Twelve Moments in Anime 2007 - #9: Shuffle! 16

The "12 Days of Christmas" series is a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we've enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. Feel free to join in the list-making fun too if you wish. We hope you enjoy this feature.

Connection is one of the most powerful things of anime. It can turn the mundane into the interesting, and the interesting into the legendary.

For your average impressionable teenage boy, being able to connect to an anime isn't very hard, especially in a sea of harem shows full of equal amounts of uninspiring, bland if not unusually nice guys.

Even with all the escapism offered by such shows, there comes a point where as cute as it is to see another "gee well I like X but don't feel like confessing for another 23 episodes" premise, the raw cliche factor of it drags down the entire feel of the show.

And so when something different, a different view on the topic comes up, it's enough to make me sit up and notice. A character with a viewpoint, a reasoning different than the norm, and a viewpoint interesting enough to really drive a point home.

One might say that trying to learn anything about real life from anime, especially the incredibly unrealistic harem genre, is ridiculous. But sometimes, you come across a gem in the rough.

Enter Shuffle! 16.


12 Moments of Anime 2007
#9 Shuffle! - 16
"Sia vs. Sia"

Shuffle! would probably be the last thing on a list resembling anything close to real romance. Tally it up - you've got one guy, his childhood friend, two otherworldly world princesses, one artiicial loli form, and...uh...Asa.

It's definitely a show that leans a lot towards the escapist side in the first half or so, with fanservice left and right. Even the more dramatic parts that Shuffle is remembered for could be considered the same - like most visual novel shows, as intense and emotional the plot is, it usually boils down to something involving the guy bailing the girl out of some danger.

Your eye-rolling mileage may vary; some are more cheesy than others, usually depending on the amount of character development the guy recieves - because an interesting show doesn't just show how the girl changes and falls for the guy but also how the girl can change the guy himself.

Y'know, beyond the whole 'blushing and stuttering' mess.

It's this kind of balance that, suprisingly, Shuffle! of all shows, pulls out of its hat right in the middle of it all. The balance is of a different kind that's equally interesting, in discovering the other side of romance.

Lisianthus is an oft-ignored in Shuffle!, her arcs falling in the worst spots: at the beginning, and between the first 'real' arc of Primula's and the most memorable arc of Asa and Kaede's.

Her personality can be considered to border on grating, with Nerine's elegant demeanor, Primula's silent stares, or Asa's cheerfulness preferred by many to Sia's hyperactive stalker attitude - which Kikyou, her alter ego, takes to an incredible level.

But, as such, one could say she has the most to gain. In the same reason that tsunderes are so highly valued, I see a lot of worth in Sia in how her outlook on Rin - or her outlook on her love life in general - changes.

Originally, Sia was very straightforward, almost pushy in her obsession over Rin (right down to the 'battle panties', right?), letting nothing stand in her way in her eternal quest to win Rin's heart. This is reflected in Kikyou, who takes this desire and amplifies it many times.

However, as the writing begins to appear on the wall for her relationship (as Rin takes a turn for the Asa), some revelations hit her. She begins to wonder if it's really all right to be fighting a losing battle like this, if it's right to try to take Rin's love from her friend Asa.

We see the Daidouji-special 'If My Beloved is Happy Card' played, as Sia tries to convince herself that as long as she can be with Rin as a friend, as long as he can be happy, then Sia can be herself happy.

Naturally, Kikyou is arguing the other way the whole time. It's an internal conflict expressed externally through Sia's dual personalities, and it's one that's extremely emotional as well.

It's a viewpoint very rarely seen in anime; so many characters focus just on the the ends, getting the girl (or guy), that the means begin to become irrelevant. Very few people consider the circumstances, the cause and effects.

They think just about themselves, even less than the other person. It's less "I want X to like me" and more "I want to like X", "I want to be with X". Often the other person is just reduced to an object of adoration, with no real emotions and thoughts.
Life After Confession isn't very much considered so much as idealized.

So Sia's maturation in viewpoint, thinking more realistically about love, is something that's really touching. Ever so much more because she is fighting against herself, fighting against her own emotions - she is trying to morph her desire for Rin into something more controllable, something more honest to herself, something that both she and Rin can be happy with.

