Suzuka ep.2

July 15, 2005 | 12 Comments

As expected, Suzuka has now found its stride and produces quality entertainment in a sober real-life setting without crazy stuff or super powers. In this episode, one more male character is introduced (Yasunobu Hattori, a Kurtz Weber clone) and we have some character development for Suzuka and Yamato.

Episode 2 combined manga chapters 1+2 nicely, in fact the result felt even more coherent than the manga. This time, the episode is a full +, since I was having fun from the beginning till the end. More of this, please.

Episode Rating: +

Miho, dressed in a scary "Angry Bunny" T-shirt is shooing Yamato around, who is cleaning the bath again. Ayamo has slapped the bill of the broken sauna door from the last episode on Yamato's balance, so he's currently working for free. Exasperated, he sends out some thoughts to Suzuka to help him out, since she was responsible for the door too. She however is busy training outside, and clearly in high spirits again.

Eventually returning to his room, Yamato finds an old childhood acquaintance of his in it, Yasunobi Hattori, chewing his chips. He's the spitting image of Kurtz Weber from Full Metal Panic, a blonde womanizer type whose energy to go after girls is irrepressive. Yamato remembers his past encounters with him, which began with himself getting lost and crying the living snot, and Hattori offering a tissue to clean him up. In return, Yamato had to help Hattori peek at the girls in Ayomo's public bath.

Hattori's coup de grace was one incident in which he ran into the girls bath, crying for help, claiming that Yamato was beating him up, asking the pretty onee-chans for help. His ploy worked like a charm, and while he was cuddled by the girls, Yamato got a stiff dressing-down by Ayamo. Which makes Yamato's unenthusiastic reception of Hattori quite understandable.

Hattori correctly guesses that Yamato is still without a girlfriend and snickers that he is a late bloomer. Quite a bit irritated, Yamato reacts by throwing Hattori out, who notices the nameplate at the next door, Asahina Suzuka. "Suzuka-chan, eh? That's a sweet name. What's she like? Is she cute?" Yamato can't have that. "Ah, Asahina, umm... she's a fifty-something old woman. On top of that, she's fat, ugly, foul-mouthed, and..."

And Asahina is standing right behind him...

With dripping sarcasm Suzuka apologizes for being such a fat, ugly, foul-mouthed old woman as she passes the shellshocked Yamato by. "You're the worst!". Back to the Ice Age. He totally blew it.

Yamato gets a taste of it on their next meal where he is first totally ignored and then harshly treated by Suzuka, who is still seething about the insult. She's shooting some more verbal needles into him when Ayamo suggests to have a housewarming and high school entrance celebration for Yamato, and she asks Suzuka and him to help her by doing the shopping - together.

I'm not 100% positive if this was only coincidence or a conscious effort by Ayamo to force the two of them to be together for a while and arrange themselves with each other. I'll reserve judgement on that until we see some more Ayamo in the future.

The next morning, Suzuka rings a very sleepy Yamato out of his bed. When she notices a bulge in his trunks, she blushes turns around and yells at him to cover himself. In his groggy state, Yamato couldn't care less however. Eventually they're off shopping together.

Suzuka demonstrates her serious-focused mindset once more when she's spending alot of time choosing toilet covers for Ayamo. Too much time for Yamato, who wants to get this over with ASAP. Their different attitudes - Miss Perfect against Guy Lessez-faire - surface once more.

In general, Suzuka is in a slightly foul mood throughout the day. After she points out that she does really not like the places around her, Yamato plans to lighten her mood with a good meal. Therefore he pulls Suzuka along into some backalley where he expects his favorite small restaurant to be. Unfortunately, the place is now "Pink Angel", a massage parlor where customers can get their kicks on a minute basis...

Time for more caustic Suzuka comments. "Aaaah, so this is Yamato's favorite store"! Yamato almost topples over to explain that this was a restaurant before, and he has a closer look at a roster with a ranking of all hostesses. The top girl goes by the name of Suzuka. Yamato's stupidity knows no bounds when he adds in a serious tone "Don't tell me...". That does it for Suzuka. Blushing in a fiery red she screams at Yamato and runs off. He realizes his mistake and runs after her.

Some things deserve mention here. First of all, I really dig Suzuka's sarcastic comments, they're quite funny and classy. It's interesting to see how freely she "lets loose" of things she dislikes while she is with Yamato. Because I can't remember her even just raising her voice against everyone else. Yamato allows her to get rid of some tension and pressure, even though she clearly doesn't like him too much.

