2016-07-12, 22:18
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Link #61 |
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User of the "Fast Draw"
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Canada
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It really is an interesting setup and situation. Of course there is no telling that changing the past will undo the future, it could just create two timelines which could be for the best.
But, even if it does undo things....this is a regret that the whole group still carries. Saving Kakeru would be something that most should be behind. The issue of course is really for Suwa. Of course he could always find happiness elsewhere so it's not like he's guaranteed to be unfortunate. It's just an interesting situation. Naho's objective is quite tricky. Even though she has a family, the regrets with Kakeru continue to eat away at her. It might be cold to say....but she did kind of settle for Suwa because Kakeru died. But, that's kind of life. You adapt to what happens and carry on. If it was just that she regrets not pursuing that relationship and was trying to change the past that'd be one thing. But Kakeru died. His mother possibly could have been saved if they hadn't invited him, but that's hardly a given either I suppose. Save her that day, but would she never try again? But, it was still something worth changing. I think trying to save the life of someone you cared about and clean up regrets you had along the way isn't a bad thing. Even if it has consequences that the future Naho can't predict. There's no telling they'll end up without new regrets, but just without those old regrets. There's no force involved, Naho is just giving herself the chance to change things and make more informed choices. And it's going to let her change from someone who cut herself off from doing what she actually wanted to do. She wanted to make that lunch, she wanted to pinch-hit in that game, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it and hesitated. I guess I'm fine with this path. It's giving the past Naho a chance to decide her future. All the future Naho has done is create a chance for change and one that may not lead to the death of a friend.
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2016-07-13, 05:20
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Link #62 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Pakistan
Age: 28
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Episode 2
When Naho made that lunch for Kakeru and then it was lunch time, I was almost literally screaming "give him the nekoing lunch box dammit!". And then she gives him the lunch box albeit a little too late. Naho is beginning to follow the instructions more now after reading that Kakeru will die in an accident (which probably isn't really an accident) and after hearing that Kakeru's mom committed suicide for some reason on his first day of school which is why future Naho told herself not to invite Kakeru on that day because then he could have prevented his mother's suicide. The mission here is probably to keep Kakeru from going into depression and then killing himself. He probably has some family issues going on which is why his mother killed herself. Kakeru needs to be told that someone out there loves him and cares for him and he's not alone. That is Naho's mission here. Naho could tell her friends about the letter and discuss things with them and obviously not tell Kakeru. But she might be fearing that they might not believe her and will ignore her. But it is always better to not go at this alone because Kakeru's death will end with everyone regretting something because it could have been prevented. Naho is taking a liking to Kakeru and Kakeru is interested in Naho back. Suwa has a crush on Naho, which isn't that obvious right now, and he's backing out for Naho and Kakeru. He could have become a third wheel but he didn't. Hagita is a fun guy lol. The others will show their importance in the story later on I hope. Things are getting more interesting now that Naho's real mission has become more or less clear. |
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2016-07-17, 12:08
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Link #64 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Somewhere on Earth
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Episode 3:
Good episode, they are following a steady pace with the storytelling. From the messages that Naho has been reading to the relationship dynamics to the human feelings and realism, I think the show has been doing a fine job so far. Of course, the part when the characters talked about the future made almost all of them cry a little after they realized about Kakeru's future. Should be interesting to see how Naho plans out her ways to make a better future. Also, I think the series has been doing a good job at crafting the music to match in rhythm with a lot of the scenes.
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2016-07-17, 13:57
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Link #65 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
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i thinks it was nice to see that knowing the future isn't an absolute deus ex machina . i liked the way they put how even doing things to change the future she couldn't do it to this particular event. even tho him knowing her answer could make him break up with sempai early.
so if they are right and he knew he had no future, does his "accident" was in fact a suicide ? |
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2016-07-17, 16:52
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Link #67 | |
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Daijoubu!
