(L) Natsuyuki Rendez-vous (noitaminA)

[Kanon]

I found the episode a bit boring as well. It was bad idea on Hazuki's part to bring Rokka to a place where she has so many good memories with Shimao. I like the scenes where Rokka imagined Shimao being there more than any of her interaction with Hazuki. To be honest, I don't think Hazuki and Rokka have much chemistry at all. This episode made that clear to me.

Originally Posted by DXMichael

...Is that a basket on Rokka's head? I kid I kid, I've never seen a hat like that before though

That was the most horrible hat I've ever seen.

[Salva]

I agree with Kanon! I really think it's so strange to bring her to the same location. I mean, it's a good move but when you already have something to work on. Not when you clumsily try to reset her memories of the amusement part and replace them with the ones with him instead. It was cruel. It was bond to bring tears and I'm really amazed he was stupid enought to pull it off. I understand why he did this, his character is an answer. But still it was so insensitive. I also don't see too much chemistry and when I think about it his behaviour is kinda creepy. I'm not fond of Atsushi that much but still he seems to be better. I was disappointed this time. I also didn't like soul changing. I wonder what happened with Hazuki. Is he still there? Besides Atsushi didn't really think it over. He thinks it's better if Hazuki won't meddle too much with Rokka. But as their relationship is not very good the chances that Atsushi will do all the things he wants to do with her are pretty low. It's straaaaange. I'm curious what will happen next.

[ookamigirl]

Rokka and Hazuki on a date at the amusement park.
Seems like Shimao was getting to him even when he wasn't around.
He was pretty aggressive around Rokka this time.
She is just so indecisive.... it's starting to seriously annoy me.
Wow, she actually admitted she's not over Shimao to Hazuki's face.
Shimao the Ghost, was pretty clever using Hazuki's drunken state to get consent to use his body.
Wonder if he'll give it back now that he'll get the taste of being alive..

[FredFriendly]

Originally Posted by Salva

But as their relationship is not very good the chances that Atsushi will do all the things he wants to do with her are pretty low.

Which brings us to the question, what exactly does ghost boy expect to accomplish in young boy's body? Does he think that Rokka-chan is going to accept his advances? Or does he plan to screw things up for young boy so that he has no chance with her? That he even gets fired?

Or does he just want to have sex with her one last time, like a typical guy?

As to the debate as to whether or not he could willingly leave Rokka-chan, no doubt in my mind that he could if he has the power to inhabit someone else's body.

[Guardian Enzo]

You guys are crazy - that hat was butter.

[hyperborealis]

Whatever Atsushi accomplishes by taking over Hazuki's body, he does not in fact come back to life or turn back the clock to the time before his death. The brief depiction the animators provide of his reanimation makes this point clear. When he touches Rokka, he is overwhelmed by the strangeness of feeling her, and handles her roughly, almost as if she were a piece of meat. And Rokka's surprise at his behavior makes him immediately pretend--badly--that he is actually Hazuki.

We see from these actions that Atsushi has not returned to being the person he was before, and especially not to being the person Rokka loves. He remains in a fundamentally bizarre, inhuman situation. The animators may play the story for laughs, or for a sentimental reunion of sorts. But with Atsushi dead and Hazuki a zombie, the anime is fast reminding us that ghost stories fit in the genre of horror.

This horror aspect fits not at all with the elements of romantic comedy that have defined the show from the outset. At this point I think the anime has failed, at least from the standpoint of genre coherence.

[Haak]

Hazuki suddenly enters into a Studio ghibli film and Atsushi suddenly enters into Kokoro Connect.

Good episode.

[Guardian Enzo]

Powerful episode, to say the least.

[FredFriendly]

I am beginning to like this anime less and less with each new episode. It looks like ghost boy intends to inhabit young boy's body for a long, long time. Although I can't have any less sympathy for ghost boy, since I've never had any to begin with, I do find him more and more annoying with each new episode. His level of selfishness seems to know no bounds.

Surprisingly, I find myself actually sympathizing with young boy. Though his own stupid drunkenness got him into the situation he's in, jerk wad ghost boy took advantage of the situation to extract the required agreement which has now put young boy in peril of never being able to regain control of his own body.

And was that supposed to be a cliff-hanger? Are we supposed to be waiting with baited breath to find out the answer to Rokka-chan's question? Will ghost boy allow young boy's body to be touched by his beloved Rokka-chan? Or will he do the right thing and politely decline and go home?

Take out the beautiful animation and what would we have? A corny, two-bit rom-com anime along the lines of Ranma 1/2 or Urusei Yatsura (which I enjoyed far more than I have this anime so far).