I also feel like pointing out a general dynamic in their relationship. Very much cats-and-dogs-like they're at each others' throats alot, but only to a certain limit. When someone is too angry or too visibly down, the other one will back off and rather switch into "supportive" mode until the crisis is over. I feel that this is going to create some interesting codependency issues later on in the series. Yamato pursues Suzuka, because he has a crush on her. Suzuka uses Yamato as lightning rod for herself, but isn't truly a vicious or mean person. We'll see more about that soon.

The pursuit ends when Suzuka jumps over a barrier and Yamato prefers to watch her in awe instead of jumping herself. Wham! There he's lying on the ground - and immediately, Suzuka switches modes, returns and helps him back up. The two of them end up on top of a shrine where Yamato hands Suzuka a croqette he has picked up at a local grocery. She's so pleasantly surprised that an "oishii!" escapes her before she feels the need to relativize things and decrees that it must be yummy because of the nice mood at the place (and not because of Yamato's choice).

Here we see an important shift in Suzuka, who slowly winds down. See the change in this monologue:

"I didn't want anything to change. I just wanted to go to the local schools with the same friends, and enjoy track and field as I have so far. But once the scouts came, everyone got together and told me to go to good schools, go to good schools. I didn't really want to come. This place is so dirty and hard to live in. Add a weird neighbor to all this. But that weird neighbor made me jump a new record and showed me a nice place. I think I'm starting to like it a bit. This town, that is. Well, I guess I should thank you, Yamato-kun."

And she shows a very cute and very genuine smile to him. Yamato allows her to get rid of alot of stress and pressure, because she doesn't have to be Miss Perfect around him. With him, she feels she can afford to swear when she needs it - and when she is through with it, her remaining core personality is pretty sweet. No more, but no less either. Yamato however continues to be drawn to her romantically.

Party time, and everyone is invited. Miho clearly doesn't like Yuuka but Ayamo makes clear that she wants it lively here. Hattori flirts with both Yuuka and Megumi, who is needled by Yuuka in a slightly mean fashion. Hattori gets green light to show up often, and I suspect that he will.

Outside again, Hattori chides Yamato for being so stiff. Instead, he should relax and compliment women a bit. All girls like being praised. Then he drills into Yamato why he had been lying to him about Suzuka - did he have a special reason to do so? Why of course not. Hattori is a quick thinker and able to add up two and two.

So when Suzuka happens to jog by, he decides to force Yamato's hand by declaring that he wants to make a pass on her. Yamato is incredulous but Hattori really calls her over, states that it's dangerous for girls at night and decrees to escort her home, putting an arm around her shoulder. Yamato almost freaks and eventually pulls Suzuka along, declaring that HE will be the one taking her home. So he drags a clearly confused and surprised Suzuka along and leaves a smiling Hattori behind who wishes his friend good luck.

Suzuka is getting annoyed by being dragged around like this and eventually tears herself free, demanding an explanation from Yamato what he is so angry about. Yamato recalls Hattori's advice to compliment girls, and so he gathers his courage and... tells Suzuka that her ears have a nice shape... no that her ears look nice with that shape. ^_^

She's looking at him as if he was drunk and demands to know what in the world he is saying. Yamato is exasperated and complains that he is complimenting her and her reaction is so UNCUTE. Flaring up, Suzuka again mock-apologizes that she's this fat, ugly, foul-mouthed old woman. Here, Yamato grits his teeth and caves, formally apologizing for this to her one more time, even though it clearly costs him. And true to their dynamics, Suzuka backs off again, especially when Yamato adds that she was looking so cool back then, but whenever she opens her mouth, this is what happens...

Suzuka is flabbergasted and doesn't even react to the last part. Noone has called her cool-looking like this before. She becomes strangely shy and thanks Yamato, who is heartened by her change of demeanor and emphasizes his praise some more times. Yes, she was really really cool, he swears. And while Suzuka blushes to the ears, he admits to himself that ever since seeing her jump he had a crush on her, but this is something he could have never said. Never.

Review

I liked this episode alot, because it went at a steady pace and had alot of interesting and even a few quite funny scenes in it. Unlike most other romance dramas, there were no "cheesy" scenes. You know, the ones which make you hiss or go "Argh" or "Gaaaaaawd" and reach for the pause button. Suzuka is a show I watch in one sitting, and which makes me want to watch the next episode right away. Maybe not for everyone, but for ME.

Suzuka and Yamato got some quality character development here. Especially the way they deal with each other is fun - very consistent, logical, and it touches me. I want to know how this will continue. Hattori is a nice addition to the cast and will undoubtedly play important roles when Yamato, who is really painfully clumsy in issues of the heart, runs into trouble.

Finally, this episode went even a bit smoother than the two manga chapter it covered. I hope that the editing stays at the current high level. The animation also noticeably improved in episode 2. Looking forward to the next one!

© memento 2003