Saturday 15 November 2008

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto - Natsu no Sora - Episode 10

After having enjoyed Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto - Natsu no Sora for its relaxing and almost soothing qualities, I was more than a little surprised to find things suddenly take such a depressing turn in episode ten.

After seeing Sora together with Seiichirou in the last episode, and getting completely the wrong end of the stick, the episode begins with what seems to be both Gota and Sora moping around, wandering the city somewhat aimlessly, and in the latter's case revisiting an old haunt in an attempt to persuade someone to give her a second crack at performing magic on them.


Eventually however, we find out what's really going on - Sora has a terminal heart disease which only affects mages, and she most likely doesn't have much longer to live. Gota goes racing off to try and find Sora (who is still wandering aimlessly somewhere), breaking the rule about using magic without being requested to in the process.

As I just mentioned, from the rather soothing nature of this series so far sudden discussions of terminal illness and death (particularly to the main character) has come as quite a shock, and I suppose it just goes to show how much this show has persuaded me to invest in its characters considering that this news and the second half of this episode are both quite upsetting and depressing. Not quite the relaxing watch I've been enjoying so far that's for sure, but once again the natural flow of the conversations and plot feel highly realistic (magic aside) to draw me into this world and let me share the emotions of the major characters, something that not all that many series manage to pull off quite this successfully.

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