Subculture Anime Blog

Needs more….ah, forget it.

Summary:

While Yuuko and the others spend their time at the shop as usual, a young girl enters without really knowing why she has. As Yuuko states that this was destiny as usual, Watanuki notices that the girl is wearing his school’s uniform. While speaking alone with Yuuko, the girl expresses that she has become afraid of her house. She states that she can hear things when she is seemingly alone, making Watanuki wonder if she is referring to ayakashi or ghosts. Yuuko guesses that it would be fine as long as the girl stopped becoming afraid of her home, presenting a bell to her. When Watanuki discusses this with Himawari at school later, Doumeki appears to imply his belief that the bell may be used as a charm to drive away spirits. Watanuki takes the chance to ask if Himawari would eat lunch with him afterwards, but she tells him that she will be eating sandwiches with others. Watanuki again feels a pain in his finger after she leaves, resulting in him spilling the tea container that he received from Doumeki. Of course, this makes him recall the worries he had about this before.

On the way home, Watanuki sees the girl from earlier enter Yuuko’s shop again. In a panic, the girl tells Yuuko that wearing the bell only made the sounds she heard even louder. In response, however, Yuuko only presents the girl with another strap containing two bells. The girl and Watanuki are not sure of this decision, but Yuuko reminds them that the girl’s wish was to stop being afraid of her house. Watanuki sees the girl sitting outside at school later while walking with Himawari, confirming that she was one of the school’s students. The girl again visits the shop later, however, extremely angry this time. In response to her statement that the bells have not been working, however, Yuuko only gives her more bells. Despite the girl believing that the bells are only making things worse, she continues to come each day to receive more bells from Yuuko. The girl continues to be frustrated with each visit, but Yuuko only reminds her that her wish was to stop being afraid of her home.

Watanuki wonders if there are any better ways to deal with the girl’s problem, but Yuuko denies. In fact, she guesses that the end would be soon. That night, Watanuki again encounter’s Doumeki’s grandfather. Realizing that they haven’t exchanged names yet, Watanuki attempts to introduce himself. However, he finds that Doumeki’s grandfather already knows his name. Doumeki’s grandfather then introduces himself as Haruka, wishing that Watanuki would call him by that name. After hearing about the girl and the bells, Haruka wonders if Watanuki would like to check on her. Watanuki is surprised when they instantly appear in the girl’s room, but Haruka explains that they are within a dream. When the girl wakes up, she starts to reach for the bells on the table next to her. She accidentally falls over, however, resulting in sounds coming from the outside of her door. When the door opens, Watanuki sees a man enter to check the room. The girl, on the other hand, cannot see him. When the girl starts to shake the bells in her possession, the man’s wife enters to express her panic. In the meantime, the girl fears the movements in the room created by the couple. The man mentions to his wife that an exorcist would come the next day, making Watanuki realize the situation as he wakes in his own bed.

At school the next day, Watanuki points out the girl again to Himawari. However, he realizes that Himawari was looking at another girl when he mentioned her previously. This makes him further realize that he is the only one who can see the girl. Afterwards, Watanuki hears about the television program that Kohane has been participating in again. This makes him learn of the recent talk of an exorcism, something else that he had no knowledge of. When Watanuki reaches the shop that night, he sees the horribly altered images of Kohane on the internet. Yuuko interrupts him afterwards, so he takes the chance to ask about the girl. Yuuko reminds him that it was the night of the exorcism, making Watanuki realize that it was actually the girl who did not belong in the house. Yuuko reminds him that the girl’s wish to stop being afraid of her house, and by leaving it, her wish was granted. Watanuki still worries about the actions Yuuko took, but this only makes her mention that Watanuki has changed a bit. As a last word, Yuuko states her belief that Watanuki would do his best from here on as well.

Preview: Kohane and her new bondage style.

Impression:

So yea, this post is pretty late. I wasn’t willing to watch the bad raws when they came out, and by the time I got a good one, my schedule was already all over the place because of work and the such. I’m sure most of you have already gotten all the coverage you want from Garten or Aroduc, but I decided to do full coverage on the episode anyways. That’s just how much I love this show. This week’s episode focused on a ghost story, one that I actually didn’t like that much in the manga. I will have to say that the animated version did make me like it a lot more though. I think it’s all in presentation, since in the manga, I was just confused during the scene in the girl’s room. As I mentioned previously, I also think the anime adds so much more of an atmosphere to the stories. Then again, I am very biased in that I watch a lot more anime than I read manga.

Even though this season has seemingly been less episodic than the previous, I always love seeing the different experiences Watanuki has with those who visit Yuuko’s shop. Although I’m not sure if this arc presented any solid themes, it was an interesting story. Some of the more fascinating parts would still have to be those where Watanuki speaks with Haruka though. I can’t wait to see what kind of other roles he will be playing in the future. Other things to note in this episode would probably be grey silhouettes (maybe not my favorite way too see unimportant characters presented), Yuuko’s pc drawing skills, google, and the girls who lept through time. There was some Yuuko service for those who are in to that too. I thought it was fun to see her changing outfits each time the girl visited! Next week looks to be skipping to some more of Kohane’s story. It should definitely be a treat.