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ローゼンメイデン 
We're getting into tricky territory for me now. On one hand, since I know the manga, I do know how the story will progress and WHY it will be progressing like this. At the same time, several key informations are missing so far, therefore I need to try to "forget" what I know and try to restrict any commentary on what I would think with this "reduced" information set. And it's bloody difficult to do so, but I'll try my best, yet much shorter than my normal reviews.
In this episode we have major Yamato-Suzuka relationship development. He is excelling in the 50m dash, and Suzuka obviously realizes the striking resemblance between Yamato and the senpai in the framed picture which Miho had commented on earlier in episode 1. This revelation shocks Suzuka who is thrown in obvious confusion and starts to appraise Yamato entirely anew. Except for this we see some smooth Hattori advice and help and some genuine cheery (yet almost completely overlooked) emotional support from Honoka. And we also have an unexpected 10-seconds appearance of my favorite character in this entire show, Miki. Therefore the episode rating can't be any lower than
Episode Rating: +
Since the fansub is already released (I'm just hoping that the scarywater BT tracker will recover quickly), I'll skip the play-by-plays and cut right to the chase.
The episode begins just like the last one had ended: Yamato can't do anything right and is admonished by Suzuka again for his sloppy hairdo. Business as usual. It's PE class, and Yamato decides to show some effort, because he wants to prove his worth to Suzuka. Hattori draws the right conclusions and uses his social skills to link up with Suzuka and Honoka, the former perfectly unfazed, the latter jubilant to spend some time with Yamato.
After some minor initial bragging (cued by Hattori however), Yamato celebrates his 72,5cm, but neither Asahina nor Hattori are impressed. Both manage 84cm, sending Yamato into a deep depression.
It's interesting to see here that while Honoka is doing her best to cheer him up, she barely registers on Yamato's radar. Instead, it takes for Suzuka and Hattori to drop by to get him going at least a bit again. Despondent, he peddles off to the 50m dash which he expects to perform poorly in due to some bad former experiences. Suzuka is between bored and turned off, but Hattori mentions that something surprising might be happening now.
In his starting blocks, Yamato looks over to his friends, but only the cheery Honoka lends any form of encouragement. Grimly determined, he decides to give his very best and dashes off like the wind, easily outpacing the sprinting specialist he is running against.
Suzuka can't believe her eyes. "U...uso" she whispers and can't take her eyes of Yamato, who very closely resembles "Mr. Photogenic" (borrowed from Satoshi) from the framed picture Suzuka is treasuring in her room, and the falling flower petals animation and her glittering eyes are usually anime staples to symbolize that a girl is falling in love. But who is she falling in love with? Yamato or Mr. Photogenic?
Over the rest of the anime, Suzuka will eye Yamato very very closely, a total reversal of her formerly uncaring and disinterested attitude. But I have my doubts that she's just got a soft spot for fast legs. Mr. Photogenic obviously isn't currently around, so whatever business Suzuka must have had with him seems to be in the past - after all, Miho didn't know him either, so he doesn't seem to visit her in the bathhouse apartment aswell. Suzuka also clearly regards him very fondly, so it's likely that the two of them have been parted somehow in the past, and Suzuka still treasures her memory.
In the second half, Yamato forgets his umbrella and a major rain shower prevents his departure home. Suzuka has continued to stare at him in a strange manner, and Hattori has given him the hint that Suzuka is simply behaving like a girl who is falling in love. After all, he DID score some major points with his sprinting the day before. Yamato is a bit incredulous but can't help noticing that Suzuka is still staring at him even during classes.
Of course, Miss Perfect Suzuka didn't forget her umbrella, so Yamato tries to elegantly-sidetalk her into offering to share it, but another track&field friend of Suzuka's arrives, Miki. She's going to become my favorite character in the show, and she wasn't supposed to show up for at least 3 more episodes, so this was a pleasant unexpected treat. She will be a cute, smart, spunky and yet caring voice of reason throughout the show, and I'm very pleased with the sound of her Seiyuu. Suzuka gets the message and dashes off to practice, leaving a stranded Yamato behind.