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Malaysia
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Quote:
By continuing to watch this show, we are generally accepting having a knife stab us smoothly and slowly but surely getting it twisted within us as we get closer towards the end. |
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2016-07-17, 19:09
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Link #68 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Pakistan
Age: 28
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Episode 3
So Naho is doing her best to follow instructions from herself and things were going smoothly too even without her doing much. Kakeru joined the soccer club without her having to force him and the letter asked her to force him to join it. But Naho was a bit late in reading Kakeru's hidden message as she gets late with her reply to Kakeru's question. The result is that Kakeru accepts Uena and they start dating. Kakeru wasn't sure whether to reject or not so he asked Naho but she was late in replying. Naho should have confessed her feelings when she had the chance – and the best chance was when Kakeru was confessed to especially considering the letter told her to do it too. Kakeru gets her message a bit late but he gets it. Now to see whether he breaks up with Uena soon in favour of Naho or if he continues dating like the future Naho saw him. It could be that previously he dated Uena because he didn't get a reply from Naho. Now he got one. Even though Naho's answer was late, he still got one. And that answer was akin to a confession. Kakeru is interested in Naho but not getting a reply meant that she wasn't interested back in him hence him accepting Uena. Now he knows that his feelings aren't one sided so he could make a decision regarding Uena soon. Unless he doesn't want to quickly break up with a girl he just started dating. And Suwa clearly sees that Naho wanted Kakeru but lost him to Uena. He could probably think that it is his chance to get Naho. And maybe that happened with the future Naho. But I doubt it will happen here especially since Naho knows what to do and what not to do. Dating anyone else other than Kakeru wouldn't be a good idea at all. The part where they're all reading letters they had buried ten years ago had that interesting Kakeru letter. Everyone else wrote about their future plans, but Kakeru didn't. And that makes them all believe that Kakeru's death wasn't an accident. It could possibly be suicide. I'm really liking this show. This is one of those shows where I want to root for the character. I really want to see Naho change the future into one where she has minimal regrets. I'm looking forward to each event here – how Naho follows instructions, how each event effects future events, what kind of troublesome events pop up etc., all that's really interesting. |
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2016-07-18, 01:43
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Link #70 |
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Time Bomb
Join Date: Apr 2004
Age: 40
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This show really hits home for me when it comes to my own personal regrets. That alone has me invested. Compounded by such sweet and great characters like Naho and Kakeru it becomes ever more heart wrenching and painful. I'm looking forward to the journey and conclusion.
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2016-07-18, 07:34
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Link #71 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004
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While I'm not exactly keen on the path the show is taking (even if it's a bit early to say if it's truly following this "let's change the future" at face value or not), I'm quite liking the show.
One thing though, I highly doubt anyone with a big crush (and a future letter on which the fate of your crush supposedly depends on that is pressing you) would ever wait not even half a second to find out and read a secret message from the aforementioned crush while he's going to give an answer to another girl in minutes, so that bit felt a bit contrived for the sake of plot, but generally the episode was very good. I especially liked the simple but very effective way the writing made its point about Kakeru intentions. I'm referring to Suwa reading Kakeru letter. Curious to see if Suwa will play the shoulder-to-cry-on friend or the pushing one to the other, considering his position. Realistically he could/should be both. Glad that the plot let the story move without the constant step by step approach of Naho's letter, but that Kakeru already decided by himself, thanks to Naho, about soccer team. In this way we could also appreciate what Naho's doing carried into Kakeru situation. On the other hand Naho is starting to be a bit over-confident about changing the future. Or that was just a personal mantra. Surely it felt a bit ominous. About the letter well, considering Kakeru step up, I can't see him writing the same in the letter to the future self. But on the other hand if the future won't change regardless it would be a really hurtful punch to hear him writing down his dreams this time around. On the other hand it also would extinguish Naho's regrets, considering that the letter worked as confirmation of what they (his friends) probably just suspected about the nature of the accident.
