(L) ef - a tale of memories.

[dojikyo]

Originally Posted by HeeroX

Good point, I never thought that way, that they are the princes to save the respective girl. Each one have your anguish.

Sounds about right. The preview video implied something along similar lines. You'll remember it was Hiro, Miyako, Kyosuke, Kei, Renji, Chihiro. Chihiro in the pv sounds far more serene than the one in the series though.

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by tripperazn

I'm pretty sure the captions reads something like "embrace your fate". I wonder what that has to do with Miyako in bondage...

Any one got ideas?

Well, I think rf hit that nail on the head.

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I'm going to go with "Notice that Miyako looks really hot in this white one-piece" primarily. (Other than that, I suppose it may be an allusion to episode 8 where Yuuko is giving Miyako advice/support to free her from the bondage of her abandonment issues?)

[Ascaloth]

Watched the Conclave-Mendoi sub of Episode 9.

A nicely done episode, tying up Chihiro's and Miyako's respective crises while simultaneously showing how Kei's chickens have come home to roost. Relatively consistent animation, nice overall handling, and yet there's a certain je ne sais quoi which the previous two episodes had, which this episode seems to be missing. Nevertheless, with the relatively good production quality, I can't rate this episode below an 8.

LOL at the Dango Daikazoku reference, BTW. I wonder if KyoAni is going to retaliate with an ef reference in CLANNAD, like they did before in Lucky Star when they got jibed first in SZS.

EDIT: Well, after reading the comments made by others on this episode, I finally found the words to describe the je ne sais quoi that I felt was missing from this episode. To put it simply, and not to repeat the "rushed" description that many have pinned on this episode, I felt that SHAFT resolved matters just a bit too neatly. The thing about storylines derived from Visual Novels, is that they're not so much about the resolution as they are about the journey itself; in that respect, SHAFT didn't quite show us enough of the journey to make the resolution feel fully worthwhile.

After reconsidering, I'll still give this episode an 8; decent, but not at the level of Episode 7's "beyond-10", or Episode 8's 9/10.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by tripperazn

I'm pretty sure the captions reads something like "embrace your fate". I wonder what that has to do with Miyako in bondage...

Any one got ideas?

What kind of entrapment is she really in anyway? Self-remorse? If you look closely, there seem to be some kind of black rope near her right arm pit and a single loop on her waist. It seem to do nothing more than symbolizes the same thing as Chihiro and her weird metaphoric description of herself being restraint with this chains.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

What kind of entrapment is she really in anyway? Self-remorse? If you look closely, there seem to be some kind of black rope near her right arm pit and a single loop on her waist. It seem to do nothing more than symbolizes the same thing as Chihiro and her weird metaphoric description of herself being restraint with this chains.

I think Miyako is trapped in the repeating loop of her "abandonment issues," as relentlessflame said. She was abandoned by her parents and feels alone and unloved, an outsider. I'm not sure if the caption to that pic means "embrace your fate" or "embraced by fate" (I mean I'm not sure, not that I prefer one or the other).

I guess the image of Chihiro bound by chains (in the stained-glass clock and in the OP) is weird and metaphoric, but it is also great, in my opinion: the perfect image of the psychology of this whole show, where people are bound by some pitiless fate and are struggling to find a way to get free. Yuuko told Miyako to remember the feeling of tenderness. Renji is offering Chihiro tenderness, too. And perhaps there is tenderness in Kyousuke's attitude to Kei. Human warmth to overcome loneliness and frustration.

To cover the male protagonists as well as the female: Renji is trapped in his feelings of failure and meaninglessness. Hiro is trapped in the almost untenable position of trying to be both a mangaka and a high-school student. Kyousuke is trapped in the memory of his dead mother, who was a movie actress (like Renji's?), and he keeps searching for the meaning of life through his camera's viewfinder. What am I trapped in? What are you trapped in? Great shows can help us ask ourselves great questions.

I just skimmed through ep9 again to check some things, and everywhere I stopped there were strong emotions and images of great beauty. Maybe the development was a bit fast-paced, but as I look through the episode again, none of that counts, and all that is left is this show's power.

[Doppel]

Spoiler for episode 9:

Beautiful artwork as always, MiyaHiro story moving forward while Renji receives yet more suffering. What I enjoy watching between MiyaHiro throughout the series is that there's very little awkwardness between the two, they really are comfortable each with other as they said. It would have been weird for them to spend a long time in complete shy silence after the kiss, so I thought Hiro's jokingly cliche love remarks were really fitting.

[FlareKnight]

Did enjoy the episode and just felt interesting to keep on pushing forward as things developed. Definitely plenty that still needs to be handled before alls said and done.