It's something that's hard to do, and it makes her character all the more admirable. It shows that she has worries, she has fears. It shows that she's not just a fangirl.

It shows a side rarely seen in romance, and that, for me, is more powerful than any boxcutter fight.

-CCY

Artbook Check! Haruhi and Shuffle!

Another step towards complete anime geekery (one might say, to abuse more Japanese words, hikikomori-dom) is made with the purchase now of even more completely incomprehensible things from Japanese bookstores. The Haruhi Suzumiya artbook 'fanbook' and Shuffle! On the Stage artbook 'visual guide' were purchased for a combined total of less than 20 dollars, thanks to the awesome factor of a Los Angeles chain of stores called "Book Off", which I found had lots of cheap things (these), lots of really cheap things (a $1 section including English manga, random Japanese artbooks and magazines, and a Gran Turismo 2 guide. Old-school'd.), and lots of really strange things (a strange manga title I didn't bother to look into: "Rape+2πr"). That are cheap.

While I am unable to provide pictures for these two I can still review them and provide some information, of which was sorely lacking when I tried to research these two the day before. (when drooling over them at twice-the-price Kinokuniya.)

Jump!

The Haruhi Suzumiya Official Fanbook (Suzumiya Haruhi no Koushiki) undoubtedly, even for lesser Nagatoists Haruhi fans like me, was a good buy at $6 (Kinokuniya price $16). It comes with a pull-out poster, and being reversable it's your choice of the full cast in swimsuits or Yuki reading a book in the clubroom. Unsurprisingly I chose to bring my Nagato poster count to a whopping two. Insert fanboying.

The Haruhi book (the inside cover says "Haruhi's Formula", cryptically enough) features more information than you really need, which is strange considering that I don't even understand half of it. But when you flip to a page which has a picture of the entire seating layout of Kyon/Haruhi's class, including names and sentence blurbs about every member, you can tell there's a bit of detail put into it.

There's a good section on each character (unreadable, of course), in addition to interviews with the voice actors for the anime and the producers of the novel (artist + author, I believe). There's also another section which I think is terminology or something, but it's uber wall-of-text.

About 10, 20-odd pages consist of random illustrations as well; there are 3/4 page pictures of textless images that ran in magazines previous (if you have Haruhi wallpapers from the interwebs, you'll probably recognize quite a few), as well as some fanart by other artists (one was the core trio of girls in the Shuffle! art style) and a set of four 4-komas which, again, I don't get.

Someday I plan to get it though, which is my excuse for buying this kind of stuff.

There are also pages devoted to going through each episode (in addition to the OP/ED sequences) in full blog-post fashion, with more screencaps, more moonspeak, and apparently Haruhi's "tsundere" meter, which measures just how much she's either a) beating up or 2) melting over Kyon at that episode's time.

All in all a very worthy purchase, in my belief, doubly so if you actually understand any of this. Eheheh.

The Shuffle! On the Stage artbook was decent as well but at a comparatively whopping $13 (Kinokuniya: $30) and feeling a bit sparse on the art, I didn't think was as interesting. To be fair the Shuffle! book was a bit bigger (both clock in above 125 pages) but it didn't come with any nifty posters.

It too had a selection of art, from what I understand of the English-heavy Shuffle! was sourced from either game releases (the LE/SE versions of Shuffle!, Shuffle! On the Stage, and the DVDs, among others), but there weren't a massive amount of random artwork as well.

The bulk of the book came from the sections on the characters; there were about 6 pages devoted to each main heroine (7 in On the Stage, the core 5 plus Mayumi and Kareha), and a few less for each minor character (Itsuki, Kikyou, Tsubomi, the parents, etc). Each section displays most to all of the game CGs for that character, as well as a sketch or two and a Wall of Faces. No kidding - they took all the facial expressions and pasted them next to each other on a half-page; most clock in at about 30 or so. Walls of Text are, of course, very applicable throughout.

There is also a sketch section, where some unfinished art plus commentary from the artists are displayed; interesting perhaps, if you're interested in knowing how the process works or how to draw the characters; but most of the art is just uncolored/unfinished CG, so it's nothing new.

The interviews with the voice actors and the terminology section also exist in the Shuffle! book, and are still equally incomprenhensible.