Naturally, Honoka would be most delighted to share her umbrella with him, expressing worries that otherwise Yamato might catch a cold again. Yamato clearly has other plans (of waiting till Suzuka returns and then walking home with her), so he stutters around a bit until Hattori quickly gets the picture and "books" her, removing Honoka from Yamato's heels.
A quick comment about Honoka is appropriate here. Her caring for Yamato is obviously very genuine and sincere, but right now she is having no impact on Yamato at all, who is clearly fixated on Suzuka. Nevertheless, her positive outlook and encouraging nature will undoubtedly become an important asset for Yamato during his phases of frustration and depression. It's almost a shame how much she's ignored right now :}
Yamato is torn between just beating it and walking home alone and waiting for Suzuka. One could say that he's making a fool of himself there, but damn if guys don't make fools of themselves in a situation like this. I can understand him.
His practicing of his artsy plea to share an umbrella is drawing the disapproval of several girls around who tag him as a stalker or worse. Just when he's really about to beat it, Suzuka indeed appears and to his total surprise readily offers to share her umbrella with him - all on her own. Yamato can hardly believe his luck and off they go.
The two of them walk in total silence, each of them glancing at the other. Eventually Suzuka breaks the silence by complimenting him for his sprints performance, another total reversal from her earlier reaction where she had actively played down and denied any special achievement from his side. Yamato is clearly flabbergasted and delivers a slightly bragging line to test the waters, and she actually confirms her compliment.
This is where Hattori's words resurface in Yamato's mind again: "This is how a girl in love behaves, late bloomer". And he's beginning to wonder if Suzuka might indeed have begun to fall for him.
A car is passing by very closely on the rainy street, causing Suzuka to jump at Yamato's chest, who holds her in a slight embrace by reflex and regards her in shock. Suzuka is far far away with her thoughts, and she is literally clawing into the threads of Yamato's jacket. Eventually she'll shriek up like from a bad dream, wordlessly untangle herself from the embrace and walk off on her own.
Whatever she was thinking about at Yamato's chest, I doubt that it was him. Something is haunting her which she hasn't come to terms with yet. Nevertheless, the fact that she stayed there with close physical contact (a big no-no, as far as I understand Japanese customs), which indicates that she doesn't feel too repulsed by Yamato after all, regardless of her earlier constant criticism.
Review
Pretty good episode with a surprising reversal of "flow" concerning the main relationship. To make sure that no spoiling knowledge taints the result I'll skip on commenting things too much - but what is the real source for Suzuka's change of attitude? The great performance or the close resemblance to Mr. Photogenic? Or both?
Poor Honoka is being Suzuka'ed by Yamato. Ah well, your times will come eventually. Still a pain to see your efforts go to waste like this...
If you haven't watched the episode yet, do NOT watch the preview. It's way too spoilerific again. Bleh. I reeeeeally don't like this. Keep the surprises, dangit!
Looking forward to the next episode!
Interesting turn of events.
Incidentally, do you know if the manga has been subbed yet? You started me on this anime, Mentar, and now i'm so interested in it, but i can't find the manga anywhere.
>.>
Chapter 0 (episode 1) has been scanlated by AnimeWaves. The rest is only available raw.
But: Do NOT spoil yourself. Resist the temptation. The anime will be much more enjoyable if you don't know what's gonna happen next ;)
The problem of this episode is that we can't read Suzuka's mind during the very first scene. Everything else in this episode is depending on this scene.
Honoka and Suzuka doing the warm-up together - no animosity amongst the girls so far. Too bad we didn't see how Honoka performed at the PE test. With his "umbrella announcement" Yamato inadvertently had given this girl a chance to be at his side and thus outperform Suzuka - but then Yasunobu just ran her over with his womanizer skills... I would love to watch Honoka sitting in her room at home at the end of this day; I imagine her cursing herself for being the mouse she is, lacking ready wit and being unable to hold sway against Yasunobu. She'll not give up on her boy - but will she get such a chance ever again, after messing up the cooking opportunity already?
Unfortunately Honoka was focussed on watching Yamato during the race, so the impact this event made on her rival didn't catch her attention (just like she overlooked Suzuka's finger at Yamato's doorbell last time); had she noticed Suzuka's "uso" she might have tried to make better use of her umbrella advantage.
