hontou ni sou omou?

A Fun and Hilarity episode. It seems that everyone in school now know that Rin and Asa are a couple. There’s a dinner party for Rin with a funny Kikyou-Primula confrontation. Most of the gang, including the Demonic Moving Maids, help Rin to bring his new apartment up to scratch. Kareha fesses up on who she loves. Asa gets Rin to stop reminding her that she is older than him and they share another romantic moment together before she is laid low by another attack which sets the scene for the next episode’s exploration of the Ama-Asa backstory as well as the resolution of her illness. For other opinions, see Random Curiosity and Kurogane.

18 Kikyou / Lisianthus and 100 Shigure Asa screencaps follow:

It’s a bit of a repeat of Ep 2 when the guys “congratulate” Rin by slapping him on the back en masse. Which is Asa’s trademark greeting for Rin as well. Oh the irony. During this equivalent stage of the PC game, there is a big celebration by all the male students and the various Defence Forces (kind of like the fireworks in Ep 10) but which rapidly turn sour when Kaede, Lisianthus and Nerine affirm that they still love Rin whereupon the attacks are renewed. Maybe we’ll see this in the final Ep (24). Rin incurs the wrath of Beni-sensei by waving to Asa during class.

It is the second time that Itsuki says anything sensible during the series. Although he is surprised that Rin has not chosen Kaede, Lisianthus or Nerine, he supports Rin as it was his own decision but rapidly spoils this by declaring that it will give him the opportunity to add them to his harem (yes, he actually uses the word “harem” ) - which, in his imagination, seems to include Kareha (all the girls are bare-breasted in that scene as well). I was slightly surprised that Mayumi was more offended by her exclusion from Midoriba’s imagined harem than the whole harem idea. Does she like him!? The first (indirect) reference to polygamy. Oh, and Mayumi finally lands a hit on Itsuki!

Now that Asa has secured Rin’s love, I’ve found myself becoming quite fond of Kikyou. Her slightly husky vocals are much less irritating than Lisianthus’ saccharine rendition. She’s also naaahsty in a foxy and extremely sexy way. Boy, does she know how to flirt. Later Eustoma talks to Sia about Rin having chosen the “Shigure no ojouchan” which is when Sia builds on her earlier declaration to Rin that she wants to become Asa’s equal in love, saying that the Shinkai practises polygamy. Eustoma is so proud of Sia’s determination to be co-wife (with Asa) to Rin. -_-;; Although Foebeshii is also quite relaxed about Rin choosing Asa, he does not bring up polygamy (reasonably as it is not a Makai practice) - merely saying that the fight is still open as Rin has not chosen a bride (as opposed to a girlfriend) yet.

I just love Asa’s poise. Like the way she leaned against the railing at the end of Ep 21 and the way she just casually sits at the window here. Very relaxed, exuding a comfortable and confident rapport with Rin. Also a good mix of bold and shy - that elusive combination that results in a very cute coyness - kissing Rin as a “reward” and then looking down, blushing and twiddling her fingers. The art is rather chibi-fied though. My favourite style was in Ep 7 when Asa looked more mature.

Sia bakes cookies for Rin - my guess is that she wants to be Asa’s equal in the kitchen as well. But Kikyou takes over the driving seat during the dinner and pulls another Asa trick on Rin (sexual harrassment) only to be telekinetically pulled away by Primula who firmly tells her: “That’s far enough. (Soko made)” However the real casualty is Eustoma who gets chair-smashed through the glass door by Kikyou and then frozen by Primula. That’s some strong magical power that Primula has to be able to defeat the Shin King so easily, then again could just be Cute Girl Power.

Another good example of Rin being comfortable with Asa. He teases her about only doing the easy things that won’t strain herself by agreeing with one of her statements when he’s supposed to disagree (when she talks about her ungirly qualities) but then quickly shows concern by holding her hands to examine them. He is more reserved with the other girls. In the case of the two princesses because he really has not spent all that much time together with them, while his past with Kaede has weighed on their interaction.

It seems even clearer to me that there was a multi-layered game that Kaede and Rin were playing. The foundation is the notion that Kaede is being meido to Rin for atonement and direction in life. Kaede repeatedly emphasises this to Rin in order to emotionally blackmail him into accepting her service, casting a rejection in terms of not forgiving her as well as taking away her reason to live. It is particularly the latter that Rin fears so he acquiesces to Kaede’s terms. However as Kaede, prompted by Primula, finally acknowledged to Asa and then to Rin that underneath her rhetoric of atonement and life motivation was her desire to keep Rin at her side because she loved him. By moving out and making things clear to Kaede, Rin has fundamentally undermined her rhetoric by impressing on her that he has forgiven her and that she must and can go on living standing on her own two feet. Kaede, having recognised that her root motivation was her love for Rin, finally accepts this and resolves to unrequitedly love him, simply watching from a distance.

Another one of Foebeshii’s guerilla tactics like the school swimsuit in Ep 9. Omni does not hazard a guess as to how Primula can wiggle her cat ears or tail but I suppose given she has enough magical power to freeze Eustoma as well as to lift Kikyou away from Rin, manipulating nekomimi and nekoshipo should be an easy thing to accomplish.

This was absolutely my favourite scene in this episode. Even though I was disappointed that Kareha declared her love for Rin rather than Asa. :P But the contrast was terrific - Kareha’s very casual attitude against Asa’s panic. I especially like the two screenies of Asa choking on her drink when Kareha says that she has someone in her heart. Also love the voice acting when Asa gives a strangled whine in response to Kareha’s breezy assurance not to be afraid as the Shinkai practices polygamy (and Tsubomi’s audible “Hmmm?” of puzzlement at Asa’s consternation).

On one level, one supposes that Asa considers Kareha to be a formidable love rival. In the PC game, she did tell Rin that Kareha extracted much more attention than her and that she felt plain next to her. Also in the game, Rin has repeated statements and thoughts about how he finds Kareha to be very beautiful. The other consideration is that after the searing experience of fighting and defeating a close friend, Kaede, for Rin’s love, Kareha’s declaration seems to forbode another such confrontation which as mentioned above, Asa is not completely confident of winning. In the PC game, Asa describes Kareha to Rin as her best friend as does Kareha vice versa.

Kareha’s sister, Tsubomi, is also introduced. She’s got not just one, but two, Asa-style hair braids. I wonder if this is a Shinkai fashion or something she picked up from Asa via Kareha. There’s a mention of her in the PC game - Rin telling Kareha that the boys in school will certainly look forward to her arrival while I see from the comments on Omni’s post that Tsubomi appears more prominently in the PS2 game where Kareha is also a Tsuchimi Lover candidate. But other than that, there’s not much insight into her character in the brief encounter this episode. Does seem that she is less of a space cadet than Kareha. LOL

Asa applies “Riiiin-chaaan” and Watery Eyes to get him to stop addressing her with the sempai honorific. I think she would have much preferred it if Rin addressed her as “Asa” - the lack of honorific indicating a very close relationship but settles for “Asa-san” which is still a tad formal but less formal than the use of sempai.

Another attack but without the violent chestpains in Ep 19 and 20. The preview shows her, with oxygen mask, and writhing in a lot of pain though. T_T Also Ama-san, injured and in the human world, after the explosion of the first Artificial Life experimental test centre. I wonder if the PC game solution is going to be applied by Rin to force Asa to use magic (and thus save her own life) or will just lots of shouting and protestations by Rin and Ama (like in Ep 15 with Primula) suffice? Looking forward to next week’s episode!