Subculture Anime Blog

Just as planned!

Summary:

With the start of the new semester in place, Yumi cannot keep her eyes off Touko. Noriko also notices that Touko has been acting as if nothing had happened, confirming this with Yumi in the Rose Mansion later. The rest of the roses express their concern as well, but they can only wonder if Touko has some sort of circumstance dealing with this. More important to the moment, Sachiko brings up the need to transfer their positions in the upcoming election. The three new Roses would be Shimako, Yoshino, and Yumi, bringing no major change to the council.

As the three apply later, however, they and several other students are shocked to see Touko appear in order to apply for one of the positions. Yoshino expresses her worry about this in the mansion later, not because she believes that only they are just, but because she does not want to be separated from her friends. The girls further bring up that Touko could have achieved one of the positions by becoming Yumi’s soeur, and though this causes Yumi to wonder about herself again, Noriko again states that Touko does not hate her.

Noriko confronts Touko the next day, wondering about her reasons, but Touko responds by implying that this is not something that she even needs to explain to friends. Noriko agrees, and though she expresses how much she likes Touko, she must side with the Roses this time. As tears generate from Noriko’s eyes, Touko parts with her for the time being. Tsutako finds a worrying Yumi in class elsewhere, easily seeing that she is worried about Touko. Tsutako mentions that they cannot figure out Touko because she is always wearing a mask, and because of this, Yumi would not be able to beat her in her current state. With this thought in mind, Yumi and Yoshino observe Touko in her classroom later. They find it strange that the atmosphere has not changed from the usual, and when Noriko meets with them, she further reveals that Touko has been ignoring the student’s talk about the election whenever they brought it up.

Yumi eventually meets an older woman, who has visited the school in order to deliver something to her daughter. Yumi offers to take the woman to her daughter’s class, but she instead has Yumi lead her to the teacher’s office. After all, her daughter probably wouldn’t like it if she suddenly met her in class. While on the way, the woman takes note of the flyers on the wall. She had heard a lot about the upcoming election from her daughter, who wished the best for the three Roses. With this in mind, Yumi becomes much more confident in the Rose Mansion later. This was not just about herself, but those who cared for her and the others.

Noriko later meets Touko in the classroom, worrying when she sees that she isn’t wearing her proper footwear. Touko denies that there is anything wrong, but this causes Noriko to only further worry about Touko’s seemingly having fun during all of this. The girls then visit the teacher’s office, where Touko receives her shoes that had been dropped off by her mother. When the teacher suggests how good of a mother she has, Touko can only agree with a genuine smile.

The day of the election finally comes, so the Roses all get their support from their older sisters. The girls each deliver speeches in their own ways, and as Yumi heads to the podium, she offers her support to Touko’s way of doing things. This would be alright despite her still wanting to make Touko her soeur, and even if she did not understand her actions. When the winners are announced later, the student body finds that Yumi and the Roses had won as expected. When Yumi looks towards Touko in the crowd, she finds her smiling with her support. Noriko then meets Yumi, expressing her realization that Touko had planned on losing from the start. With this, Yumi chases after Touko.

Preview: Key-holder.

Impression:

Um……what? I’m cornfused. Is Touko maso? An attention whore? Just a girl with needs??? If she just wanted to make Yumi look like some worrying wifu for half the episode, she definitely succeeded. (She was really subtle while spying on Touko.) We got a lot of hints towards Touko’s thoughts in this episode, though I still think Suguru will have all the answers for Yumi in the end. The suggestion that Touko wears a mask really hit base with me, as it’s one of those frequent themes that I always love. It was also humorous to finally see Touko’s mother, and hearing about how different Touko acts while at home. (This show really is into the dramatic irony.) Either way, I can only hope that Touko will finally become Yumi’s soeur by the end of what episodes we have left this season. I’m really not willing to wait for another season to see the inevitable.