If you're curious about the worksafe-ness of the artbook, since On the Stage was the PS2 version of the visual novel all ero content has been removed and as such the novel is relatively safe. There is no sex, no nudity (there are Barbie-style models in the sketch section, however, but everyone knows those don't count) and strangely enough no panty shots as well; although all the fanservice situations (Mayumi shoving her butt in Rin's face, etc) are relatively intact, although things have been censored to the standards stated.

What really weirds me out is that Mayumi and Kareha's scenarios still feature situations that look like they could have been lifted from the PC version, in that there is obvious censoring going on; one wonders why they even bother sort of leading the viewer on like that, pretending that they're seeing something.

An interesting bonus to the On the Stage artbook is that it features sheet music and lyrics for the OP and ED themes of both Shuffle! and Shuffle! On the Stage; however, being musically inept beyond DDR, I am not able to take advantage of these.

All in all both fanbooks feel like very good buys, although I personally prefer the Haruhi one, perhaps because it contains more content to the untrained eye. I would recommend both of them to any fan of the series, especially if they can be found this cheap.

-CCY

(Stock images from Animephile and Animebooks.com. This has not been an advertisement. XD)

Series Recap: Shuffle!

(on a side note before we begin, if anyone could assist in suggesting ways to acquire the 3rd issue of Comp H's for cheaper than Amazon's $30 shipping rate, me love you long time. thanks!)


"As long as Rin-kun is happy, then everything will be fine."

It's why I watched Shuffle. It's why you should too.

Today begins another flavor of content, full series recaps. Instead of recounting series episode-by-episode it's time to write some more all-encompassing content in reviewing the series as a whole.

Episode recaps will likely continue for newer, more recent series (such as Lucky Star and the upcoming summer season) but for older series these types of posts will probably become the norm, since most of you have watched this sort of stuff ten times over.

So, how about Shuffle!? On the face of it it's a very generic harem show, with one typically bland protagonist choosing between five typically varied girls, but there is a lot more depth to it than first meets the eye.

Here's the non-spoilery version for those looking to watch Shuffle!, and bonus details with spoilers can be found after the jump.

Shuffle doesn't really kick in until about halfway through - episode 12 is where the serious content starts, and it hits high gear around 16. Still, I would reccomend watching some of the early episode to familiarize oneself with the characters, if only so that the later parts can hit harder. Still, since Shuffle! is hitting R1 DVD this fall and it's a bit hard to come by online (by, y'know, legal means), if you could only buy some DVDs, pick up the 5th for sure (17-20, projecting 4 episodes a DVD) and, if possible, the 4th and 6th as well.

I would reccomend Shuffle! for those who like the "Sad Girls in Snow" genre (to steal a cliche), which I attribute to most visual-novels such as Kanon, AIR, Tsukihime, and yes, Shuffle. What I mean by that, is that, although these appear to be harem anime on the surface, each character has a compelling story to tell, instead of just being rehashed fluff. At the least, they are emotionally powerful rehashed fluff.

Shuffle! is similar to anime like the Key ones and Tsukihime in this regard, but it differs in that it is more tilted toward its fanservicey origins. So if you like panties and breasts, Shuffle! will be something you enjoy at least partially. And if you like serious storytelling with twists and tears, you will also enjoy Shuffle!.

As such, Shuffle! will probably be enjoyed by the latter audience, who can stand the former. If you're just in Shuffle! for the dirty aspects of it, the first half is nearly all yours. I would suggest, if you're into that sort of thing, check out the Shuffle! series of h-games, which seem significantly more biased towards ero content.

Still, for anyone who is not overly disturbed by fanservice (and if you are, there's always the fast-forward button, or your eyelids), I would give Shuffle! a strong recommendation. Spoilers ensue after the jump.

There are a few aspects to Shuffle! that really make it stand out among the many contenders in its genre. After all, fanservice anime have always been pretty crowded, and the field for eroge adaptations is pretty strong as well. As mentioned above, Shuffle's acceptance of its fanservice roots will draw in an extra audience, and it doesn't detract away from the more meaty content too strongly.

What Shuffle is really known for, if you've ever heard the term 'to pull a Shuffle' used in my blog or others, is the twist ending. Very often harem animes are extremely predictable - the main girl is designated early and focused on often, to the point that one doesn't really even need to spoil the fact that she is the ending girl (i.e. the True Love).

