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ファイト／ステイナイト 
Let me get it off my chest first thing: This episode left me disappointed and a little bit worried. Why? Because there were clear signs of the Negima disease: Obviously several keys were outsourced to a lesser team which had difficulties keeping the art consistent. Suddenly the reasonably mature Yamato looks like the kid Nozomu-chan from Futakoi in some shots. And suddenly some animators employ semi-deformed "comedy style" drawings. Folks, Suzuka is no comedy, and every attempt to turn it into one will seriously hamper the flow and the atmosphere. Please don't do this again!
This episode primarily introduces a key character, Sakurai Honoka. To put it lightly, her timid-soft and initially "jerky" style of delivering her lines will take some time to get used to. However, keep in mind that this is exactly how Honoka is at this stage of the story, and her Seiyuu is actually a perfect cast voicewise. I feel that she will make Honoka grow just fine.
Because of the spotty animation at times and the unwarranted comedy elements at the wrong spots, demerits in the rating of an otherwise decent episode. Volume 1 of the manga is now completed already, with episode 4 the real story begins.
Episode Rating: (-)
I'll try to keep the play-by-plays a bit shorter than usual from now on, since the subs will come out pretty quickly.
True to his lessez-faire style, Yamato barely makes it in time going to school. And true to her style aswell, Suzuka doesn't bother much waiting for Yamato to get there. She clearly isn't thrilled to hear that they'd be in the same class, and her reaction to Yamato's irritated question if that was a bad thing is sooooo very much her aswell: "Betsu ni".
On the way to the classroom, Suzuka enlists him as personal bearer for a shopping trip after school. She needs to buy sports drinks and needs his help to carry them. He hmmms around a bit in the beginning to point out the importance of his contribution, but ultimately agrees.
In the classroom, Yamato is moping a bit since nobody bothers to care for him. Suzuka is off with her track&field girls, Yamato is with his clique of playboys. Suddenly, a shy but gorgeous girl approaches him and calls him by name. She introduces herself as Sakurai Honoka and is visibly downcast when Yamato doesn't remember her, but she keeps it up and talks to Yamato for a while.
The returning Suzuka stops at the doorframe and sees the two of them chatting, with a surprised look on her face. Are they friends? Hattori laughs at that notion, since Yamato doesn't know anyone but them so far. Also, according to him it's extremely unusual to see Honoka talking to a guy, so he concludes that she is hitting on him and that they're probably already planning to go on a date in the afternoon. Here, Suzuka's surprise turns into clear irritation and annoyance.
A key scene. Hattori is clearly trying to make Suzuka jealous, and even though she'd never admit to it, he's quite successful here. However, he involuntarily does major damage here, because Suzuka indeed believes that since Yamato is so unreliable, he will indeed go out with Honoka instead of honoring his promise to Suzuka to help her shopping. Her bad impression of Yamato's (un)reliability hardens because of Hattori's remark - incorrectly.
At the end of the class, Yamato walks over to ask Suzuka where to meet for shopping, but Suzuka icily brushes him off - thanks, she will be fine on her own. Yamato is flabbergasted, but Suzuka doesn't want to hear any more and is off for track&field training.
Instead, Honoka approaches Yamato again. She reminds him that as kids, he had helped her when she accidentally tore down a bell at her shrine and Yamato fixed it again. Back then, they had a celebratory yubikiri to keep this escapade a secret. Upon hearing this, Yamato remembers Honoka, and they spend some time chatting about old times and food. Honoka invites Yamato to visit an okonomiyaki restaurant together today, but he regretfully declines: He plans on going shopping with Suzuka anyway - fully aware that declining the proposed date with Honoka would be foolish after Suzuka's rash reaction.
This is bound to become a recurring motive. Suzuka is incredibly unappreciative towards Yamato, and she's also pretty unfair in the assessment of his character. Honoka is a welcome new key figure, because she simply lifts Yamato's value. Even though he still has all his interests fixed on Suzuka, Honoka is actually giving him the attention and warmth which he seeks (and IMHO deserves). She is the catalyst for the developments from now on.
