SHUFFLE! MEMORIES - 03 January 21
Asa OP:
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Asa OP: 「High Tension Dreamer」 by 伊藤美紀 (Itou Miki)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 (24.8MB, XviD)
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Summary:
Although she received a confession from the popular athlete Takizawa, Asa hasn’t given him a reply and her thoughts continue to go back to Rin. After she injures her foot doing the high jump, she has Rin take her home instead of Takizawa, and the two end up talking about how they met when Rin brought Kaede to Asa to learn cooking. Asa admits to being envious of Kaede because Rin waited for her every day until the cooking club ended. Since Asa mentions that she wished she had someone like that, Rin points out how worried Takizawa was for her earlier, but she feels he’s not right for her. When she gets up to get some tea, Asa trips because of her foot and falls right onto Rin in bed. But by the time her mother Ama comes home and comes to check on Asa, the pair have straightened themselves out. It is on the next day that Asa rejects Takizawa and gives him back his gift.
Sometime later, Asa is the one who talks some sense into Rin when he feels guilty for forcing Primula to return to the Ma world with Forbesii after she gets sick. Rin becomes determined to go after Primula, but because Nerine and Sia resist the idea, Asa yells at them for not acting like candidates to be Rin’s lover by not considering his pained feelings. Saying that she didn’t want to lose someone else precious to her, Nerine had run out, and Rin chased after her. Asa meanwhile collapses after all the excitement, and Rin goes to see her the next day. He tells her what Nerine revealed to him, and Asa then admits that Primula is similar to how Asa was a long time ago - always sick and angry at her mother. Asa had blamed Ama for her weak body and had wished that she hadn’t been born, but Ama had always kept her smile until Asa herself decided to become a strong person like her mother. It was thanks to Ama’s love that Asa got healthy again and is the person she is now. From this, Rin realizes that he was a fool to have hesitated so much before deciding to go see Primula.
Asa ED:
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Asa ED: 「wish」 by 伊藤美紀 (Itou Miki)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 (37.3MB, XviD)
Asa’s OP and ED songs were ok, but the last shot of the otherwise-good OP sequence felt a bit too spoilerish, and the ED sequence wasn’t quite as amusing to watch as Kaede’s because it was made up of mostly still shots. That OP also raised questions of if they’re gonna go with mannequin nudity for this show along with the fog effect.
This episode was half made up of Asa’s story from episode seven and half made up of Asa’s involvement in the Primula/Nerine story of episodes twelve through fourteen. Oddly enough, the episode ended before Asa gave Rin her hair ribbon for his trip to see Primula, which I felt was a rather important symbol for him to have, especially since this was supposed to be Asa-focused.
Anyway, for whatever reason, I had been under the impression that they were going to do one girl at a time, but looking at the schedule now, it seems that they’re doing all of the initial stories at once, and then going onto the second half. This seems to mean that there will be a new OP every week for at least the next month as they continue going through all five girls. Unfortunately, this would also seem to mean that any original story we’re going to get is going to be saved for the second half of the show, likely towards the end. In any case, next week is Nerine.
deftoned at 3:50 pm on January 21st, 2007
It might just be me, but I don’t see anything worthwhile with series if it’s all just a rehash of the original series. Other than Rin dialogue and snippets of new animation, it’s not worth it. Instead of half of this series being rehash, they should have just done a longer OVA (5-6 episodes) with new material.
Wererat42 at 3:55 pm on January 21st, 2007
WTF is wrong with the 6th cap? And why are there scenes with Primula in there if this is Asa’s story? I’m a bit dissapointed with this whole recap business.
Ethereal at 4:13 pm on January 21st, 2007
the 6th screen is asa im not sure how to use the spoiler tag so im not going to try but its near the end of the first series which you are welcome to search up if you wish to know
Mutio at 4:16 pm on January 21st, 2007
Me as well, only recap..
And for details I have all the Shuffle! related visual novels, so I know more than enough about that..
Btw, the screen with Asa’s father, that’s really new, it’s quite emotional to see her father, always wondered what he looked like. Interesting that Asa was a young kid when he died.
Mutio at 4:36 pm on January 21st, 2007
Sorry for the double post, but I just got an information and I’m not sure if Asa’s father is dead or not, so just forget about that..
Deathclock at 5:23 pm on January 21st, 2007
naw, he isnt dead, well, thats what i think, have you played “really? really!”? theres a scene that Ama asks Asa if she wants a younger brother/sister.
Hudson at 5:26 pm on January 21st, 2007
A little spoilerish, but hey we already knew what happend to her and Rin so what’s the big deal!
YEAH FOR ASA! THE BEST GIRL IN SHUFFLE!
she has a cute Rin plushie too!
Hudson at 5:32 pm on January 21st, 2007
BTW Deathclock…. what exactly was Asa’s responce?
Wererat42 at 6:15 pm on January 21st, 2007
@Ethereal: I was talking about the sorry excuse of censorship. After the NSFW scenes in the actual series that was kind of lame.