While Yamato underperformed with every spoken line, Yasunobu (whom I didn't like at first) was shining throughout this episode. Watching the late bloomer handle this babe must in fact be entertaining for him, and he'll use his skills unscrupulously whenever necessary.
Strange enough, I like the way Suzuka was acting in this episode - walking in slow motion, almost lifeless. Apparently she has to put her view of the world into question, and that's not easy for our princess.
Note how Yamato used the same wording of "shocked" to describe the impact of his result as Suzuka did before - this could be a way for the leads to understand each other a lot better. But both of them obviously have too many problems as to focus on anything else.
"Your hair is sticking up". This comment made by Suzuka at the beginning of the episode is one of the corniest comments I have ever heard in anime. How can his hair stick out when all he has is pointy hair ?!! ^_^;;
I like how Suzuka got annoyed after Yamato's 72.5 cm jump. He tried to step into her territory (sports) and so she decided to show him who's the boss. I bet she was thinking "You are 1000 years too young to outperform me, peasant".
Every time I watch Yamato's antics, I remember Junpei from Ichigo 100%. I don't care what you say Mentar, this guy is a Junpei clone except that he is focusing on one girl now. That is not a bad thing though. Junpei was a very decent guy and he also had a backbone.
This is the first episode that I really found interesting because of the positive developments revealed but I do feel sorry for Honoka. I always feel sad for the underdog.
Junpei was totally indecisive and random in his feelings. Without any explanation or justification he totally "forgets" the girl who attracted him so much, because the "girl of the week" focus changed. Until the very end, he was utterly unappreciative of the idea of a relationship. Basically, he was no bad guy, but emotionally an immature little kid.
Yamato at least has a real spine and some clear ideas of his own. He wants a girlfriend, he wants a relationship, and he's willing to work for it, since it's not handed to him on a silver platter. This is _the_ key difference to Manaka.
Not only did Yamato enter Suzuka's territory of sports, it was high jumping, something she must be an expert in (the timing, the ability to use her whole body for the process and such). I was surprised that Yasunobu was able to keep up with her - he didn't look like a sports champ, but maybe he plays basketball at school. (By the way: This competition was about _relative_ height, so they ought to have changed the adjustment of the jump target as to adapt to the body height & arm length of the corresponding athlete before each jump, but this would have wasted precious screen time and make Suzuka's reaction appear less spontaneous.) I would have loved to see Honoka do the vertical jump as well, basically to observe whether Suzuka is coaching her - any information about the relation between these two would be valuable at this stage of the story.
If we have one Ichigo 100% character in this series then it would rather be Honoka (= Toujou Aya). I still see a lot of Narusegawa Naru in Suzuka (being the ace at school, probably having an unresolved senpai crush in the past... I'd like to name some more aspects but don't know enough about Suzuka at this stage, and if I did it would be spoilers).
Actually Hattori is the most surprising character for me so far. Yamato is quite original with just minor Urashima Keitarou attributes (the bragging, the embarrassing loud soliquies; and note how Suzuka and Yamato share a secret at the end of episode 1 just like Naru and Keitarou do) while being significantly less chaotic, and thus less frustrating for the audience; he is allowed to have a spine simply because this isn't a harem scene, and thus the lead isn't _required_ to be indecisive (which damaged the Manaka Junpei character so much). For example, Yamato is a lot more self-confident than Moteuchi Youta from Video Girl Ai.
As for the announced Miki, I wonder whether Nitta Chiharu from Boys Be might be a good reference (not just being another track&field athlete with a similar hairdo but a reasonable girl as well).
I agree with Devil Doll. When you are surrounded by 3 equally good girls all trying to catch you attention and win your affection, you are bound to get confused and even go crazy (Yue does not count but her behaviour does help in stressing Junpei even more). Had there been one girl in his life, he would have behaved just like Yamato is behaving now. We should give Junpei a bit more credit here.
It's strange that Honoka paired up with Suzuka. They didn't seem that close in episode 3!!
涼風 朝比奈 すきだ
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