As things have it, Suzuka finishes her practice especially late and walks off to purchase the drinks. For a second she sadly-wistfully remarks that it would be great if Yamato-kun was there, only to become angry again about his "unreliability". Still growling about this, she passes the schoolgate and finds Yamato sitting on the ground, waiting for her.
Suzuka is shocked that he had been waiting for 5 hours, which he bitterly complains about, since he obviously caught a cold waiting. Here, we have a second key scene: Honoka is soaking in her bath with a gentle smile on her face, thinking fondly about Yamato when he declined her invitation to keep his promise to Suzuka. "He's really nice and earnest", she thinks. Not so Suzuka: "You're really an idiot, aren't you? Normally nobody waits for 5 hours".
The blendover at this scene underlined the differences in perception and treatment perfectly. Suzuka was way out of line here, regardless of the fact that she did tell him not to wait for her. At the very least a "thank you" and "I'm sorry that you were waiting" would have been in order. But this is exactly the same kind of reaction which made her call Yamato an idiot when he broke the sauna door to rescue her in episode 1: The fact that he was doing it _for her sake_ is completely lost on Suzuka.
I found my sympathies gradually switching over to Honoka at this point, and I'm looking forward to seeing her treating Yamato in a different way, causing some repercussions for Suzuka. We'll see where this will go.
The next morning, Yamato is knocked out with a bad cold, so he is going to miss school right off the bat. He's looking for sympathy from Suzuka's side, but she gives him a sober "nobody told you to wait for me, stop blaming it on me". Eventually her irritated look mellows up for something which could be considered worried-sorry, but that's all.
In School Suzuka's senpai apologizes for making Suzuka deal with the whole pack, since she heard that her sports friend had taken the day off. Suzuka remarks to her senpai that she had gotten another friend to help me, but at the same time she stubbornly thinks to herself that she could have carried it herself (without Yamato's help) too. This little detail casts Suzuka in a _very_ unfavorable light. Not only has she been exceptionally rude and unfair towards Yamato (dissing him for assumed unreliability, being totally unsympathetic about his cold), she is also entirely ungrateful aswell. For me, this is a clear indicator that she holds him in very low regards. More precisely, she is actively convincing herself that Yamato _is_ an unreliable baka not worth serious consideration, and that she's totally fine without him. Even though she may feel softer towards him in the subconscious.
Of course, Honoka has heard the news about his illness and convinces Hattori to lead her to Yamato's apartment. It's painful to watch the self-pitying Yamato light up like a christmas tree when he hears the doorbell, believing it to be Asahina, just to see him collapse after getting a glimpse of Hattori. On the plus side, Honoka is with him. Hattori excuses himself with the advice to Honoka to "force herself on him" now that he is away. The suggestion was not appreciated.
Back in bed Yamato continues to whine about Suzuka's coldness not even to come visit him in his current state. Honoka learns that they are living very close, but aren't too chummy with each other yet. She also makes the decision to work hard to get closer to Yamato than Suzuka.
What becomes very obvious here is that Honoka has made the decision to actively pursue Yamato romantically. Just like Yamato has admitted to himself that he has a crush on Suzuka, Honoka is actively trying to become Yamato's girlfriend. I find this contrast to the usual genre settings (people won't admit their feelings and not act on them) very refreshing. And it's almost a little bit painful to watch both of the people with crushes waste their emotions on someone who is genuinely unappreciative of them - at least for now.
Honoka decides to cook Yamato a good meal and sets off to get the ingredients. Just as she leaves the apartment, she's running into Suzuka, who is about to ring the doorbell. Both look at each other in uncomfortable surprise until Suzuka breaks the stalemate by stating that she didn't want to visit anyway since the risk of catching his cold is too big in the first place, retreating to her own apartment. Yeah, yeah, sure.
Unfortunately for Yamato, Hattori and Yuuka come around and totally devour the meal Honoka fixed for him, leaving nothing at all for the sick. We're also "treated" to some nurse-pseudo-cosplay of Yuuka who is first trying to give him an anti-influenza shot and then tackles him for some other form of treatment I don't even want to think about.
