I get the impression that many people here aren't getting the
real reason why Sui wants to shut down the Inn.
Sui has a polite pretext reason for shutting the Inn down, and a deeper practical reason. The polite pretext is most of what she explained to Ohana. In a nicely done juxtaposition of many stories of this type, Sui doesn't want to force her life's dreams unto her children. Whereas many stories are about a son/daughter breaking away from the family profession to make his/her own mark in life, this story is instead (in part) about a son who
wants to continue the family profession but who's mother is against the idea. But wanting to free Enishi from having to carry on her dreams is just the polite pretext for Sui's true deeper reason for wanting to shut down the Inn, however heartfelt this pretext might be.
The true practical reason is this:
'If I wasn't around, Enishi would run this Inn right into the ground. Him and Takako are utterly inept at running an Inn, and have proven that time and time again. I will not retire simply to see my life's work
destroyed by my incompetent son. Better to close it down now, while the Inn's reputation is still respectable. The workers at this Inn might find the idea of leaving it very sad
now, but they'd be cursing my name if I passed this Inn over to Enishi, and they had to watch the Inn die a slow and painful death while they work at it.' -
Sui's thoughts, imo
And let's face it folks, Sui has every justification and reason in this world to feel the way that she does. I don't fault her
one iota for taking the position that she is taking. If I had worked my entire life to make something worthwhile out of nothing, I sure as hell wouldn't let incompetent heirs ruin what I spent my entire life at either.
This is frankly Enishi and Takako's
last chance. Satsuki has thrown them a
very generous hail mary (the best wedding gift she could have possibly given them), and Enishi/Takako better catch this ball and make the touchdown, or they can forget about ever running this Inn. At some point, good intentions mean squat. At some point, you have to actually start getting things done.
If Enishi/Takako fumble the pass, then it's over for the Inn, barring a total twist ending where Sui gives the Inn to Ohana and Ko.
Now, I can certainly understand how the Inn staff are all very attached to this Inn (and to one another), but Sui's position is totally understandable here.
Now, back to the episode as a whole:
Loved the confession scene. Really had to chuckle at Ohana there:
"Damn it, Ko, it's
my turn to confess!" - Ha ha ha ha!
The whole manga scene was really executed well, and pretty funny. It did so many useful things at once:
1. Provide additional shared interests in order to further develop the Tohru/Minchi relationship.
2. Use Jiro in a fitting and genuinely funny way.
3. Make a subtle point about how the authors, creators, and writers that fans admire aren't necessarily the people we imagine them to be. I'm sure that Tohru and Minchi imagined the mangaka for their beloved manga would be some cool, hot-blooded guy - The mangaka equivalent of Kamina (TTGL). Instead, they got Jiromaru.
All the drama surrounding the Inn was very poignant and powerful. Nicely suspenseful.
The artwork and animation for this episode was gorgeous. I particularly found the colored tree backgrounds very pleasing to the eye. If the aim was to capture Autumn colors, this episode succeeded marvelously.
Impressive use of limited time. Almost every cast member was used in this episode, and used well. Almost every scene was chock-full of great characterization moments and/or meaningful plot developments.
10/10 for Episode 24.