I thought this was just going to be just a Hikari x Amane date episode but it turned out to be much more interesting. Right at the end of the episode, I had to pick my jaw off the floor as I was completely surprised by what happened. Such a relief from the Shizuma x Nagisa stories - where Tamao provides the only entertainment. With Momomi Sayashiki x Kaname Kenjou yuri-filled plotting (who wears the pants in this relationship?) and Yaya stoicism, heroism and angst overflow, this episode was luurvely stuff.
Yaya’s look just says "utterly besotted". While undressing scenes are great, there’s plenty to say in favour of girls’ dressing up scenes.
Yaya helps Hikari pick out her outfit and gives her suggestions for her date with Amane. Oh heart very bleeding.
Hikari gets intercepted by Momomi and the reptilian looking Kaname. Latter bundles her into a room while former goes to play dark Jedi mind tricks on Amane. Cued by Hikari’s Button, Yaya rescues Hikari.
At Yaya’s urging, Hikari rushes off to her date with Amane which I trust that the Amane x Hikari fan bloggers will screencap - the date is initially uneasy as both try to hide their unpleasant pre-date encounters from each other but the relationship strengthens after both come clean with each other against the backdrop of a nice beach sunset, a spell in a cave sheltering from the storm and the trip back. Yaya tells Kaname to stop whatever she is plotting but Kaname claims that she is doing what she is doing because she loves Hikari. She asks if Yaya has the right to challenge her and that only love can stop love - words that affects Yaya deeply.
Hikari returns from her happy date with the promise of more such outings. She presents Yaya with a seashell as a token of thanks for making this day possible. Except that this seashell probably came from Himeko Kurusugawa’s necklace and, the combination of that with Kaname’s words and Amane’s steady progress with Hikari, Yaya snaps.
While StoPani uses plenty of motifs from MariMite, this episode seemed to draw from Kannazuki no Miko Ep 8 (when Chikane ambushes Himeko after the latter presents her with a moon pendant) and Ep 11 (when the seashell clatters to the floor). If this StoPani episode’s ED had been replaced by KOTOKO’s Agony, it would have been so hilarous. Question - if Hikari was unwilling (tearing), then why is she tiptoeing into Yaya’s kiss?
Looking forward to next week as Hikari and Yaya try to work out their now openly complicated relationship.
Tears of Joy? Oh, please give Yaya a happy ending.
The line between merely stumbling slightly down a slippery slope and full on tumbling is marked by a small, pink, half shell of ULTIMATE DOOM. This only strengthens my long held belief that mollusks are the universe’s most dangerous creatures.
“This only strengthens my long held belief that mollusks are the universe’s most dangerous creatures.”
Well duh. They’re shellfish bastards.
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Looks like there’s going to be zilch Tamao appearances in this one. :P Oh woe is me. Luckily I am also partial to the Hikari&Amane pairing.
>>Question - if Hikari was unwilling (tearing), then why is she tiptoeing into Yaya’s kiss?
I suspect that Yaya’s suction power is equivalent to that of a vacuum cleaner on steroids. Also when it made contact with Hikari’s lips, she overloaded the kiss with positive ions to even attract more negative ions on Hikari, thus more sticking.
Why Yaya even raised her head probably… well, I’ll leave that to the “experts”.
Heh. I haven’t seen the episode yet, but based on screenshots I can already imagine Agony after the ending scene. I have to say that this has chosen good shows where to copy stuff, MariMite+KnM combination is only missing KOTOKO right now. =)
Is this a good developement for YayaxHikari? I just can’t work it out. If the Yaya/Hikari/Amane triangle is an all girl KnM
ripoffhomage, who’s the Souma? Who’ll get screwed over in the end? Yaya has more chikane angst, but Amane has a pony. In both the manga and the original novels Amane triumphs in the end, and whilst that would hardly be a kick in the face, I desperately want Yaya to be happy. Maybe she’ll go all Dark!Chikane, and make Tsubomi and the Evil Lesbian Duo her B*tches, call out Hikari and put an end to the endless cycle of Etoile battles. Yaya does have major Badass potential, after all; all she needs is a sword/guan dao type thing.Anyway, I’m rooting for Yaya 500%. I’m going to take the positive outlook that this developement now means in the long run, her victory is assured. That, and the fact that Yaya/Hikari recently topped the polls on the stopani website, beating out Shizuma/Nagisa and Amane/Hikari by miles. A surprising contender was Tamao/Yaya. Whoda thunk, huh?
Chikane Lives XD
Go Chikane…errr I mean Go Yaya.
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Still waiting for Yamibou’s leg bandage
To me, the Yaya scenes in this episode were its only redeeming qualities. There isn’t much else to say….
>>If the Yaya/Hikari/Amane triangle is an all girl KnM ripoff homage, who’s the Souma?
Uh, Amane is Souma, duh. They even look alike, with the broad shoulders and somewhat similar hair style.