A tough situation as always with Chihiro. At least we could understand why some things happened in previous episodes. Like Chihiro working under the belief that Renji knew how she felt. After all anything in the diary is like an absolute truth. If anything is misinterpreted it will keep being repeated like that.

Of course that's not all of the troubles there. Renji is definitely struggling along with handling such a situation. Extremely difficult to deal with heavy questions like. If Chihiro doesn't read earlier pages does that mean that Chihiro is dead? Maybe not new questions, but still pretty serious things. Have no idea how this will end.

To a certain degree could feel for Kei. But it's somewhat tempered due to all she pulled earlier. Trying so hard to erase Miyako, deleting cell messages, and the whole coming out of the shower thing. I guess sometimes these things just come back to bite you later on. Do believe she'll pull through and Kyosuke should be able to help her in that regard. Want to see her push past the person who lied to get Hiro away from Chihiro or pulled those stunts with Miyako. But damn Kei really can run. Even in that state being able to outrun a bike is pretty good.

But nice to see some more HiroxMiyako development. Did hurry out there partly I'd guess because he'd be worried about getting into contact with her again. Went through some interesting talks about freedom and expressing how they feel when with the other. Using a story to help explain what her home life was like. Plus could toss in some lighthearted stuff here and there like Hiro trying to pull out lines from manga to fit with the situation .

So still plenty to take care of with the episodes remaining. Looking forward to seeing where it all goes from here. But this show has been one I'm glad to be following.

[Liingo]

Gah, stayed away from the thread to stop me from getting spoiled and I missed the whole conversation a few pages back.

Another enjoyable episode. It didn't have as much impact as 7 and 8, but we're now well and truly locked into the three main pairings that have been hinted at for quite some time. It did seem to be moving along faster than the previous 2 episodes, part of the reason why this didn't have as much of an impact on me than the previous episodes, but each of the storylines were handled nicely.

I noticed that people thought that Hiro x Miya going straight to bad after a kiss was a bit rushed. While it may have been a little fast, they have been building a steady relationship up over the past 8 episodes, where we've been shown that they are interested in each other. Like some of you, I agree that this is perfect set-up for what was in the prologue to be introduced.

Most likely it'd be before the halfway eyecatch, as we still have to see Kyousuke comforting Kei after the shock of it all, with Hiro appearing soon after, having been awaken by her scream. What comes around goes around I guess... although I think that we all expected this to happen at some point.

Kei calling Kyousuke instead of Hiro is a sign that she is starting to move on a little. Although I'm not sure that there'll be enough time left in the remaining episodes to fully develop their relationship.

Moving on from that, Chihiro and Reiji had some good development in this as well. He seems to finally realise that the story that she was writiing is essentially her life. There's already been enough talk on the wound that was caused by Chihiro's notebook so I'm not going to go into that.

Fading the colour out to just black and white during those events was a nice touch, as the memories that she was talking about were the ones before meeting Renji, a time of boredom, solitude, just existing, nothing more.

Just before the ed song starts, there's a silouhete of Kei standing before Chihiro on her chained clock. Are they finally going to meet after all this time?

The ending song makes a lot more sense now. It was a nice touch to have it come in at that moment as Kei was running.

2 other things. Dango Dai kazouku phone card and the scene where Reiji's mum and Chihiro are in costume brought a smile to my face, in what was a otherwise serious episode.

Arrrgh, now to wait until the next week...

[ImpulseRAven]

i laughed when Kei barged into Hiro's house^.^, paybacks a bitch.

[tripperazn]

Originally Posted by ImpulseRAven

i laughed when Kei barged into Hiro's house^.^, paybacks a bitch.

Haha, especially considering Kei's shower + "Onii-chan is sleeping" implications in the last episode.

That is some delicious irony.

[guuchan]

Originally Posted by Liingo

Just before the ed song starts, there's a silouhete of Kei standing before Chihiro on her chained clock. Are they finally going to meet after all this time?

That should be the girl from Chihiro's story, not Kei.

[Liingo]

Originally Posted by guuchan

That should be the girl from Chihiro's story, not Kei.

Actually, that makes a lot of sense looking back at it again.

Hmm, maybe it's just me, but it looks alot like Kei to me....

I think it's the hair that makes it seem like that. Either that or I'm losing it from the story-telling.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Maybe the development was a bit fast-paced, but as I look through the episode again, none of that counts, and all that is left is this show's power.

surprisingly after a rewatch with the subs i kinda take it back about what i said on this ep being too rushed. sure it is still rushed a bit but it no longer feels like it was forced rush-ness which is a good thing

what goes around comes around for kei...but i still cant help but feel sorry for her

(while her story was a lie and miyako could have doubted that - what kei sees is the truth, noes).

