Amagami SS - Episode 19 Discussion / Poll

[Skyfall]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Amagami SS, Episode 19.

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[Sprite_Coke]

Highlight of the episode: Miya bathing

[DragoZERO]

Why did we start with a scene about Ai? They really should have focused on each girl in her own arc and not show the other girls.

Miya's laughs are sounding much more natural to me now.

And there was little to no romantic progress, it is disappointing.

[Lumine]

Rihoko humming her own ending theme. That is all.

Break Time!

[HandofFate]

Spoiler for episode 6:

Liked the part in the beginning when Juni'ichi tried to do the tea ceremony and failed. Then Rihoko is like "I do it" and Jun'ichi is like "That doesn't look any different than how I was doing it..."

Then Rihoko is like "no way." Then everyone just laughs at her. Poor Rihoko...

Every girl ended up getting some screentime showing what they're doing when Jun'ichi wasn't there on Christmas/New Years day which is neat I guess.

The resturant with Kaoru was good. With Jun'ichi offering the cake to Rihoko, then pulling it away, and Rihoko following it. Also when Rihoko tried to eat Jun'ichi. Fatty...

Miya fanservice was awesome. Also Miya "nisisisii" count this episode was high.
Jun'ichi flashing Rihoko was funny.

Rihoko humming and pretending to be that Idol group was weird, where did the music start playing from...oh well

Every scene this episode seemed to have Rihoko eating or talking about food.

I liked how Miya was all excited about getting "Excellent Luck" on the fortune drawings when its probably the worst of the ones between Jun'ichi and Rihoko who got "Small Luck" and "Uncertain Luck" depending on how you look at those things.

Someone needs a looping .gif of the scene with Rihoko eating all that food during the break times.

[D-Gold]

Originally Posted by Sprite_Coke

Highlight of the episode: Miya bathing

lol I found it funny that miya was trying to steal the episode with that stunt.

[adamatari]

Spoiler for Rihoko part 3:

Seriously, we're 3 episodes into the arc and they haven't had a single really romantic moment? They had hatsumoude set up and Rihoko didn't wear a kimono, despite being in the tea club? And she falls asleep? On top of that, she can't even make tea well!

I want to like Rihoko, but the directors have scrubbed her clean of sex appeal and made her incompetent at anything except eating. In real life, someone who is very good at baking and known for being sensitive to taste is probably going to be able to make good tea, especially if they are in the tea club.

On top of all of this, they gave Miya more and better fanservice than they gave Rihoko! That's unforgivable in her own arc!

I am not happy with this arc. There is no spark, and Rihoko is not merely a clumsy but actually bad at nearly everything. The directors must really not like her, to add insult to injury and give another character better fanservice in her own arc...

[Mairsile]

It was rather disappointing to see Rihoko's lack of willpower. First she eats Junichi's cake and then bakes cheese souffle for everyone, including herself. She takes 1 small step forward and 5 girth-expanding leaps backward. It seems Rihoko thinks of food as much as Junichi thinks of boobs.

I wonder what went through Junichi's mind when Umehara told him that "happiness may be found at a place closer than you think." Rihoko seems content to wait for Junichi as long as he eventually understands how she feels. I honestly cannot see Rihoko making moves like the other girls did and would be quite shocked if she does. This very well be the arc where Junichi and the girl do not come together as a couple. It may be true that he just thinks of her as a friend.

[serenade_beta]

Very uneventful episode...

The only thing really worth watching was Mya's bath scene.

Also kind of entertaining that Rihoko was singing the ED in her character's voice, but the ED is clearly not using the character's voice. So you can sing in that voice! Than do it!

[MeoTwister5]

Watching this episode, I'd have expected myself to be rather annoyed at her lack of willpower and action given just how much has happened and how much more closer they've come together. It's not that she prioritizes food more (but she does so a lot lol) than him, but it goes more to help bring insight on what she really thinks about the nature of the relationship and her capacity to make something more out of it, or should I say, what she thinks she can successfully accomplish with what she thinks she has.

It's not so much that there's no opportunity, hope or will to change, but more like she's friendzoning herself almost unconsciously. I think I can tell, because I've done it to myself more times that I really should have. In my experience, this status quo thing is something friends who want to be more than friends do to themselves a lot and they don't even realize it.

It's... actually kind of sad really. Blog post to follow and elaborate on this.

[Death Header]

Originally Posted by Mairsile

It was rather disappointing to see Rihoko's lack of willpower. First she eats Junichi's cake and then bakes cheese souffle for everyone, including herself. She takes 1 small step forward and 5 girth-expanding leaps backward. It seems Rihoko thinks of food as much as Junichi thinks of boobs.

I wonder what went through Junichi's mind when Umehara told him that "happiness may be found at a place closer than you think." Rihoko seems content to wait for Junichi as long as he eventually understands how she feels. I honestly cannot see Rihoko making moves like the other girls did and would be quite shocked if she does. This very well be the arc where Junichi and the girl do not come together as a couple. It may be true that he just thinks of her as a friend.

If both Junichi and the girl do not come together as a couple, even though this arc is specifically tailored for the girl and the Junichi to come together as a couple, then that's not an ending, especially since all the other arcs allowed for Junichi and the girl to bond as a couple.

Or it could be that the director was high on drugs when he made this arc.

