One of roughly 10 times I WTF’d in this ep

Synopsis:

This ep picks up right where the last one left off, Morita and Hagu sharing a futon. Hagu wakes up and smiles happily as she remembers the kind words from Morita the night before. However, the happiness does not last very long as she realizes that her hand is swollen and she can’t feel it. As she scrambles to get back to the hospital, she frantically calls out for Shuu-chan…I had a really bad feeling at this point, the type of feeling you only get when incest rears its head. Realizing that this is his last chance to win over Hagu, he tries to stop her, but concedes when he understands that she is serious. Cue insert song, off to the hospital we go!

Just past the entrance door to the hospital, Shuu-chan is waiting. With a slightly angry glare at Morita, he takes Hagu back to her room. After getting her settled in again, he confronts Morita, and by confront I mean punches him in the face. Of course this doesn’t deter him much, he sneaks into Hagu’s room via the window and we learn that the punch was returned and then some. After some randomly placed comic relief the tone turns much more serious, Hagu decides that she will not quit until she can draw again. Drawing is her life and cannot live without it, she doesn’t care if she can leave her mark on the world or not, just drawing with a pencil and paper is enough for her. This of course means that Morita just got rejected and the winner of the Hagu love race is…Shuu-chan! Incest, get! She also tells Morita to repeat those kind words to his brother as sincerely as he did to her.

Later, Takemoto finds Morita hanging around the hospital and tells him that Shuu-chan will kill him ifhe sees him. Morita tells him that they already exchanged fists *insert comic relief*. With both of them having been rejected, Takemoto decides to show Morita Shuu-chan’s resolve. Upon seeing that he abandoned his job and life just to help Hagu, Morita realizes that he’s no match for that type of man.

Back at the hospital, Hagu finally works up the courage to ask for Shuu-chan’s help. She asks him to devote his life to her, to stay beside her until the very end even though she has nothing to give to him in return. Of course Shuu-chan has already given up everything for her and nonchalantly agrees to her plea.

Flashback time! We are taken to Hagu’s childhood and get some backwards development on her relationship with Shuu-chan. In a rather clever metaphor she compares him to the rain. In her eyes the rain blurs the borders of the world, gently healing all that it passes over, provoking a feeling of relief that almost makes her want to cry. Hagu feels that being with Shuu-chan will let her breathe easier and grow bigger and bigger, much like how rain can help trees and grass grow. She realizes how important Shuu-chan is to her, always looking after her, smiling with a slightly troubled look on his face.

And what of our two rejected bachelors? What else can you do in the face of depression but drink your troubles away! They wake up not even knowing if it’s dusk or dawn and with empty stomachs. The scene that follows has led me to the derivation of a very simple formula:

(Morita - Food) + Food = Win

Where the first function (Morita - Food) refers to the fact that he’s hungry and the subsequent addition of “+ food” refers to the presence of not yet eaten food. More simply:

Hungry Morita + Sight of Food = Win

However, if you simplify the original equation…

(Morita - Food) + Food = Win
Morita - Food + Food = Win
Morita = Win

…we find that Morita is just plain awesome.

With a love triangle that became a square and was resolved within three minutes, what else could be done to add to the randomness of the show? Naruto parodies of course! Initiated by Takemoto saying that neither him nor Morita could make Hagu happy, only Shuu-chan can; Takemoto and Morita face off on the riverbank, only to be interrupted by dogs *points to leading image*. However, the fight was not completely useless. In the duration of the fight we come to realize that Morita falls short because all he can offer is money and telent. Whereas Shuu-chan has true virtues, compassion and honor; and Takemoto, seemingly lacking all of the above, is glad that Hagu made the right choice. This causes Morita to come to terms with the his talent being a mixed blessing, provoking envy and hate from others, who eventually drift away altogether. Morita realized this truth long ago and tried to use Hagu as an escape by dragging her down with him.

And so, Morita does the only thing he can do, he throws money and the problem, leaving a box of cash at Shuu-chan’s office. Shuu-chan only takes a small portion, just enough to cover expenses, and whips the box back at Morita, vowing to repay his debt one day. In parting, Morita asks Shuu-chan if he loves her. Moronically, he screams from the window at the top of his lungs that he does. The whole faculty hears and begin preemptive celebration. However, Yamada, who was right behind him, is left in shock.

Thoughts:

I found it very difficult to summarize and comment on this episode, mainly because it was so packed with plot twists and complete randomness. It was like watching a 20 minute YTMND, my mind was in a suspended state of WTF.

My theory of Hagu having to accept reality has been slightly cracked as she seems to be on a path to recovery. However, she did have to come to terms with the difficulty and possible failure of the rehab, so I was right in that respect. More importantly, she doesn’t seem to be suicidal anymore, which is always a good sign ^^.

*sigh* The Shuu-chan ending to the Hagu harem. It wasn’t like it was completely random, the hints were numerous seeing how much he did for her…but Honey & Clover was the last place I would have expected incest to crop up. If you look back, it makes sense why Shuu-chan was chosen, but if this was the plan all along why make him her cousin? The story could have had the same conclusion even if he was simply a childhood friend. But then again, cousin and sibling relationships are becoming more and more common place in animes today, but to come from HC which before this hadn’t done anything too controversial, is a little weird and unexpected to say the least.

On another note, the animation at the beginning of this episode was terrible! Thankfully it got steadily better as the ep progressed, but for the whole time that the insert song was running, it was crap! The faces looked monotonous and unexpressive and the scenery was bleak and uninspired. By the midpoint all was up and running at expected quality, but that first segment made me cringe.

All things considered, this was an excellent episode. It might have left me in a state of shock, but the impact was made. As everything comes to a conclusion, we seem to be heading towards a Gainax ending (if this ep doesn’t seal that fate already) but it doesn’t feel like a failure. Sure it was rushed, unexpected and morally wrong, but if you look at everything from hindsight and with an open mind, it makes sense. Onward to the last episode of what has been the summer season’s best title! (opinion of course)

Loli-er Hagu ftw!

Note to rejected bachelors: Do not resort to yaoi

Suddenly my random DBZ jokes aren’t so random anymore =P

Load Silver Cartridge!

Fire!

NO WAI!

ORLY?!

Victories

- Randomness and plot twists, though a little crazy
- Hagu’s decision, about her rehab, not Shuu-chan
- Loli loli hagu!
- Return of the Morita craziness
- Insert song, these all rock
- No stupid Mayama arc!
- Shuu-chan’s determination and will to help Hagu

Phailures

- Incest
- Animation during insert song
- Morita loses =(
- Not enough time to resolve Yamada/Nomiya & Mayama/Rika relationships, because…
- Only 1 episode left T_T

I apologize for my poor writing skills on this entry, the return of school has shoved more math in my face than I can handle, linguistics skills are nosediving D=

~ Shirukii ~