Subculture Anime Blog

Do you have any memories that you would rather not forget?

Summary:

Chihiro writes to herself concerning her memory disorder, as well as describing the accident that caused it. In the message, she makes herself promise to read her diaries in order to acknowledge her memories. She also advises herself to write everything that happens to her. Meanwhile, Yu watches from the the back of her room. In the present time, Renji reads what has been written in Chihiro’s diary. However, Chihiro stops him at a certain point. As she walks along the beach with Renji, Chihiro describes how her memory loss occurs. When Renji suggests that this means she has already forgotten about meeting him earlier, Chihiro reveals that she can make herself remember very important things. Renji is greeted by his mother when he reaches home, as she talks to him about school. Renji is happy to hear that their neighbor Kuze has returned, and he asks for some time to talk to him when he brings some food over. However, because of Kuze’s mention of a woman in his bed, Renji decides to come back another time.

In the morning, Renji goes to school while thinking of the usual days that go on. He is happy to see Chihiro as he remembers her, but it is quite different for her. Because of Chihiro’s memory disorder, she must be prepared to meet him every time. Renji recalls what Chihiro told him on one of the previous nights. Putting it off as a joke, Chihiro claimed that she was not afraid to die. What she is really afraid of is others losing their memories of her. When Renji finds that Chihiro is not waiting for him on one rainy day, he thinks about his wish to protect a princess. Recalling Chihiro’s wish to write a story, he makes a decision. When Renji goes to the train station to meet Chihiro on a following day, he finds Yu in her place. Yu explains that Chihiro has caught a cold waiting for him all day, because Renji’s promise to see her again the next day is something very important to her.

Kei finds an exhausted Hiro on the school grounds in the early morning. She learns that he has been busy with his manga work, before taking off after drinking all of his remaining drink. Hiro meets Miyako again on the roof, as she describes how happy she is for his being there. This is because he has the key to the roof, and she wouldn’t have been able to get up there without it. After Hiro refuses to hand the key over to her, Miyako drags Hiro off to somewhere else. Kyousuke’s club critiques one of his works during club, making him leave early again. In town, Miyako describes how interesting it is. Stopping at a cafe, she explains to Hiro that she hates boredom rather than school itself. Her conversation is interrupted by a girl who greets Hiro at the table, so Hiro introduces her as Hayama Mizuki. Miyako becomes angered when Hiro forgets her name, and she disappears as Hiro tries to convince Mizuki that she is not his girlfriend.

Elsewhere, Kyosuke is confronted by his girlfriend in an abandoned part of town. As she tries to convince him of the club’s intentions, he expresses how boring it has become for his camera. When the idea is brought up that the two should break up, Kyosuke agrees as he walks away. After seeing a paper airplane fly by, Kyosuke sees Amamiya above him. He explains to her that what he really wishes to capture is dreams, as she soon disappears. In the school locker room, Kei receives a text message from Chihiro about Yu preventing her from seeing Renji. Soon after she replies, Kei receives a message from Mizuki. Calling Hiro out, Kei questions him about his skipping class the previous day. Hiro lies about going home to sleep, but Kei reveals that she knows that he has been with Miyako. Hiro discovers that Miyako is actually famous around the school, and accidentally tells Kei about his meeting her on xmas.

Impression:

Apparently, last week’s ED really was the OP. I’m still loving it, as well as the ED. The ED is supposedly going to chance two more times, all according to SHAFT style. Being a 12 episode series that isn’t really episodic, I’m actually wondering if this is really necessary. Well, as long as they keep staying as good as they are now, I’ll still be more than happy to watch them. So I don’t know if it’s just me being bitter about watching the episode late or something, but I just wasn’t as excited about this episode as I was about the first two. This is also one of those shows that takes a lot more patience than others because it is so dialog driven. I actually saw a bit of the reason why people are disliking this show. Well, that still doesn’t mean I’m one of those haters. I loved the dramatic soundtrack in this episode, and although it didn’t seem to show up as much this time, I am still loving the style. Some of the scenes in the city during the second half of the episode were quite powerful in particular.

As far as the story goes, Renji and Chihiro’s has developed since the cliffhanger at the end of the last episode. The more I think about it, the more predictable that story actually becomes. I’m still quite interested though. The focus shifted to Hiro and Miyako again during the second half of the episode (Ha, and I thought I would never see those two again). Their story just seems more typical to me, but it is still keeping my interest some how. This probably has something to do with the dialog they exchange on the side. This show is very good with words, and it makes my artistic instincts rise like crazy. The third couple, including Kyosuke and his girlfriend, doesn’t seem to be getting as much attention at all compared to the others. I’m hoping this will change a little bit in the future, as I am actually very intrigued as to what they will bring to the table. Kyosuke’s meeting with Amamiya in this episode was awesome, especially with Kyosuke’s wish to capture dreams revealed. Maybe I just love how he is involved in video editing, something that I have a bit of experience with. I’m also liking Kei’s basketball scenes for a couple of reasons. Let me just say that one of them happens to be reminding me of a certain Clannad girl. Haha! Ok, so maybe I’m kidding myself by saying that I’m not interested in this show. Before I type up an essay, I’ll leave this by saying that I hope to see more in the next episode: “honesty”. It sounds like we’ll be focused on Hiro!