I’m sorry for doubting the ending of this series. I should have known: writing good drama is what this series is best at, and this episode wasted no time: we’ve finally gotten to the finale of this series and so every moment of it should count.
So yeah, last week I said that this show has the tendency to completely ignore certain subplots, only to randomly make them appear later on. And guess what? It pulled that again. We don’t see Enishi and Takako for a few episodes, and WHAM: they’re suddenly getting married. I did not see that coming.
What I did see coming was that finally the love triangle would start moving again. The way in which it happened though… I have to praise the creators for it when Tohru just said so many things he shouldn’t have said. Minko was finally pushing herself to get closer to him, and then he starts to praise Ohana for all the things she’s done, right in front of her.
The wedding planning by the way also was great. There was some great tension between Enishi and Takako about the costs of the wedding after Ohana’s grandmother forced them to hold a ceremony. They’re a bit of a strange couple, but that makes it all the more worthwhile (after all, how often do we get to see actual marriages in anime?). It wasn’t romantic, but it did feel very genuine.
The biggest WTF was the cliff-hanger though. You’re forcing us to wait a full week after THAT?!
Rating: *** (Awesome)
But it’s obvious she wants Ohana to rule the Inn! Enishi and Takako won’t ever work there as the manager, that’s for sure.
Poor Minchi! I didn’t think she would offer Tohru to Ohana, more like she’ll be bitter about it but not give up like that. Ohana acted as expected, she is clearly not thinking about Tohru’s feelings but Minchi’s.
Enishi and Takako had a few threads and moments where they came across as a true couple . . . But throwing the marriage thing onto the table. That’s definitely a bang to end the show on.
The cliffhanger definitely drove me nuts too. I could see one of 2 things happening.
1) Like South said, Ohana could end up succeeding Okami, since granny wants Enishi/Takako to make their own future. Her son definitely could stand to walk on his own initiative for once. The man child still has an umbilical cord attached to his mother.
2) The inn’s bankrupt and so there’s nothing for the couple to inherit anyways.
Oh yeah, I’m hoping for Tohru x Ohana. I love couples that don’t like each other initially and warm up. So much better than the childhood friends pipe dream.
It’s been hinted at throughout the series that the Inn isn’t doing that well, in addition to the beginning of the episode where they were overlooking the work log and expenses, it seems likely that the Ohana’s grandmother might be thinking of selling the inn….a decision that could prompt Ohana to move back to Tokyo.
Ohana’s mom seems to have been left out of the picture. She too is also a potential candidate.
Oh God. I want to punch Minko. HARD.
Ohana confessing to ko , and then having him turn her down , and bowing out of her life , would make this one of the more enjoyable animes ive seen in a few years. I guess Ohana x Toru could be interesting entertainment just because of how disgusting and immoral it is.
But my guess is that the girl who deserves no guy from the show will somehow live happily ever after
I second Firechick. I haven’t watched an anime that had such an annoying character as Minko in years. I was actually really taken aback after reading some forums where people literally revere her.
Anyway, a great episode otherwise! My guess is that either Okami intends for Ohana to inherit the inn (with the possibility of Tohru as her future husband, which would be a “past repeats itself” kind of thing – waitress/chef inheriting the inn)or that just like someone has already cleverly pointed out – no one’s gonna get the inn since it’s been in the red for a while now.
@Milly: I KNOW, RIGHT?! I mean, I hated her right when she first told Ohana to die FOR NO GOOD REASON!!! My God, that girl is the brattiest, most unappreciative, and most ungrateful little brat I’ve seen in all of anime! She’s worse than my older sister! So yeah Ohana did unknowingly set her off by ripping out her plants and cook better than her and talk bad about Tohru, but how was she supposed to know?! She’s not psychic! She can’t read people’s minds! Nobody told her about those things! It’s like Minko thinks Ohana’s constantly plotting something against her or something! And she NOT ONCE appreciates Ohana’s genuine kindness, NOT ONCE! IN ANY EPISODE! EVER! And Minko ACTUALLY had the audacity to attempt to STRANGLE Ohana JUST because Ohana unknowingly and unintentionally made a comment about her crush!! My God! Right when I think she’s about to change her act, she proves me wrong! Sheesh! And to think I thought Joanna Thomas from Before Green Gables was annoying! And yet…WHY do people revere her? Ugh…
I agree with you too Firechick- Minko is an “ungrateful little brat”. Minko has no one to blame but herself for not confessing to Tohru up to this point. There’s no such thing as reserving someone and claiming him for yourself when you haven’t even told him your feelings. She has no right to get pissed at Ohana just b/c Tohru likes Ohana and not her.
Wow, someone actually cares about Takako and Enishing. Why do these two even get screentime?
