Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[ Episode 13: ...your tears ]

I’d like to announce that this is our 1000th entry! I almost didn’t realize until a few days ago but it feels good to have so many posts.

Hmm, let’s see…where to start there. This episode was a rather good conclusion to a great series. From day one I was caught up into the world and characters true tears presented to me. In almost no time I had identified my favorite characters and not-so-favorite characters but there wasn’t anyone I disliked. That said, what happened in this episode wasn’t surprising by a long shot. The twists were over and the time had come for closure on all the relationships present. Some would argue that Shin ending up with Hiromi is consistent with the series overall theme. That is, overcoming obstacles and growing from the lessons learned during those hard times. Hiromi in particular drove this theme through the entire story and her persistence or “flying” brought her through the worst of it all, rewarding her with safely securing Shin’s heart as her own. Noe also adopted this theme in the very end which enabled her to be able to move forward with her life. Shin was inspired by her and he in turn re-inspired her. No one is left with bitter feelings and even Ai and Nobuse are doing well.

Overall, this episode couldn’t have been done any better. Well, I suppose that depends on whether or not you’re a Hiromi or Noe fan. Though no matter the outcome, both camps should be able to agree that the writing and character development was excellently done from beginning to end and that nothing was thrown in at the last minute that didn’t make sense.

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[ Episode 12: From My Eyes Which Have Seen Nothing ]

OW. Was I the only one who winced when Noe hit the ground at the end of the episode? The sound effect was so perfectly done and really made me say “Ow.” after hearing it. Obviously, Noe was trying to see if she can fly and, well, I guess she knows now that she can’t LITERALLY fly. That and she’s likely to have a broken leg. Well, she’ll be okay since Shin is there to help her.

Interestingly enough, we had two cases of ‘true tears’ in this episode. The first was from Hiromi when she told Noe to leave her and Shin alone and the second incident from Jun when he revealed to Noe that he had loved her just a little more than a sister and realised that he can never act upon those feelings. Well, that brings closure to Jun’s issues.

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[ Episode 11: I'm Not the Person You Like ]

This episode did a wonderful job of conveying Shin’s conflicting feelings. Despite what happened in the last episode it is still not clear who truly is the one in Shin’s heart: Noe or Hiromi. He had a lot of thoughts of Noe during most of this episode, even while he was with Hiromi near the beginning. At this point I’m not sure I can even guess which one of them is his true love. In regards to how he feels toward Noe, perhaps it’s that ‘you never know how much you loved her until she’s gone’ situation? Or something like that.

It’s great to see that Aiko and Nobuse are still friends though. I’m sure that something will work out between the two in the future if they’re patient and careful.

Another thing I’d like to mention is the use of music in this episode. That piano piece that played during the kiss scene was well-placed and did wonders for my ears. I particularly liked the song that was playing during the very last moments of the episode when Shin finally found Noe. I’m hoping that they do even better with the last two episodes since I’m sure some powerful scenes will be in them.

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[ Episode 10: Because I Do Everything Perfectly ]

If one didn’t know any better, you’d probably think that this was a final episode. Well, almost anyway. The execution, particularly near the end, was done very well. Still, I felt that entire scene was a bit overdone. Either that or Hiromi is just an extremely slow runner. Oh, right, Hiromi also moved out in this episode so the thing I mentioned in the previous episode entry isn’t much of a problem now. Who knows what will happen between these two now with three episodes left. I’m guessing the Hiromi/Shin fans are eating it all up at this point though. Whatever the case may be, it’s still too early to be celebrating with the finale three weeks away. After all, a lot of stuff can happen in three episodes.

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[ Episode 9: You're Having A Hard Time Flying... ]

*Sigh*. I don’t really know what to say about this episode. Well…I can say that I’m disappointed that it seems like Noe and Shin broke up (or will break up). I can be reading it wrong so that may or may not be the case. Though when I think about it, in some ways I don’t really find an outcome like that all that surprising since Shin likely didn’t devote his entire self to her. Of course, that’s because he still had Hiromi on the brain. That much was obvious at the beginning of the episode when he just embraced her right in front of Noe. Obviously it wasn’t just the normal kind of “I’m glad you’re alright” embrace either. Geh…anyway, I’m also glad to see that Shin’s mother seems to have settle down drastically. She’s a really nice woman when she’s not out to cut Hiromi down and I’m glad that it has come to an end (which was really one of the few things I liked about this episode). Though now that I think about it I’m probably in the minority of those that actually liked her prior to this ‘reform’.

