Category: Asatte no Houkou

And so it has ended. Phew, it surely has been one great ride, from start to finish. Like I said, so far Asatte no Houkou is standing on the #1 spot for the shows released in the fall season. All that’s left is to see whether another show can take its place. Heh, it surely won’t be easy.

Regarding the ending, it was a great ending, another one of those heavily emotional ones. Still, how great the individual scenes may have been, the ending didn’t have anything special. But then again, a special ending is extremely hard to do. I’ve only seen a handful of shows which really managed to impress me with their endings. Still, Karada really shined during her scenes with both Shoko, Tetsu and Hiro. Shoko also reveals that she hasn’t really been honest with herself, and that when she saw Karada, she indeed longed back to her childhood. Hiro also managed to cut his hair, and it seems that Kotomi has found the wishing stone. She kept it with her all this time, and at the end of the episode, she returns it to Shoko, after she understood everything that had happened. Because of this, Karada and Shoko get returned to normal. I’m having sortof mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it’d be interesting to see how Karada and Shoko live the rest of their lives, though on the other hand, it does provide closure.

Also, this has been the first series I managed to watch entirely raw (not counting Himawari and Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, I still don’t consider their seasons individual seasons). It’s been quite interesting, and I managed to enjoy most of the series, even though I didn’t understand the literal meaning of each of the sentences. Still, the show used fairly simple dialogue and more often than not, I could understand the meaning behind the characters’ sentences fairly well. Still, there were also disadvantages. I did miss the small details, for example, I missed the entire story about Kotomi’s father. Only after he called her again, I realized that she had troubles with him. Remembering names also went a bit tougher than usual, and even while writing this entry, I had to look up Kotomi’s name. Still, I did find that it’s good to read up on either episode summaries by other people, or watch the show subbed after a few weeks. Especially with the latter, though, I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting lazy with that. ^^;

Still, now that I’ve been watching raws for longer and longer, I do have to say that my Japanese skills are making progress. Okay, it isn’t much, but I can understand the dialogue much better than half a year ago.

Great pre-ending episode. Even though nearly everything it’s been doing is build up for the final episode, we do get to see Karada telling Tetsu about what happened to her. Unlike Hiro, however, he doesn’t believe her. Asatte no Houkou has really been the best anime to air in the fall-season so far. But then again, most other shows have yet to even reach their halfway mark, so there’s still a lot to happen.

It’s interesting to compare the time when Shoko told Hiro with this episode. Why didn’t Tetsu believe Karada, while Hiro did? One of the major factors probably is the fact that Tetsu’s an idiot, just like his sister says. Though the circumstances also aided a bit. An angry Shoko is much more imposing than a shy Karada. Still, I think the message needs to sink into Tetsu for a small while. The final episode will definitely do something with this.

Shoko was awesome when Karada phoned her again. Her reaction was SO different from the first time she called. She acted extremely calm this time, and actually listened to Karada, instead of yelling out of surprise. I think that she also realized that isn’t the proper way to tell someone to come home. The end of the episode also shows the two of them, going on the train to try and recover Karada. The final episode will probably show the confrontation between the two of them and Karada.

Just when I thought that this series couldn’t get any better! That was such a lovely episode, fully centred around Tetsu’s and Karada’s relationship. I’ve seen many reactions on the fifth episode by other people, claiming that that they expected Karada to reveal herself to Tetsu, but I’m SO glad she didn’t, as because of this, episode ten turned into a real masterpiece. 🙂

Tetsu actually confessed! In front of Karada, who he thinks is just a girl named Satou. This must have hurt Karada a lot, seeing as she tried to run away desperately, only to find out that Tetsu still keeps searching for her. I also nearly cried after Tetsu collapsed in the rain, got carried to bed and had a small conversation, half awake. That was such an emotional part, I couldn’t help but love it. 🙂

I must praise Asatte no Houkou for being able to deliver an actually good love-relationship. There are so few anime which actually manage to do this. I think that so far, this really is the only one who appeared during the fall-season. Other series with romance elements, like Kanon, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge and others really try to force this relationship onto the viewer (although I do admit that the latter did have some creative moments, like the ping-pong-kissing-scene). Asatte no Houkou really succeeded in making me sympathize with its characters.

As the episode focused on Karada and Tetsu, there wasn’t much of Shoko and Hiro in this episode. They just appeared in one scene, where Shoko packed her bags, and went off, to live on her own. This means that Hiro will be living on his own, if things keep up. I think that he still doesn’t know what to do, after Karada just ran away from him, two episodes ago.

