The episode starts with a mournful, almost plantive song, overlayed by the characters voicing their deepest problems, concerns…and in the process, revealing who was foremost in their minds (as if we didn’t already know). A fitting beginning for an episode where some conflicts are resolved, while others go even deeper. Well, expect for Ryuunosuke, but it’s no surprise that he didn’t even think what he was feeling. So tsundere!
Sorata’s Anger – Justifiable or Not?
There’s a Stilts Out Loud post that I need to write someday titled something like “The Burden of the Protagonist”, because that’s what I feel Sorata is under sometimes. Pardon me while I go on a very meta storytelling tangent – sometimes Sorata’s personality is shanghaied by the plot in order to enhance the drama. “Forcing” drama is not a new thing, but when it’s done well, it’s a natural consequence of how the story or characters are set up, ala Kanna and Mio’s complicating affections in Ano Natsu de Matteru, or better yet, the original love tangle from this show’s spiritual predecessor, Toradora. Things go badly when a character acts out of character (or just stupidly) in order to advance the plot (trope!).
That’s where I feel like Sorata falls into at some points. I can’t hate him as a character – especially after the events of Episode 8, which still sing to me as one of the best scenes I’ve seen in a long time – but he does get awfully angry at some points when it seems like he could have just as easily chilled out, and in fact that might have fit his character better. Sorata is more the type to beat himself up or clam up and get awkward rather than lash out – those would be completely in character, and while they might not incite as much drama, they’d add enough!
What I’m trying to say is that, while Sorata’s anger is understandable, it’s not justifiable. I understand his frustration – he’s trying to hard, and it feels like Mashiro is slacking when she’s more focused on him than on her manga, like she once was. Seeing the world in black and white it also not uncommon for a kid – it’s with adulthood that we learn to play in the dirty gray, if we’re wise enough to do so. I’m reminded of an episode of Scrubs (because I’m a well-rounded nerd…stay with me here) where Dr. Cox goes into an alcoholic spiral over letting some patients die, and the protagonist J.D. is angry at him for trying to doctor drunk. J.D. soon realizes that he was actually upset because his hero wasn’t infallible…but that was his problem. Same here. While I can understand Sorata’s frustrations, that doesn’t justify him taking them out on Mashiro. I still feel like the writers shanghaied him into that to amp up the drama though, so I blame them. Presumably they’ll live, since they’ve been doing a lot of things right.
Nanami’s Longshot
Sorry to break it to you, Aoyama fans – she has no shot. Okay, that’s not strictly true, but if this show was going to be a curveball – and those have happened before, and within recent memory – it’s going way too deep down the rabbit hole to give us a pretty end. Yet, it’s a testament to Nanami’s character that, though I prefer Sorata to be with Mashiro, I don’t feel good about Nanami’s increasingly bleak chances. Like Sorata himself, she is earnestly going after her dream, to the point that she feels nearly overwhelmed by the skill of the professional performers they saw that night. What’s more, though she herself sees the writing on the wall, she’s still going for it. I admire that.
There’s one other point – in February, Nanami is going to have an audition for an agency, and if she doesn’t pass, she’ll have to go back to Osaka. Part of me wants to point out that if she wants a shot at Sorata, she should leap now before her chances evaporate under the love juggernaut that is Mashiro. She has a very understandable dilemma, though. At first I thought she was using her goal of confessing her love to Sorata as a reward for herself should she pass, but that’s not it. She probably wants to do it right now, but she doesn’t want to confess and then have to leave forever. If you’re going to make that leap, it’d be nice if it wasn’t for only two months! She’s in between a rock and a hard place, with her chances swiftly shrinking. I don’t want her to “win” Sorata, exactly…but I don’t feel good about this. Damn you and your heartstring pulling, writers!!
Sorata & Mashiro – A Hug Amidst the Snow
Communication. It’s oft-repeated nearly to the point of cliché, but is saved from that due to being absolutely true – the best thing for keeping relationships happy and healthy is communication. That was Sorata and Mashiro’s problem, in that Mashiro is terrible at it, and the plot was forcing Sorata to be so as well (see above). Fortunately, while Sorata’s anger felt forced, the resolution of it did not. Mashiro wandering off is completely understandable given her character, as is Sorata worrying about her – the ambulance driving past as he got the call was a nice touch. His dash to find her was the only thing I would have expected from him.
Ignoring how he stumbled across her so quickly (I’ll allow some convenience to the story…though only some!), the scene flowed quite naturally. Finally, finally, Sorata admitted that he was angry, and spoke about what he really liked about her! It’s fine that he admired (dare I say, loved?) her single-minded determination – though he still needs to lighten up, for (wo)man should not live on manga alone – but he just needed to say it!! Fortunately, he did.