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2016-07-18, 10:19
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Link #72 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: California
Age: 38
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Quote:
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2016-07-18, 16:06
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Link #73 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Quote:
 Anyways, my point was more about Naho not jumping on the message right away, all considered. Ueda was still looming and the letter put some notable extra weight to the whole deal. But maybe I'm just applying what I would have done on her.
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2016-07-18, 16:30
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Link #74 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: America
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Quote:
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2016-07-18, 16:53
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Link #75 |
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Forgotten Lurker
Join Date: Dec 2004
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If Naho and Suwa are married and have a child in the future, by sending letters back in time, is she trying to undo all that? Is she not happy about the situation that she's in in the future?
I feel like if she was happy with Suwa and the child, she would send a letter back in time to save Kakeru from the "accident" but not actually give advice to make moves on him. It's almost as if she's trying to to cheat on Suwa with Kakeru in the past ಠ_ಠ |
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2016-07-18, 17:06
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Link #77 | |
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Forgotten Lurker
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Quote:
If you said yes, then yeah this show will probably kill you. Seriously, if I were the main character, I'd read every single page of the letter, memorize it, then plan my day around making sure I didn't mess that shit up. Especially, if I knew the guy I liked was going to be asked out by some other girl and I knew for a fact that he had said yes in the past. 
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2016-07-18, 22:54
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Link #79 | |
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
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Quote:
Spoiler for episode 3 related scene coming into discussion:
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2016-07-19, 01:59
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Link #80 |
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You're Hot, Cupcake
Join Date: Aug 2008
Age: 42
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Off of what I've seen thus far, I think they can get the pacing right all the way. They have a complete story to go off. Really, getting the pacing wrong or the production quality taking a nosedive seem to be the only things that would stop this being my fave anime of 2016.
Naho's approach to that episode was believable. While she knows she needs to change the future ultimately in order to save Kakeru, there is still the element of feeling she could be tampering with Kakeru's life and denying him the chance to decide things for himself. But as that episode showed, there will be times that no matter what Naho does, Kakeru will still do things that can't be changed. This was never going to be smooth sailing nor should it be. At some point, Naho was going to get hurt emotionally in this process. But the fact she is hurt by how this episode turned out shows how much she cares. This isn't just a 16-year old who is suffering a broken heart. This is a person who feels she might just have made a big mistake in trying to save Kakeru and her conviction that the future could be changed is now being tested. You miss something the most once it's taken away from you. It's up to Naho to do what is best for herself - not just Kakeru. The final minutes highlight an important point. The remaining five aren't happy and they aren't close. They're not miserable but clearly Kakeru's death has scarred them for life. That energetic, colourful vibe the high-school group has is no longer there. Notice how those very bright and positive colours are now subdued and pale? Note how all of them have settled for something that leaves them with some degree of being content but with an emptiness/regret they will never erase? Changing the past may mean Naho and Suwa don't get married and have a child. But let's be clear - clearly the five can never truly be happy in a world where Kakeru is dead, probably by suicide. His death lingers over them permanently - being close triggers the memory of Kakeru and thus means they can't stay close. The bond between the five has been diminished by grim reality. This is a bond that is so very pleasant and hopeful in their high school days. It is a bond that needs to remain. And it needs a sixth person in Kakeru. This isn't just about saving Kakeru. Even Naho's personal growth doesn't complete the circle either. This is also about preserving that bond of friendship and optimism in that group. One thing about Kakeru is we still haven't seen things from his perspective or met someone from his family. We don't know anything about what Kakeru does or how he feels away from school. But there is one moment that reveals something. That look he gives halfway through the episode when he's collecting the drinks - he looks up at the other five with a dark expression on his face. Doesn't that give you the feeling that he still feels like he doesn't feel like he fits in with the other five and that he wishes he did? That he wishes he could be like them? One other thing to note - I'm pretty sure there was a short 1-second cut late in Episode 2 where Ueda walks away from watching Kakeru play soccer. That moment was foreshadowing her making a move in Episode 3.
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