Oh, and Karada was just way too cute in the few flashbacks we saw. ^_^;

No Shoko-episode this time, surprisingly. Most of the episode actually follows Tetsu, when he hears that Karada has disappeared, and starts to search for her. His part in the episode was fairly light. He runs into Kotomi, the two of them start to pass out folders with Karada’s picture on it till the sun goes down. As Tetsu doesn’t have anywhere to sleep, Kotomi mentions a hotel which a few of her acquaintances are running, and suggests Tetsu to spend the night over there. And guess what? It appears to be the same hotel Karada found herself a job in. The next episode is promising to be very interesting. Remember that Tetsu still doesn’t know what happened to her. ^^

But the great moments of the episode were the ones in which Tetsu wasn’t involved. In contrast, Shoko’s and Hiro’s worries are everything BUT light, which made the scenes in which they appeared very emotional. At one point, Karada also gives Shoko a phone call, in order to make her stop worrying about them, and at the end of the episode, the two of them have a rather heavy conversation. It seems that Shoko also realized that Karada knew that Tetsu wasn’t her real brother. It’s interesting. Hiro seems to have convinced himself of the fact that he is the big brother. He’s always convinced himself that Karada never knew about her true parents. Shoko makes him see that in a rather emotional moment.

The past few episodes have also been focusing a lot on Karada. What about Shoko? She’s really been on the sidelines for the past few episodes. Does she also get into problems in the final episodes? Something does tell me that she still has a role to play in this wonderful anime. 🙂

The first four episodes of Asatte no Houkou have been really emotional. Right now, we’ve got ourselves three episodes, which are about the opposite, as they’ve been really peaceful, and because of that really great to watch. The next episode, the emotional scenes will probably return again, as Karada discovered that Shoko and Hiro were once lovers. Right now, she’s boarding a train. Probably because she wants to leave the two of them alone.

Following the usual pattern, this episode again is a Shoko-episode. It’s centred around Hiro’s birthday, which, of course brings back memories. Karada also spends about three quarters of the episode, baking a cake for her brother. Shoko is encouraged by this and helps her out a bit, even though she’s horrible at cooking (and really shows that this episode).

It’s another highly atmospheric episode, in which not much happens. Though for some reason, Asatte no Houkou turns keeps to amaze me. It also made the perfect use of the small bits of comedy, involving the different character’s quirks. ^^

This was such a warm episode. I couldn’t help but love it. It’s strange, as usually, I’m not really into slice-of-life series. But when they actually turn out good, they really turn out GOOOD. And Asatte no Houkou proves that once more in this episode. Like expected, it deals with Karada and Tetsu meeting each other again. Surprisingly, Karada actually does not reveal her identity. Instead, she follows Tetsu around a bit, the two get a bit familiar, and Tetsu shows her a place the two of them used to often visit. (I loved the flashback, in which small Karada refused to accept help, it just shows how much she’s changed after the incident).

There’s one thing that I finally noticed during this episode: this anime likes to play with shadows. There aren’t many anime which actually show the shadows of trees, or other objects, on the characters. In fact, I can’t remember any anime who attempted the same. They either use fancy light effects or don’t bother giving their characters shadows at all. The way Asatte no Houkou deals with these shadows really makes the environment part of the anime. I like it. 🙂

I wonder when Tetsu will find out what happened to Karada. During their little date, there were enough of subtle resemblances between the small Karada and the grown-up Karada, though at the moment, he believes they’re related, and Karada finished the episode with writing him a letter, explaining that she was currently at her mother’s for a while. Still, this doesn’t solve the problem. At one day, he will find out.

Asatte no Houkou is a wonderful anime, in my opinion. The fact that it’s featured around such a small concept allows it to fully explore it. Still, that does give it the same problem as .Hack//Sign: it’s a slow series. There’s nothing wrong with slow series. In fact, the slow pacing really is what makes these series awesome. But the fact remains that it might be too slow for some people. If you’re looking for a series in which lots of things happens at the same time, stay away from Asatte no Houkou. Far away.

After the previous episode focused on Karada, this is another episode focused on Shoko. I think I’m starting to see a pattern. If things go right, the next episode will focus on Karada again, and she probably has to confront Tetsu with the way she’s become. It’s a choice the creators made, and it does make sense. So far, it’s worked out extremely well.

