Random Curiosity

OP Sequence

OP: 「イノセントブルー」 (Innocent Blue) by DeviceHigh
Watch the OP! Mirror 1, Mirror 2
I like the way the opening song starts out and the first few lines of lyrics (reminds me of something I can’t quite put my finger on), but the rest of the song wasn’t that great. The OP also seems to suggest that there’ll be plenty of fanservice, and it made me wonder if this counts as nudity or not (in terms of censoring). There was also a new ending this week, 「愛のカケラ」 (Ai no Kakera) by Hashimoto Miyuki, but I didn’t bother capping it since it was virtually the same ending animation sequence as last week. I did like this song a lot more than CooRie’s ED though, and I wonder if there’s gonna be a new ending song for every episode.

Summary:

As Kotonoha arrives for a date with Makoto, she catches him reading an instructional manual on love. Makoto takes her to several places around town, but with each place they go to, he doesn’t pay enough attention to her: he’s reading erotic magazines at the bookstore, getting too involved with games at the arcade, and gets a plate full of cake while Kotonoha is still reading the menu at a cafe. He even tries to kiss Kotonoha when it’s time to go home, but the doors to the train close on him before he can. At school the next day, Sekai yells at Makoto for being an idiot for leaving Kotonoha behind in whatever he did. As for the kiss between them from before, she claims that it was like a greeting and that they’re only friends. She then presents him with movie theater tickets so that he can take Kotonoha on another date, and she suggests that if things go well, he’ll get a kiss. There are three films playing when Makoto and Kotonoha arrive at the theater, including a zombie movie and a love story. Kotonoha actually wants to see the zombie movie, but Makoto assumes that she wants to see the love story, so that’s what they go to.

As she watches the film, Kotonoha notes that the three characters in the story are like herself, Makoto, and Sekai. Makoto, however, feels that she’s cuter than the character she’s comparing herself to, and the love scene in the movie gets him thinking about a kiss again. Remembering what Sekai had said about Kotonoha only being embarrassed and how she’s waiting for him to make a move, Makoto grabs her hand and tries to kiss her. This earns him a slap, and the rest of the date thus becomes awkward. When Makoto later tries to explain how Sekai had been the one who gave him the tickets, Kotonoha comments on how well Makoto and Sekai get along, which Makoto attributes to her sitting next to him in class. On the way back home, Kotonoha apologizes shortly before running off the train at her stop.

The following day, Makoto doesn’t understand why things happened that way since he did what Sekai said, so Sekai calls him an idiot once more. She says it again when she finds out that he’s been using an instructional manual on love, and she advises him to apologize and make up with Kotonoha. After class, Makoto catches Kotonoha and tries to make up with her, saying that he wants to know her better. She runs off to her committee meeting without replying to him, so he yells that he’ll be waiting for her at the train station. Later that evening, as Kotonoha is leaving school after finishing with her activities, she runs into Sekai who points out that she’s going the wrong direction to go to the train station. Kotonoha claims that she feels like taking the bus today, but Sekai knows that the reason is because Makoto is waiting at the train station. Sekai thinks that Makoto will wait there for a long time because he’s an idiot, which causes Kotonoha to tell her not to call him an idiot. Kotonoha feels that Makoto is just a little too aggressive, and seeing Kotonoha act like this, Sekai smiles and suggests that it’s because they’re both idiots.

Kotonoha then admits to being afraid of guys and recalls how she had been teased and bullied for her figure. Though that has nothing to do directly with Makoto, Kotonoha still feels uneasy. Because of this, Sekai reveals how Makoto wants to treasure Kotonoha, but she thinks that unrequited feelings like those won’t always continue. She questions if Kotonoha has considered how Makoto’s feels and suggests that boyfriends and girlfriends share their feelings. Sekai also thinks that Makoto has been controlling himself given how ecchi his thoughts usually are, and she uses the chance to grab and massage Kotonoha’s breasts. Afterwards, Kotonoha surprises Sekai by bringing up how well Sekai understands Makoto and saying that she’s envious. Like Makoto, Sekai claims that it’s because they sit next to each other in class, so they spend a lot of time together. Kotonoha does eventually head to the train station and finds Makoto still waiting there for her. After he swears not to do anything more that she hates, Kotonoha apologizes and declares that she wants to come to understand him better. Saying that she’ll do her best, Kotonoha proceeds to kiss him.

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Well if I didn’t hate Makoto after last week’s episode, I certainly hate him now. The guy does some of the stupidest things on his dates with Kotonoha, and I’m starting to understand why he’s considered “< a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Days_%28game%29" target="_blank">one of the most pathetic adult game protagonists ever.” Heck, I was cheering for him to get slapped for how idiotically aggressive he was acting, and thankfully he did eventually get it. I said last week that I had been rooting for Sekai, and although I still am, I don’t think Makoto deserves how much she does for him. If it wasn’t for Sekai, Makoto and Kotonoha wouldn’t even be having a relationship. Still, it might be too early to completely condemn the guy, but he’s certainly not doing himself any favors right now. Hopefully next week’s episode will be less frustrating to watch and will begin focusing more on the conflicting feelings of the two girls since it seems pretty clear that Sekai likes Makoto too.