Shuffle! set up viewers this way subtly, listing towards Kaede's direction if not solely because of her Childhood Friend designation (which has a strong track record of winning). But she was quickly cast into the background in favor of the rest of the cast, who faded in and out of the spotlight, sometimes numerous times.

That's the interesting thing, that there really was no such thing as "down and out" in Shuffle. Sia, who suffered the death blow of having the first arc early, came back two-thirds down the line, right in the heat of things. Kaede, as mentioned, was the one who was always ignored throughout the series, but being the Childhood Friend, technically was always in it - especially when she pulled off her arc in style with 5 episodes to go - decision time. Doubly so because the episode before, Asa, the one who had the most hints dropped towards her getting an ending, turned down Rin (hint: the male protagonist) because of his inability to function on his own.

In the end, of course, Asa came back and won, but who would have put money on her after episode 1? And it was a fight all the way to the wire as well. Nerine and Primula, although not mentioned above, did have their moments as well - although they were the first true victims of First Arc Syndrome. All the girls resolved their conflicts in a realistically viable manner, choosing to accept Asa as the winner in addition to giving up their own affections - or at least, resolving to fight harder to overtake Asa.

After all, as Sia puts it, the Gods practice polygamy.

Enough about the twist ending, as it is. The characters, as hinted at above, are a varied and interesting cast as well, and aren't just cookie-cutter - although they do fit a few stereotypes.

Sia, the god princess, and Nerine, the demon princess, share many similarities in that they are both two-for-one deals in that they harbor alternate personalities, in addition to both of them having met Rin in the past. Sia has Kikyou, and Nerine has Lico.

Taking the first pair, Sia is your typical Genki Girl at first, being very enthusiastic and energetic, but not as much as to get onto one's nerves. She has a more shy and reserved side though, which shows in her second arc, where she begins to mature and doubt herself about chasing Rin so blindly without considering others. This is of course a sharp contrast to her alternate personality, Kikyou, who is more of a 'win-at-all-costs' type personality, which makes for some interesting switch-offs and stand-offs between the two of them.

Nerine is decidedly more reserved than Sia, and is more prone to embarassment. Perhaps this is a fault of blue hair, but she reminds me a lot of Mina from TokiMemo Only Love, in that both of them, despite being a bit shy, aren't afraid to speak their mind and stand up for themselves. As such, she's much of an improvement over the typical Shy Girl mold. In the overall scheme of things, she actually sneaks in the first kiss on Rin. How about that, eh? Lico is her alternate personality, who sacrificed herself a long time ago for her sister (Nerine, if you're not keeping track). Not much is exposed about her but she seems very much like your typical Idol-type who is confident, and perfect-seeming. At least, we don't see much of her flaws.

Primula is the real Quiet Girl of this cast - must be something with the purple hair - but she does show facial emotion quite often, most often worry in the tearing apart of her 'family' (Rin and Kaede). Her form of love deals less with romantic and more with family, as her arc deals with the separation of her from everyone, and she frequently tries hard to keep everybody happy and friendly, in her quiet little way. She's also the closest we ever get to a meganekko, for those who are keeping score.

Kaede's a cookie-cutter Childhood Friend for most of the show, in that she's very friendly and yes, willing to step out of the way as her love goes off to cavort with more interesting personalities. She does show change though, as all this wear is piling up on her behind the scenes, until she snaps (see the famous first picture of this post), going through the typical phases of stress; denial, anger, depression, acceptance, or something like that? It's something we rarely see in anime, and it really goes a great way towards giving Shuffle top tier status, in that Kaede, in addition to the other characters, do not stand by the wayside and let Asa win.

Asa is Genki Girl 2.0, even more so than Sia, frequently speaking in English and giving Rin enthusiastic slaps on the back. She is of this type to the extent that she plays happy in order not to worry others (since she actually turns out to be a Sick Girl). She has quite a backbone, which is shown in her shaping of Rin, whether it be how he treats her or how he confesses to her. She actually TURNS DOWN a confession from the lead protagonist (Rin) - which has to be a first in anime, especially since she harbors feelings for him too, of course. It's the little surprises of Shuffle that count.