@Evolstar: I agree with that too! And throughout the ENTIRE series she acts that way! Even Okami changed into a better character after three episodes! SHE appreciates Ohana’s efforts (probably shown by this cliffhanger)!
Oh I’ll probably won’t have it easy, I know how Minko has been probably screwing up, but take into account she does really care for Ohana. She knows what she said is wrong, she even showed it in some facial expressions, but seriously, it’s not easy to lose to a person who you actually respect and care. She has been shown to be really conservative of her feelings, and not being able to express them correctly, her words are not justified at all but her anger might be, a little. Jealousy is serious business. I wouldn’t hold it too angrily on her, she HAS changed, and she cares for Ohana, it’s just the situation is too much for her to handle. I’m suuuuure next episode (or next next, who knows) will make her and Ohana become bff again, but don’t all of you be so rational, she is offering Tohru to Ohana just for Tohru to be happy, she is obviously not thinking straight.
What’s with all the Minko hate? Alright she isn’t the most reasonable character and has too much tsun and too little dere in her personality. But she isn’t that bad.
“My God, that girl is the brattiest, most unappreciative, and most ungrateful little brat I’ve seen in all of anime!”
Watch Ore no Imoto. Because compared to Kirino in being bratty, unappreciative and ungrateful brat, Minkos a saint. And don’t get me started on Louise de la Vallière. You need to watch more anime mate.
Defence for Minko.
1) Besides the bad first impression Ohana does have a personality which when encountered in real life is irritating to the core. Sure she looks good on screen but if you had a friend like Ohana in real life it would drive you up the wall.
2) Tohru doesn’t seem to like personal chit chat in the Kitchen. When ever we see Minko and him together they are usually talking about food. Bit hard to bring love into the conversation then. Plus while confess is more difficult than most might believe if Minko is turned down it could lead to things getting awkward during work and losing her dream job as a chef.
3) There are people who have trouble expressing their emotions. Here Minko was being the bigger man and giving Tohru to Ohana. She was angry at Ohana for being completely oblivious to his feelings and probably at herself for not making a move earlier.
Just managed to watch it.
The biggest WTF was the cliff-hanger though. You’re forcing us to wait a full week after THAT?!
Hm…I saw this comment before actually watching the episode so I was pretty curious about what would make you go WTF here but this turn of events didn’t surprise me at all. Takako and Enishi get As for effort perhaps but they’ve blown it at least twice when it comes to decision making for the inn’s future so I would be more surprised if Grandma had left the Inn to Takako and Enishi. I’ve also had a theory going in my mind for a while now as to why Grandma decided to step aside and allow Enishi to put the Inn into financial straits in the first place when she possibly could have prevented it. (She even got a warning call over it.) I suspect she’s using the situation to try to rope someone alot more competent back to the Inn to save it. Not sure what this will do to Takako and Enishi though – the whole marriage thing did surprise me, although I took it as a background event to stir up drama. I’ll be a bit surprised and disappointed in Takako if she dumps Enishi over Grandma’s revelation though, after all the development they’ve had lately.
About Minko, I buy her reaction completely. She’s been a bit concerned about how Tohru feels about Ohana for awhile now but suddenly, alot of things have been going her way – her increased success in the kitchen, her love omelet rice to Tohru (which he completely misintepreted thanks to his neighbour getting a love omerice too) and getting to work with Tohru on the wedding reception. Then, things suddenly go back to rock bottom in mere hours(?), right down to getting kicked out of the kitchen. There’s no way she’s thinking things through when she says those things in the shower.
I’m not even sure if Minko is even really interested in pursuing her feelings for Tohru. Remember her declaration during the argument with her classmate over omerice. She said that mixing up love with your job is stupid, even though she herself has feelings for her kitchen supervisor. I think her first passion is that of being a chef and she has room for little else in her life. Her feelings for Tohru come from her admiration for him as a senior chef and possibly out of gratitude for him putting his neck out for her to give her a shot in the inn’s kitchen. But while she gets upset whenever he notices other people, she’s also never made any advances on him herself and behaves strictly as an apprentice. I’m not that surprised that Tohru hadn’t noticed Minko’s feelings for him – really bad luck for him to misintepret that love omerice.
Kind of interested how Ohana may behave now if she thinks Tohru loves her. I still think Ohana and Minko are both mistaken about Tohru though.
Hmm, the show’s reasonable but I wouldn’t heap praise on it about it being best at good drama. There’s been just as much predicable, dull generic stuff. Fortunately since Ko’s been out of the picture for a while now we’ve been seeing less of that and more of an attempt to be original.
I honestly hope they don’t bring him back for the finale, though I’m sure they will. I personally like Minko, but I’d prefer to see Ohana and Tohru together.