Subculture Anime Blog

“Hay, can I has Nagisa?”

Summary:

After waking from memories of the previous day, Tomoya realizes that he is no longer a student. The Furukawas congratulate Tomoya for his graduating when they meet him, and after learning that he has not come up with any career plans, they offer to let him work at the bread shop for the time being. Tomoya further sees that Nagisa’s parents have decided to call him by his first name, as Sanae expresses that he is already part of their family. Tomoya begins working on the following days, and while doing so, notices several things about the Furukawa family that he hadn’t before. This includes his actually seeing Sanae teach young children, and Akio’s sometimes leaving the shop without explanation.

As Nagisa has become well enough to attend school again, she returns on the opening day to meet Tomoya at the shop. Nagisa was not placed in the same class as Tomoyo or Yukine, but she expresses her eagerness to meet new friends after having seen how friendly everyone was. As Nagisa continues to arrive home on days after school, Tomoya sees that she has not had an easy time making new friends. One of the reasons would obviously be her repeating a year, but this doesn’t stop the two from being enthusiastic. Nagisa expresses her wish to come back to tell Tomoya about many fun times at school, but as the days pass, Nagisa never seems to have a chance to do this.

Tomoya meets Yoshino while out doing errands on a latter day, who seems quite busy with his work. After some small talk, Yoshino brings up he and his wife’s unwillingness to give up hope for Fuuko. After seperating from Yoshino, Tomoya meets the Fujibayashi sisters in town. While sitting with Tomoya, the two mention the lack of time they have to meet everyone because of school. Tomoya then reveals what he has been doing, which the sisters do not take as negatively as he thought they would. This brings Ryou to bring up that one of her acquaintances is soon moving out of a house, and after hearing about this, Tomoya rushes to request employment under Yoshino. Tomoya announces his plans to the Furukawas that night, and with their support, he thanks them for all the help they’ve given him thus far.

Taking a chance to play baseball with him later, Akio tells Tomoya to come to him if he ever has any trouble. Thanking him while continue to exchange throws, Tomoya then asks Akio if he can one day take Nagisa with him. Akio replies with the fact that Nagisa is no longer a little girl, and that it is her choice in the end. Akio and Nagisa eventually help Tomoya to move into his apartment, and after Akio returns home, Tomoya seems to have a glimpse of what his future with Nagisa could be like. Nagisa wakes Tomoya on his first day of work, and as he leaves, she promises to wait for him. After being introduced to the electric company, and going through strict training with Yoshino, Tomoya sees that his job would be quite a bit tougher than he first expected. Tomoya returns home to Nagisa exhausted, but despite his obviously losing strength, he expresses his wish to hear about the fun things she has done at school.

Preview: Horde of apologies.

Impression:

Any hardship can be overcome with love POWWAAAAAAAAAA! Mmm….the journey of starting life in the real world. I definitely dodged that one for a few years by attending college. Not being a total hikkikomori though, and having been around people who work on a consistent basis, I felt like this episode represented the working class life style pretty well. I also really enjoyed the visual directing in this episode, from the use of clouds to display the passage of time in the beginning to the flower growing through cement as a use of symbolism. Though I’ve never been one to doubt Kyoani’s animation production, this episode stood out to me in particular for going the extra mile with a lot of scenes. For the most part though, the current arc feels mostly like a transition one. Even if we’re getting hints of it, we probably won’t be seeing the trouble between Nagisa and Tomoya right away.

After the last few episodes, I think I’ve finally started to understand what the girl and robot scenes from the beginning of arcs are suppose to represent as well. I feel the same about the light orbs too, but I’ll continue to avoid spoilers. (Half of the people watching this show already know all about this stuff anyways…)

Notes:

• Nagisa is such a kid, hugging that GIANT DANGO.
• PANDA APRON.
• That was the most impossible bread I’ve ever seen.
• Jello bread on discount?
• Running out in tears…never gets old!
• Akiko jam cameo…more subtle this time.
• N….no I’m not freeloading at my girlfriend’s house and selling bread for a living….
• FUUKO MUST RETURN.