Mashiro, though…she’s one of the best written characters in this story, and her confusion (and borderline desperation) about how to make Sorata happy again (so she could talk to him, as she so dearly wanted to) was really…I don’t want to say evocative, but one step below that. I felt what she felt, thanks in large part to Kayano Ai gradually injecting more feeling into her performance. That’s always the trick with emotionless light girls, using a light touch most of the time but knowing when to inject real emotion, and making it both subtle and moving. Kayanon is doing it, and the ambiance – both from the animation, the directing, and the music – is helping.
I’m not entirely sure whether Sorata and Mashiro have learned their lessons yet (though in Mashiro’s case the lesson was about understanding herself and Sorata, so she almost certainly hasn’t gotten it yet), but I’m hoping that them working together on Sorata’s next presentation will get them there. Take the help, Sorata. There are efficiency gains once you settle into your art, so Mashiro ought to have some time to help. You baka Sorata you.
Jin’s Decision and Misaki’s Anguish
While there were resolutions elsewhere, this is where the ones we got only brough about more drama and pain. Jin’s admission that he loved Misaki – first to the seito kaichou, then to Misaki herself – should have been uplifting, but he never seemed to feel happy about it. The reason soon became clear.
I don’t know what to think about Jin. He spoke of wanting Misaki not to just love him, but see him as a person, and I’ve always taken this to mean that he feels he needs to be somehow “worthy” of her, that his writing ought to be good enough to accompany the fantastic art she animates. But when he “rejected” her (sort of, I think), he spoke of not being able to care for her as well as he should. Is he…he’s not talking about money, is he? I really hope not. Jin hasn’t always been the most admirable of characters (he’s indecisive and a (former) manwhore, after all), but that’d be straight chauvinistic.
I think that’s just how the phrase struck me, though. Probably Jin still wants to stand as equals to the wildly talented Misaki-senpai, even if she doesn’t demand or care about that. My last comment on that: what a young man’s (boy’s) worry. Get a little older Jin, and you’ll realize that if you love each other and get along well, that’s all you need. You have that you bastard, so stop whining! *shakes fist* Damn kids and their music television…
Looking Ahead
With Chihiro-sensei going to Australia for New Year’s, it looks like Sorata will be going home…and taking three young ladies with him. Looks like we have some Yuuko time incoming, though we’ll probably get some more development from Misaki-senpai as well.
Sorata’s Anger – Justifiable or Not?
There’s a Stilts Out Loud post that I need to write someday titled something like “The Burden of the Protagonist”, because that’s what I feel Sorata is under sometimes. Pardon me while I go on a very meta storytelling tangent – sometimes Sorata’s personality is shanghaied by the plot in order to enhance the drama. “Forcing” drama is not a new thing, but when it’s done well, it’s a natural consequence of how the story or characters are set up, ala Kanna and Mio’s complicating affections in Ano Natsu de Matteru, or better yet, the original love tangle from this show’s spiritual predecessor, Toradora. Things go badly when a character acts out of character (or just stupidly) in order to advance the plot (trope!).
That’s where I feel like Sorata falls into at some points. I can’t hate him as a character – especially after the events of Episode 8, which still sing to me as one of the best scenes I’ve seen in a long time – but he does get awfully angry at some points when it seems like he could have just as easily chilled out, and in fact that might have fit his character better. Sorata is more the type to beat himself up or clam up and get awkward rather than lash out – those would be completely in character, and while they might not incite as much drama, they’d add enough!
What I’m trying to say is that, while Sorata’s anger is understandable, it’s not justifiable. I understand his frustration – he’s trying to hard, and it feels like Mashiro is slacking when she’s more focused on him than on her manga, like she once was. Seeing the world in black and white it also not uncommon for a kid – it’s with adulthood that we learn to play in the dirty gray, if we’re wise enough to do so. I’m reminded of an episode of Scrubs (because I’m a well-rounded nerd…stay with me here) where Dr. Cox goes into an alcoholic spiral over letting some patients die, and the protagonist J.D. is angry at him for trying to doctor drunk. J.D. soon realizes that he was actually upset because his hero wasn’t infallible…but that was his problem. Same here. While I can understand Sorata’s frustrations, that doesn’t justify him taking them out on Mashiro. I still feel like the writers shanghaied him into that to amp up the drama though, so I blame them. Presumably they’ll live, since they’ve been doing a lot of things right.