[Darknemo2000]

Rihoko's arc is cute but frankly - it lacks romantic development. And she seems to like food more than romance too, lol. talk about lack of willpower. If this continues then later, as she grows older, she will really grow fat rather than just being cutely chubby and will have all thos eproblems that all overweight people do.

[ID555]

Awfully boring. What's going on, it's already the third episode, yet there's not a whiff of romantic development between them? I'm really disappointed.

Oh yeah, someone mentioned the third episode curse. This arc doesn't even know what episode it's on!

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Darknemo2000

Rihoko's arc is cute but frankly - it lacks romantic development. And she seems to like food more than romance too, lol. talk about lack of willpower. If this continues then later, as she grows older, she will really grow fat rather than just being cutely chubby and will have all thos eproblems that all overweight people do.

& that's why she needs a boyfriend that will be forceful with her when it comes to dieting. If Jun said don't eat the cake, chances are she'd do just that.

Really enjoyed this episode. Don't see why there needs to be romance in the series, especially when we know how much Rihoko has placed herself in the friend zone, and that's the focus. Something is bound to happen in the last episode though, as indicated by the preview.

[U<3Anime]

Third episode curse at full force. What the heck man, at moment i wondered if i was watching rihoko arc anymore. It's like they totally wasted an episode worth of development because they didn''t know what to do. Yosugara no Sora has 2 episodes for each arc and i felt it has been doing a way better job than amagami.

[Zeroryoko1974]

this episode was a waste of time, and they are turning Rihoko's arc into a filler arc.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Zeroryoko1974

this episode was a waste of time, and they are turning Rihoko's arc into a filler arc.

Just because there's no romance? Rihoko and Jun are both childhood friends, so it's obvious that romantic feelings are going to build up as easy as the past arcs. There is little build up in this episode, and it's sure to aim towards something in the last episode.

People just need to know that not all arcs are going to be the same. There a different approach to romance each time.

[MeoTwister5]

You're Only Stopping Yourself.

She's not really making her feelings more noticeable despite wishing that Junichi would finally sense them, and at the same time she's taking a real status quo approach to her plans despite probably knowing full well that it might not even go anywhere. She's actively trying to get closer to Junichi yet still apparently keeping him at arms length. A rather paradoxical approach if you ask me, but not exactly unheard of for people who, in reality, fear change even if they do want it.

As I mentioned before, she's just friendzoning herself.

You try to justify it by saying that you're taking your time and you're waiting for the right moment to let your friendship take a different course, but you sometimes don't realize that it's also because you're afraid of losing what you already have, and you're afraid that should you fail, things will never really return to how they were before you tried to take your gamble. They've been friends for years, they've even studied together and presumably even bathed together (as children duh!). This is something they treasure and share, and you wouldn't really want to trade anything for it. At the same time, you know that these days might never be the same whether or not you succeed and showing your feelings, so in the back of your head all you can wish for is some sure fire way to get your feelings across without shattering the nice life you have now.

That's pretty much what Rihoko put on her New Year's Day wish.

I'm not saying it's useless, but passivity also doesn't always get you the results you want. Fear is an understandable emotion, but if you really trusted that person, you'd know that he wouldn't try to make your friendship awkward just because you confessed. If you've really known the person for years, better than anyone else can claim to and enough to share deep secrets with, then I'm sure you can trust them enough to understand what you really feel, even if they can't reciprocate. True friendship doesn't end because one tried to take it to the next level.

For Rihoko, perhaps all she really needs is a bit of courage. She's practically getting help from anyone who isn't a Tachibana, and while it seems that Junichi might be inching his way closer to a realization that he himself might feel similarly about her. Rihoko might not show it, but deep down inside she must have some feelings of sadness and agony. These feelings might really just continue if she insists on taking the chillaxing road towards Junichi's heart. I really don't think she's content with the way things as they are now even if she smiles and jokes around with Junichi. The sad face she showed back then at the start of this arc reveals that.

Also this!

Spoiler for Idol Sakurai!:

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Just because there's no romance? Rihoko and Jun are both childhood friends, so it's obvious that romantic feelings are going to build up as easy as the past arcs. There is little build up in this episode, and it's sure to aim towards something in the last episode.

People just need to know that not all arcs are going to be the same. There a different approach to romance each time.

Granted, but we had nothing this time around. Jun gave no thought to what his perverted friend told him and Rihoko seemed to put no effort into winning him over too. We could at least have a little something. Now, it's all going to be forced and rushed. Or maybe they won't get together in the end and just stay friends?

[Ashlotte]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Just because there's no romance? Rihoko and Jun are both childhood friends, so it's obvious that romantic feelings are going to build up as easy as the past arcs. There is little build up in this episode, and it's sure to aim towards something in the last episode.

People just need to know that not all arcs are going to be the same. There a different approach to romance each time.

No this one is no different...Final episode will come...they get together...credits roll...the end. Only problem is they just pissed away an entire episode basically doing nothing.

If they really wanted to try for something different they coulda sped the development up and got the confession off at the end of this episode and actually *GASP* dedicate an entire episode towards what happens afterwards.

I know its tough for writers apparently to write romance without the "Will they/Won't they?" question floating in the background, but they could at least try...

Ah well Rihoko is still my favorite of the lot even if her arc has been underwhelming.