| Title: | Suzuka |
| Episode: | 21: Remorse |
| Synopsis | |
| As he promised to Miki, Yamato now focuses on his track&field performance. But memories of Asahina scolding him for his alleged reason for breaking up with Honoka appear before his eyes every now and then, making him lose his concentration. And his poor performance in the relay practice [image1] begins to annoy his teammates.
After the practice Miki (who alone knows his secret) is waiting for Yamato. She has observed his blunder - and being a sprinter herself (and feeling responsible for Yamato's performance after she made him stay in the club) she offers him a special training session in the park (as the field is closed already). Yamato's relay performance begins to improve... but suddenly he remembers Asahina's face and drops the baton again. While Miki is getting juice for Yamato the boy is in deep thoughts about what he actually wants to do. Didn't he just go with the flow every time, hurting all people around himself? Does he have any goals of his own? While Yamato is still confused [image2] Miki correctly spots the reason of his depression: He regrets his protective lie as he can't stand Asahina being mad about him forever. Miki offers to tell Asahina the truth - but Yamato decides that's something he must do by himself, even though he would probably look like a fool again. The next day in the cafeteria Yamato schemes his talking things out with Asahina, leaving Hattori confused. Again Miki offers to do the job for Yamato - and she's not amused [image3] when Hattori accuses her of snatching Yamato away on the rebound. During track&field practice Yamato again drops the baton - and this time Asahina notices his bad performance. After the practice Yamato waits for Asahina at the stairs in front of their home [image4] and apologizes for lying to her, explaining that he couldn't tell her what actually happened without making her feel guilty but now cannot concentrate as long as she hates him. Asahina is confused and walks away - and Yamato is convinced he blew it again. Falling into depression again he finally remembers that on top of everything he has no fresh laundry any more... Entering the laundromat room, to his surprise there's one customer there already - Asahina. Yamato tries to strike up a conversation and offers Asahina one of his meat and potato croquettes but she just ignores him. Suddenly a beep indicates Asahina's laundry is done... and she suggests the boy to go to the convenience store if he has that much spare time. As always, Yamato doesn't understand the hint - and to his bewilderment Asahina gets more irritated by the second [image5]. Finally she feels impelled to explain that she's too embarrassed to take her underwear out of the laundromat while he's watching... Yamato is relieved and walks away - but Asahina orders him back: Now she wants to eat the croquette! And she doesn't want to eat it alone - he can still go to the store afterwards. Yamato remembers how Miss Perfect often acts moodily, easily angered like a child... but he gives in. Back in his room Yamato isn't too happy as Asahina went home without him. His cellphone rings - it's Miki checking whether the reconciliation has worked; Yamato tries to not make her worry but doesn't sound very convincing to her. But then his cellphone rings again... [image6] | |
| Comments | |
| (2005-12-01, Devil Doll:)
We're in the endgame already. No Honoka-chan, no Kobayakawa, no alcoholic duo, no newspaper girl - just Asahina and Yamato plus the care bear linking them together. Five episodes to go, and finally reconciliation between the leads. As for Hattori, his claim to not hit on his friends could be the key why it doesn't click between him and Miki; I'm still convinced they would make an interesting couple. If you ever need a good psychoanalyst, try hiring Miki for the job! She has completely taken over the role of Yamato's advisor from Hattori - note how this time its her who hides Yamato's issue from the womanizer. Miki is shining more brightly than ever before, doing the relay practice with Yamato in the park, asking whether Asahina and Yamato get along again at two occasions... and still blushing now and then. She won't get him, and she knows that - but she's doing the best she can for her friends. I can well imagine Miki considering this helpless boy kind of cute... and I think Hattori wasn't that much off target with his imputation of Miki stealing Yamato away on the rebound. But maybe deep inside Miki is more shy than anyone would assume according to her behaviour - just like Asahina. I'm not sure whether this episode was a step forward for Yamato. He does understand that he loves Asahina despite her downsides, which is a plus; he wasn't able to endure the consequences of his protective lie, which may be considered a selfish action and as such a minus. Understanding his own limitations (again with the help of Miki of course) was the best thing he could do but I'm disappointed that "the ace" went to waste so easily. From a tactical perspective I'm convinced Yamato should have let Miki talk to Asahina instead... yes, it would make Asahina believe he's still lying to her but she would know the reason then. How could she be angry in this case? Even Asahina should be enough of a normal girl to be flattered by such a (stupid but) heroic action - at least she wouldn't have to ask "Why tell me now?". And if she didn't get the message then Miki could explain it to her, like Hattori did before the Arima race. But Yamato isn't the guy to think on this level - Hattori might have done exactly this. Asahina's phone call at the end of this episode was her first strong performance after a long time - even though her auto-denial mode stepped in once again: Who on earth would ever accuse her of being responsible for Yamato's blunder? (Except for herself, possibly - remember the Arima incident when Soichi asked her why Yamato was missing.) The boy's comedic response to this call was the visible sign of relief for the audience; Yamato is back on square one. (Which means he may now again act like a charming idiot as the preview seems to indicate...) As always, the most important scene was near the end of this episode: Yamato begins to see through Asahina's protection, now taking her perfectionism as a cloak for her indecisiveness. Just like Yamato, Asahina doesn't seem to have that many goals in her life; imagine her getting a severe injury, threatening her high-jumper career - wouldn't she automatically fall into a deep dark hole of despair? Yamato should ask himself whether he were able to support Asahina in any such situation. He already became aware how he's going with the flow every time - which is exactly what Asahina hates about him. Did he finally get the message this time? ============================================================================= | |