Like I said, the current episode focuses on Shoko. It’s a light episode, compared to the previous ones, but that doesn’t make it less awesome. Karada, Hiro and Shoko now are living in one house, and they’re starting to turn into a family. The episode focuses on Shoko, getting used to the lifestyle of a child again. For starters, Karada now sees her as a little child, and treats her that way, trying to place as less of a burden on her shoulders. You can see that Shouko’s rather pissed off because of that.

We also see Shoko, visiting a child’s playground, trying to imagine what the life as a child would be like. When she used to be a child, she never played with the other children, as they’d often say that she was a boring girl who’d never play with them. During her first visit, she runs into a new side-character. Kotomi. She seems to be an acquaintance of Tetsu, and, as she just thinks that Shoko’s a cute little girl who doesn’t have any friends, she actually asks a couple of playing kids whether Shoko can play along. So cute. ^_^

In the end, Shoko ends up playing till sunset with a bunch of children, and actually haves fun at it. Then it also seems how much Karada has attached herself to Shoko, as she actually starts to get very worried when Shoko doesn’t return home. This’ll probably be used in the later episodes. I can’t wait. ^_^

Seriously, there were a lot of garbage-shows in the autumn season, though the anime that actually were good, really turned out extremely well. Asatte no Houkou is no exception to this rule, and this episode only strengthened this. It focuses on Karada this time, and her relationship with Hiro. It was in one word, beautiful.

Last episode, we left off with Shoko telling Hiro about the new Karada. It takes about half an episode for this message to sink down into his mind, much to the annoyance of Shoko and sadness of Karada. The second half of the episode takes place during the summer festival, at which Shoko attempts to bring Karada and Hiro back together. She lets the two of them be alone for a while, and Karada starts to cry in front of Hiro. So sad. Ah well, it did bring the two closer together, and it seems that they’ll be living together again.

Shoko, also definitely changed. You can definitely see this when she’s alone with Karada. In the first episode, all we see of her is her cold side, as she’s constantly reminded of the sad memories Hiro left her. But she’s so cute when she attempts to calm down and comfort Karada.

The question now remains: how will this anime continue? There will probably be some time dedicated to allow Karada’s classmate to accept what happened (dammit… what was his name again?), and the next episode will probably also focus on Karada and Shoko, picking up their lives again. But then what? There’s still lots of time that has to be filled. And remember that the “however…”-part from the description of this anime has yet to happen. =)

Also, notice Karada’s ribbon on her Yukata? That was so cute. ^_^

The episode starts out surprisingly light, when compared with the previous one. It features Karada and Shoko shopping for the things they need. Shoko needs a new pair of glasses, and both of them need new clothes, as their sizes aren’t the same to wear each other’s clothes without any problems. Especially Shoko was so CUTE in this. ^_^

Karada may have wished to become an adult, at heart, she’s still a child. She does have to cope with responsibility, and she must learn to do things on her own. It proves to be harder than she thought, and so, Shoko has to help her in this. Both of them have huge difficulties in playing their parts. Still, Karada isn’t as hopeless as in the previous episode. It seems that she managed to stuff her feelings inside of her, and she actually makes food for Shoko.

While the previous episode was focused on Karada, this episode focuses on Shoko. The result is a totally different episode than the previous one. It’s still full of emotions, but totally different ones. Shoko may have been an adult, she still is bothered by the fact that she changed. Especially when she runs into Hiro, and he doesn’t recognize her. In the end, she lies that she’s Shoko’s little sister.

Because of this, the climax of the show was exceptionally good. Shoko gets a bit sick of Hiro who doesn’t recognize her, so she runs away. In the end, she confesses to him, and brings him back to her apartment, in which she reveals that Karada has grown up. How Karada will react to this, we’ll see in the next episode.

We also get a bit of background information, regarding what happened to Shoko, Hiro and Karada before this anime started. Karada actually isn’t Hiro’s real sister. That, or they didn’t live together at a certain time. When their parents died, Hiro was asked to come over to America, where Karada was living, in order to take care of her. Because of this, Hiro spent all his free time with Karada, and ignored Shoko. She, eventually left the town, only to come back a number of years later. It’s interesting, as it shows why Hiro was so devoted to his sister. He never knew her, and he probably didn’t want her to have any more lonely memories. If the two were siblings who already lived together during the death of their parents, I can imagine that things would have gotten resolved in a totally different way, seeing as how the two already knew each other, so that they knew what would be best for the other.

Even though during the episodes, not a lot of things happen, I’m loving this series. I like the way that this series really takes its time in telling its story. Not to mention the cuteness of Shoko. (^_^)