Kimikiss pure rouge - 18
There’s no logic in love~
Summary:
After Mao states that she can no longer see him, Eiji requests for an explanation. Mao expresses the painful feelings she has developed while seeing Kouichi with Yumi, giving Eiji his answer as he is left alone in the rain. Kouichi tells his mother at home that Mao separated from the group earlier, which makes her worry about Mao’s not having an umbrella. Running in the rain, Mao is unable to stop her tears after passing a happy couple. Later, Mao has come down with a severe fever. While observing her, Kouichi remembers the previous night. Mao had come home soaking wet, and Kouichi was only able to worry about what she did on what was suppose to be her date.
Nana notices that the summer break is almost over, asking for her brother to take her somewhere to play. Kazuki denies, of course, when he gets a phone call from Asuka. Kazuki is happy to meet Asuka in the park, but he becomes surprised that she has arranged a meeting for him and Eriko. Unable to make any real conversation after Asuka leaves, Kazuki is distracted by nearby kids on a swing set. He recalls that he used to play on these a lot as a child, making Eriko remember her eager curiosity towards them in her own childhood. Eriko simply tells Kazuki to follow her, leading him to her home. Eriko treats Kazuki to a drink, which happens to be the coffee that he has not experienced in awhile.
Kazuki finally asks why Eriko ended their experiment. He does not receive a direct answer, but Eriko wonders why it is that people fall in love. Kazuki does not believe there is a real reason for this, and that it happens before people realize. This makes Eriko wonder then why people’s feelings change. After hearing Kazuki’s beliefs about becoming involved with other people, Eriko states that it would then be better to be alone from the start. Kazuki brings up Eriko’s earlier belief that being with others was not bad, but she states that people are always alone in the end. Because of this, the experiment has ended.
Nana learns from Akira at the udon shop that Mao has caught a cold. This isn’t the reason they have met, however, as Akira enjoys a spectacular new dish from Narumi’s grandfather. While talking on the phone with her, Kouichi finds that Yumi believes she may be at a fault for causing Mao to become sick. Kouichi assures her that this isn’t the case, before going to check on Mao. He begins caring for her while she is seemingly asleep, but Mao begins crying soon after Kouichi leaves the room.
Mitsuki and Kouichi become the actors for Akira as he films at the mansion, but everyone finds that Kouichi is extremely distracted. Of course, this is because of Mao. At home, Kouichi’s mother finds that Mao has the book she used to read with Kouichi by her side. Kazuki meanwhile does extremely well in soccer, gaining him praise from Asuka. Kazuki expresses that he has decided to forget, brining up Eriko’s properly ending her relationship with him. Thanking her for what she’s done, Kazuki suggests that he will treat Asuka to something.
Kouichi passes by Eiji in the city, taking the chance to ask if something happened between him and Mao. Eiji shocks Kouichi by telling him that they broke up, but he will not give him a proper explanation why. Kouichi visits Mao in her room afterwards, inquiring about her situation. He suggests that he will help in any way he can, but Mao tells him that it is troubling for her. Kouichi suggests that Mao still likes Eiji, but she gets out of her bed to tell Kouichi that he is the one she actually likes. Mao forces Kouichi out of her room shortly after, leaving him in confusion outside of her door.
Preview: The story takes a U-turn.
Impression:
So I was pretty much freaking throughout this entire episode, and I had to step away from it. Now that I came back, I’m pretty much all psyched out. I just don’t know what to think anymore. I’m done. I’m just gonna sit here, and watch as the writers of this show just completely throw my guesses out of the window. Yea, we had about 15+ episodes of development between these characters……but…..why don’t we forget all of that? Okay? Okay. I also kind of needed a break from this show last week, not to mention all the deadlines I had to meet. I finally have a chance this weekend to catch up on anime, and I’ll probably watching the next episode of Kimikiss in a day or two. Haha!
But rants aside, this episode was actually pretty good when I take my personal bias out of the picture. The plot is moving along for Kazuki after Asuka set him up to talk with Eriko. I really loved the flashbacks to the swing set, and the two’s different views of it. Eriko’s discussion with Kazuki was pretty powerful too, especially with her stating that people are always alone in the end. Of course, I refuse to believe that she is out of the picture just yet. A lot of things can happen from here to the end. For now though, it looks like Asuka will be getting more attention…
As far as the Mao side goes, I was actually already spoiled about what was going to happen by Hinano (stupid awesome bloggers making me read their blogs and get spoiled…hmph). It’s not like it didn’t make it any less annoying though. Right now it seems like Eiji is really out of the picture, especially with all the build up they’ve had between Mao and Kouichi. I don’t like the direction this is going. I guess Kouichi will have to stop calling Mao “neechan”….unless he’s into that kind of thing.
On a random cultural note…I smirked when I saw Mao eating moi (no, not Moy). I don’t know what you call it in er….not-Chinese. Rice porridge?
11 Comments so far
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It’s congee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee) =)
Do you speak a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin or Cantonese? Teochew?
Congee huh…mmmm good. =)
I actually don’t speak Chinese at all….my parents speak it to me and I can magically understand it, but I can’t speak back. (Probably has something to do with growing up hearing it, but not properly being taught.) I’m actually starting to learn how to speak Mandarin right now the same way I learned Japanese…in hopes of becoming trilingual lol. ;P
You crazy trilingualist lol! I know a lot of good languages, but they only let me talk to computers.
so sad
There’s congee and there’s kichari, those are the only ones I know.
