Unless I'm completely mistaken, this was the "calm before the storm" episode.
Despite the big declarations and implication that Hazuki was finally going to see the truth behind the sketchbook world, he gets set back to square one in an initially dissatisfying way. I've really been enjoying the significance of the two fairy tales that have been brought up so far, but Snow White was either rehashing what we already knew or had no point whatsoever; I have no idea what was up with the dwarves that talk like children. It's an interesting concept, but I have no clue how it fits in with the show other than it being the easiest way to identify which story it was covering.
Much more successful is Rokka's flashback to when she told a story her mother made up to Shimao. I couldn't help but think of The Giving Tree, except for the very different ending where the woman tries to save the tree by eating the roots but dies instead. Now we have context for Shimao's last wish, as well as the surprising statement that Rokka didn't go through with it. Now it looks like she used his bones (ashes?) for the plant that he took instead. At least, that's what the show seems to be implying... My theory before was that fairy-tale-Rokka was the result of her carrying out his wish, but since that's been debunked, now I don't know what to think.
It is telling that the most relevant fairy tale is the one that was made up. As much as I've enjoyed the sketchbook fairy tales, they're starting to overstay their welcome in their relevance to the plot. I feel like one of the major themes in this series has been showing the ways live does and does not conform to the idealism of fairy tales. For the most part, real life and real relationships are much too complicated for the black-and-white "prince saves the princess" motif to apply, but that doesn't mean that the world is devoid of miracles. As cheesy as it sounds, Rokka realizing that it was Shimao she was talking to, not Hazuki, was a kind of miracle of love.
But on the other side of things, we get a cliffhanger showing that not-Rokka's warning to Hazuki not to lose himself has turned out to be true in a literal sense; he's turning into Shimao. This show has made a big point out of the future belonging to the living, but now I can't help but wonder if Shimao was intending for Hazuki to take his place all along, or if we're going to end up with some kind of Shimao/Hazuki hybrid in the end. I don't like either of those possibilities, since it puts a huge damper on Rokka's ongoing struggle with moving on and finding love again and something like that would feel like a cop-out. However, this show has never taken the easy road, and I expect a few more surprises as it goes into the finale.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
It sounds like you're enjoying it a lot more than I am. I thought it was pretty amazing for the first few episodes, but with episode nine, I'm on the verge of completely losing interest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the fairy tale world is overstaying its welcome; it feels like Hazuki has been written out of the story for a while now. That hasn't been the only thing bothering me though; I feel like they are wasting the potential of Shimao having Hazuki's body. The plot seems to just be meandering now. I think it would have been much more interesting if Hazuki and Shimao were vying for control for his body by switching back and forth or something. It just isn't emotionally involving for me anymore.
As much as I've been enjoying this show, I'm glad that there are only two more episodes left, since I feel like it's starting to repeat itself. I agree that the potential there was wasted; I would've really loved to see something more of a struggle, especially if the show is heading towards Hazuki unwittingly getting overwritten by Shimao. When it first showed up, it was more of an interesting symbolic commentary on what had happened so far. Now it feels like they're just trying to pad some time before the end.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we could've gone completely without the sketchbook this episode and it probably would've played out a lot better. I don't know why the end of last week's episode hyped it up so much.
Yeah, it should be good that it's wrapping up in two episodes, but that doesn't leave much room left from Hazuki, but I'm guessing Shimao's physical return as acknowledged by Rokka will result in both of them moving on from the past, leaving the future open for Rokka and Hazuki. Anyway you cut it though, it feels like Hazuki got scammed by being trapped in the sketchbook.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Hazuki basically doing nothing again this episode was a letdown with regard to last week's episode, now that you mention it; I sort of forgot how him finally standing his ground and jumping into the pot was hyped up.
Oh, was it just me, or were you also bothered by the haphazard (or lack of) scene transitions in episode nine? It didn't feel like it was well put together.
Also, what'd you think of Shimao taking so long to answer Rokka? It felt like it went on too long, to the point of being frustrating.
While I don't mind the fairy tale stories going away, I am not quite as turned off about it as I initially feared or like most everyone else is. I don't know, it might be because I'm just seeing Shimao now as the kind of villain in the series, he's really kind of ruining everything for Hazuki and Rokka right now. Or maybe it's just the writing, I still find it pretty sharp.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that it would be a huge letdown if there's some sort of Shimao/Hazuki hybrid. For starters that just sounds freaky. Then it kind of wastes the entire dynamic between the three that has been building since episode 1 by taking this kind of choice in the end. I hope it avoids your scenario like the plague :)
Yeah, the lack of transitions didn't really help my opinion of the fairy tale section of this episode. Instead of being a mostly streamlined 1-to-1 commentary that went along with what was happening in the real world, it just randomly jumped back and forth. Like I said in the post, this episode would've probably been better off without those parts.
ReplyDeleteAnd the lack of an answer bothered me as well. She'd obviously figured it out, so there was no point in attempting to hide it. I really don't know what he was thinking. She deserved an explanation.
The writing is still great, it's just that the fairy tales can't seem to keep up with it any more. They've made their point, and that side of it is getting draggy.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. My idea is possible, but I really don't want to see it happen. I'd much rather have a happy resolution for everyone than some random supernatural cop-out.