Thus, with no school to worry about, Sawako has invited Yano and Yoshida over to her house for the day - Quite an event given her previous life of loneliness, and indeed you can't help but feel that Sawako's parents (or rather, her dad) are probably more nervous about the whole thing as she is. Anyhow, Yano and Yoshida arrive, bringing with them photographs from the class karaoke party we saw a couple of weeks ago... including some snaps taken during that moment between Kazehaya and Sawako. Naturally, talk soon turns to Sawako's plans regarding whether she's going to confess her feelings to him, and equally naturally she seems unable to even consider it.
Meanwhile, as Kazehaya bumps into Ryuu while walking Maru (who Ryuu is adorably attached to), they both receive some desperate phone calls from Pin, who seems to be spouting nonsense but apparently wants to see Sawako. So, before we know it the full ensemble cast head on over to Pin's house to find him with a fever, while Pin himself thinks he's been cursed by Sawako during a chance meeting at the local video rental store. Some medicine and room tidying later, all is well again, and Pin has even recovered enough to plant an idea in Sawako's head that almost gets Kazehaya into all sorts of trouble... albeit the good sort of trouble, if you know what I mean.
After packing in quite a bit of drama and fraught emotion in recent weeks surrounding Kurumi's shenanigans, it was actually really enjoyable to be presented with an episode of Kimi ni Todoke that was largely played for laughs above all else. Indeed, this episode was laugh out loud funny throughout and packed full of great moments that only serve to make me love this series more, while there was still enough time to build things up further between Kazehaya and Sawako in that inevitably awkward way that romance-based anime loves to portray. Much like Ryuu's absolute love for Maru, I find myself wanting to hug and cling to this series as something that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling no matter what, and this particular episode certainly didn't disappoint when it came to delivering a laugh, a smile and a feeling of loved-up well-being to brighten my mid-week.
Kimi ni Todoke is back after a week’s break! Well, it wasn’t really a break, because there was the recap episode, but apart from little old men getting drunk, there wasn’t anything new in that, so it might as well have been a break. Fortunately, KnT was back with a very cute episode, in which humour was allowed to blossom. And since a good time was had by all on their day off - even the dog – then a good time was had by the viewer as well.
ReplyDeleteAs Yoshida shrewdly observed, Sawako is more like her father than her mother, and seems to have inherited her social difficulties from the paternal line. Were her parents like her and Kazehaya when younger, except the other way round? In defence of Sawako’s father, I suppose if you had a daughter like that, you would be protective as well.
Pin’s problems were the core of the episode, and pretty ridiculous they were too. Really, as a teacher he isn’t the most appropriate model for his students. Wouldn’t a young, male high school teacher in most countries be looking for other employment double quick if he invited one of his female students to his porn-strewn room while he was in bed? And made one of his male students get her there for him? Is the man a player or what?
Finally, once again the cutest bit was saved until last – Kazehaya learns the meaning of the saying “he who hesitates is lost” the hard way. The poor lad nearly losing it afterwards was very funny and touching – but he’s going to get there in the end (not that we are likely to see it before the end of the series, the way things are going).
By the way, if you are enjoying Kimi ni Todoke, you might like to take a look at Production IG’s take on a Hollywood RomCom sort of thing, Tokyo Marble Chocolate. It’s a 2-episode OAV, with a different, more cartoony tone than KnT, but similarly sweet. You can see some similarities in the art, as well – or, at least, I did watching it last weekend. It isn’t as good as KnT, but it’s not too long , and worth a watch.