So um, kimikiss. I dunno, I don’t really care about Mao’s story, just want to see what’s up with the Futami ordeal, is it really nix? *feels temporary suspense*
LOL my room mate is in CS, and he likes to joke that they have to take the most languages in college…..programming languages…
Also, yea….I really only care about Eriko too. Maybe that’s why I hated the last few episodes so much XD.
Haha, I’m chinese, but I can’t speak or understand it at all because I was born in Thailand.
Anyway, I don’t know what to expect from this series anymore. The emotion is going like a roller coaster. With 7 episodes left, I won’t expect much out of the 4 episodes after this. I probably will focus more in the 3 episodes. Hopefully, I will get the result that I want: Koichi x Yuumi and Kazuki x Eriko and Mao goes into the “nice boat” route XD
Please do, Totali. 6 episodes marathon of True Tears is the assignment for you in this weekend. It’s really good. You won’t be disappointed.
Oh yea! I forgot to mention the School Days vibes again. I mean, look at her! lol…that anime has done so many bad things for our mental well being…
…and yea, I’ll try to catch up on True Tears…I need to finish blogging some stuff and watch a movie with friends tonight though lol xd.
Heh, well, I can see it now, Yuumi is devastated and goes School Days on Kouichi then Mao takes out Yuumi and goes “nice boat”. Yea, another happy ending brought to you by the anime workshop… as we all crawl to the corner of the room twitching and mumbling incoherently.
I’m siding with kenshin514 on this one, I’d like to see Kouichi x Yuumi and Kazuki x Eriko too. Maybe I have high expectations but with only 7 episodes left, they should get things rolling pretty good already. I thought this episode was an acceptable kickoff for it.
Even though Kouichi and Yuumi have a strong relationship, his reaction to Mao’s confession leaves me wondering if he might do something about it… something stupid. There’s bound to be some back and forth between the two. It will hurt his relationship with Yuumi, but I think they will survive the ripples if he doesn’t overdo it. He could end up losing both of them. In the end though, I still feel that Mao will go back to France alone, disappointed. I could be wrong but that’s how I see it.
Kazuki on the other hand, as I mentioned before, sees Asuka more as a sister than a lover so I just don’t see it happening. He won’t leave Eriko alone anyway and I don’t think she will be particularly inclined to push him away either.
At least we finally got a little Eriko history and I think the absence of her mother is also key. There’s a bit more to it than we got this time. With the inevitable emotional turmoil and resulting confusion, Eriko is probably going to become a basket case at some point and will likely rely on Kazuki to help her through it. Hopefully, Eriko will have an epiphany and realize her love for Kazuki… and they lived happily ever after… the end.
Of course there is always the slim chance that we will have a Mao and Asuka ending. The last scenes of the series will be Yuumi sitting at the train station bawling her eyes out in front of everyone and Eriko sitting in her living room alone grimly watching the science channel. Man, that would totally suck! I sure hope they don’t feed us that kind of disappointment.
Oooh, congee! I think they call it rice porridge too, in general. We call it “lugaw” here (I think).
It seemed inevitable but I refused to believe a Mao x Kouichi pairing… Heh, but what do I know. *shrugs* Poor Kai.
I’m only watching out for Asuka and the possibility of Asuka x Kazuki now. They seem to be going in a positive direction. But again, what do I know. xD
Dammit! We’ve had a straight Kouichi-Yuumi pairing for the last dozen episodes, I’d be damned to see Mao just butt in, break the relationship, and catch Kouichi on the rebound.
Honestly, the girl needs an intervention from Kai, Kouichi AND Yuumi combined. That ought’a straighten her up. Or it’s gonna be a “NICE BOAT” ride for all of us here in TV-land.
The Asuka-Kazuki-Eriko love triangle is still up in the air at this point. Though Kazuki says it’s over with Eriko, it’s gotta sprinkled with a little bit of lie (if we’re to go by the next episode preview). I’m betting Asuka and Eriko would have some form of competition over Kazuki… Hmm… Maybe that philosophy Eriko has with swimming would be put to the test.
Well, since my posting last night, I’ve thought about the character and plot development so far and find Yuumi not much different than Kai. I’ve come to a reluctant conclusion that she has been a diversion as well. Kouichi will be busy with school and a low paying job so he will only be able to see Yuumi on rare occasions. They will likely drift apart and it will probably be Yuumi who suggests breaking up for both their sakes. When they split, Mao will feel responsible and resist but he will win her over… which won’t be too hard considering her feelings. His earlier thoughts and reaction to her confession are just too much to ignore. It’s not easy to switch and I don’t dislike Mao, I’ve just been a staunch Kouichi x Yuumi supporter from the beginning, but I now see the Mao x Kouichi end as quite plausible, in fact likely.
Since two childhood friend pairings are unlikely in the same show and the circumstances different, I still think it’s Kazuki x Eriko. There will be an Asuka diversion now but he will only see her as a friend; he will still have Eriko on his mind. If Asuka tries to warm up to him, even kiss him, his reaction will be startled and stand-offish. Eriko might even exhibit a little anger at seeing them together but not realize why she feels that way. He will keep trying to see Eriko and after a bit of cathartic drama, serious togetherness.
It would be cool if Yuumi, Asuka, and Kai could find happiness too but I doubt those arcs will be explored.
By the time that this series will end, we all would be flaming this one way or another because of how frustrating this series is.