Suzuka is eating dinner below and is visibly unhappy about the commotion in Yamato's room. The idea of Sakurai and the others having fun up there doesn't seem to please her at all. Back in her room she sees a microwave which has just _conventiently_ seemed to arrived for her, and she decides to cook something for Yamato too - a hot lemon-honey drink and hardboiled eggs.
When she comes over to serve them to him, she is surprised how eagerly Yamato snatches both the drink (which he wolfs down regardless of the fact that it's without honey and thus extremely sour) and the eggs. But as we know, cooking eggs in the microwave is a baaaad idea, and Yamato burns himself badly. However, it's clear that this is due to Suzuka's lacking cooking experience and not due to sinister motives.
Review
This episode treated Suzuka very badly. She currently comes over as ungrateful, boorish and yet strangely possessive. It's clear that she tries hard to see the bad in Yamato, to convince herself that he's unreliable and stupid... somehow not worth serious consideration from her end. At the same time she somehow feels drawn to him aswell, against her conscious will. And she shows clear signs of subconscious jealousy when she sees Honoka with him.
However, I would say that she's clearly NOT falling for him so far. She has shown no signs that she genuinely appreciates what he is doing for her - in fact she doesn't even seem to NOTICE it at all. Therefore, we have a very asymmetrical setup, because Yamato is clearly pursuing Suzuka with romantic intent. And you can't really love someone if you don't respect him first. Suzuka is far from that.
Honoka is a pleasant addition. She is still extremely shy and timid, but I respect her decision to go for Yamato, and the resolve she shows in doing so. Her impression of Yamato may be clouded a bit by romanticized childhood memories, but is much closer to the truth than Suzuka's badly distorted view. I'm looking forward to seeing her grow very much.
This wraps up the first volume of the manga in a pleasantly quick pace. In fact, it gives me hope that over the next 23 episodes, they will be able to reach a full conclusion to the story, which starts NOW. Most of the main characters are already introduced, and the missing ones won't take too long. Let's hope for steady animation quality and some more redeeming scenes for Suzuka. It's very distracting if a scene with poor Futakoi-style animation is followed by a _perfect_ visual study of a high jumper which is exact to the tiniest detail. More consistency please. Also, it's not good when the lead heroine of a show becomes too unlikable - give her positive scenes too ^_^
Wow, we really *do* have differing thoughts on this episode, don't we? :p
I think I can see things from your perspective, but I think that Suzuka is acting this way because that's just how she is - not that she actively dislikes Yamato.
Or rather, she doesn't dislike him as a person. Quite possibly she sees him as an obstacle between herself and her future (hopeful) success.
To that end, she's consciously trying to convince herself that she doesn't like him - but, I would argue, she actually does. It just hasn't worked its way that far up her ladder of consciousness - and she's doing her best to repress it.
Rather than stock anime where this shows plainly on their faces, though, it's behind a well-crafted mask.
I definitely prefer a good discussion over everyone thinking exactly the same ;)
It seems that our main difference is that you see progress in the "like" area (unless I misinterpreted your entry), while I see this a very one-sided issue so far, from Yamato to Suzuka - not bidirectional.
I point out her lacking reaction to the realization that he waited for her after all (you wrote that she feels guilty - what do you base this on? I didn't get this impression). Her demonstrative indifference to his cold. And especially the one scene where she hisses to herself that she could have done it all alone. It's uncontested that she holds some interest in him, because she shows clear signs of jealousy over Honoka - but so far, I consider her dissing of his character as very genuine. This is what she really feels for now.
A looooong way to go indeed.
> you wrote that she feels guilty - what do you base this on?
Hmm..intuition? Heh, okay, that sounded lame.
I'm not in a position to watch the episode again now - I'll check later to see what else I can pick up.
> the one scene where she hisses to herself that she could have done it all alone
Why would she do this unless she had doubts about it? If one is sure of one's position one has no need to continue to reaffirm it. This is really what makes me take the position I have - she repeats this kind of stuff so often, it makes her sound unsure of herself.
