A really enjoyable episode and typical for this series. A little comedy, a little drama, and some action for good measure.
I really liked the "messages" in this eps. Particularly Sumire's point that even if you have one set of reasons for setting onto a journey, the reasons change during the journey. Deciding not to step forward because your original goal seems lost is wrong. There ultimately is more at stake if you look at it. It is worthwhile continuing and almost your duty once you have taken that first step.
I enjoyed Kitamura's guts to profess his love to Sumire on stage. She was just as brave not to cave in and instead make a statement to support "such an interesting guy" to the class. Sure it was a kind of cop out to avoid his question, but if most teenagers were in the situation, they would run and whine about how embarrassing that was. Turns out she wasn't just a cold and calculating tyrant as depicted earlier on, but a deep and caring person, helping Kitamura save face while hiding behind her own mask as we were soon to so dramatically see...
Taiga's insistence that Sumire take responsibility for emotionally injuring Kitamura was amazing. She loves him deeply enough to push the one he loves back toward him, even if it hurts her. Not only was she standing up to protect someone she cared for, she was making the statement that if she were going to lose, she should lose to someone who was worth losing to. Taiga has to move forward on her journey too. The ensuing fight was truly an epic anime moment. They didn't play it for super-deformed comedy that most shows would. They put in all of the blood, sweat and bruises that standing up for what you believe in gives you back. Yes, all of you pacifists and doubters out there, there are girls who will punch and pull hair over a guy, every bit as much as there are guys who will literally kill another man for similar reasons over a girl. I've seen it in suburban California, why not in Japan.
Sumire's counter to Taiga about supporting Kitamura by hiding her feelings so he wouldn't destroy his life by following her was a smart note too. She showed that she too loved him in return, but was sacrificing her own feelings for the greater good of both Kitamura's future as well as the school's potential loss of a good and caring leader.
Kitamura's acknowledgment that her message and reasons for loving and still holding back from him aren't going to go wasted was dramatic. He clearly (to me anyway) telegraphed that he accepted what care and love she might hold for him in the way she felt able, and he had learned his lesson to move forward despite the frustrations and pain that may lie ahead, because it is all in service of a greater future for them all.
Taiga's reaction was all pain. Stunning pain. So well illustrated by the animators. You could see the gears turning in her head realizing that she's both succeeded and failed in one brilliant moment. She brought the two together in her place and had lost all in one. To me that was also what Ami's comment to Minori, and her subsequent grimace and were all about. She, like Taiga, was pushing together two who love each other, even at risk of her own pain and loss. I could be wrong on that last one, but it was presented as such. A perfect bold underline of what had just happened.
A fascinating turn of events. If people think that this arc was a weak and pointless one, that's sad. In Taiga's, or anyone's life, going through these turns are such that lives and futures are altered inextricably. Paths diverge while bonds are strengthened in new ways not before seen.
I felt these were good lessons for the audience, because ultimately that's why they occur. It always amazes me how the real messages get lost on so many viewers. "So and so wouldn't really say that!" or, "Why would the writers put in something that just doesn't make sense?" Characters don't do and say these things for themselves, or to be more real within their world, but instead in service of the audience. They are speaking to US and telling us, DON'T make these mistakes without really looking at them from all sides and considering your own actions carefully. This is just a cartoon show. Your own life is REALITY. If we can put events and situations into high relief for you to not miss them in YOUR life, then maybe you will not suffer as these characters do...
Great series!
Last edited by Mughi; 2009-01-26 at 02:38.
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