Aside from that, I’m wondering what’s going on at the end of the OP where Rin is holding a necklace and gets surrounded by some kind of light with Asa running towards him. It happens quite fast, but it piqued my curiousity. I don’t remember that ever happening.
psychohare at 8:52 pm on January 21st, 2007
argh… im still wondering if i should watch this… no new material… grrr… *continues to download Shuffle to watch later…*
Yyi at 9:05 pm on January 21st, 2007
I’m hoping that they would introduce much more new material too, hopefully after the 1st round of backstories. But as for now, I’m contented with the new OPs and EDs.
Pakxenon at 9:19 pm on January 21st, 2007
Oh wow they’re doing it this way. SAVE KAEDE FOR LAST SHE WILL WIN AGAIN!
anim3guy at 10:11 pm on January 21st, 2007
who’s gonna be the next girl on the 4th episode i think it’s gonna be sia
Takemoto-kun at 12:45 am on January 22nd, 2007
So far I’ve been disappointed. Original story needs to start sooner.
vexx at 12:57 am on January 22nd, 2007
I can’t figure out what “way” they’re doing anything…. the whole thing is just kind of a rehash mess so far.
Some speculation that the second half season will follow each girl’s path (as in the game choices). That would actually be novel and interesting.
Other speculation is that it’ll follow the series path from each girl’s POV … that just seems a bit odd in that you’d have to watch the same events repeatedly from each POV.
It could be a “corrected” version of the original story (rewrite the transition from Kaede to Asa in a way that is more respectful of the two characters ((I’ll skip the long discourse on how the series really ripped up both character designs)) and rewrite the rather lame reasoning for motivations in the final Asa arc. Even if they change nothing else I’d like to see a less insane ending (drop the harem reset garbage) after all those life-changing events.
The odds, unfortunately, are that they’ll just leave the story as broken as ever.
1) Asa: dumb as mud, okay with dieing so she won’t have to see her mother cry, traitorous?, manipulative?, or really poorly written?
2) Kaede: mentally ill and driven more so, great buildup but poorly finished, and then left hanging in limbo “to love Rin from afar” in some sado-masochistic orbit.
3) Sia: just dropped like a hot potato after leading her on for 6 or 7 episodes but at the very end goes insane and claime to still pursue Rin.
4) Nerine: smart enough to drop out to find herself, but at the very end goes insane and claims to still pursue Rin.
5) Primula: never a chance, but for all we know plans to slaughter them all and take Rin.
6) Kareha: out of the blue at the end, informs Asa that Rin is so cool she’s going to join the fun — actually this was kind of hilarious.
7) Rin: somewhere around halfway through the series his brains were swapped out for mush and he stopped making sense (some really wretched writing).
Before anyone trumpets “anti-Asa” … I think an Asa-ending story could have been well-written and very powerful, along with a great storyline for Sia and Kaede. Its just that the production staff can’t seem to write their way out of a paper bag (which they proved to most people by following up with the disaster called “Soul Link” afterwards).
I consider Shuffle! an interesting premise, some great character design — incompetent execution and lack of respect for the characters.
Mutio at 1:42 am on January 22nd, 2007
I didn’t finish Really Really completely, but I remember that part.
Now what I heard is, ah Jesus, I quote it from our forum:
“Ummm… yeah…. Asa’s father isn’t dead….
Actually this was made quite clear in an interview with Navel. They were asked if they would ever make a game based on Ama featuring H-scenes with her, and they responded by saying no because Asa’s father was alive, and so Ama was married and therefore unavailable. Also YURIA refused to do H-scene voices but there we go.”
Btw Vexx, love your entry
Daisuke at 1:44 am on January 22nd, 2007
Is SHUFFLE! MEMORIES all about the recap on SHUFFLE! ? I am thinking of downloading actually but if is the recap, there is no point in doing that…
Vexx at 2:04 am on January 22nd, 2007
Actually I lost my mind for a moment… I had resolved not to waste much typing space on the series until we knew what the second half of the season was going to accomplish
MonkeyBrains at 5:12 am on January 22nd, 2007
The OP is only spoilerish if one assumes Shuffle! Memories will end the same way as the series… Considering the scenes they cut out of the episode itself (that showed more RinxAsa potential, like Rin starting to move in on Asa himself in the bed scene, and the ribbon giving scene) it’s trying to keep itself somewhat open ended so far. And so far both character OPs (Kaede and Asa) show scenes from the Shuffle! game, including the ending of the characters’ respective paths - probably Nerine, Sia, and Primula will too. So it’s not really spoilerish if they show the endings to every path. Having said that, the Shuffle! Memories series is still weird as heck, cause there’s so far no narrative flow at all. I mean, jumping to the Primula arc for Asa’s episode? I can’t imagine this show being very accessible for newbies.
Anyway, I liked the ep for the new OP and ED.
It reminded me why Asa was the best character in the show, especially the scenes in the ED sequence - she has a good and happy life outside of Rin, and wasn’t falling all over him like the rest were. I look forward to the rest of the first few episodes to see the rest of the new OPs. Well, maybe I’m not looking forward to Primula’s opening. Never liked the character that much (tooooo much of a Ruri-ruri clone, and jailbait too), and the angel wings they decided to add (hopefully it was just in ep 1 OP) - LAME.
Roylanlex at 8:40 am on January 22nd, 2007
I agree with Vexx, full of disappoint.