You would think if ghost boy really loved his wife as much as he claims, he wouldn't pull such a deceitful ploy as using someone else's body just to get close to her again. Plus, trying to ruin her chances of happiness. What a jerk.

[HandofFate]

Little Rokka-fairy was pretty cute. Didn't expect the possession storypoint to be a long-term thing.

The night was pretty funny if taken from the viewpoint of Rokka seeing Hazuki as being extremely drunk.

Didn't know Hazuki wore contacts. The glasses and haircut was unexpected. I think a few are being too hard on ghostboy in the body. At first he wanted to be a bit meddlesome and sabotage Hazuki's image, but upon seeing his room, he didn't see Hazuki as the evil wife-stealer he imagined him as. No idea how long he plans to stay inside, but he said he let Hazuki's hair grow long again...

Hazuki's acceptance of things happening is very lax. Husband is a ghost still hanging around? That's weird... Ghost possessed me and now I'm in limbo world. *same casual expression*

[novalysis]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

Whatever Atsushi accomplishes by taking over Hazuki's body, he does not in fact come back to life or turn back the clock to the time before his death. The brief depiction the animators provide of his reanimation makes this point clear. When he touches Rokka, he is overwhelmed by the strangeness of feeling her, and handles her roughly, almost as if she were a piece of meat. And Rokka's surprise at his behavior makes him immediately pretend--badly--that he is actually Hazuki.

We see from these actions that Atsushi has not returned to being the person he was before, and especially not to being the person Rokka loves. He remains in a fundamentally bizarre, inhuman situation. The animators may play the story for laughs, or for a sentimental reunion of sorts. But with Atsushi dead and Hazuki a zombie, the anime is fast reminding us that ghost stories fit in the genre of horror.

This horror aspect fits not at all with the elements of romantic comedy that have defined the show from the outset. At this point I think the anime has failed, at least from the standpoint of genre coherence.

Ah , but must anime (or any story for that matter )stick to genre coherence? Perhaps a more proper charge that may be fairer, but ore disputable is that the multi genre nature of this story is being handled clumsily.

I don't think so. IMO, multi genre stories , especially those that weave their genres well should be celebrated, and Rendezvous is weaving their genres quite subtly, embedding multiple genres in each scene, especially this episode.

[Guardian Enzo]

I definitely won't speak for anyone else, but I could care less about genre coherence. The more genres get jumbled, the more cliches get ignored, and the better I like it.

I think it's pretty clear that this is a series aimed squarely at the "traditional" NoitaminA audience and not at the otaku audience. It reminds me of shows like Sarai-ya Goyou in that it's full of perspectives that may be hard to appreciate for folks under a certain age, and it doesn't seem to hold up well to any conventional anime litmus tests. It's totally working for me - it's been a slow build, but I'm hooked into the premise fully at this point.

I've long suspected that this was more Atsushi's story than either of the living leads, and this ep seems to confirm that. Not only is it his story, but it's his unfinished story - and it needs to find closure for anyone involved to move on. I'm also strongly struck by the message that we should never take anything for granted. The one thing Hazuki and Rokka have that Atsushi never will again is life. We may choose to be miserable and alone, but at least we have a choice.

[D-KLAC]

this week ep.5

ryuusuke is in fairy book world with little rokka while wander around inside book in this fantasy world.

meanwhile atsushi in ryuusuke's body get some adjust & time with rokka give also gave ryuusuke's body a new look hairstyle & glasses.

also more mention of atsushi younger years.

[hyperborealis]

A fascinating, fascinating episode. I had thought the creepiness inherent in Atsushi's possession of Ryusuke would undermine the show's nature as a romantic comedy, but the writers finessed the problem by separating the two characters off onto two distinct planes of existence, Ryusuke to a fairy-tale / art world of the younger Atsushi's art journals, and Atsushi to the real world of Ryusuke's life. In the meantime, Atsushi wears Ryusuke's body as a disguise, and so the anime moves into the familiar territory of mistaken and assumed identities, the staples of romantic comedy (think of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors or Twelfth Night, for example).

As we might expect, the exchange of identities allows both Ryusuke and Atsushi to inch toward a better understanding of each other, despite the strong motive their rivalry provides to indulge in bias and dislike toward the other fellow. Living in Ryusuke's shoes and in particular visiting his apartment allows Atsushi to recognize that Ryusuke is a "brave, bashful, poor young man," and not, as he would like to think, a person who has nothing going for him other than his youth.

