Subculture Anime Blog

Ah! My Boku Goddess

Summary:

When Chiaki was still living, she rode in a car with a boy who said something to make her blush. Another car with two distracted passengers crashed into them, however, ending her life. In the present time, Kaname and Natsuka follow Fumika to visit Fumi-chan. Fumika tells Fumi-chan about Kaname and Natsuka’s visit, while praising Haruno for what she was able to do to Kirameki. Natsuka wonders if the personality she met in the past was actually Mika, which Fumika is forced to confess to. This makes Kaname wonder about the one he came to like. When Kanaka switches the conversation to Fumika’s work, Kaname wonders what exactly a Shigofumi is. Before he can get his answer, the group sees Chiaki outside.

Chiaki reveals her realizations about Fumika, in particular about her not truly being dead. Chiaki wonders if Fumika will go out to play with her, which Fumika surprisingly agrees to. However, Fumika would choose the location. Kaname and Natsuka tag along, so the group travels across the sea via boat. Chiaki eventually reveals that she is Fumika’s senior, and that she has already died. She brings up the incident that caused this, which makes Natsuka and herself begin teasing Kaname about talk of love. On the other end of the boat, a girl in summer clothes stands alone. When the group reaches their room, they discover that it is the first time that Fumika has went on a trip. Because of this, they get her acquainted with what it means to do so.

Natsuka later brings up to Kaname that the island Fumika wanted to visit was actually the one next to them, making him wonder what she is thinking. As fate would have it, this is the same island that the mysterious girl wishes to visit. Natsuka brings up the earlier conversation about Kaname’s confession to Fumika, which he obviously has trouble talking about. As they are listening in, Chiaki wonders how Fumika feels about this. Fumika reveals that she does not really understand love’s meaning, however, making Chiaki realize her circumstances. When Fumika wonders about Chiaki’s case, Chiaki can only state that this was a thing of the past for her. Elsewhere, Haruno presents a draft from Kirameki to Ochiai’s Editor in Chief.

When the girl from earlier visits a house, she introduces herself as Shirakawa Touko. Chiaki brings up Fumika’s want to go to the next island while the girls are in the hot springs, which makes Fumika finally reveal that it is to deliver a Shigofumi. Fumika frightens Natsuka when she suggests that the recipient may be dead, causing her to fall down the steps. Natsuka falls on Touko in the process, but she becomes even more frightened after seeing the contents of Touko’s luggage. Touko eventually explains to the girls that her belongings are actually for a hakamairi visit, further revealing that her reason for doing so is her nervousness towards confessing to a person that she likes. This causes Chiaki and Natsuka to bring up conversation about love, but Fumika decides to go to bed because of lack of interest. Of course, Chiaki won’t let her do this.

The next morning while they travel to the next island, the group wonders whose grave Touko will be visiting. Touko tells them that it is her grandfather, Kiyosumi Saizo. This puts Chiaki in shock, as this was the person she knew in the past. In a bit of disappointment, she realizes that he got married. When the group reaches the island, most begin enjoying themselves. Touko begins preparations for the hakamairi, while Fumika sits with Chiaki. Chiaki explains that she visited her town recently. However, none of her familiar places were there. It has been 50 years since she died, and it was a given that things would change. The only thing that hadn’t was herself. Fumika realizes that even Chiaki’s previous lover had changed before dying, then inviting Chiaki to the hakamairi.

The girls join Touko, and Chiaki again realizes that the grave before her belongs to her previous lover, Kiyosumi Saizo. She pays her respects, bringing up Saizo’s living happily long after she died. She becomes shocked when she sees a postage stamp on a nearby stone, however, with a message accompanying it. This makes Chiaki realize that Fumika’s work was to deliver this message to her. Touko reveals that Saizo never actually got married, further surprising Chiaki. Chiaki then remembers the wonderful times she spent with Saizo, and the last night that she lived. Saizo had brought up all the fun times he spent with Chiaki, and prepared to propose to her. However, this was when the accident happened. With this, Chiaki agrees to Saizo’s proposal, letting a single tear run down her face. On the boat ride home, Touko decides that she finally has the courage to confess.

Preview: Meeting….back on track with the death stories!

Impression:

Yup, Shigofumi is now entering love comedy territory….and that just makes me love it even more. There were so many funny parts in this episode, and even if it was focused on Chiaki, I still almost died from awesome Fumika overload. I laughed when Natsuka mentioned that she “even said boku”, proving that it was Mika that she met in the past. Fumika’s love for Fumi-chan was killer too. Kaname’s interaction with Matoma made me think about the genders that the staves have for the first time, and Kanaka’s human like actions had me rolling in my chair. Of course, just because this episode was really funny does not mean they went off track at all. The fact that they can make such an episode work so well with the story just proves how well the writing is done. Touko’s introduction might not have been the most powerful though, and I did notice Inamura Yuuna’s voice pretty quickly. Heck, her character even resembled Akao.

This episode was still able to focus on a theme, which happened to be the moving on of life and love. I think these two concepts played very well together, but maybe it’s because I expose myself to too much romance series. People change throughout time, and that’s a given no matter what the circumstance is. The story of Chiaki’s eternal love was beautiful though, especially with the symbolic ring. Not only was the writing as excellent as ever, but the screenplay worked so well with it again. When Chiaki talked about her old sights changing and disappearing, she looked across the dark and empty city that had overtaken them. My eyes were definitely wide open at that point, and I was sighing out of amazement again when they visited the grave. I always like to point out the color isolation in anime too, but that’s just a silly habit. Next week, we’ll be back to the episodic type story that drew me into this series in the first place. I guess I’ll have to be ready to talk about a lot of things again.