This show had almost lost me by this point- slow and repetitive development of the main
characters made me feel as if nothing would ever change.

But this episode was awesome. The way Ken and Nanami are together is really and deeply
touching. As ken I know I would have had a hard time not descending upon nanami like
a ravenous wolf :P They are not just osananajimi, not just lovers, not just infantuated or charmed by each other, and not just in love. They lack the insecurity, the awkwardness, the doubt, and the misunderstandings universal to all couples.The two of them really belong to each other.

Perhaps its just a breath of fresh air from most love stories, and all the suukaku kankei plots.

I really felt the part when Kenji imagined something untoward happening to Nanami- he almost lost it. Thats a kind of shock you dont even get when someone tells you you have some inoperable condition and are imminently dying. He sees her when he looks in any direction,
her dying would be like the end of the world for him, in a way. (wow, its beautiful, but who
wants that kind of liability, that kind of weakness, i dunno)

And of course, the ending is a horrible cliffhanger. This is the first time I really feel compelled to see next episode of lamune.

Episode 10 and 11 have been great as they show Nanami and Ken trying to take the toddling steps to being an official couple. This is a pretty scary time as, of course, there's always the fear that if something goes wrong, you lose your best friend in the process. Of course, somewhat similar to Nemu and Junichi, there is a little less fear for Ken and Nanami as they've for all practical purposes been a couple for years now. I guess I'm not that worried about the "cliffhanger" at the end of eleven simply because it's really not the type of show that seems to be going for shock value (a la Shuffle or DCSS, both shows I enjoy also), but instead is really just doing 12 episodes of character work on Ken, Nanami and the others.

Im not worried about him not surviving. (allthough the potential shock value is high, its unlikely)
Its just frustrating that the event derailed the intense amorous buildup that was taking place, so it
left me hungering for that to continue.



Heh, maybe it wouldnt have been intense if I didnt have to go through 10 episodes of buildup.
But whatever it was, I liked it.

...knowing about the game sorta ruined the surprise, but I felt it was going to happen anyways. The accident Kenji had, although I didn't know it would happen that way, I knew it was going to happen, as one who knows of the game, it was well documented there lol...here, have a looksey:



Now it all the more makes me want to see the above scene, if it gets animated as well. I'd like to hear my Nanami cry one last time before she attains true happiness....

...what a strange past it is, here I thought an anime really wouldn't make me feel so moved, so...touched. Now I'd like to point something out, before anyone compares this to KGNE, please, remember the first rule of thought: this is not KGNE, all right, this series doesn't even deserve to be compared to anything, because I feel as of this moment this series stands by itself, utterly un-comparable. Difference's being, Takayuki barely even knew Haruka, so it should make sense why he didn't end up with her. Namami and Kenji, on the other hand, have been together ever since they were very young, and they lived their lives together, they did the same things together, it was no wonder why they were usually reffered to as a couple already.

I was very moved by the way Nanami was so caring of Kenji, even putting school aside for Kenji. Another interesting note was, everyone seemed to have their lives still on track, although still thinking about Kenji at times. I believe mr Azreal, that Japanese teacher covered that in one of his editorials, he makes note of how Japanese people react to lost ones. Although, of course, Kenji isn't dead, but that's what made it interesting as well. Nanami would go to the hospital now and then to visit him as if it were her house. Nanami still wanted to do things with Kenji, even a date as well, and I gotta hand it to her, she handled the situation quite well....

I had a friend once, back when I was younger, and this man was a very nice man. Everytime my family would visit his house he would always offer food to eat, he would always offer us a ride home, he was very close friends with my parents, and yet, his own family didn't share the same respect we had for him. After retiring from the military, he split up with his family and went to the U.S., where he had to get treatment for drinking, which I was told an addiction he accumulated over the years due to his family. But before he left, the last words I remember from him, was his promise to take us to a particular Lake in the U.S., where he would show us his Radio controlled boat, and how cool and fun it would be. Of course, his family didn't share the same enthusiasim, but shortly after arriving in the U.S., drinking and smoking became too much of a habit for him, that....he died. He died, and it wasn't fair. His family didn't treat him right, his family didn't love him, except his youngest son, whom I was close friends with as well. But his youngest son was too late to show his support for his father, and in the end, when it was too late, he was the only family member he had that cared for him. It became more clearer when his youngest son, who was in Germany at the time, wanted to go to his funeral in the U.S. (he had served in the U.S. military.), but the Army did not grant his youngest son means to attend his funeral. The young man was furious, and his anger further showed that he truly cared for the father had so little time to spend with. In the end, when I was told of his death, it came as a immense shock to me. The man had promised me and my older two brothers that he was going to take us to that lake, and he was going to show us how cool his R/C boat would look on the water, he was going to show us how fast it is,...and when I heard that he had died, I felt as if I had all those promises taken away from me, everything, all the memories of him, gone...

And it's anime like Lamune, one of the very few anime, that can move me and make me remember those people that I have known, and have passed away. And everytime Namami cried, I knew how she felt, but that she was in a better position than I was, to her, Kenji is right there, she can see him, in my case, all I had were the words to go along with, and his funeral was thousands of miles away, and to think the last sight I remember of him, smoking, drinking, always smiling everytime he saw me and my family, always laughing and happy.

So I wanted to dedicate this episode 12 to him, to my parent's friend, and to the man who had held onto his promise until life said otherwise, to the man who had served in the Gulf War, I dedicate this episode, and one of my favorite anime of all time, to you. And I have made it one of my personal goals, to go to the lake he spoke of, and bring an R/C boat with me, and see, what he saw, to feel, how he felt, everytime he was there at the lake.

With that said, I hope I didn't bother any of you, it's just that this episode 12 made me remember how it is to lose someone you cared about, someone who was nice to you....And I thoroughly enjoyed this ep 12, in the end when Kenji woke up, that was a touching scene, very touching as Nanami cried like she hadn't done before, and it was very nice to see this in animated form, as opposed to the game.

-Nanami cut her hair a bit. I'll admit I really liked long hair Nanami, but in the end, she was destined for Kenji, so I have nothing against her.
-Mr Tomosaka, Mrs,....what's her name...they seemed to have become intimately close of late, at one point MR Tomosaka blushing....hm....
-I do find it funny that Hikari is quite a small girl. Heh, beauty in a small, carry-able package...
-Lastly I would really like to commend Yuuko-san on a great, wonderful job she has doen with Nanami's character, well, any other character she has done as well. I tell you, I cannot fathom any other voice for Nanami other than Yuuko-san's. Again, a job well done, and congrats to Nekoneko soft for a wonderful project, Lamune.

Well, the ending was sortof slow paced for me.
I'm sure it was an agonizingly long coma for nanami,
but it wasnt really all that interesting to watch. (you kindof knew
he was eventually going to wake up, so it felt like watching how
long the writers planned to torture nanami more than any sense of suspense)

I did get the feeling at the end that whatever closeness they had before must
be incredibly amplified now- Nanami gave up all her usual school friends,
cut her hair as in mourning, and basically separated herself from the rest
of the world by 6 months of timespace. There must be such a huge chasm
between them and the rest of the world now they basically live on their
own planet. An appropriate place to end the show.

But I really wanted more of the romantic moments from eps 10 and 11 though.