On his side, Ryusuke travels through fairy tale worlds composed in equal portions of Atsushi's art and Rokka-chan's memories of him, which allow Ryusuke to appreciate not only Atsushi's aesthetic sensibilities, but also the qualities that led the younger Rokka to love her husband. Through that experience, Ryusuke gains the means to move beyond the initial immaturity of the boy who, at the episode's outset, petulantly complains "I don't give a shit about some dead guy's feelings."

Atsushi does manage to get the emotional reunion he wants with Rokka, and on his terms: when he embraces Rokka, and when he eats breakfast with her, Rokka feels as if she is with Atsushi, and not Ryusuke. But his achievement is double-edged. In so doing, he effectively grows Ryusuke up in Rokka's eyes, and makes Ryusuke that much more attractive to his wife. More, he evokes the feelings of love she had for Atsushi himself, so that, at the episode's close, when Rokka invites Ryusuke to allow her to wash his back in the bath, she is now apparently ready to accept his rival with intimacy.

For Rokka also is changing and developing before our eyes. The surprise of experiencing Ryusuke as Atsushi inspires Rokka to recognize she has been burying her own feelings: "it's dangerous to bury things you can't change and dejected feelings in the darkness." Then, later, with a remarkable poignancy, she will reflect on the pain that remains to her after her husband's death: "God has a cruel streak. / Seeing Shimao-kun's dishes and utensils being used makes me happy and sad." She has a happiness in remembering Atsushi, but that happiness immediately shades into the pain of remembering also that he is dead and gone.

So, for both Ryusuke and Rokka, Atsushi functions as the vehicle whereby the two signally grow as characters, Ryusuke toward an adult level of emotional sympathy, and Rokka to a reflective awareness of her own responses to grief. The depth and the detail of the character development in this episode is very fine.

[ookamigirl]

This was nice change of scenery.
Very emotional episode.
Hazuki on his adventure in ghost's wonderland while Shimao was exploring the fact he's alive.
Well, soft of alive, anyway. He was acting pretty weird.
Doing things just to spite Hazuki was childish of him.
In the end it all backfired on him...
I'm really interested to see how this body borrowing thing plays out.

[Kaoru Chujo]

This episode sure worked for me. I thought the story had painted itself into a corner. Instead, it was just Shimao who had. I am fascinated by Rokka's ability to merge the two guys: not forgetting or hiding her feeling for Shimao, but opening up to Hazuki at the same time. Shimao's new-found appreciation for Shimao was enjoyable, as was Hazuki's new existence in Shimao's fantasy world. And Shimao's overwhelming emotions and new predicament were both great. A moving episode.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Shimao's new-found appreciation for Shimao was enjoyable

Is there one too many Shimaos in that phrase?

[FredFriendly]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

More, he evokes the feelings of love she had for Atsushi himself, so that, at the episode's close, when Rokka invites Ryusuke to wash her back in the bath, she is now apparently ready to accept his rival with intimacy.

I sure wish I had a pair of the rose-colored glasses you wear!

Just kidding. I just wanted to say that in the subbed version I watched, Rokka-chan proposed that he let her wash his back, not vice vesa. Can anyone fluent in Japanese point us to the correct phrasing? I think it would make a big difference in how we might perceive Rokka-chan's feelings and intentions. It's just too bad that ghost boy is masquerading as young boy, deceiving his own wife, and young boy will probably never know what happened with his body while it was being selfishly possessed.

[hyperborealis]

You are completely right--I misread the Crunchyroll subtitles.

It does make a difference, as you point out. By stipulating that she wash Ryusuke's back, rather than the other way around, Rokka is also saying that she will set the pace and the terms of their intimacy. Her oddly formal language ("So I have a proposal") lets us know that her words compose a response to Ryusuke / Atsushi's request to spend the night, and to Ryusuke's request that she have sex with him. Rather than just sex, she wants intimacy, the domestic relationship implicit in a bath, in short, what she had with Atsushi. The memory Atsushi catalyzes in her opens her up to an awareness of what she wants for the future, and a willingness to act for it.

When it comes, Ryusuke and Rokka's relationship will heal the breach left in Rokka's life by the death of her husband.

[FredFriendly]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

When it comes, Ryusuke and Rokka's relationship will heal the breach left in Rokka's life by the death of her husband.

That is, if it comes. Ghost boy might just be able to successfully screw things up for young boy, as he seems hell-bent on doing, that young boy never has a chance with Rokka-chan. Or he may realize that he likes the situation, particularly the aspect of a healthy male body, and decides to keep it forever, leaving young boy to wander around with Rokka-fairychan forever.

Frankly, it behooves me to understand how anyone could approve of what ghost boy is doing. He is really a very despicable character.