AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post

AbZeroNow · 2012-01-20, 19:55

Spoiler for Episode 3-A Brother's Pulse:

I do wonder from the opening recap if Kakeru was just deep in thought from what Suguru had said.

This episode did a good job in its first half moving from scenes in the hospital and flashbacks to Nana, Suguru and Kakeru playing soccer together. In the hosiptal scenes, where we learn that Suguru had a major head injury which left him brain-dead and Kakeru was impaled by one of the pipes and it damaged his heart. We were told this, and not shown it, which worked OK for me. This episode also did a good job in showing how being an organ donor saves lives, and in this, Suguru ultimately did save his brother. He's a hero in that regard, IMHO.

Kakeru gets a great little moment where he is the one who gave Nana her nickname "Seven", as Seven is a translation of Nana. Suguru already seemed to have a serious expression when it came to Nana. I wonder why. These flashback scenes were the best part of this episode for me as we see the chemistry between the three of them, and get little hints about things too. I guess Suguru was the favorite son of the family as his mother's comment about Suguru having a sharp mind unlike Kakeru. Of course, I could tell the reason why Seven was distracted or down on that bus was she knew that she had to move and didn't know what to tell Kakeru.

Very nice that Seven was there when Kakeru woke up. And it was a little offputting in a later scene when Seven came to visit Kakeru and the female doctor asked an unnecessarily creepy question about which part of him responded to her voice. I felt the way they handled Kakeru learning of his brother's death was fairly well-handled.

Of course, Seven learning via eavesdropping/overhearing that Kakeru is alive because of Suguru's heart being transplanted into him is going to lead to drama down the road I think.

I liked how a few of the players asked Kakeru to come back as a player, but I know that he isn't ready for that yet, and I think if handled well, the journey for him to get back into the game as a striker will be worth seeing. For now, I don't fault how it's being paced. He is still grieving after all.

The only thing that I felt really didn't belong was that scene at the end where he kicks that soccer ball pretty far and powerfully to make a car swerve so the little girl and the dog wouldn't be hit by the car. I felt the unrealistic nature of that scene to be pretty jarring. I hope the manga readers can tell me if that was handled better in the manga.

Episode gets a 7/10. Loved the first half and most of the second half. That scene at the end was really not to my liking.

2012-01-20, 19:55	Link #111
AbZeroNow North American Haruhiist Join Date: Oct 2010 Age: 43	Spoiler for Episode 3-A Brother's Pulse: I do wonder from the opening recap if Kakeru was just deep in thought from what Suguru had said. This episode did a good job in its first half moving from scenes in the hospital and flashbacks to Nana, Suguru and Kakeru playing soccer together. In the hosiptal scenes, where we learn that Suguru had a major head injury which left him brain-dead and Kakeru was impaled by one of the pipes and it damaged his heart. We were told this, and not shown it, which worked OK for me. This episode also did a good job in showing how being an organ donor saves lives, and in this, Suguru ultimately did save his brother. He's a hero in that regard, IMHO. Kakeru gets a great little moment where he is the one who gave Nana her nickname "Seven", as Seven is a translation of Nana. Suguru already seemed to have a serious expression when it came to Nana. I wonder why. These flashback scenes were the best part of this episode for me as we see the chemistry between the three of them, and get little hints about things too. I guess Suguru was the favorite son of the family as his mother's comment about Suguru having a sharp mind unlike Kakeru. Of course, I could tell the reason why Seven was distracted or down on that bus was she knew that she had to move and didn't know what to tell Kakeru. Very nice that Seven was there when Kakeru woke up. And it was a little offputting in a later scene when Seven came to visit Kakeru and the female doctor asked an unnecessarily creepy question about which part of him responded to her voice. I felt the way they handled Kakeru learning of his brother's death was fairly well-handled. Of course, Seven learning via eavesdropping/overhearing that Kakeru is alive because of Suguru's heart being transplanted into him is going to lead to drama down the road I think. I liked how a few of the players asked Kakeru to come back as a player, but I know that he isn't ready for that yet, and I think if handled well, the journey for him to get back into the game as a striker will be worth seeing. For now, I don't fault how it's being paced. He is still grieving after all. The only thing that I felt really didn't belong was that scene at the end where he kicks that soccer ball pretty far and powerfully to make a car swerve so the little girl and the dog wouldn't be hit by the car. I felt the unrealistic nature of that scene to be pretty jarring. I hope the manga readers can tell me if that was handled better in the manga. Episode gets a 7/10. Loved the first half and most of the second half. That scene at the end was really not to my liking.