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Definitely moving without needing to resort to being a tear-jerker. For me this is the best show of the season so far, and I've really enjoyed these sixth-grade chapters (calling them flashbacks doesn't do them justice). I haven't seen interplay between kids this age done as well in years, probably since Dennou Coil.
I wouldn't want to change anything about that episode. I thought the animation was again stellar, especially in the snow scene. I thought the goodbye scene was powerfully effective. And I really enjoyed Harada-sensei as the first truly important adult in the cast. He was a nice blend of humor and mentoring, and the way he gently showed Chihaya that she was being selfish by not considering how sad the boys were about separating was a textbook example of the right way to teach a child.
Can we put the Taichi-hate behind us now? He's a good kid, but in many ways the most realistic among the three leads. He listens to his dark side and does selfish things something, though he knows he shouldn't. That's what kids do. He proved his worth to me by having the decency to be ashamed of himself at the end of episode 2, and backed that up this week.
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