Again, I think a large part of the 'problem' is Suzuka's brusque personality. At least, it seems this way to me. I haven't read the manga so I don't know any of the backstory. :p
Another part of my perspective is that I can't stop comparing Suzuka and Yukino from Kare Kano. She hated Arima to begin with, but before long she was completely enthralled by him - she was envious of him (had a complex, one of her sisters said, IIRC). I think that's what Suzuka sees in Yamato - she hates that someone like her has worked so hard, and she's stuck more or less in the same position as *him*, who hasn't worked nearly so hard.
Hmmm... you make some good points there.
Let's start with the Kare Kano comparison. I think you made a convincing argument about some possible envy towards Yamoto. Fact is that he's pretty much the exact opposite of her - carefree, laid back and actually quite _happy_ with his life, without pressure, since nobody really expects anything from him. Suzuka on the other hand clearly suffers under the pressure of other peoples' expectations. This would naturally paint a big crosshair on Yamato for Suzuka's angers and fears and could be one of the main reasons why she's so rash with him.
On the other hand, I don't think that she _respects_ him, at least not yet. That's the key point I'm insisting on. Maybe we'll have to agree to disagree here, but her dissings about his carefree attitude seem still very very genuine to me and NOT part of a form of self-hypnosis. This is what she _really_ thinks.
Also don't forget that Yukino made it her goal to _beat_, to _surpass_ Arima, which automatically elevates him to rival status. Yamato is no rival to her. He does play a part in Suzuka's life, but I really don't see this part as a romantic interest for her yet...
> On the other hand, I don't think that she _respects_ him, at least not yet. That's the key point I'm insisting on.
That's a very interesting point, and I agree with this, at least. It got me thinking, though - who *does* she respect? (aside from standard teacher/student relations, for example). Who does she admire?
That would be, of course, the guy in the photograph we saw earlier. The guy that looks, to us, an awful lot like Yamato. But, she says, she can't see any resemblence at all. :)
I wonder if that's part of the reason she feels the need to rag on Yamato so much - she wants to clearly seperate him from Mr. Photogenic.
That said, I think he's getting her to walk down some roads she's never been on before. I certainly agree that she's got a very long way to go.
As for the rivalry point - I don't see it necessarily as her attempting to best him - rather, I think she's trying to prove him wrong. To 'teach him a lesson', that her way of life is better than his (That will, of course, validate her sense of identity). A rivalry of idealogies, if you will. That plays in with her brushing him off - people aren't (according to her) supposed to rely on others so much.
As an aside, one thing I've been wondering is whether this show is billed as shoujo or shounen. It has some elements of both, and seems to toe the line (oh, there are so many track-and-field expressions I could use :p) between both of them.
It looks like the focus is Yamato's harem, but the traditional shounen jokes are played down a fair bit (well, they were here this episode but felt out of place), and things are a fair bit more serious than one would expect.
It's serialized in Shonen Magazine, a weekly. But I think that it's gonna be easy to find a female following for Suzuka too ;)
Harem is very off though. VERY off. Over the course of the manga, the story becomes a clear drama - never of KimiNozoish proportions, but still with alot of heartaches and troubles. The comedy aspects will recede more and more.
I get the impression that Suzuka is actually trying to tell herself that she dislikes Yamato by constantly citing his unreliability and other flaws. But subconciously at least she actually has a soft spot for him.
On the other hand Yamato keeps longing for Suzuka despite her constant brush-offs and rudness, I see this as the different sides of the same coin.
Remember that Arima also had his own pressures and he also wanted to be Mr. Perfect (unlike Yamato). It's only when Yukino decides to behave normally (and be as carefree as Yamato) that Arima starts to change.
I was really disappointed with what Suzuka did this episode. She is a snob no matter how much you look at it. She needs someone to bring her down to earth. That's where Honoka comes in. Suzuka took Yamato (the poor peasant) for granted in the past episodes (or else she wouldn't approach him for help) but now that peasant is being approached by another peasant (Honoka) who is more than willing to fight for him. Frankly, I think Yamato should dump Suzuka and stick with Honoka. By the way, Does Honoka have speech dificulties ?!!
> Frankly, I think Yamato should dump Suzuka and stick with Honoka. By the way, Does Honoka have speech dificulties ?!!
