[4Tran]

In detail, this episode might have tried to touch on too many different events, but I thought that it worked out on the whole quite well. Most importantly, as always, the tone and mood were pulled off very nicely, and the character interactions were as entertaining as usual.

In this episode, I felt that Kanako's story was rushed for a good reason: it doesn't really seem all that good, and it doesn't involve any one else from the main cast. As it was, there were only two ways to go about showing it; either make it its own episode or combining it with other events. I'm quite happy that they went with the second choice. On top of all that, it did soften Kanako's rough spots somewhat, and I imagine that she'll be easier to warm to in the future episodes.

Originally Posted by Molenir

Yuuko is someone Kanoko knew and looked up to. How she knew her isn't explained.

It wasn't explained outright, but we do know that her father was Yuuko's basketball coach, so it's quite possible for them to have been in the same school. The less likely alternative is that Yuuko went to Kanako's house a lot; enough for them to form a close friendship.

Originally Posted by Molenir

However Kanokos father and Yuuko hooked up, and somehow this destroyed Yuuko's life. Or at least Kanoko thought it had, and because of this, she couldn't forgive her father. As much as I like Marimite, this result for Kanoko seemed a bit trite. If it had been my father sleeping with another woman, I know I wouldn't have been able to forgive him just like that.

The "destryoing Yuuko's life" part is suggestive of more than simply having sex with her. I think that the implication is that he got Yuuko pregnant. And of course, the fact that Yuuko is going by the same family name as Kanako tells us that either she's married to Kanako's father, or that the marriage had already been planned (it's far more likely to be the former).

It's a very unusual relationship, and one where I can certainly sympathize with Kanako's antipathy, but a lot of the relevant details were glossed over: how/why Kanako's parents divorced, Yuuko's precise relationship to both Kanako and her father, where Kanako's mother is, and so on. Despite having never read the novels, I still get the feeling that putting all that information in wouldn't have worked for the anime.

And so the most important problem for Kanako is her belief that Yuuko's life was ruined; which is sort of resolved by Yuuko being obviously happy with the relationship, and the presence of little Chikako. It's a bit of a sudden resolution, but it's also heavily implied that Kanako went to live with her mother after her parents divorced, and that she's had basically no communication with her father and Yuuko for about half a year. Earlier in the episode, we saw Kanako with three tickets, so she was probably entertaining the idea of giving them to three people: most likely her mother, father and Yuuko. That'd mean that she was closer to accepting her father's relationship, but she wasn't quite there yet.

Originally Posted by Shigan

I didn't really understand why Kanako is so angry at her father thou, being a non-novelist. But I guess it went something along the lines of her parents separating, and if that wasn't enough, her father went and knocked up Kanako's sempai whom she looked up to, and thus- from kanako's POV- ruined her basket career, while Yuuko in reality was hurt during a game and went to her father because she fell in love with him. No?

Not quite. What probably happened was that Yuuko got hurt and went to her former coach for support. They fell in love, and she later got pregnant. This must have happened after the divorce, so Kanako wouldn't have known anything about the relationship until they announced the pregnancy.

Originally Posted by Shigan

Grah, I hope this season makes Touko more likeable, I know she is supposed to be but I still can't see it. I was never to hot about neither of Yumi's alternatives for souer-ship. Touko being how she is, and Kanako was just creepy at times. I was actually hoping, back in season 2 that a mini-Sei would pop up and steal Yumi away lol, oh well.

A mini-Sei would be an impossibility: Sei's relationship is predicated on her having much higher status than the ordinary, first-year Yumi. This kind of relationship can't be built by a first-year student because Yumi herself is currently the most looked-up-to among the second-year students except for Shimako and because Yumi herself is far from being the naive student that Sei could take advantage of. Sure she still has her weak points (and a certain sense of naivety), but those aren't the kind of things that a younger student can exploit.