Suzuka - 24: Disappearing

Title:Suzuka
Episode:24: Disappearing
Synopsis
It's the weekend of the Tokyo Metropolitan Rookie Tournament, and Yamato's plan is to beat Arima and then use his new self-confidence to confess to Asahina again. Asahina successfully qualified for the Kantou tournament already but Soichi is worried about Yamato's performance: Since the boy changed his running style he wasn't able to better his personal record, which was the goal of said change to begin with. But Soichi decides not to tell Yamato [image1]; he and the former team captain discuss the issue: Using this style in the current tournament will probably make Yamato no match for Arima but as the boy may well be a national level athlete (even more talented than Kazuki) who won't be able to make full use of his potential with his old style, Soichi is planning for the long run, at the risk of sacrificing Yamato's results at the current tournament.
Before the 100m final Arima passes by Yamato, teasing him and addressing him with a wrong surname "Fuyutsuki" [image2]. But Yamato doesn't even notice, being focussed on his forthcoming confession instead. Indeed Yamato tries to run according his new style but he holds back his top speed for too long... and when Arima surpasses him easily he panicks, finishing in last place one complete second slower than Arima, thus failing to qualify for the next race [image3]! To add insult to injury, he drops the baton for his relay team, and the desaster is complete. Soichi tries to explain to Yamato what happened, taking the blame on himself, but how would this help Yamato with his confession?
Hattori and Miki have not been able to soothe Yamato either, as he spoiled the first competition when even Asahina was cheering for him. Utterly devastated, the boy closes himself up in his room, even rejected dinner. When Asahina learns about this from Ayano she rings at Yamato's doorbell, coming up with a story that she bought too large a box of eggs at a discount price and wants to share them with him but use his kitchen [image4] in order to keep her own gas bill lower... well, whatever. In bewilderment Yamato watches Asahina working in his room, even cleaning his dishes in the process, and complaining about Yamato's untidiness at the same time... the old Ice Queen enigma, to put it short.
But when Asahina suddenly begins to tell him the story how she failed at the prefectural tournament during her first three years of track&field, thinking about unnecessary things and unable to handle the pressure, and finally was able to set a great record, Yamato begins to understand that Asahina is here to soothe him, even though she won't admit it... and he remembers how Asahina was supporting him when he failed at other occasions, be that his first race against Arima or the shopping for Honoka's birthday present. When Asahina is about to leave his room he instinctively blurts out his confession once again, telling her she doesn't have to give him an answer until he became the number one athlete... Asahina remembers Kazuki having used the exact same words on the day before he died - she panicks, shouting "Stop it!", and instantly runs away [image5].
Feeling rejected for the second time (and even forbidden to ever repeat his confession), Yamato's mood is at a new low. When Miho-chan rings his doorbell, noticing his red eyes, Yamato pretends to have slept already - only to learn that Asahina wasn't in her room when Miho was looking for support for her homework. Yamato gets nervous now, and when Asahina hasn't returned for another three hours he gives Miki a call [image6]. Learning that Asahina didn't go there either he decides to look for her by himself, and runs out into the night...
Comments
(2005-12-23, Devil Doll:)
Recent episodes, including this one, were using more and more scenes from the previous episodes as if to more closely link the story development together, which is something I dislike: When I'm really interested in the story I'm supposed to know what's going on already, right? It's not that I would miss an entire episode during the end game anyway. This might be due to the storywriters having not enough story material as they're trying to end the anime season at a specific point of the story development... but if that's actually the case then it was poor planning.
Near the climax of the show it was odd that finally the technical stuff of track&field became so important and got so much air time - I'd expected this to happen much earlier. So it is kind of hard to listen to the (nonetheless interesting) analysis about Yamato's future career as an athlete, knowing how easily the boy might decide to quit in case of losing his motivation once again. At least Soichi finally developed a character, acting according to his expectations (and without a clue about Yamato's state of mind). That's funny in a way... but I sensed disaster ahead in time.
I liked the Arima scene before the 100m final a lot. Trying to break his rival's concentration indicates that Arima respects Yamato as a competitor and that he's determined to use foul tricks if necessary, thus emotionally polarizing the audience even more. Consequently the heat is an rollercoaster for the audience - this part worked very well. Ah, and of course I must not forget the precious Shin Seiki Evangelion tribute we're given here, with the name of "Fuyutsuki"... yay! ;-)
Hattori and Miki being reduced to a mere audience this time is a little disappointing for me. Then again it's time for Yamato to walk on his own legs now. Miho-chan's contribution to this episode was nice.
The person who would need support now is Asahina instead. Her story about the eggs and the gas bill sounded so crazy that I could only shake my head in disbelief. No wonder that even the baka got the right idea now, and no surprise than Asahina's denial mechanism kicked in automatically. Asahina is really as stubborn as Narusegawa Naru, and for a very similar reason; will this story ever provide any progress? It's about time to get a clue, Ice Queen! Actually her cooking eggs again (and with similarly bad results) was quite funny; as for selecting a housewife I'd prefer Honoka-chan every day...
I give high marks to Yamato for this episode. After losing his race he apologized mostly for dropping the relay baton, and he didn't use Soichi's explanation as an excuse for his own performance. Understanding Asahina's reaction even though she violently denied it was another strong scene, and his confession backed up by the worst possible result almost won Asahina over... had he not happened to use the same wording as late Kazuki did back then. Which is a real pity - but necessary to delay the inevitable for another two dramatic episodes. Sigh... the development was much less predictable during the Honoka phase.
I wonder how Asahina would have reacted when Yamato asked her to either tell him the true reason for her visit or leave the room immediately... then again, it's Yamato we're talking about. All in all the narration speed has increased immensely, much like the final four episodes of Love Hina, but the lead characters still leave a lot to be desired. It's good that the many little gems in episodes like this one make up for that deficit.

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