[Kaoru Chujo]

Some reflections on ep12, as ep13 downloads:

-- new/old theme: "I just don't understand." Ai says it here about Shin. Noe was obsessed with it a few episodes ago. Shin never understood Hiromi. Hiromi doesn't understand what Shin's feeling. Etc.

-- the show hasn't become melodramatic. It was melodramatic from the start -- in a good way, for the most part. But in any case, complete realism is not one of the show's virtues.

-- for me, Shin could reasonably end up with either girl. He has a long history of affection for Hiromi, but now that he has her, his feelings are even more confused. Perhaps the Hiromi who comes forward and kisses him is not the weeping princess he loved? His lack of reaction to the kiss was fairly weird. Throughout, I have felt that he had a real relationship with Noe, one that helped him move forward, at least a bit, whereas his relationship with Hiromi was more distant admiration than anything else. Raigomaru will fly, but I'm not sure in what direction. All three of the main characters are potential fliers, it seems to me: Noe told Hiromi she was keeping Shin on the ground when they fought, but later she said her opinion of Hiromi was improving.

-- despite the physical impossibility of covering that distance in the time available, I think Shin may have rushed up and be breaking Noe's fall.

-- I hated Shin when he did not go up to Noe on the breakwater when she could have been throwing herself off it.