Now that we’re enter the last stretch my thoughts are on what will happen with all the characters. Who will be the final couples and who will end up alone. One would think that now that Hiromi is getting along so well with the family now, especially Hiromi’s mother, that it’ll be hard for anything to develop between her and Shin. After all, it’s not like the parents are just going to let their son and their adopted daughter become girlfriend and boyfriend, right? Right?!

[ Episode 8: A Town Where It Doesn't Snow ]

You know, Noe and Shin are a pretty damn cute couple. One of the cutest I’ve seen actually. I just wonder how things will go between them with Jun and Hiromi now into the mix of their lives. Out of everything that’s going on, Noe is the most innocent here and probably has no idea of what’s going on. That said, what Hiromi said about her innocent face wasn’t very nice at all. Sure it might have been her “true feelings” or rather her repeating what Shin’s mother said but that’s hardly an excuse to say such things. Bleh, I guess girls will be girls anyway so it was probably unavoidable. Besides that, I wonder where Jun and Hiromi are headed?

Additionally, Ai was shot down pretty fast though I guess it’s for the best. After all, something like that probably wouldn’t have worked being dragged on for too long especially when the other two girls have much more presence in Shin’s life. Still though, her situation doesn’t seem to have been wrapped up yet so I expect to see something within the next two or so episodes.

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[ Episode 7: Say It Clearly, Write it Down Here ]

OMG. Confessions galore! Noe now knows that she likes Shin. Shin knows now that he likes Noe. Probably the biggest bomb was Aiko making it known to Shin that she likes him. How does she do it? By kissing the hell out of him of course! What will happen now? Will Nobuse find out and beat up Shin? How much deeper in love is Noe going to have for Shin? Where does Hiromi fit in all this? And Jun for that matter? Who knows!

Just like last week let’s start from the top: Ah~. Shin should know better than to reject a girl’s offering of food. That’s just being stupid. He should starve for being that way. The confrontation between Noe and Hiromi had me on the edge. I thought someone was going to fall down after they when into mercy and pushing mode! Somewhere in my mind though I think I was shouting “Noe! Noe! Go! Go! Go!”. Anyway, that’s enough of the favoritism. For now. Or is it? ^^

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[ Episode 6: What Kind of Joke Is That? ]

Mwahaha! Do I smell the delicious possibility of incestuous affairs between Shin and Hiromi? EPIC SISCON IS EPIC. I just no that I think a lot of “Dammit!” comments were said after this episode was aired. Well, I suppose that kind of comment would come from those that either 1) wouldn’t like such a twist, 2) had bad experiences with it in other shows which I won’t name, or 3) fall in some other kind of category all together (likely to be the anti-incest brigade carrying either their bibles or their scientific reports on evilness of inbreeding). Well, I’m not one to judge the kinds of love that can or cannot exist so I don’t share the opinion of disgust and other similar feelings regarding the possibility of brother/sister relations. I say that if only to remain neutral.

Starting from the top: Shin is such a dumbass. Totally incapable of reading the atmosphere when Aiko told him not to open the door. I just wanted to dropkick him in the face for doing so. Aiko needs to be more decisive on her feelings. Speaking of which she shouldn’t have accepted Nobuse’s confession in the past since it’s obvious she liked Shin since before that time. Jun may be Shin’s rival of sorts but he’s damn cool, especially when he walked up to Hiromi in the middle of her practice to tell her that he wants to talk to her. Not to mention he further emitted coolness when he actually finished talking to her about their date. Something tells me that Jun should be in the main character spot at this point.

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[ Episode 5: Busybody Guys are but Fools ]

Bad Shin is bad. You didn’t have to lie to Noe about having dance practice. It’s moves like that which makes you a liar! Anyway, Noe is definitely drifting closer to Shin in her own way. Wanting to eat lunch with him and walk home with him…I’m not sure about her intentions as yet but they at least prove she wants to get closer to him. Jun seems eager to help the two get together as well since he came back this episode to get Shin’s answer in regards to dating Noe. I’m not sure about that move Shin pulled about him agreeing to go out with her only if he went out with Hiromi though. That can backfire really bad.

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[ Episode 4: Okay, Splashy Splashy ]

I think it’s pretty obvious Ai likes Shin. From the looks of things she doesn’t seem to like Nobuse as much. It’s hard to say what was going through her head for most of the episode but the point of her liking Shin was put across quite clearly. Noe remains as enigmatic as ever. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t just want Shin’s tears. Especially since in the process she’s supposed to make the person she does want tears from dear to her. That can be interpreted in a few ways but given the theme of the show she’ll probably develop feelings for Shin and vice versa, especially since Jun has put across the idea that Shin start to date Noe.

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