Subculture Anime Blog

Talk to the hand book.

Summary:

Kouichi greets Mao when she wakes in the morning, but finds that she is planning on moving sooner than he expected. Kouichi wonders to her if this is his fault, but Mao assures him that this isn’t the case. While walking to school, Kazuki is surprised to find Eriko waiting for him along the way. The two happily get into a conversation about the school’s upcoming festival. Kazuki’s class is doing a game center using people as the machines, and Eriko’s is doing a haunted house. Eriko wonders if Kazuki will go to the haunted house, and he agrees to attend with her. While on the way to school, Asuka stops to check her appearance with a nearby car. She is interrupted by Nana and Narumi, then wondering why Kazuki isn’t with them. The two girls explain that they are busy with their udon creating activities, leaving for the said events soon after. When Asuka sees Kazuki walking with Eriko, she hides herself with a bit of a disappointing face.

When Asuka enters the classroom, Kazuki thanks her for helping him make up with Eriko. Kazuki also greets Akira when he enters the room, who is exhausted from his recent troubles. Kazuki makes cheerful suggestions as usual, but Kouichi is too distracted to play along with him effectively. Kazuki wonders if there is something wrong, but he is sent to his seat by Megumi as homeroom activities are starting. On the opposite side of the classroom, Yumi looks at Kouichi with concern. Nana and Narumi visit Eriko while the festival preparations are being made, hoping that she would try their udon in order to complete it. When some of Eriko’s classmates wonder why the girls are meeting, Mitsuki explains that they are all friends. Eriko states that the udon is good when she finally tries it, greatly pleasing Nana and Narumi.

While things are being made in Mao’s class, some girls praise Eiji for the surprising work he has created. Gazing at him from just a bit further away, Mao gives him a smile. Back in the other classroom, Kazuki finally finds out from Kouichi that Mao is moving. The two are interrupted when Nana and Narumi enter to announce their success, but Kouichi and Yumi remain troubled. Kazuki performs quite well at soccer practice later, but Asuka is distracted from what she has done for Eriko and Kazuki. Yumi approaches Kouichi at the school entrance, almost asking about his situation with Mao. The two are interrupted by Akira, however, who needs Kouichi’s help. Yumi coincidentally meets Mao in the city, who confirms that she is moving. Mao changes the subject to the school’s activities, being reminded that Yumi will be moving after this festival. Mao suggests that she will leave Kouichi up to Yumi even after she moves, slightly worrying Yumi.

Asuka is chosen to start at soccer practice as expected, but the team becomes surprised when Kazuki is chosen as well. This makes Kazuki quite happy, but he finds that Asuka is troubled when he looks in her direction. Kazuki announces his results to Eriko later, along with his observation of Asuka being down. Hearing about this, Eriko worries about Asuka’s situation. Yumi meets Kouichi in the afternoon, bringing up their plans for the next break. However, she surprises him by canceling their plans. On the free day, Kouichi is left to help Mao with her packing. Finding that Yumi has her own work to do, Mao agrees to let Kouichi help her. Looking through all of her things, Kouichi and Mao remember things like the day Mao returned to Kouichi’s house. Mao decides to keep the script she used for the film, but to return her childhood book to Kouichi. Kouichi only wishes that they could go back to the times they spent in their childhood, but Mao tells Kouichi that he has Yumi now. In her own home, Yumi gazes at the picture she had taken with all of her friends.

Preview: and life goes on

Impression:

Ah well, at this point it looks like the story is already over. There’s just a few loose ends to tie up, which the last three episodes will have to take care of. Although not much happened in this episode, it pretty much established the major themes of the show that were set up from the start. Some may believe that Asuka’s role is quite wasted after what has happened between Kazuki and Eriko in the previous episode, but that’s not true at all. Kimikiss has always presented a nice, true to life type story, and Asuka plays the role of a long time friend of Kazuki. Everyone struggles with love related problems at some point, and this is realistically shown through Asuka who if forced to give up on Kazuki because she knows what he truly desires. Even though she is struggling a bit, she is moving on in her own ways.

This brings up the typical “life goes on” theme that is also being presented, especially with Mao. It was easy to hate on her because I’m in the group that does not enjoy the stereotypical and overly convenient childhood friend set up, but I’m happy now that she has finally decided to lay off. Her moving away is similar to a true older sister’s leaving. That’s the feelings Kouichi is struggling with, since most of his feelings are still for Yumi. The symbolism with Mao’s use of the old book she and Kouichi used to read was excellent, especially since it showed that she has finally moved on. There were some obstacles along the way, but Kimikiss will again prove to be the predictable story we were all expecting from the beginning. Not that this is a bad thing at all, even with some light drama elements included. On a final note, Eriko smiling and blushing was awesome. So was hearing Kawasumi Ayako do her silly teacher role again.