Rin is the male protagonist, and I haven't written much about him because there's not much to say about him. He starts as your typical spineless character, realizes his weakness, and matures into a responible young man, or something honorable sounding like that. He's not anything far out of the norm, to the extent of, I suppose, Kyon or Yuuichi - although there HAVE to be other people to mention in these situations - despite sharing the same voice actor.

There's a theme which ties Shuffle! together, which is the supernatural aspect of magic. The gods (Sia's people) and the demons (Nerine's people) have worked together to try to create a human lifeform capable of using and controlling magic (or something like that). They failed at least once, maybe twice, and succeeded once, and all three characters play a strong part in the series. Why?

The first one was Ama, Asa's mom. The first 'clone', as it is, was presumed dead for a long time, but since it's well known that Asa's mom is rather in the alive column, that's proven false. She had some vague form of magical potential, which she passed on to her daughter Asa, setting up her arc.

The second one was Licorice, Nerine's sister. She's been explained already, and she proves to not have tied only to Nerine but to the third test subject...

Primula. See how it all works together? The theme pops up now and then, as such, for surprise plot twists or explanations, but it seems almost plausible and doesn't detract from the experience, especially in comparison to other unifying explanations of eroge.

The other theme of Shuffle! is flowers or something, as everyone is named after a flower in some way. This is most obvious in characters such as Nerine, Nadeshiko, and Mayumi Thyme. I don't believe this convention means anything beyond the names, though.

The side characters of Shuffle are very good as well, as Itsuki, the runner-up male, is much stronger of a character and much more entertaining than the usual pathetic to the nth degree Second Harem Guy, as well as his friend (and, as has been hinted at in Shuffle! On The Stage blurbs, his love as well. I would like to beg for a Mayumi path translation, please?) Mayumi Thyme, who forms the energetic comedy duo with Itsuki. The pair are always good for laughs, as they each have repeated - yet amusing - gags involving Itsuki's harem dreams/jealousy and Mayumi's defensiveness of her small bust size. The parents of Sia and Nerine are also a good combination for humor, and even Nadeshiko, the typical Overly Racked Teacher, has her moments.

And on a minor note, the opening and ending songs are really ace - YURIA and Miyuki
Hashimoto have cranked out a lot of good songs for the Shuffle! series, in addition to just the two here in this anime.

So, with all the gushing about this series, what's not to like about it?

The fanservice, honestly, does get to me at times. It's not as horribly bad as some other series, but sometimes it just seems like it could be made more plausible, or less obvious. When was the last time a swimsuit got washed off by a rogue wave while swimming at the beach? Or the last time a eight-year-old kid ran around lifting up girls' skirts? Or even Mayumi accidentally going commando (gee, I tend to remember whether I put underwear on or not) at the maid cafe? But then again, I'm talking about fanservice, so I don't know why I'd even bother trying to make it believable.

The first few episodes seem a bit dull at times as well, although this might just be my personal First Episode Syndrome of not liking beginnings. The ending falls rather flat as well, as Asa seems to act particularly out of character, refusing to use magic and save her damn life based on personal beliefs. Not to mention Rin cutting himself. And then the last half of the last episode is the usual Life X Months Later concept, with really ugly animation. C'mon.

Shuffle! Memories, if you're considering that as well, is a silly idea as well, being 99% recaps. I would say, maybe watch the last episode of that and call it a day. It's no diet substitute for the real series as well - it lacks a lot of buildup, personally.

And the Shuffle! fanbase? Scary. Whose idea was it to invent canon fanclubs in the anime?

But overall, Shuffle! is definitely on the higher end of recent harem shows and maybe anime in general. It's a bit more light than the really heavy anime such as the Key series (Kanon, AIR) and maybe some of the Type-Moon stuff (Tsukihime) as well, so you can feel some strong emotion for the characters without the tissue box for once (maybe). It's innovative, and has a a lot of surprises in store. And the flaws can be overlooked - and after all, every show has their flaws, even shows that I'd gush over like Haruhi, Kanon, Cardcaptor Sakura - and there's really a lot of good stuff, especially at the end, that makes it worth your time - and maybe money.

-CCY

Shuffle! 19 - Moment of Impact

Well, here it is. The big one. The arc that elevates Shuffle! from "Ah, a good light-hearted harem eroge adaptation" to "It's like Key, but with breasts." Which is true mainly because here, the plot gets more serious, more interesting, and thankfully, a bit less fanservicey than is the norm for this series.

