Ryuunosuke slowly comes out of his cocoon. Both for friendship and love. His growth is evident.

The song that they sang at the end should have been the Project Diva version of Miku's "Sakura no Ame". It woud be a fitting and ironic end for them to cap off the graduation ceremony by singing a song from a game that Sorata's proposal lost to :eyespin:

Best part of the episode was when Dragon fell down running.

Yep, best couple.

That was pretty impressive, I wasn't expecting such a good episode. I knew the series was capable of greatness but the last 10 or so eps were uneven quality wise. Just so good, the VAs really pulled it out this week and the animation was the best in the series.

Bravo bravo bravo...

After last week Nanamin's speech, this week Misaki get her turn giving graduation speech. And it was a damn nice one. All of the seiyuu really give their best performance this episode. Really feel their emotion through this episode.


Nice 10/10

I guess this episode make me feel that I'm crying inside... Good job Misaki-sempai, and the rest of Sakurasou! (plus Rittan)

Yeah, them hijacking the graduation speech for really what is their own ends, is somewhat controversial even for me. That said, it's the only episode of Sakurasou that garnered tearjerking moments in the entire series, so for that I give it a two thumbs up.

His path to getting laid is secured. :heh:

The whole episode was a bit..."chuunibyou-esque", but I guess it's just one of those things that's part of the premise to begin with. Very good episode.

Well...

1. The graduation...I already read the LN so not much difference. Except, well, no Kazuki (The game company head) to try and save the day...
2. Misaki drags on too long for a good speech in my opinion. But then, it is what it is, and more time for flashback = save money...
3. Dragon-san & Rita...best couple is best couple (In LN Rita didn't even appear, though...)
4. Next episode = Mashiro end? Will see how they wrap this up. (Of course, personally wish for Nanamin end)

That was a very moving speech Misaki delivered. Good job emotionally manipulating the student into voting against the demolition of Sakurasou.

Yeah, I don't think my high school would have been as receptive to Misaki's speech. They would have either been apathetic or downright mocked her. I myself probably wouldn't have given a damn either back then. Only the people who actually lived in Sakurasou would know how precious a place that is, others would naturally think "It's just a small dorm, who gives a shit? Stop being drama queens"

Well done. I expected they would pull something crazy, but I never thought they would use their emotions to convince others. Personally I think it was too dramatic for me, I can understand the girls crying, especially Misaki showing her true feeling about Sakurasou going to be torn down. I didn't like Sorata crying though, I like how he was passionate telling how he feels about Sakurasou and not wanting their seniors to leave, but crying kinda killed his awesomeness :heh:. Anyway it was a good episode and also I like the couples in this episode.

If someone does that to me -- there's a good chance I'd turn the other way. Arguments must have substance, even though I (as do anyone else) can be susceptible to the emotional argument.

I have yet to watch this episode; but personally, these Sakurasou characters have major issues about letting go. That's especially true when they noted the identity of "Sakurasou" is among their friendship circle, more so than a mere dormitory.

But, eh... whatever. I'll get more 2 cents on this, after watching #23.

Oh, and uh - Rita + Ryuunosuke for the win. XD

I think my highschool would have been receptive, but not so much out of solidarity with Sakurasou but just to piss off school board members :heh:

Misaki's speech was a little long, but all in all this was a great ep... Brilliant all around.

I especially liked how the board was manhandling all the Sakurasou folk but when it came to Mashiro they were terrified of angering her...

As for how 'realistic' such an event would be, I would say my high school would have gone along with something like that... we had once successfully pulled off a complete cafeteria boycott the day after they had raised the prices (helped by the more affluent students bringing in large quantities of food to give away during lunch). That one week cost the catering company more than the extra they would have earned selling at the new rates for at least half a year...

liked the visuals in this ep, hmm feels like a kyo ani show in some ways :p
but really really beautiful episode...

it was really great for misaki, having that wonderful end to a happy high school after that nothing middle school. liked how she was leading pulling them along at the end.
but so many other great points hard to point them 1 by 1.

I understand how others would think this as nothing more than hijacking the graduation ceremonies and that the other students wouldn't care about about a small dorm housing a very select few, problem child. Actually I started to think like that at the beginning of the speech but then it made me remember my own High School experience. You see it doesn't matter that most of the listeners doesn't know what was happening in Sakurasou, in fact any person speaking about his/her own experience would be in the same boat. NO ONE KNOWS another's experience but what Misaki did was to remind them that THEY DO HAVE THEIR OWN experiences in HS that is now part of their life, and that it sucks if somehow someone is trying to diminish it. That is a very strong connection. Which is why I think it was also a very good speech (grad or otherwise).
It is also why it was a genius plan in a way, graduation is one of those times when emotions are pretty much heightened, and it is so much easier to connect to people. It's logical nearly all would support them now, when they hardly got 50% before.

The way I see it, graduation is a day for everyone to enjoy, especially the graduating seniors. The ceremony should therefore be about the shared experiences among them, with focus on events that most of the students were a part of. It was therefore inappropriate for them to hijack the president's speech in that fashion since the president is a representative of the entire student body, and his speech should be addressed at everyone.

Furthermore, Misaki's speech was not about the rest of the students at all. It was about Sakurasou only, without much reference to the student body thinking about their own experiences and how they've changed over their time in school. Misaki's speech did not relate her experiences to what the common student went through, and she went on and on about her and Sakurasou, which makes the connection extremely weak. I'm not sure if the speech in the light novel differs due to time constraints, but what I've seen in the anime seemed to come off as more of a rambling speech.

Sure, graduation is a time of heightened emotions, but heightened emotions do not mean that people start losing all sense of rationality. Not to mention that a major part of graduation is about the need to let go and move on with life. I find it a real stretch for a speech like that to actually be able to rally the student body to oppose the demolition of Sakurasou, especially when we consider how disinterested the rest of the students were about the petition.

I can see why so many of us have been touched by Misaki's speech since we already know what these guys have gone through. But if we put all that aside and think about it from the perspective of someone who's watching the episode on its own without knowing what the people at Sakurasou have gone through, is the student population's reaction realistic, given what we know about them from previous episodes, as well as their views on Sakurasou?

Of course, we'll probably get a whole range of answers for that last question since our answers will be influenced by the huge diversity of high school experiences that all of us have gone through.

Misaki's speech DOES relate to the audience. Although the other students are not from Sakurasou, they have their own similar experiences with farewell to friends.

But her speech did not connect her own experiences with that of the audience's. It was simply rambling on and on about Sakurasou. One of my criticisms is that she had not put across those connections strongly enough, to the point that the students would have either 1. stopped paying attention after a few minutes, or 2. started wondering why a weird girl was in front of them making an irrelevant speech during what was supposed to be one of their most memorable days in school.

Of course, I'm willing to allow some creative liberties given that it's fiction. I find it questionable whether it's realistic, however, and whether it's consistent with the student population.