Nanami’s Longshot
Sorry to break it to you, Aoyama fans – she has no shot. Okay, that’s not strictly true, but if this show was going to be a curveball – and those have happened before, and within recent memory – it’s going way too deep down the rabbit hole to give us a pretty end. Yet, it’s a testament to Nanami’s character that, though I prefer Sorata to be with Mashiro, I don’t feel good about Nanami’s increasingly bleak chances. Like Sorata himself, she is earnestly going after her dream, to the point that she feels nearly overwhelmed by the skill of the professional performers they saw that night. What’s more, though she herself sees the writing on the wall, she’s still going for it. I admire that.
There’s one other point – in February, Nanami is going to have an audition for an agency, and if she doesn’t pass, she’ll have to go back to Osaka. Part of me wants to point out that if she wants a shot at Sorata, she should leap now before her chances evaporate under the love juggernaut that is Mashiro. She has a very understandable dilemma, though. At first I thought she was using her goal of confessing her love to Sorata as a reward for herself should she pass, but that’s not it. She probably wants to do it right now, but she doesn’t want to confess and then have to leave forever. If you’re going to make that leap, it’d be nice if it wasn’t for only two months! She’s in between a rock and a hard place, with her chances swiftly shrinking. I don’t want her to “win” Sorata, exactly…but I don’t feel good about this. Damn you and your heartstring pulling, writers!!
Sorata & Mashiro – A Hug Amidst the Snow
Communication. It’s oft-repeated nearly to the point of cliché, but is saved from that due to being absolutely true – the best thing for keeping relationships happy and healthy is communication. That was Sorata and Mashiro’s problem, in that Mashiro is terrible at it, and the plot was forcing Sorata to be so as well (see above). Fortunately, while Sorata’s anger felt forced, the resolution of it did not. Mashiro wandering off is completely understandable given her character, as is Sorata worrying about her – the ambulance driving past as he got the call was a nice touch. His dash to find her was the only thing I would have expected from him.
Ignoring how he stumbled across her so quickly (I’ll allow some convenience to the story…though only some!), the scene flowed quite naturally. Finally, finally, Sorata admitted that he was angry, and spoke about what he really liked about her! It’s fine that he admired (dare I say, loved?) her single-minded determination – though he still needs to lighten up, for (wo)man should not live on manga alone – but he just needed to say it!! Fortunately, he did.
Mashiro, though…she’s one of the best written characters in this story, and her confusion (and borderline desperation) about how to make Sorata happy again (so she could talk to him, as she so dearly wanted to) was really…I don’t want to say evocative, but one step below that. I felt what she felt, thanks in large part to Kayano Ai gradually injecting more feeling into her performance. That’s always the trick with emotionless light girls, using a light touch most of the time but knowing when to inject real emotion, and making it both subtle and moving. Kayanon is doing it, and the ambiance – both from the animation, the directing, and the music – is helping.
I’m not entirely sure whether Sorata and Mashiro have learned their lessons yet (though in Mashiro’s case the lesson was about understanding herself and Sorata, so she almost certainly hasn’t gotten it yet), but I’m hoping that them working together on Sorata’s next presentation will get them there. Take the help, Sorata. There are efficiency gains once you settle into your art, so Mashiro ought to have some time to help. You baka Sorata you.
Jin’s Decision and Misaki’s Anguish
While there were resolutions elsewhere, this is where the ones we got only brough about more drama and pain. Jin’s admission that he loved Misaki – first to the seito kaichou, then to Misaki herself – should have been uplifting, but he never seemed to feel happy about it. The reason soon became clear.
I don’t know what to think about Jin. He spoke of wanting Misaki not to just love him, but see him as a person, and I’ve always taken this to mean that he feels he needs to be somehow “worthy” of her, that his writing ought to be good enough to accompany the fantastic art she animates. But when he “rejected” her (sort of, I think), he spoke of not being able to care for her as well as he should. Is he…he’s not talking about money, is he? I really hope not. Jin hasn’t always been the most admirable of characters (he’s indecisive and a (former) manwhore, after all), but that’d be straight chauvinistic.
I think that’s just how the phrase struck me, though. Probably Jin still wants to stand as equals to the wildly talented Misaki-senpai, even if she doesn’t demand or care about that. My last comment on that: what a young man’s (boy’s) worry. Get a little older Jin, and you’ll realize that if you love each other and get along well, that’s all you need. You have that you bastard, so stop whining! *shakes fist* Damn kids and their music television…
Looking Ahead
With Chihiro-sensei going to Australia for New Year’s, it looks like Sorata will be going home…and taking three young ladies with him. Looks like we have some Yuuko time incoming, though we’ll probably get some more development from Misaki-senpai as well.
