| Title: | Suzuka |
| Episode: | 12: Misunderstandings |
| Synopsis | |
| Yamato and Suzuka are going to school together again - but Suzuka doesn't want to talk much with the boy, besides asking him to be sure to attend the track&field practice again. Honoka [image1] wonders how Suzuka feels about Yamato: Did she cheer for him in the dash race against Arima only to support a club member? Does she just see his potential as athlete? How can she ever be sure?
Honoka tries to be together with Yamato whenever possible but still has almost no success; at least the boy is beginning to notice that she's a "nice person"... At the end of the practice the club coach orders Yamato to do 20 extra dashes, and Yamato rejects Honoka's offer to stay with him - while Suzuka continues her extra preparation for the forthcoming Kantou tournament. Honoka doesn't dare to go home - and when she decides to look after Yamato she finds them doing some extra workout [image2]. Sunday is a day off, so the coach wants Yamato to rest up all he can. When Yamato's doorbell rings and the same girl who offered him the Fantasy Land tickets (now working for a TV cable company) has tickets for the park's new swimming pool, he starts to make plans about inviting Suzuka there - but Yasunobu gives him a reality check: "What kind of relationship do you believe you're in, as to go to the pool with a girl alone?" But shortly after, it is Honoka who invites Yamato to the pool, with the same kind of tickets [image3]! Unfortunately, Miki and Kobayakawa decide to tag along, and to Honoka's horror Miki even invites Suzuka - who hesitates, throws a glance at the group, and then... agrees to join them! No visit at the Tsuda grave, as Yamato notices in bewilderment. Could he possibly be the reason...? At the pool, three persons apparently enjoy the day: Miki, Suzuka [image4] and Kobayakawa. Neither Honoka nor Yamato are particularly successful in spending time alone with the one they're in love with, even though Honoka goes as far as trying to "seduce the boy with your sexy swimsuit" (as the "cablewoman" told her). And Yamato is coming to the conclusion that Suzuka just wanted to have fun at the pool, regardless of his presence. When the group leaves the pool Yamato is moping, and with his shoelaces untying he's left behind - but suddenly he sees Suzuka waiting for him! He joins her right when the fireworks begin, providing a bittersweet memory for the boy... Yamato spoils the mood of the scene, and he's now convinced that Suzuka hates him once again. But Honoka has observed how Suzuka was breaking away from Yamato holding her hand [image5]! On the next day, Honoka asks Suzuka to go home together. Using this opportunity, Honoka asks Suzuka about her relation to Yamato - and whether it's okay with her that she confesses to the boy she loves for a long time now [image6]! And Yamato happens to join the scene just at the moment of Suzuka's reply... | |
| Comments | |
| (2005-09-25, Devil Doll:)
Finally!!! Honoka had missed so many chances up to now (the biggest one after Yamato stopped attending the training, when even Miki failed to keep things in balance) - but she’s working hard, going through the same foolish actions as Yamato before (with the notable difference of not annoying anyone!), and taking one beating after the other during the pool visit. But then facing Suzuka like this in the closing scene... I’ve waited 11 long episodes for the Miko girl to grow beyond the Shinobu level! With this in mind I don't mind the waste of time during the standard pool & fanservice episode of this romantic comedy. The poor shrine maiden had one huge problem so far: First and foremost she wants Yamato to be happy, and she doesn't know whether Suzuka is the one to make that happen. Despite her obvious jealousy (she doesn't want Yamato and Suzuka to be alone together) I bet she would have backed down here and now if she were sure that Suzuka loved Yamato - so that's what she had to find out at any cost. Now that Suzuka 'officially' denied any interest in the boy, her path is all clear! Honoka's move might even have been a clever choice, as Suzuka would very likely shy away like this if she weren’t completely sure about her feelings (the 'losing face' issue of the Japanese?) and getting her hand forced without having time to think about it: Honoka managed to put Suzuka into the defense, and that’s where Suzuka belongs at this stage. I actually wonder if Honoka was fully aware of this, as we’ve already seen how she can act selfishly. One thing has become quite important: The touching of hands. It is a significant act for the Japanese, and Yamato treasures it as such, as we've seen during his confession scene (whereas Kobayakawa is acting quite liberally about this, for example). What the late bloomer cannot get into his head is how differently these things are being handled between track&field buddies - note how Miki touched him during workout and massage, and now Suzuka took his hands for the stretching exercise without warning. This is one thing where he lacks experience, and what makes him misinterpret some of Suzuka's signals. We've seen a lot of these already, but today she managed to frustrate Yamato several times in a row, and the final scene of the episode was the last straw. Yamato has burned his boats - and he doesn't even notice Suzuka's stunned expression. Ice Queen, your share price is going bang! Caught between delusion and frustration, Yamato doesn't understand the girl at all. I don't know if I'd do much better in his case - but given the audience's knowledge, let's make a guess: Suzuka in fact returned to spending her weekends with her friends instead of praying at the Tsuda grave. I wouldn't go as far as her sister, interpreting this as Yamato's personal success - but her own words at the grave and Yamato's harsh words at the end of episode 10 might both still ring in Suzuka's ears. If she treasures Yamato in the least she must now know how much she hurt him (inadvertently, but how should he know better?). So I take her behaviour as an attempt to slowly return to the world of the living again, with the next milestone being to get her relation with Yamato back to square one (which means: no holding hands). So what she would need at this stage is time, more time, and ever more time. Unfortunately, Yamato doesn't get the message, he's jumping to conclusions instead and ruins Suzuka's feeble attempts to walk in the real world of relations on her shivering legs. From this perspective Miki did exactly the right thing by spending as much time with Suzuka as possible (and keeping Yamato away from him), even though I consider both her meddling into Honoka's pool invitation and her comment on Yamato staring at the swimsuit girls quite rude (what did she expect after all?). Miki's once healthy relation to Yamato has been ruined, and it will take some time and effort in the club to re-establish it. Fortunately, Miki is reasonable, so I expect this to happen in a couple of episodes. Kobayakawa had interesting scenes today: Honoka completely ignored him in the club but later at the pool he scored in spending premium time with the girl of his dreams. Being beaten by Yamato as a sprinter, and likely to be beaten by him as Honoka's forthcoming boyfriend as well, he might be starting to hate his opponent; I expect him to provide interesting catalytic effects later in the series. One character that disappointed me recently is Soichi - he should really care more for Yamato's problems: He's the one who wanted Yamato in the club so badly after all, and he even has a lot of knowledge about Suzuka's past. From this angle this he's acting particularly careless so far, doing nothing while his two top scouting picks show severe problems. Miki can't do his job every day... Yasunobu has replaced Miki as my favourite support character. His comments not only make sense - he's unwearily trying to teach Yamato how to use his own brain. But look at the poor results: At 10:04 Yasunobu tells Yamato that a girl should have "something for you" if they were going to the pool together, and guess what happens a mere 88 seconds later? Honoka shows him the pool tickets! Come on, Yamato - did someone format your harddisk? Just compare this to Honoka's photographic memory storing every single detail of the relation between the two leads. A major downside of the recent episodes has been that Yamato had too much of sheer luck. 1. Observing Suzuka and Soichi talking about Suzuka’s Yokohama trip, 2. meeting Suzuka’s o-nee-san in the nick of time (Yamato would be completely helpless without her), 3. arriving at the competition right when Arima bullies Suzuka (with Hattori’s help even), and 4. overhearing the two girls about the most interesting topic. It’s all too easy for him - they’re forcing the development at this stage. What’s the probability of all four events actually happening? ============================================================================= | |
