Subculture Anime Blog

Egao no white~! Namida no blue~!

Summary:

Yuu wakes in his house, noticing the sketchbook on his shelf for the first time in quite a while. Yuuko is happy to find that Yuu has started to draw again while on the school rooftop with him later, and after describing how much she likes him, she falls asleep on his shoulder. When Yuu meets Nagi later, he learns that she has stopped being able to draw as she usually does. Nagi denies Yuu’s suggestion that it is simply a slump, describing the belief she has that she may not even be able to draw from here on, before only asking for Yuu to leave. The voice that told her these things was that of the woman inside of her.

When Kuze meets Yuu, he finally reveals the results of his research on Yuuko. From the information he gained from the female students in her class, and his own obvious assumptions, he makes Yuu realize that Yuuko is quite the liar. Meeting Yuu on the beach later, Yuuko asks him if he believes in god. In response, Yuu states that there cannot be one because of the state the world is in. Even if one had existed before, it would have already died. Then describing the concept of faces or masks, Yuuko confirms to Yuu that she is certainly hiding something. After giving him a kiss, however, Yuuko states that she would like for Yuu to learn of it. Yuuko then states that she does not believe a god exists either, because if there was one, the world would be a much more beautiful place. Yuu denies the existence of Yuuko’s ideal world, but in response, she states that this is why she desires it. When Yuuko returns home, she again confirms that she is still alive. Afterwards, she reconfirms her wish to tell her secrets to Yuu.

Yuu finds that Nagi is still in the art room later, then reminding her of Kuze’s leaving party, but she only takes the chance to describe what happens when their names are combined. Putting the two kanji together, they become “yuunagi” or the “evenining calm.” Although Nagi continues to describe what happens to the wind and water during this certain time of day, Yuu can only wonder if Nagi still cannot draw. Nagi remembers this, and recalling that she realizes what the reason is, she finally admits that she has been lonely. Nagi believes that both Kuze and Yuu are leaving her, and although Yuu suggests that he is not going anywhere, Nagi easily sees that this is not the case. Yuu can only apologize to Nagi, but after she denies his wish for him to do so, she only reminds him that Yuuko is waiting for him. Although Nagi could not draw because she could not see her true self before, she believes that she may now be able to.

When Yuu and Yuuko enter a classroom to meet Kuze, they find that they are the only attendees for his party. In actuality, Kuze had only asked Yuu in the first place. Kuze suggests that, rather than a farewell party, this was more of his last performance in the area. As Kuze starts playing his violin, Yuuko grasps Yuu’s hand. In other places, Nagi conveys her teary emotions onto her canvas. Yuuko begins to cry as well, and when she runs out of the room, Yuu is forced to chase after her. Yuuko apologizes to Yuu when he finds her on the school rooftop, then stating her belief that Kuze must have an honest and straight forward heart to produce such a melody. Having believed that there could have been some value in the world after hearing it, Yuuko had run away in tears from her disbelief that she could have such feelings. Yuu can only call Yuuko a liar, however, then wondering how much of her is true. Taking a kiss from her, he demands to know if her feelings for him are genuine. When Yuu finally admits that he loves Yuuko, tears fall from her eyes. This is what she had wanted him to say all along, as she desired for him to long for her.

When Yuu walks into the church with Yuuko, she strips as she expresses her wish for him to know more about her. Recalling the times she had always chased after him, however, she first takes the chance to ask why he denied making her his sister. Looking at Yuuko’s naked body, Yuu can only be horrified. With this, Yuuko finally describes the events that had occurred while she was with Akira. Yuuko was sought as a replacement for his lost sister, but after awhile, it was apparent that this could never be the case. Akira had begun abusing Yuuko as an object, but he would eventually apologize for his actions. During a certain xmas eve, however, Yuuko was finally raped by him. Expressing her wish that Yuu would have been her first, Yuuko states that she now has nothing. Yuu denies this, describing that Yuuko would always have a future and the ability to forget, but this only leads Yuuko to describe the pain she has received every night even after meeting Yuu again. In the end, she describes herself as the girl that Yuu had abandoned. When Yuuko wonders why Yuu did not accept her in the past, he expresses that he did not want to become the same as Akira. Yuuko can only call Yuu a liar, however, and after she states that his confession was 10 years too late, Yuu lets out a horrifying scream.

ED: “願いのカケラ” by Nakajima Yumiko – A perfectly fitting ending for the episode, focused on Yuuko as a child and adult. As usual, I’m not really into the song though. It’s something that I would only listen to while watching the anime.

Impression:

Holy. Freaking. Crap. Where are the haters now? Maybe they stopped watching? This was easily the best episode of the second season so far, and one that I connected with on several levels. Yuu and Yuuko’s reasons for denying the existence of a god were beliefs that I, and probably several other atheists, have cycled through my mind several times while trying to rationalize the often overlooked negative aspects of the world. The events that happened to Yuuko may seem a bit overdramatic in this episode, but anyone who takes their head beyond what they read in books or see in the media would see that this type of thing certainly happens in true to life situations. I’m going have to give it to ef once again for pushing boundaries, and even breaking the standards of the typical visual novel archetype, by touching on such controversial and philosophical subjects.The ending sequence between Yuu and Yuuko was very familiar to Miyako’s phone sequences in the first season, but there was definitely an added style to it that made it just as, if not more, intriguing to watch.

Being someone who is pursuing a future in art, I also related to Nagi’s fear of becoming unable to convey her emotions through her work. Blindness would easily be my greatest fear, and this statement can be understood in more than one way. Artists obviously understand that their art is only a reflection of themselves, and Nagi’s display of this was simply beautiful. At this point, it looks like Nagi is finally out of the picture when it comes to her unrequited love for Yuu. Only being half way through the series though, I can only wonder how her role will begin to change. I’m also going to have to praise Shizuka Itou’s performance again after this episode, especially since this is (to my knowledge) the first time she has played such a role.

After this reminder of why I enjoyed the first season of ef so much, I am now really pumped to see a strong second half to finish off the series. It’s also notable that the OP this week was just an instrumental version of ebullient future, with the characters removed along with the vocals. Nice touch.