[Sorrow-K]

Ep 9 was a good episode, even if it wasn't anywhere near as momentous as the last. The Kei-Miyako confrontations are starting to become one of the big highlights of this series, but I do hope they become a little more multidimensional, since one could cynically summarize them as Kei saying "I will make you disappear" and Miyako reacting all shocked because of her abandonment issues. Still fascinating, though.

Most of this ep was absorbing, even if it did swing around a certain equilibrium for much of the time. The big plot movement happened in the scene in the end, and it does signal that the dramatic set up between Chihiro and Renji is coming to a head. Should be good.

[ZODDGUTS]

Originally Posted by masama

Kyosuke is probably regretting not having the camera at the end of ep9, how can he not film it?!

getting a bit tired of Renji x Chihiro, quite frankly I don't really care about them anymore, though I did like them in the first few episodes

probably a bit spoilerish

Spoiler for ep9:

Miyako BANZAI!
Yes I'm all Miyako x Hiro, so in your face Kei!!

Oh they were in her face... Naked!

Anyways great episode. Really liked how the meeting went with Hiro and Miyako they both really click well with each other both were finally able to let their feelings be known.

Hope their's a happy ending between Renji and Chihiro or should I say as happy they can possibly be with each other even with Chihiro's condition the way it is.

[SuperKnuckles]

I haven't seen such appropriate and melodic and fitting ED/Insert songs than ef's in a long time.

I mean, the EDs are a direct tale of the girls' situations and they carry on directly with the story.

On top of that, the seiyuu themselves sing it (ala Negima!? and Pani Poni Dash).

That's all I can say about ep 9 because the ED fit in so well with the plot.

And Yu is the coolest counselor ever.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

I haven't seen such appropriate and melodic and fitting ED/Insert songs than ef's in a long time. I mean, the EDs are a direct tale of the girls' situations and they carry on directly with the story. On top of that, the seiyuu themselves sing it (ala Negima!? and Pani Poni Dash). That's all I can say about ep 9 because the ED fit in so well with the plot....

On top of that, the words to Kei's running ED were actually written by her seiyuu, Okada Junko. I don't have a translation of those words, but anyway here they are in Japanese. To the extent I understand them, they seem to fit, too: hiding one's feelings, pain, a new dream.

[rg4619]

Yep, most of minori's lyrics seem to fit the original works and characters very well. Even with the anime, they've monopolized this process by having their key planners (along with Okada, who's actually married to Nobukazu Sakai) write lyrics.

[Sol Falling]

sat down to watch episode 9...

I could write a scathing retort to some of the posts in the past couple pages of this thread, but it seems anti-Kei is everybody's sentiment so I'm not going to bother. I'm just a bit astonished, really. Or maybe not.

As for this episode, it didn't feel rushed to me and I wouldn't rate it below episodes 7 or 8 (or any other episode, really, I think) because it feels cohesive in the context of the story as a whole. I also felt that the developments were very much in line with what was shown beforehand.

The main thought that struck me while watching this episode was "geez, men are weak". I can't really say I disapprove of Hiro because his actions and reactions are entirely believable, and that furthermore they are justified in this fictional setting, given the target audience. But man, I feel dirty having watched it. I remember saying things just like those (those things being "I'll only look at you," etc.) with that exact same ease and belief in myself only to come away some months or years later realizing I didn't mean them. So if that is the resolution (three episodes left) I think I can only see this as part of a story, beautifully told.

I guess maybe that's living in the moment, though. heh.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

sat down to watch episode 9...

I could write a scathing retort to some of the posts in the past couple pages of this thread, but it seems anti-Kei is everybody's sentiment so I'm not going to bother. I'm just a bit astonished, really. Or maybe not.

Im not ^^

I have a soft spot for kei because of the situation that causes her to act this way - as well as her natural born character, it really cant be helped that she is perceived as being spiteful...but i see her inner beauty *__*

The main thought that struck me while watching this episode was "geez, men are weak". I can't really say I disapprove of Hiro because his actions and reactions are entirely believable, and that furthermore they are justified in this fictional setting, given the target audience. But man, I feel dirty having watched it. I remember saying things just like those (those things being "I'll only look at you," etc.) with that exact same ease and belief in myself only to come away some months or years later realizing I didn't mean them. So if that is the resolution (three episodes left) I think I can only see this as part of a story, beautifully told.

I guess maybe that's living in the moment, though. heh.

Nostalgic feelings?
It's pretty solid what end we would get now considering the amount of episodes left...i dont think there will be much more events left that could surprise us - hiro and miyako is pretty much set into stone.
now we have to see how kyosuke get kei back onto her feet (which is probably what the remaining eps will be about).