So, episode 04 was a little bit weird and
not what I expected. This chapter left me empty in both good and bad ways. Bad
was that we didn’t get any story development, they were just random days. The
good way was that we get some character development and the lack of action or
story telling make the viewer feel empty and uncomfortable, one important element
when it comes to a drama anime series. So, that’s how I feel after watching
this chapter, empty. And it’s that emptiness what make me want to watch next
episode so bad.
Besides the lack of any relevant
development, a lot of stuff happened in this episode.
We find out that Kakeru’s
mother was a pianist, the reason why his father listens to one of Chopin’s
pieces as it is one of her favorite pieces.
When it comes to Yanagi, she’s been injured on one leg. While Yuki was traying
to help her walk out of the hospital, we find out that they actually are family
related.
About Sachi and Hiro, he comes to her house
to give her book back. Then, she invites him into the house. Then, they finally
go to a date, as “Exile and The Kingdom” will have a movie adaptation.
Then, Yuki goes to the school as he sees
Touko going in. Then she expected him to be Kakeru. After this, Yuki asks Touko
if she likes Kakeru. After her doubting about it, he assumes that she loves
him. This situation makes Touko ask herself if she really loves Kakeru.
And finally, the most important scene which gives name to the episode is Yanagi
and Kakeru’s meet up on the steep road. While Kakeru returns from hiking alone
and Yanagi from meeting with Touko, it starts raining and they meet on the
steep road covering themselves from the water. After a weird conversation about
the meaning of each other’s names, Yana is about to go home when she suddenly
slides. The moment Kakeru grabs Yana in order for her to not fall, Touko sees
this scene from the top of the road, something that she misunderstands and
leaves out without saying nothing to them.
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Too much scheduled. |
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Are you jealous? |
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Oh, come on Hiro! You were the one who invited her! |
One of the interesting elements from the
episode was Kakeru’s future fragment at the beginning of the episode. Then,
something confusing happens when Touko is working at the glass workshop. While
she was pulling out some melted glass, her eyes start glowing they always do
when she hears a future fragment but we didn’t get to hear any voice. Maybe
it’s something that it’s yet to reveal or it was simply Touko thinking about
her ability to predict the future.
All that happened in this episode will make
Touko think seriously about love and her feelings towards Kakeru. The
conversation with Yuki and seeing Kakeru and Yana together will help Touko to
notice Kakeru. Plus, knowing that Hiro is on a date and after noticing it was
with Sachi, Touko will sure start to thinking about her own love life.
The one thing it bothered me the most was
that we find out that Yana and Yuki are family. We all knew that they live together
in the same residence, but I didn’t expect them to be family that at all. What
is most likely to be is that they aren’t blood related. If they were, I’m sure the
rest of the crew would know it, especially Touko being a close friend to Yana
as we could see when she called her to tell that she was going to confess to
Yuki. On that, Touko would have commented something about their family
relation.
When it comes to cultural references like
Chopin’s Nocturne, or Camus’ “Exile and The Kingdom”. Then, a new book title
appears, “Wind, sand and stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Another think I’m
not sure if it’s a cultural reference is the music we can listen at the café,
which I’m not familiar with.
Finally, I just wanna point out this
episode’s dinner at Touko’s house. Her parents usually talk about something
similar on what happened during the episode on a very enthusiastic way. But
this time, it was just the father talking about some irrelevant things,
something that really reflects the lack of development in the story.
As I said, the episode was empty in both
good and bad ways. Bad for the lack of story development and good when it comes
to Touko’s character development and the emptiness you feel as you watching a
drama anime series. Maybe this emptiness comes from the fact that this was a very realistic
chapter, just showing the characters on a daily life way. And because of that
emptiness, I can’t wait for next episode to come.