Personally, I feel the show has been going downhill since the kiss behind the knee. Or maybe since about halfway through Kaoru's arc. In any case, Kaoru's arc ran out of steam for me, and this arc never got going. There was just no
there there, for me. I didn't find Sae believable, even though a shy person like that could be very believable. Maybe Konno Hiromi just didn't make her work, for me. Clearly, other people's mileage varies.
In any case, onward and upward. I look forward to Ai's arc, and the rich voice of
Yukana (C.C. in
Code Geass).