Subculture Anime Blog

My boku-o-meter says that the lesbians need to lay off my boku screen time.

Summary:

A girl named Ran flawlessly beats her opponent in a match of tennis, causing many girls to cheer her on. She accepts their gratitude, while the captain Nanai smiles at her achievement. In the sky above, a lone white feather falls from the sky. Afterwards, Nanai and Ran flirt with each other in a room alone. As they are putting on an image, Nanai suggests to Ran that she could get a boyfriend. Ran tells her to stop teasing, as they grasp each others’ hands. Meanwhile, Fumika and Kanaka have arrived at a house to deliver a letter. Kanaka brings up her interest in the event that happened previously with Kaname. At the time, Fumika refused to talk to Kaname and teleported away. In the present time, Fumika refuses to give Kanaka any information about this. Ran walks out of the house in front of them, so Fumika takes the chance to hand her the Shigofumi. Ran refuses to take the letter as she is in a hurry, but she stops after hearing the name of the sender; Kaitenshi Naoko.

Ran is lost in thought about the person she lost while on the train, but Nanai appears to brighten her mood. As the train leaves, Kanaka worries because they are leaving the city. Fumika states that she will have a request made so that they can leave, and wonders if Kanaka hates the city they are in. Kanaka states that she likes it, but she gets tired of things like the food. Kaname tells his father that he met Mikawa while eating breakfast with him, making Tatsumi believe that this is impossible. While visiting places in the town they are at, Ran remembers the woman she once knew again after seeing a couple enter the shop. Nanai asks her about this while riding on a bike with her, but they are interrupted by Fumika in the middle of the forest. Ran is again troubled by the name brought up, but she she simply rides off again. Fumika and Kanaka are then greeted by a girl named Chiaki and her staff Matoma. With this, Kanaka remembers that they are in Chiaki and Matoma’s area. Chiaki finds Fumika strange, in that she usually would not have been able to leave the city.

While the girls practice tennis at their location, Nanai notices that Ran is distracted. Finally asking about Kaitenshi Naoko, she learns that it is Ran’s mother. This was Ran’s true mother, who left her for a man when she was younger. Ran meets Fumika again that night, finally receiving the letter. She throws it away right after, however, stating that she should be able to do what she wants with it. Fumika agrees, despite all of Kanaka’s suggestions. Ran injures herself while running the next morning, causing her to be put in Nanai’s care. Nanai apologizes for not seeing her the previous night, and brings out the Shigofumi that she suspects Ran was worried about. Although she has not looked inside herself, Nanai suggests that Ran read the letter. Knowing that she is worried, Nanai also assures Ran that she is always by her side. Ran is still unable to open the letter after she is left alone, believing that she is being teased again. Meanwhile, the sun begins burning at the sheets not too far away from her.

During practice, some of the girls notice smoke coming from the hills in the distance. Nanai quickly realizes that Ran is in trouble, as Ran herself tries to escape from the burning building she is in. As Fumika watches from a far distance away, Chiaki reminds her that she should not be thinking about saving the human. Kanaka is assured that Fumika is only making sure that the letter has been delivered, but Fumika will not say anything herself. Ran is unable to move much more in the burning building, but she has still held on to the Shigofumi. She is unable to reach for it when she collapses, but she says the words “mother” before closing her eyes. As rain starts to pour, Nanai rushes into the building to save Ran. Inside, Ran remembers her fearful memories of her mother leaving her as a child. Chiaki wonders if Fumika is responsible for the rain, but she denies. Instead, she states that it is a kind rain. An ambulance soon arrives, and Ran is eventually able to read the Shigofumi. In the letter, Ran’s mother had apologized to her. In reality, she had come to all of her matches to watch her. At the end of the letter, she simply wished her good luck for the future. Ran cheerfully tells Nanai about the contents of the letter later. When Nanai asks what kind of person Ran’s mother was, Ran states that she was one that would tease her a lot.

Preview: “I’m home.”

Impression:

Yes, it’s true. Aroduc and I talk about Shigofumi while we watch it in AB IRC. The conversations usually go something like this:

Aroduc: At 17 minutes, there hasn’t been a single boku.
totali: omg
totali: that worries me
totali: i will be very disappointed
Aroduc: Ha!
Aroduc: 20 minutes
Aroduc: A boku
totali: WOOOOOO
totali: i love you jcstaff
totali: you know how to please your fans

Yup…..I think Aroduc’s boku-o-meter was broken though. I actually heard three “boku”s in this episode; two more subtle than the last.

Anyways, I’d probably agree with everyone else that this episode wasn’t quite as strong as the past three, but it certainly wasn’t bad. As more people have begun watching Shigofumi with the release of subs, I’ve found that my prediction is pretty much right. Most people were only hooked to the first batch of episodes because of the shocking events and yandere action. There’s really so much more to this show than that though. The storytelling remains to be brilliant, and I am constantly amazed at how good the production is. Where is JCStaff getting these resources!? The scene with the rain creating a tear drop on the statue above Ran made my eyes open wide at the end of this episode. The theme of longing was well played as well, with Ran’s mother and her current lover Nanai. I was going to make fun of the yuri more, but they obviously took the more serious route with it. I guess you could say that Ran became that way because of what happened to her in the past, but why look into it so much?

There’s also the introduction of Chiaki and Matoma to talk about. As I suspected from the OP, it looks like she will be playing a fairly big role as another courier that interacts with Fumika. I thought Kanaka and Matoma’s interaction was pretty funny, and Chiaki reveals even more about Fumika’s unique character through her dialog. Haha, actually, I think Kanaka provides a lot of comic relief in general. Her asking about Fumika’s past and her suggestion about leaving the city were quite funny earlier on. the next episode looks like it will be revealing more about Fumika’s past and alternate self, Mikawa. Chiaki will be flying around with her too. That should be a lot of fun, but I probably won’t be able to watch it on time because I will be celebrating Chinese New Year next Saturday. I’ll catch you all on the boku channel later!