[ellymate]

Kimi ni Todoke - 05

「決意」 (Ketsui)
“Determination”

I just hate it when people are meandering over miscommunication and the angst that goes along with it, but I can really feel for the characters here. Yes, everything can be resolved if one person is able to break past their insecurities, but when no one can, you just want to get in there and do it yourself. Once you start thinking that way, the story’s already sucked you in. I believe a more correct term is “captivated you”. Well I’ll be damned, they got me here. With the rumours spreading around last time, I was hoping that Sawako’s bluntness and constant attempts to clear misunderstandings would’ve reconciled everything. However, one missed opportunity led to another misunderstanding and so on until the whole thing snowballed into a dismal mess. i.e. Nobody’s happy yet nobody can seem to do anything about it no matter how hard they try.

Luckily, Kazehaya goes for the direct approach this time by waiting for Sawako after school. While she’s been able to suppress her emotions and maintain a cold exterior in class, she can’t do the same when she’s face-to-face with him. At that point, she spills the beans on how she’s been avoiding them because of the rumours saying she brings down their image. However, Kazehaya tells her he only cares about the Sawako he sees (which is easy for him to say when he’s head over heels in love with her). Whatever his reasons may be, he’s able to lift the huge emotional burden from Sawako’s heart, especially when he makes her realize how much she’d hate it if he, Yano, or Yoshida started avoiding her because of some rumours. Revitalized, Sawako decides to clear things up with Yano and Yoshida the next day, who are still struggling to figure out if the Sawako they know is the real her.

Yano in particular is annoyed at Pin for getting in their way the other day, but gets encouraged about dealing with problems no matter how unreasonable they may be (even if they’re caused by him!). She later heads to the library and notices all the ghost story books Sawako had checked out, bringing about both happy and sad memories. With the help of Ryuu, Yoshida soon realizes that Sawako doesn’t even know about their middle school antics that the rumours are based on, nor does she have anyone she’d talk to. At home, she’s also reminded of Sawako’s kindness from her handwritten study notes, which happen to contain a poorly drawn picture of herself in encouragement. Yano and Yoshida meet up later that night and discuss how much Sawako’s changed. Over the course of their discussion, Yano brings up how she’s happy about seeing Sawako’s natural smile, since she used to be among the insensitize crowd that treated her as an outcast. Yoshida though, wonders what Sawako meant with her apology, not calling them her friends, and not outright saying she likes them. Seeing how they’re both thinking of her this much, they soon realize that Sawako’s their friend and they love her a lot.

The next day, Sawako wants to clear things up but is worried how to do so without disrupting their studies. She then overhears some other girls talking about the rumours in the washroom and tries to clear things up. However, they only laugh at her before saying they know all about the yankee criminal and the slut. Cornered, Sawako clenches her fist at what they just said about Yoshida and Yano.

So what I’m thinking at this point is, why can’t everyone just be happy when everything’s exactly like they hope it is? God damn stupid rumours from stupid bitches. That said, I can’t imagine Sawako punching the girl in the face, even though she deserves it. The important thing here is that Kazehaya now knows why Sawako’s been acting that way, so even if she can’t convey her true feelings and clear things up, we still have him to rely on. The preview seems to indicate that Sawako will be able to do it herself, but the last shot makes the end result questionable. (If only Yano had her arm around Sawako.) It’s pretty safe to assume that everyone will get back together eventually, but my cynical side is expecting another misunderstanding before it’s all said and done. For now, at least we have some new people to direct our hatred towards. On an unrelated note, some of the lush backgrounds in this episode looked really nice.

* I forgot to mention that I’m just helping out Omni with this series as well. If you’ve enjoyed his coverage of this series thus far, don’t fret; he’ll return to his regular blogging next week.



Preview



Reviewed by DIVINE