>>Don’t wait! Other yuri fans are getting their stolen memes delivered directly to their email box right now!
…
Wow that’s incredibly over-thought-out. It’s not memes that are stolen, it’s content, and each episode of SutoPani steals shit from every yuri show ever made. How can you distinguish these things into a one-a-week category? Ridiculous!
Erica is just trying to be funny.
Let’s just pretend she never said that and move along.
Supreme lack of Tamao in this episode, so I feel… less enthusiastic about writing a prolonged entry for this episode. I now empathise with Jason when he complained about a lack of Mikuru in recent ‘TMoSHaruhi’ episodes.
Judging from the various entries I have personally read over Strawberry Panic(SPanic), it would seem that most people favour the Spica-focused episodes. I like them too, but I prefer the Miator-focused ones, if only because there are more genuine basket cases there. Spica is the most ‘normal’ school among the three really. If Miator is Arkum Asylum, then Le Rim is Disneyland.
Favourite moment of Ep13 for me was early in the beginning…
That cracking sound you hear? It’s the shattering of Yaya’s ‘Shell of Self-Denial’
Man… Hikari most probably did it unknowingly, but if it was on purpose, it would have been exceedingly cruel of her. :P
And so the show went on, blah, blah, blah… one pair of incompetent lesbian psychos dispatched later, blah, blah, blah, we get to the ‘It’s not a date’ part. I always wondered why the Amane&Hikari pairing was so sweet to me, and then I suddenly realised something. Their pairing was the only NORMAL one…
Well… normal lesbian one.
Let us briefly examine the other ‘main’ pairings…
..) Nagisa&Tamao, one’s a fetish toy, the other’s a nut.
..) Nagisa&Shizuma, one’s in denial, the other has issues from her past.
..) Nagisa&Chiyo, one has zilch feelings for the other, the other has an onee-sama complex.
..) Nagisa&Kagome, one’s currently unaware of the other’s existence, the other barely has existence.
..) Hikari&Yaya, one’s constantly stabbing the other’s heart, the other has a martyr complex.
..) Hikari&Kaname, one’s unwilling, the other’s delusional.
..) Hikari&Tsubomi, one’s already devoted to another, the other also has an onee-sama complex.
..) Shizuma&Miyuki, one’s obsessed with a vegetable, the other needs anger management.
..) Kaname&Momomi, one’s a delusional wacko, the other’s a conniving witch.
Hmm… did I leave out anyone?
Anyway, what I like about the Hikari&Amane pairing is that both are open about it, and both are sincere about it. None of that indecisive crap we usually get. Quite a breath of fresh air, after watching so many typical romance animes.
Cheers. :P
Originally posted by Zyl:
“Question - if Hikari was unwilling (tearing), then why is she tiptoeing into Yaya’s kiss?”
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Yaya grabbed Hikari by the shoulders and hoisted her up. A demostration of the strength of her love for Hikari.
Maybe. ;)
Amane should let Yaya be together with Hikari. Amane already has Star Bride to show her tender love to. After all, it’s quite normal for room-mates to get into each other’s pants.
After 13 episodes, it seems no one at the academy is remotely straight. And there’s not a SINGLE person with a penis between the legs. The principal, the school uniform seller, the librarians etc. Not a single male human being. Yes this is yuri and anime… but COME ON…
Oh, and don’t forget ‘Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito’ for scenes of classic yuri. Especially self-pleasuring while calling out admired girl’s name. I really hope Stopani has made room for at least one such scene… maybe Yaya will do it.
Hikari wasn’t tearing because she was unwilling… she was merely amazed, even shocked, at the acrobatics of Yaya’s tongue. “Damn! What have I been missing on?”. So she tiptoes.
“emmarz said:
Yaya has more chikane angst, but Amane has a pony.”
Why did I think that sentence was absolutely hilarious?
OMG…xD
i agree with random..that sentence it’s absolutly hilarious…
this was my second shoujo-ai..my first was kannazuki no miko because i felt tempted to watch it mostly because Chikane was (and is if i may say) one of THE MOST BEAUTIFULL ANIME CHARACTERS I HAVE EVER SEEN…! seriously..every sites like this to coment that i go about shoujo-ai or even anime..someone always finds a way to bring up Chikane, and i couldn’t understand why everybody kind of ‘hated’ KnM…now..i see that it’s because mostly the way she ends (wich made me cry..twice…:S…Damned…last time i cryed about a cartoon it was lion king..:S)..And being Strawberry panic! my second..obviously i started comparing…and yes i did find a litle of Chikane in Yaya (off course it helped d fact that i found BLOODY similarities between hikari and himeko (who made me want to go into the screen and kick her ass about the fact of her being tottaly oblivious about Chikanes’love :@..but whatever..she turned out great..) ***
It always surprises me to recall that Ayako Kawasumi (Mahoro, Saber etc.) was Chikane’s seiyuu. She really brought that role to life.