Subculture Anime Blog

Have you ever experienced deja vu? Well…this isn’t exactly the kind I had in mind.

Short Summary:

Life goes on as usual in Kamitsumihara. Yumiko puts off her work, while Momoka and Makoto enjoy Touka’s lunch at school. When Makoto returns home, she runs into Haruhiko who calmly accepts a love letter from a passing student. Makoto goes to practice playing her flute afterwards, and everyone seems to notice the beautiful sound. Makoto notices someone in the trees, and picks up the love letter she finds afterwards. That night, Yumiko does not wish for the next day to come. Instead of turning the calendar’s page, she draws a heart around it while thinking of Touka. When the next day starts, Makoto cannot find the love letter that she received the previous day. The events that day happen almost exactly the same as before, but Makoto realizes that something is wrong. Some things happen differently because of her actions. For example, Haruhiko does not receive the love letter from the passing student. Makoto tries to chase after the person who dropped the love letter this time, but to no avail. When she mentions the events of the day to Yumiko that night, she tells Makoto that what she experienced was deja vu. The next day on the way to school, Makoto meets with her fellow classmate Touko again, and accidentally discovers that it was her that dropped the love letter.

Full Summary:

Yumiko expresses her want to eat nabe with Touka in the morning, but Nene brings up her deadline. After being asked if she has finished her work, Yumiko replies that she hasn’t. She believes that she should not have to do things that she can put off to the next day. Later, Yumiko turns the page on her calendar from the ninth to the tenth (or “touka”), while thinking of Touka. Yumiko sneaks into the kitchen to take some food from one of the box lunches that Touka is preparing, but Touka realizes that she is there. This makes her wonder if he has eyes in the back of his head, so she playfully looks for them. At the breakfast table, Makoto notices that Momoka is oversleeping as usual. On the way to school, Makoto greets her upperclassman Touko, who noticed the song that Makoto is always singing. Noticing that she has been seeing her a lot lately, Makoto asks how Touko has been feeling. She replies that, thanks to Makoto, she has been doing good. Previously she would collapse frequently, but it hasn’t happened at all lately. Touko then asks if Makoto is staying at the Kamiazuma household, which she confirms. At school, Momoko excitedly prepares to eat Touka’s prepared lunch, which she believes is prepared with love. When Makoto asks permission to eat one of the octopus wieners, Momoka is the one who grants permission.

Haruhiko stops Makoto on her way home, telling her that everyone will be eating nabe together. A female student arrives shortly after and hands Haruhiko a love letter, which he calmly accepts. Makoto then begins playing her flute in the forest, and Haruhiko gets a bulls eye while practicing archery. Asuna seems to notice the sound, and the butterfly triplets recognize the calming sound as Makoto’s. Kikyou does not seem affected while making tea. When Shouko hears this noise, she praises Makoto’s music extremely highly, making her fellow club members laugh nervously with her. Nene serves Yumiko tea as she seemingly works on her story, but she is actually drawing a picture of Touka, Momoka, and Haruhiko. Makoto hears someone behind her, and picks up the letter that she finds on the ground. She misses the chance to see who it is from, but it surprised to find that it is a love letter for her. That night, everyone enjoys nabe together. Before the next sunrise, Yumiko prepares to turn the page on her calendar, but instead draws a heart around the ten because she does not want to.

When the day comes, the events from the previous day repeat themselves with slight differences. Yumiko again goes to steal some of Touka’s food, but this time she says “As I thought, you have eyes behind your head don’t you.” Though, she gets the same reaction. Makoto is troubled because she cannot find the letter she received previously. Dashing to school, she meets Touko who also seems to be a bit late. Makoto tells her that she was searching for something she lost, which makes Touko ask if Makoto is living in the Kamiazuma household. Makoto still gets excited with Momoka at lunch, but when she hears the words “not always the same”, something bothers her. When Haruhiko invites Makoto to nabe, she asks if they are doing it again today, which makes him wonder if anyone had nabe the previous day. When the student appears to give him her love letter, Makoto gives her a glaring stare, which makes her run away this time without giving Haruhiko the letter. Makoto once again tries to concentrate on her flute playing, but this time, Haruhiko’s shot is off. Asuna and the triplets once again hear the sound, and this time, Kikyou notices something. Shouko and her fellow club members have the same reaction to the sound.

When Makoto senses the person behind her this time, she gives chase. Inside Yumiko’s room, Nene once again looks at the calendar, but it has the heart around the ten as well as the note. The triplets and Asuna look outside as they see Makoto chasing the culprit, but Makoto loses site of the person as she runs into Haruhiko. Seeing Makoto in Haruhiko’s arms makes Shouko very angry, so she jumps off a very high floor to give him a punch in the face. Inside, Yumiko excitedly claims that she is finished. Everyone has nabe again, but this time, Yumiko notices that Makoto seems down. When Makoto tells her that the day was the same as the previous, Yumiko simply tells her that what she experienced was deja vu. This time as the sun rises, Yumiko turns the calendar page from the tenth to the eleventh. However, Momoka still oversleeps as always. When Makoto meets Touko on the way to school, she tells her how she ran so much the previous day. As Touko take something out of her bag to help Makoto, a letter drops from her bag. Makoto picks it up to look at it, but Touko takes it back before she can.

Preview: Hoshi

Impression:

Well this episode was pretty interesting, but I just can’t help but think that the creators did this to keep production costs down. I mean the second half of the episode was practically the same as the first half. I guess you could say it was an innovative idea to save money, so I’ll give them that. Getting past this, we were introduced to a new character, Touko, who seems to like Makoto because of something that she did for her in the past. Because of the reverse chronology, we know that we will probably be seeing exactly what that was in a future episode. I also found it pretty funny how she tried to confess to Makoto. Just like Yamibou, this show has no qualms about showing off its shoujo-ai aspects. Honestly though, I am getting kind of tired of the abuse Yumiko’s powers are getting. They confirmed that she could manipulate the world through her wishes a long time ago. I’m pretty sure the creators are just using this as a plot device to let them do whatever they want with stand alone episodes. For example, this would let their guest writers make up any kind of story, and it wouldn’t affect the major outcome of the plot. I’m assuming that we probably won’t get back to the pace we had in the first episodes until close to the end. Oh well, I have no problem with watching everyone perform their school antics. The next episode looks like a major Kaya and Nene episode. That should be pretty fun.