Not a lot to say that won't spoil this episode to death, since it has some large exposition, but to say the least it involves several years' worth of buildup, although, from the anime where everybody knew somebody back in the 'promised girl' flashback age, that shouldn't say much.


XWindow: Jump out in.
This should. Someone - or at the going rate, more than one someone - is out to get Rin. Who? Why? Are they successful?

Well, of course, the last answer is kind of a no, as having your harem lead die would be a bit of a downer. But then again, there's always Itsuki, who's too shiny-glasses awesome in this series to be called by that name which graces that of lower-grade espers and drivers of Levins.

Anyway, find out next time on - what, this isn't a TV commercial? There's more? After the jump (spoiler safe through Shuffle! 19). Fine, be that way. Can't I stretch this out over two days of suspense?

Don't give me that 'everybody's already seen the anime' look. It's coming to R1 soon, and then I'll laugh at you fools who said nobody cares about Shuffle anymore! Mwhahahahahah!

Er, sorry, that acts up. I wonder if Shuffle! still does have a decent fanbase - although, from the looks of the AnimeSuki forums (the ones I browse frequently) it's much more chaotic and cutthroat (with those stupid fanclubs) than other harem anime. Possibly because they learn from example, if this episode is any cue.

Additionally, I wonder how the censoring will work on the Shuffle! R1s. I'd like to know if I am able to buy the DVD without putting on a trenchcoat and a fake mustache.


See that title card? That title card screams ominous. We don't even get color and large kanji like we did with the Rimu arc. Just a bit of tiny text, an episode number (oddly), and we're off. Shuffle! wants you to know when it does plot, what with the flashing back and forth between happy intro/serious intro and happy eyecatchcleavage serious eyecatch.


In Key fashion, we begin with a flashback, to the most repeated one of the series: loli Kaede and loli Rin in the rain. As we all know, rain in anime is a Very Bad Thing, and Kaede reinforces this by finally filling in the words we've been waiting to hear for about 15 episodes:

Hmm, somehow that just doesn't have the same ring, I must say. So now that we've established that Rin has done something Really Really Bad to Kaede (like, post bad things on her Myspace or something. I can't believe I just typed that), we...wake up. What did you want? More plot?

Strangely enough, this morning Kaede is not up to wake Rin as she always seems to be. Adding to the awkwardness, Rin refuses a meal (breakfast) for the second time in favor of going out and playing with Asa, a foolish move. He's not doing much to maintain balance in the harem - although he may feel he owes Asa something after the uber-failed date at Cupid Land.


And so Rimu and Kaede are left alone in an extremely quiet house, doing busywork. There just seems to be no life in it without Rin. Why do I mention that, you wonder...

Oh, hey, we get plot after all! Going back to 8 years ago, we learn of the fact that Kaede's mom and both Rin's parents died in a car accident - eat your heart out, Kanon. (it's not spoilers, I swear!) That's one hell of a car accident. I'm sure this has been referenced before but now it's brought to the forefront.


Obligatory 'opposite meaning' statement. Last time you'll see her happy in the next 25 minutes. (ncidentally, if you did not get it, her parents did not end up fine, and as proven, neither will she:

It's a bit of a shock for her. It's interesting, showing some real reaction to the death of a parent. Often times in anime, dead parents come standard, and the children are either 'too young to remember it', or blatantly ignoring it, referring to themselves in the third person and buying giant anteater plushies.


Flash-forward briefly to loli Kaede in the hospital. She hasn't incurred any physical injury, but her mental trauma is shutting her down as she's stopped reacting to any outside influences, being very glassy-eyed and downright creepy. Rin notices this, and goes to the hospital that night to cheer her up.


Why? Nothing important can happen before sunset, and so Rin must wait until after dark to discuss important matters with Kaede. Namely, the fact that he killed their parents.

WHAT!?


Oh yes, that's a twist. It's actually only a vague association, since Rin claims he asks them to come home early because he was lonely, but it's enough for Kaede, who, almost looks shocked even more so than she already did, to react again.


Unfortunately, it was not the reaction anyone was hoping for, as Kaede begins choking Rin, the beginning of a series of nasty events that includes the pictured slashing of the blinds and the infamous boxcutter drop on Rin.

