| Title: | Suzuka |
| Episode: | 7: Decision |
| Synopsis | |
| Yamato's thoughts are still focussed on the day of his date with Suzuka, his confession and how things won't ever be the same now. Yasunobu tries to cheer up his friend [image1] by taking him along to some socializing party (with "cute chicks"), but Yamato isn't in the mood for anything like that.
Suzuka is avoiding the usual dinner together with her co-lodgers. With Yamato drooping, Miho-chan reminds him that she still wants to be her bride [image2] even if noone else wanted him, as he promised to her in kindergarden - and Yamato feels even more pitiful, being consoled by the young girl. When Yamato and Suzuka meet in front of their room, Suzuka even avoids to talk to the boy. Shortly after this, the doorbell rings - could it be...? Nope, it's Megumi and Saotome - with another load of booze, as to commemorate Yamato's rejection (they can tell by just one look in the boy's face). With Megumi having fallen asleep already, Saotome starts scathing Yamato for being a submissive whimp, giving up after the first rejection already... and then she tells him how many times she got rejected by her great love, how she still loves him, and how she's trying to change herself and become a better woman, to make him look back at her - instead of merely sulking like Yamato. [image3] And indeed, Yamato gets the message, and he shouts "I love Asahina, and I will never give up" into the nightly sky... With his newly gained courage Yamato makes peace with Suzuka, telling her he accepts her rejection but still wants to eat with her like they did before. Suzuka has to go to her training, and at school Miyamoto asks Yamato once more to enter the track&field club, as they wouldn't want to lose his talent. A new idea forms in Yamato's head: If he joined the club he would be able to spend more time with Suzuka, right? But Yasunobu is sceptical, and when Yamato tells Suzuka about it, she gets furious [image4]: The club is nothing to fool around with, it's for people working hard there! Yasunobu warns Yamato: One more wrong step and he will be considered a stalker; he won't gain anything as long as his reason for joining the club isn't pure, and he should rather apologize to Suzuka. Honoka joins Yamato on their way home from school, and when he tells her about joining the club, she advises against it as well... [image5] but her motives aren't pure either. Yamato decides to give up, but talking to Suzuka still seems incredibly hard for him, as his relatives sure notice during dinner. At school Yasunobu offers to provide Yamato an opportunity for apologizing, as he knows Suzuka will join a meeting at the club today, and he even promises to accompany him as to solve the problem. Suzuka attends her meeting half an hour ahead of time. In the meantime Miyamoto has found a record about the relay race where Yamato's team finished last - but the report says their anchor runner put up an extraordinary fight! Once again Miyamoto tells Suzuka he wants Yamato as a club member; he's perplexed when Asahina openly disapproves the idea. A knocking at the door, and Yasunobu and Yamato enter... [image6] | |
| Comments | |
| (2005-08-22, Devil Doll:)
Let's make a list: She's a co-lodger of the leads, she's older and more mature than most of the other characters, she has no apparent goal in her life, she loves to drink and poke her nose into others' affairs, she tried to blackmail our hero with some ecchi stuff early in the story but acts as a counselor for the boy's love problems later, and she has some unrequited love to an older man who left the country leaving her behind... you still can't tell whether I'm talking about Saotome Yuka or Konno Mitsune, right? What a surprise: I didn't think the blonde girl would ever do anything reasonable for Yamato - but here you go! Her attitude must have made quite an impression on the boy, as we can see in the final scene of this episode. Honoka trying to talk Yamato out of his project was the girl's first active step to fight Suzuka, and it backfires already - once again very similar to Love Hina episode 24 (where Sakara Kentaro applauded Keitarou for "doing the right thing"). Suzuka's face when she hears Yamato's second confession in the night is really cute. She is still confused by the situation, as we can see when Miss Perfect mistakes the deadline for her meeting. I particularly like Yamato's way of walking on by Suzuka, not even looking at her; he's in tunnel vision anyway, setting at nought each and every advise of his "friends". He may well make a fool of himself, but what else can he do now? Probably Yamato did the right thing without knowing. He still joins the club because he wants to be near Suzuka; but actually the club will provide him certain chances to learn important things, such as how to be a responsible and reliable member of a team, how to continue fighting when you're worn out, and how to enjoy the results of hard work. Basically he can learn to become as mature as Suzuka wants him to (and thus make her respect him), and he can learn to understand how Suzuka is thinking and why she enjoys the track&field so much (which might be his first step to understanding her character). All of this not unlike Keitarou's develoment during Love Hina Again, but this time we're allowed to accompany the boy on his way. ============================================================================= | |
