hontou ni sou omou?

OP: Managed to get the screencaps from a raw. Much cleaner than a previous abandoned attempt. Shigure Asa-chan gets a fair amount of screentime as one of the contenders for Rin’s love even though this does not really emerge within the series until episode 4 (Nerine’s intuitive question) and 7 (when Asa-chan was confronted with Takisawa’s confession).

Looks like she is mainly paired with and/or placed in opposition to Kaede. In parallel is Shia and Nerine. Both pairs have been longstanding friends and find their pasts and present linked with Rin. As revealed by episode 7, Asa-chan probably regarded Rin as “taken” by Kaede - evidenced by their mutual devotion to each other and frequently teased Kaede twice about it in the first episode (coming to school together again and the knight/no rivals comment). The arrival of Kaede and Nerine have changed the dynamics though and she can probably sense a big change coming but will probably maintain her current ambiguous position until it is clear that she has a chance?

There is also a possibility of a childhood trauma, hinted at in the OP shot of Asa-chan’s darkened bedroom and more obliquely by her missing father (could he be from Shinkai or Makai and thus Asa-chan is also a “half” like Mayumi?), her aversion to magic (see character profile) and the likelihood of a connection, via her mother, to the mysterious Primula.

ED: The simplified style was slightly surprising. However the ED also highlighted how the different girls can be represented by the various season. Asa, with her green hair, is Spring with its sakura petals. Shia is Summer’s rainy aspect, appropriate given her liking of rain and memories of ai-ai-kasa (love-love-umbrella) with Rin. Nerine is Summer’s sunny aspect, a bit strange since she’s a tad reserved and not very sunny disposition-wise. The orange-topped Kaede represents the falling leaves of Autumn. Primula, with her cold and greyish white theme, is Winter. The implications of how her falling tears are unclear - they bring us back to the start of the ED with the balls of tear-lights emerging from the blossoming lotus.