I think so too, but then again the main character never goes after the girl I would choose. I think Honoka doesn't necessarily have a speech impediment, it's probably just because she's very nervous which leads to kinda stuttered speech.
Overall I get the feeling Suzuka already likes Yamato very much. I get the feeling she's very jealous of his carefree style and wishes, in some way, her life was a little more like his. However, as probably noted elsewhere, the perceived expectations for her success prevent her from doing so; or more to the point, she's preventing herself because that's how she thinks things should work. Thus, in accordance with her inability to act so, she outwardly rejects Yamato. Then again, one usually doesn't actively disprove of something unless they care, in this way it's obvious she cares for Yamato. I also believe she is not conscious of these feelings, and any small steps towards realization will be easily prevented by her stubborn nature (as evidenced in ep. 3).
So yeah, Yamato has a lot of work to do. However, with Yamato's current personality and abilities, I don't see how a Yamato + Suzuka relationship will blossom without feeling contrived. What can he provide for her when it seems like all he can do is complain? So in reality, both characters have a lot of work to do before progress can be made. Honoka is definitely a device to encourage such progress. It remains to be seen what other characters/circumstances will change things.
I don't know the manga, so I'm happy to learn that the story will go into the relation drama direction, as it might then become what the Video Girl Ai anime didn't manage to complete (although the manga would provide so much about it). Honoka, for example, is similar to one character who appears in Video Girl Ai only after the anime series is already over, and the concept of admitting and acting on her feelings (like Honoka does here) is playing an important part there as well. In this way Honoka is more interesting to me than, say, Maehara Shinobu - and I would root for her if I believed she's have a real chance. But hey, what's the name of the series?
Suzuka is far from being aware how important Yamato might become for her, in which she's more the Narusegawa Naru than the Miyazawa Yukino for me.
I don't think she's jealous of Honoka (yet), for that would mean she had to treasure Yamato (which Naru starts no sooner than half-way through the 30 episodes, so why should Suzuka do that so much earlier? And remember how Naru needed the competition to finally come to her senses, so that's what Suzuka's fate might be: Learning the value of Yamato by watching another girl go for him, and learning her story late - it's supposed to be a drama, right?). This isn't something Yamato can provide with "work" of any kind, I'm afraid - he can't make Suzuka open her eyes & heart, she must do that herself.
We didn't see a lot of happiness in Suzuka's life so far. Her thankful smile at the temple stands out, and this is what Yamato is going to bring into her life, I guess: Carefree fun. Deep inside her heart she might already know what she's been missing during all the years of track&field training...
In a strange way Suzuka already has quite some trust in Yamato, maybe because he kept her secret about crying in episode 1. Yamato is "family" for Suzuka, she doesn't have to hide her character and emotions from him (such as telling him about her pressure and how happy life was in her old town). Playing Miss Perfect can be tiresome, as we know from Yukino's example; when Suzuka is with Yamato she can relax, and even use the poor boy as punching ball.
I actually enjoyed this episode the most out of all of them. The romantic cold war being raged perked my interest tremendously. I think for some reason Suzuka seems to hate to rely on others, and Yamato naturally messes with her image of herself as an island.
I would love if Yasunobu attempted to replicate Asaba's Merryland!!!!
This show should have been renamed Suzuka Maniax
I wonder whether Honoka noticed Suzuka's finger on the doorbell of Yamato's room. For if she did, she would be able to claim a victory for this first open confrontation, compensating for Suzuka's advantage of location...
There's one more thing bothering me about the "stalemate" scene between Suzuka and Honoka: Can anyone please tell me where Suzuka is headed to after this short conversation? It can't be her own room which is in the opposite direction (as we saw in episode 1); it can't be the way down to the landlord's room which is also in the opposite direction (again, episode 1 where Yamato inadvertently entered Suzuka's room). Suzuka apparently has to walk on blindly as to hide her intention of ringing Yamato's doorbell, she can't just turn around because she would admit defeat this way. Honoka doesn't know the exact location of Suzuka's room at this stage (Yamato only told her it's "next door"), so she Suzuka's disguise still works.
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