Kimi ni Todoke - 09
Seriously, it’s like nearly the entire episode had its head in the clouds this time. The amount of slow-motion shots, close-ups with lots of sparkles, glitters and brightly coloured flowery backgrounds is really hard to believe. I don’t want to know how much sugar the creators took before writing this episode…
In any case, this episode also reminded me how different Japanese cultural standard can be at times. A lot of attention in this episode was spent to Sawako and Kazehaya who kept calling each other by their last names. I’ve been watching anime for quite a while yet, but the difficulty these people have with even pronouncing first names surprises me at what a polite country Japan can be.
The rest of the episode, aside from this and the countless other scenes that feature Sawako and Kazehaya getting uncomfortable toward each other, focused on the upcoming sports event. It’s a staple of any high school series to feature some sort of traditional school event, so I guess that Kimi ni Todoke has gone for the sports festival. In my opinion, anime in general puts too much emphasis on these things. Seeing these seemingly obligatory events in just about every high school series also doesn’t really help. And it’s a shame, really: shows like GA show that there are plenty of other things that you can do on a high school.
Oh, and a surprise was seeing that Kurumi suddenly claiming Sawako as a friend of hers. I’m not exactly sure what to think of this at the moment. It would have been pretty weird for her to do such a thing without an ulterior motive, so let’s see what the next episodes can do in explaining why she chose Sawako of all people to become friends with.
Rating: * (Good)
Well I am pretty sure anime highlights things like the sports festival and cultural festival because these are common events in Japanese schools.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Cultural_Festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_day
Comment by Kim — December 2, 2009 @ 22:52
My only complaints for this episode, and the series in general are:
1. The ugly animation.
2. The dude that Sawako likes. He’s probably the most annoying male character in these kind of series I’ve ever seen.
3. Well this isn’t really a complaint, but every time that girl who’s voiced by the same person that does Hajime from Natsu no Arashi speaks, I picture Hajime. LOL I guess that’s not a bad thing cause he’s hilarious.
=O
Comment by Supertauren — December 3, 2009 @ 23:41
> what a polite country Japan can be.
I don’t think calling someone by her last name without honorific is polite enough :)
It’s just a different game…
Comment by 안 — December 7, 2009 @ 15:49
“I don’t want to know how much sugar the creators took before writing this episode…”
You realise that this is based off a manga, and not an original written from an animation studio right…?
Since it’s a typical Shoujo manga, its only fair that theres lotsa sparkles, and the male lead is close to perfect!
I actually thought the series so far has some of the best animation in the season! Ugly Animation? If you want ugly animation then go watch Naruto or something.
Comment by Greengreen — December 8, 2009 @ 15:37
Greengreen: do you really think that reducing the characters to these chibi-forms half of the time amounts to good animation? Is it really better than the animation in Aoi Bungaku, which has a really smooth framerate and visual direction for nearly every one of its stories? If so, then I’d like to read why.
Comment by psgels — December 8, 2009 @ 16:13
lol.
@pspgel: true that Aoi Bungaku has really smooth and amazing animation, that surpasses Kimi ni Todoke. However that is not to say that Kimi ni Todoke has bad animation. Well, I never actually said it had better animation than Aoi Bungaku in the first place?
aaaanyways, given the difference in genre, it is acceptable to involve lots of light hearted chibi in a shoujo genre, yet in series like Aoi Bungaku to be more serious and not have chibi’s.
again, “I actually thought the series so far has some of the best animation in the season!” still holds true imo.
Even if its not the best, I just wanted to point out what Supertauran said about ugly animation was the opposite and Kimi ni Todoke had great animation.
Comment by greengreen — December 10, 2009 @ 15:57
lol…you know now that you point it out, I feel so much more conscious of the chibi’s >_>
Comment by greengreen — December 10, 2009 @ 16:03
so true your review of this episode.. actually .. after this ep i stopped watching just to let the ep pile up. I know this Kurumi is up to no good and i don’t want to get stuck waiting one week for a cliff hanger ^^
I also wish there was less chibi and i agree this ep had too much still frames with bubbles and glitter floating everywhere …
i am just hoping that we get a good resolution by the end of this season :} .. and a kiss in there maybe
Comment by nitaipriya — December 24, 2009 @ 11:26