This good news in Sawako's ever more pleasant school life sets us up for another instalment which is, above all else, incredibly fun to watch. We get to see her make more new friends for starters, despite her naive struggle to start calling her friends by their first rather than second names (one of those issues it's still hard to appreciate the importance of sometimes from living outside of Japan), and even the announcement of the upcoming sports festival can't ruin Sawako's day, as she ends up getting to play (or rather, try to play) football with her new-found friends, before Kazehaya eventually comes to the rescue as she looks to find a way to practice after school so as not to let the side down. Mind you, Sawako spends so much of this episode just starting at Kazehaya and spacing out, I'm not sure any such practice will actually be particularly helpful, but never mind.
Off to the side of all this fun stuff however we do get a proper introduction of sorts to Kurumi, who is well and truly teeing herself up as Sawako's soon to be love rival when it comes to grabbing Kazehaya's attention. Although she manages to get to spend some time with him via the school sports committee this episode, at the moment Kazehaya clearly only has eyes for one girl, as well he should.
I mentioned last episode how that particular instalment of Kimi ni Todoke left me with a huge smile on my face, and this eighth instalment of the series is no different - Aside from being fun, watching Sawako's progress and the increasing acceptance of her foibles by those around her is truly heart-warming and pleasing to watch, while Kazehaya is the kind of guy you find yourself rooting for without a second thought. I really didn't imagine that I'd find myself enjoying this series quite this much, but every week Kimi ni Todoke ends up being my biggest highlight - I just can't get enough of it, and at the moment it seems simply unable to put a foot wrong.
You mean Sawako was playing soccer, right?
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Nope, that was definitely football. ;)
ReplyDeleteSawako making progress on more than one front this episode - not only communicating with her friends, but starting to realise her own feelings. Wonderful stuff - if you could watch that sequence where she can't take her eyes off Kazehaya's back, while her heart beats faster and louder, without a lump in your throat you might not be alive.
ReplyDeleteKazehaya on good form as well. The sequence which closed the episode was a winner. Seeing a solitary Sawako trying to practice football by kicking a stone about, he realises that this is an opportunity for some one-on-one instruction in the basics of the beautiful game. I think we can assume he doesn't have a detailed discussion of the offside rule in relation to play in the penalty area in mind. Unfortunately, he hasn't read the latest coaching manual, "Play Football the Thierry Henri Way", and can't use his hands for some goal-directed action, and instead of moving in for a close tackle has to be content with long-range passing.
Oh, and that Kurumi's a sly one, isn't she?
Speaking of names, everyone in class refers to Sawako as her first name and rather rudely at that (Sadako). But Kazehaya almost never refers to her as Sawako and most certainly never as Sadako. Always is Kuronuma.
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