The Spring Season of anime is almost coming to an end, which means a lot of the shows that I had to sit through, secretly raging inside, are wrapping up. I'm really hoping that at least some of them have good endings...
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| She went through 3 costumes in just the one scene. Pro. |
This week's episode of OreTsuba tied up the major loose end of Haneda - as in, he finally came back from Gregatgard and Asuka confronted him on the matter of his sanity. While the first half of the episode was just a "regular day", the second half very clearly revealed to the viewer (and Haneda) that Gretagard, under no circumstances, was real. With the way this episode ended, I assume that the series finale will solve the question of Haneda or Youji (I'm voting for the latter).
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| Caption here when I stop being flabbergasted. |
Apparently, a few days away from the real world and recharging in Gretagard allowed Haneda to be able to return. Judging from the fantasy scene at the very beginning, however long his mind spent in the dream world was full of ego-fluffing. It was almost sickeningly sweet how "perfect" Haneda and Asuka of Gretagard got along, even so much that Yamashina quietly bowed out. Of course, I assume that it was so over-the-top because
it was Haneda's fantasy, so I can forgive that.
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| Interesting how imouto moe stays away from real sisters if it can help it. |
Upon returning to the real world, Haneda displayed a sudden bout of OOC by conversing passionately with Haryue (the Crow) about the imouto moe. I was genuinely surprised at the fervour with which Haneda talked; I thought he was a super timid boy. Either way, potentially he changed during his extended time in Gretagard or this topic is one that's close to home. (He did seem in awe of Kobato at breakfast that day...) Ignoring that, the entire school day was spent with Asuka secretly tailing him to make sure that things were okay (since other students, such as Takauchi, remembered when Chitose/Narita were around and commented on it). It was a funny montage of scenes, considering the way that the characters had been introduced made it seem as though Haneda was pitifully in love with Asuka, who didn't give him the time of day.
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| The last time Chitose would be seen in public and it had to be such an uncool scene. |
The date that had been subverted days ago finally came into fruition during the first half of the episode. I think this must be one of the first/only times that Haneda has stayed passed his "curfew", since the shifts schedule wouldn't work well if Haneda was out and about. Chitose and Narita are such strong characters (I'm so biased) that the entire city knew them, making it confusing for Haneda and difficult for Asuka. I wonder if Haneda had to switch with either of these two, how good of a job would he do?
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| Narita even looks sad. |
The first half of this episode was really boring, in the end, because it only seemed to pour salt on my wounds. I don't
want either Chitose or Narita to disappear, so having Haneda running into people who knew them was just agonizing. In regard to the date, Asuka had a plan in mind and invited Haneda over to her house. (A part of me thought that ecchi scenes were sure to come. I was wrong.)
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| Interesting what triggered her independence from her imagination. |
The second half of the episode took place entirely at Asuka's house, and immediately cut to the chase. She revealed the story of her "younger brother" - it was a figment of her imagination when she was growing up to deal with her loneliness. It doesn't entirely make sense that she would understand DID after having an imaginary friend; a lot of children have imaginary friends. Whether or not they know that the friends weren't real at the time, the majority of those children grow up and "lose touch" with these imaginary friends. I guess her bout with something neurological makes her more understandable of DID, instead of being close-minded (although, to be fair, most of the people in this show seem like they'd understand/accept it).
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| Wow. Old school. |
The clincher was when Asuka began playing a game called Wing Quest in front of Haneda. Set in the world of Gretagard, the main character was the Holy Knight Sir Hawk, who set out to save his companions one by one, and then return peace to the world by getting rid of the Hunters. Being popular 10 years ago, it makes a lot of sense how Youji would come up with this elaborate setting for his fantasies. I wonder how it must have felt to be in Asuka's shoes, watching her boyfriend weave such a tale in front of her while she knew much of the story already.
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| Damn, Asuka is violent... |
After being confronted by Asuka, Haneda cracked under the pressure and disappeared, leaving Chitose and Narita to deal with her. This scene was pretty annoying to me; basically, Asuka decided that she would beat the host body until Haneda came back out. I'm pretty sure that this is
not a good idea. She can't really use the defence, "I know Haneda and he would never hurt me," because, guess what? It's not Haneda. I can see that Chitose wouldn't hit her and Narita made his stance on non-violence against women and children known, but I failed to see why Itami didn't do anything. It destroyed the idea of the super-violent original creation; he turned out to be really wimpy. Perhaps he was sent to the Abyss to stay with Youji not because he was so violent but because
he failed at life. Sigh.
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| I wonder what all the doorways represent...? |
Haneda finally did come out, apparently having accepted the reality that Gretagard wasn't real. I think the anime ran out of time and had to cut corners, because they never made it clear if he knew about the entire situation or if he only thought that a part of his memories were fake. Judging by the bank book left for him by Chitose and Narita, and the images of Youji when he talked about saving, I'm sure that he knows about the other personalities, but it's unclear how, exactly. It's too much of a leap to just assume that finding out that Gretagard was fake meant that he also found out about his DID; I'd have preferred this explained more. (With one more episode to go, the probability is low.)
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| Crepes shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable. |
This week ended with Kobata and Haneda going somewhere with Otori, with references to it being something only they could do and perhaps the doctor being notified. It's obviously something to do with Youji. I would really prefer if the series ended with Youji back at the helm, and all the personalities gone. If neither Chitose nor Narita can survive, I'd prefer that Haneda be gone too. I still don't feel like he deserves any of the kindness and love showered on him by the surrounding characters, and I don't feel any extra sympathy at his special situation (he was the only personality that didn't know about the entire situation). While I'm not writing him off entirely despite my biases, I don't think the anime fleshed him out to be a strong enough character to be the main lead; he's best as a side personality.
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| The power of love. |
With the last episode occurring next week, the preview shows lots of Youji-centred shots (and this episode ended with wind picking up in the Abyss, meaning change was coming). It feels weird to root for a character that I know nothing about - I assume that, in the end, he's an amalgamation of all the personalities. I'm still hoping for a decent ending, but even I have no idea what that might entail at this point.
~Aaro