Now, speaking as one who is theoretically watching this live, how the hell did things change in 8 years? You'll note that Kaede in the present talks about how her life is devoting to serving Rin. 8 years ago, her life was devoted to killing Rin. Indeed, she screams at Rin, 8 years ago, how she would "never forgive him." - although, it sure seems like she has. Remember, 5 minutes ago? The 'you deserve to die' line?

We actually manage to get to that full scene in the flashback, in it's correct chronological place. Kaede adds an additional powerful line, asking why her mom is dead, yet Rin is still alive. She sure seems a bit enthusiastic to place the blame on Rin, casting him aside from her life, but, I'd imagine an event like this would make anyone unstable.

Flash forward a few years, to middle school Kaede, cleaning. The flashback continues, as Kaede knocks over a couple of things from Rin's desk, and finds a very important, and conveniently placed, card.

It's addressed to her.
Picture: her and her family, including her dead mother.
Sender: her dead mother.
Date:


Now, if there was ever an in-anime WTF moment, this would so entirely be it. Even the viewers might be a bit shocked at this twist, which, looking back, seems unbelievable, but I didn't mind too much.

It turns out that Kaede's mother actually headed home early to attend to her daughter (hint: that's Kaede) who was ill that day with a fever. Incidentally, the fever may or may not be important (who else's backstory features sickness in youth?), but at least there are no worries about her turning back into a fox.

Anyway, here's the point. Somehow, it's not Rin's "fault", but Kaede's "fault".

You thought Kaede was broken before? Oh, no, you didn't. You don't know broken. This is broken like all of the climaxes of the Kanon arcs put together into one, broken. (which would make for a weird story)


Rin comes out of nowhere to snatch the card back from Kaede. This really reveals a lot about Rin's selfless side, in that he is willing to sacrifice a lot of himself in order to get Kaede to live a normal life, even up to the extent that he's willing to endure abuse forever - note how he doesn't want Kaede to know the truth. Putting it this way, it seems that certainly he had a level of feelings for Kaede - whatever happened to that?


Anyway, Kaede (in the past still) can't handle it, as predicted, and does the typical "I'm at a loss for what to do, so I'll run away." As if her guilt for Rin wasn't enough, she runs in front of a truck (by accident, it must be noted), only to have her life saved by, yup, Rin. That's not them dancing in the screenshot above.


All Kaede can do, in her wrecked state of mind, is cry and apologize. A lot. Like ten times. Maybe
twenty. After this scene ends we move back to the present, where it almost seems like Kaede is the one having this flashback, not Rin.


This is because Rin's at the cafe, having fun with Asa. It's about time we got some smiles in this episode. That's one good thing about Asa, she always seems happy, even one episode after Rin seriously, seriously messed up with her.


She's even happy when she's fainting - kind of a detraction - making amusing remarks like the one two screenshots above. Although, there's something to be said about the whole playing-happy idea, the "Nothing's wrong" approach. There is so something wrong, Asa. But not with you, for now.


Rin comes home to Rimu and Kaede. However, he continues to worry about Asa, which worries Rimu and causes her to worry about Kaede (worrying about Rin). It's a worry triangle-ish-shaped-thing. How sad. Also, note dramatic, sad piano music.


Rin and Rimu try to burn away their trouble by playing video games. And by video games, it appears to be Pong. ON A PS2. Funny how this would kill the mood for a moment for me, in the ridiculousness (and laziness of animation) of it all. Although, it builds back up when Rin starts ignoring Kaede in favor of, in this case, PS2 Pong. Rimu gives him more worried looks. He's not watching.

Kaede asks Rin to go shopping with her tommorow, which he finally agrees too...and instantly cancels in favor of another date with Asa. Bad Rin. Bad!

The signs begin to mount:

Rin and Asa seem to be having a lot of fun, one would say too much fun, in contrast with:

Kaede, who tries to sound happy, but finds out she has no eyes. And what does it mean when they purposely don't show a character's eyes? It means they're lying. To others, to themselves, something.


But, as it always is, it is NOT all right. Something IS wrong. It's NEVER nothing, nothing at all. Don't believe it for a second, Kaede doesn't either.


