Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – 09



This was just awesome, the way in which everything came together in this episode, and there still are two episodes left for Yojou-han’s conclusion. This episode took events from all of the previous episodes and wove them masterfully into one.

Very different from usual, Watashi ended up being a bad guy here, rather than joining a regular club. It was some sort of evil society that was responsible for the rounding up of bikes in episode three. I think that this was the first time he really made Akashi angry here. In fact, we get confirmation that she’s still a member of the same clubs as she’s ever been in, and we get more and more a confirmation that every episode is the same, aside from which club Watashi decides to enter. The previous three episodes were special in the way that he wasn’t too involved in these clubs (an English club and reading club… yeah), which allowed him to explore love a bit more, instead of getting all caught up with these clubs here.

In all of these episodes, he met Akashi in different ways, because they pretty much were in the same campus, and she happened to live next to Ozu. Ozu on the meantime… I really begin to suspect that he was involved in everything here, from the tennis club to being Higuchi’s disciple to being the captain of the lucky cat Chinese restaurant. The reason he was involved in the cult in episode five was because his girlfriend was that raven-haired maiden that Watashi was chasing after back then; that’s why he crashed that airship. This episode finally revealed all of his motivations.

There was one big difference here though, that doesn’t really fit into the canon of the other episodes: Watashi did NOT find Akashi’s Mochiguman, but instead Ozu went after it. Could this be a hint that Watashi is getting further and further away from her, and that he’s just failing to notice what’s right in front of him? This episode does show that now that he finally found wealth and power he still feels like he’s missing something, which was pretty much the first time he acknowledged this.

Also, this episode did NOT feature a rewind. Instead we just have Watashi sulking in his room. I think that out of all the conclusions this season, Yojou-han is the one I’m looking forward to the most. There are just so many ways in which it can go, and I really feel like the creators have been carefully building up towards that ending.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

6 thoughts on “Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – 09

  1. I think with this series whathisname (I can’t remember it, it’s japanese) has cemented himself as my favourite anime director. For me his series (I’ll let the second half of Mind Game slide) just shows up so much of the crap that many bloggers pointlessly devote thousands of words to.

    I’d have more of a point if I could remember his name I’m sure.

  2. I was right about Ozu, although the show pretty much give it away since first episode

    the only thing that i don’t get it, what deal with the fortuneteller. went a show in a borderline between “magic” and reality making assumption is kinda futile. and since the show is from a novel asking for an explanation/theory isn’t good, i dont want to get spoils

  3. This episode blew my mind. Higuchi’s message (about the “rose colored college life” does not exist because “life is not rose colored”) struck a poignant cord. Now the protagonist doesn’t rewind time, but stays at home. Is he going to become a NEET? Is this a prequel to ‘Welcome to the NHK’? (joking)

  4. I’m thinking the next episode will be him Trapped in a maze of 4.5 Tatami Rooms, with the last episode being True Love. It makes sense that he doesn’t rewind time, because we saw an older version of himself with a beard in episode 6.

    I’m so excited for this conclusion, but I’m also somewhat apprehensive. I didn’t like the last episode of Kaiba that much – not because it was bad necessarily, but because it didn’t fit the feel of the rest of the series and wasn’t nearly as good as the episodes following up to it.

    The episodes leading up to the end in this series, just like in Kaiba, are getting better and better and I’m a bit worried Masaaki Yuasa might try pulling off one of his ‘unique’ endings.

  5. Bruce: I’m not sure whether you’ve seen Kemonozume. I’ve yet to really discover a pattern to Masaaki Yuasa’s stories, so who knows?

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