Subculture Anime Blog

No jet-coasters allowed!

Summary:

Yumi arrives at the train station early in order to meet Sachiko, but is surprised to see that she is already there. As the two have idle chatter on the train afterwards, Yumi recalls the events that led up to this point. Previously, Yoshino and the other roses wondered what they could do to motivate themselves for the upcoming exams. This lead to Sachiko’s suggestion of going to a theme park, and despite her initial reactions, Yumi was excited to find that she would be going alone with Sachiko. When the two girls arrive at the theme park though, they are both surprised to meet both Suguru and Yuuki there. Yumi tries to get information from her brother, but he can only truthfully state his being dragged along by his senior. Suguru suggests that Sachiko and Yumi think of their being there on their own, which Sachiko agrees to do while continuing to buy tickets with Yumi.

While the girls attend attractions throughout the day, Yumi cannot help but continue to look back at Suguru and Yuuki who have obviously been following them. The two groups eventually stop to talk, and Sachiko shocks Yumi by having her ride a roller-coaster with Suguru so that she can watch. While alone with Suguru in line, Yumi finally realizes that he had come to the theme park in order to do something like look over Sachiko. She further recalls that Suguru would have known many of Sachiko’s traits far before her, because of being her fiance. After attending a few more attractions, Sachiko eventually collapses. Suguru quickly helps her, with Yumi only able to put on a look of distress. Sachiko recovers after a short while, but Suguru and the others agree that they should stop for the day to prevent worry.

As Suguru drives the group home, he explains to Yumi that Sachiko does not do well around large groups of people. When Yumi wonders why he then allowed her to attend the theme park, he expresses that it was because it seemed like she was having a lot of fun. He had never seen her smile in this way while around him, so it meant that she simply wanted to do many things with Yumi. As Sachiko sleeps, Yumi clasps her hand in concern and empathy. Yumi and Yuuki meet more of Sachiko’s family when they reach her home. As most of them leave after becoming acquainted, Yumi has one more chance to be alone with Suguru.

This leads Yumi to question Suguru’s liking of Sachiko, but he only responds with the fact that he likes several other people and things as well. Though he likes Sachiko, it is not the type of like that makes him want to marry her. Yumi starts to believe that she has lost to Suguru, but he encourages her to aim even higher to beat him. She also gets encouragement from Sachiko in her room afterwards, as she expresses how much she likes her. For example, it was her hand that she wanted to hold while she was resting earlier. While Suguru drives Yuuki and Yumi home later, he tells Yumi about his initially asking Touko to come with him. However, she had promptly refused. Holding onto the gift she had received from Sachiko’s family, Yumi continues the game she had been playing with Sachiko while looking up into the sky in thought.

Preview: Touko assault!

Impression:

Riding on scary rides is not preferred here! ….unless you are Yumi…and everyone else gets to watch. This episode had quite a bit of development with Yumi, Suguru, and Sachiko, but besides paying attention to a few important dialogs, I spend most of this episode giggling at random happenings in the theme park. The combination of love sparkles, chibis, and Yumi’s typical giddiness made most of the initial scenes really great, and I was laughing out loud when Sachiko fixed Yumi’s jacket collar seemingly just out of habit. Yumi’s rivalry with Suguru was fun too though, and this eventually left Yumi with a lot to think about. It was really obvious that Sachiko was going to end up having to have Suguru help her though. This show isn’t exactly one to put strength into shock value.

But yea, I guess we know how Marimite was able to keep its production values in broadcast format! The Pizza Hut signs were huge in this episode, and Yumi’s taking a big bite into a pizza just made such scenes even more hilarious. Pizza Hut is preferred here; It is a very elegant choice for Lillian girls.