Oh yeah, and to make the situation better, after Rin comes back from his date with Asa, he refuses another meal from Kaede, like he has been doing. Now, what happened the last time he refused meals? That's right! We got sad Kaede, which makes sad Rimu, which makes goddamn annoyingly oblivious Rin. Come on.


Things get worse, as Kaede cancels a shopping trip tomorrow with Rimu in favor of sitting around the house and losing herself in her own handiwork. Rimu, as usual, looks worried, as she's probably the only one who knows what's going to happen. And yet, she can do so little...


The next day, Rimu and Kaede spend the day at home while Rin, yup, is out with Asa again. He has some more dangerously happy montages, while Kaede continues to crack, mentioning just how happy Rin must be with her. Kaede doesn't want to be in Asa's place on a date with Rin, no, definitely not at all.


She continues, with a breaking voice and no eyes, about how Rin is the happiest he's ever been - with Asa, a.k.a. Not Her.


Rimu, still worrying (if there is any other face), tries to help the conversation along but asks a very, very volatile question in posing the Tomoyo Trap: is Kaede truly happy? Is she happy if Rin is happy, even if that happiness is with another person?

Of course she is, says Kaede.

Of course not, says her face.

The famous shot. Something says Rimu isn't going to be very reaffirmed by this response. And, all of a sudden viewers out there should have premonition of just what's in that pot that Kaede's stirring.

Or, what isn't in the pot. Namely, food. Something says Rimu might have coincidentally lost her appetite. Cracked, Kaede? No, we passed that point a long time ago, Kaede.

The phone rings. It's Rin. For the love of Haruhi God Asa life, save yourself, Rin!! It turns out that he's called to tell Kaede that he doesn't need dinner.

BRILLIANT MOVE!

Also heard in the background are nice, happy sounds of Asa and Ama. (incidentally, there's also a scene of Asa and Rin playing Time Shot, a.k.a. Namco's thrilling Time Crisis series?) Good job, Rin. You're now a dead man.


Kaede, with any hope of redemption lost, finally cries blood again. It doesn't need saying, but, Rimu worries again as always. She goes looking for Kaede in Rin's room.


Oshi~ She finds the vacuum cleaner, mysteriously unattended, in Rin's room. What would break Kaede's attention so abruptly.


OSHI~ Kaede found the pictures of Asa and Rin, happy, at the amusement park. As the screenshot will attest, she's not pleased.

OSHI ANYTHING BUT THAT~ As Rimu begins to add two plus two, the doorbell rings.

It's Asa.
In Kaede's house.
In happy mode.

The perfect storm.

The calm is eerie, as an unusually (to Asa and Rin) serious, emotionless, and faceless Kaede repeatedly asks Asa to leave. Now. Asa attempts to defuse the situation, but cuts the wrong wire in trying to act happy, instead of serious.

Snap.

The line, take two.






Rin, 25 minutes late, springs into action, confronting Kaede and trying to knock her into sense.


Meanwhile, things get better, as Asa has a very conveniently timed attack. Rin and Kaede ignore her for a moment, as Rin almost solemnly tries to interrogate Kaede, who is beginning to realize she's lost her mind, while Rimu clings to a wall in fear (doesn't she have any power?), until...


There is a thump from the direction of the door, interrupting the heated emotional battle of Kaede and Rin for a moment. They realize that...


This could be a bit of a problem. Asa passes out completely, and at the end of the episode we return to the same oddly unwelcome calm that was here 3 minutes ago.


Rin's shocked, Rimu's scared, Asa's passed out, and Kaede's beyond speech. Now, if you will recall, the order of events goes:
1) Asa is happy.
2) Kaede attacks.
3) Asa is unconscious.

Whose fault does it look like, especially to Kaede, who knows nothing of Asa's previous fainting spells? That's right. Hers. That's not quite the right thing to compound onto her situation, which certainly is not moving in the right direction.

Rin may be going the right way with Asa right now, but now there's a problem too big, and too close to him, for him to ignore. Is it time for his hidden feelings for Kaede to be unlocked? Or is Kaede's insanity merely a roadblock on the way to an Asa ending?

Or, will Itsuki turn Rin to the lolipedofin side with Primula? There's only 5 episodes left, and in the Kaede arc, it is going to be one hell of a ride.

-CCY