The drama in this episode was just utterly brilliant. It’s where everything comes together, the build-up is really paying off and the characters start to change even more. Doi turned out to be a wonderful addition to the cast here.
This was a terrific example of the heights that subtle drama can reach. The entire episode was quiet, but so much was going on. The red thread was Nitori doing the impossible and coming to school in his girl outfit, being nudged by Doi in order to do this. It brilliantly made use of his insecurities as a girl in a guy’s body. It all culminated wonderfully until the climax of this episode.
Now, there still is the matter of that ending. This is a manga adaptation after all and I still haven’t forgotten the cheap way in which Kuragehime ended its run, but if that ending is good then this really is an excellent experiment of Noitamina to try and focus on series with a different group of lead characters (unlike Fractale for example). Noitamina is a very double-edged sword, but those who understand its limits (like the creators of this series seem to do) can use it to air some of the most wonderful series.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
I wasn’t expecting this event to happen so soon but yay that was the dramatic event I had been waiting for 😀 And I’m really curious as to how they’re going to finish the anime now :S
Well didn’t expect that watching the cross dressing at school animated will be even more awkward than just reading it XD Yeah, love this development and if I remember right, from here on, the development went up a gear(well,its still slow as usual, but more things happened.but still,slowly..so..yeah..).So its a bit sad that its so short.Go read the manga after this ends psgels 😉
This show gets better and better with each passing week. Everybody in the cast comes to life. I’ll definitely be picking up the manga after the anime finishes its run.
Everyone that liked the anime should read the manga afterwards! I just love how these kids changed over the years. Also, the manga is gonna get published in english in the upcoming months. It’s called Wandering Son and it’s being published by fantagraphics book or something like that. You should go check it out!
I like how they played it out, Mako’s narration after the ending credits was a really nice way to do it, imo.
OK, I’m sold on the manga. I’ll hunt it down. I especially love how characters who would remain peripheral in most stories – Anna, Doi – suddenly pop into three dimensions and command our attention. There’s a sideways-skittering unpredictability to the story and to the characterization that is really, really wonderful and all too rare.
Brilliant. Best Winter show, easily.