episode her imaginations mostly appear as static manga pages.

Anyway, Ayase is quickly brought back to reality when Seiji, who looks oblivious as usual, asks why she bothers to dress up just to go to the cinema. Hmm, it looks like Midori wins this round. Refusing to give up so easily, Ayase decides to walk into a crowded area, planning to have herself knocked over by the crowd so she can fall into Seiji's arms. Uhm, she falls into someone's arms, all right. The arms of Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken. I guess Ayase wants a taste of that 'finger lickin good'. Well, there goes another effort. Anyway, the two finally arrive at the cinema but to my disappointment, unlike the manga, the anime doesn't show the Evil Dead 2 poster in front of the cinema. It would have been good to have the Evil Dead 2 poster here since that film also contains the 'right hand that has its own mind' story.

Inside the cinema, Ayase once again tries to put her moves on Seiji. She even has memorised the movie so that she knows when to scream and jumps into Seiji's arms. Unfortunately for her, her first attempt to do this is foiled by Midori, who screams out of fear of the horror film that plays in front of the screen. Ayase's other attempt also fails miserably mostly because Seiji can't keep still in his chair. As a last ditch effort, Ayase tries to put her hands on top of Seiji's right hand. Oh right, there's no more right hand there, only Midori. So Ayase ends up groping Midori inside the theatre. Seiji who finally realises what's going on is horrified instead of being excited about what it actually means. He ends up replacing his right hand/Midori with the hand of an old guy who sits next to him. Ayase, however, thinks that it's Seiji that puts his hand on top of her. Poor girl.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity to get to know Seiji better, Ayase decides to ask him to come to her house after the film ends. Seiji is excited about it mostly because it means he gets to have some free food. Along the way, Ayase decides to stop at a lingerie shop, much to Seiji's annoyance. Ayase then tries to wear a series of sexy swimsuits to entice Seiji with her 'talents'. Seiji, however, is completely oblivious to the attempt. He is actually happy when he sees Ayase coming out of the dressing room wearing nothing but swimsuit because it means they can get out of the shop soon. Midori, who's been worried all of this time starts to realise that maybe she has nothing to worry about for now. She even starts feeling sorry for Ayase. But Ayase is not ready to give up yet. So she decides to take Seiji for a romantic walk over the park.

The park is a typical romantic park with falling leaves, the wind blowing in the right direction. Once again Ayase is carried away by her imagination. This time, she imagines herself and Seiji starring in a Sleepless in Seattle type of movie. In reality, however, Seiji is only interested to let her know that there is a spider crawling on top of her shoulder. Oh well, Ayase still has one more chance inside the house. She lets Seiji know that her parents are away that day, much to Midori's chagrin. Midori has nothing to be afraid of though since the only thing that Seiji wants from Ayase is free food. While Ayase prepares a tea for Seiji, Seiji and Midori end up looking around inside Ayase's room. Seiji is surprised how girly Ayase's room turns out to be given the fact that she looks serious in her day-to-day appearances.

Seiji then finds a picture of Ayase that also has him in the background. When Ayase sees Seiji looking at the picture, she freaks out and tells Seiji that he just happens to be in the background while someone took the photograph. Ayase then tells Seiji that she'll be talking a bath so he'll have to excuse her. The truth is, Ayase wants Seiji to take a peek at her while she's bathing so they can have those sexy, wacky hijinks. However, the only thing that Seiji seems to be interested in the house turns out to be Ayase's shoujo manga collection. He, however, eventually knocks on the bathroom door to let Ayase know that there's a burning smell coming out of the kitchen. Ayase panics and tries to get out quickly but she forgets to put on any clothes and ends up bumping into Seiji who stands in front of the door. Ayase then ends up passing out from too much excitement.

When Ayase regains her consciousness, she is all alone in her house with a note from Seiji letting her know that he had a good day. Ayase is happy but then becomes extremely embarrassed when she realised that Seiji was the one who took her unconscious body from the bathroom to her room, as well as the one who put some clothes on her previously naked body. Meanwhile, Seiji himself is out on the street with Midori. Midori praises Seiji's kindness in helping Ayase out. This for some reason, causing Seiji to blush like a tomato. It looks like the only way to let Seiji know that a girl likes him is to let him know directly. So I think Midori's directness about her feelings for Seiji is quite an advantage for her when it comes to competing with Ayase for Seiji's affection. Anyway, the episode ends on a romantic night for both Midori and Seiji.

Overall, I'm not that impressed with the manga scenes used in the episode. I hope they're not having difficulty with their budget. I am, however, impressed with the way they condensed the story. This episode only combines two chapters of the manga (Days 8 and 42) while adding new scenes that serves as stopgaps between the two chapters. Even more interesting is the fact that next week's episode looks like a completely new story that has never been featured in the manga. At least not in the first four volumes. It looks like it's one of those 'what if' episode where Seiji is Midori's right hand. Because of this, I wonder if this is an indication that the series has been green lighted for some additional episodes beyond its original order. At any rate, the triangle has started to heat up and since the current manga chapter has done a revert from chapter 74 situation, I can only guess on how the show will resolves itself. If you don't want to know this spoiler then please stop reading now.

In Days 75 of the manga, Ayase ends up retracting her confession to Seiji because she feels uncomfortable everytime she's near Seiji. She tells Seiji that what she said the day before is actually a joke. Seiji is, of course, annoyed about it but believes in what Ayase said. Later on, however, Ayase realises her mistake. She thought that lying to Seiji about the incident will give her another chance to tell him her real feeling in the best possible manner. But after telling him that it was all a joke, she wonders if now Seiji will never take her seriously the next time she tells him about her feelings. So does this means the previous chapter was all for nothing? I really don't think that is the case at all. I have the impression that chapter 74 of the manga serves as a catalyst for Midori to see the possibility that without her around Seiji, he may choose another girl. But she will probably go back to her own body for good anyway because she doesn't want Seiji to choose her because she's the 'convenient choice'.

© memento 2003