Now that Sara’s gone, it seems like a lot of the life and soul has gone out of the lives of Rentarou and Souju. Sure they try to pass the time with word games and such, but everything has a tinge of awkward sadness. Even though they want to be able to have fun, so that Sara’s sacrifice will not be in vain, it’s not that easy. We even get a flashback of Kimihiko calling Rentarou on that fateful night, and the two agreeing that it would be better to not keep in contact.
Rentarou is really torn up about the situation. He compares his trippy vision of flying off the roof of the Shopping Cart Grand Prix (very cute scene =D) with the opportunity at making love with the Shirogane sisters; he feels like he failed both times and yet isn’t sure that success would have resulted in happiness. He finally decides there are no “ifs” and only the present. This is reinforced when the office is destroyed by some pyromaniac (the posters suggest that squids were behind this and two other mysterious arson attacks). While Souju cries in the hotel shower, Rentarou decides that since he wasn’t able to hold on, he must start over. Still, he can’t help but feel ashamed of himself…
Although slow, this was an emotional and powerful episode. The music fit in especially well to the various scenes, and the hidden pain that Souju and Rentarou bear is written all over their faces. I like that although Rentarou is trying hard to move on and telling himself to be logical, he knows deep down he can’t simply just pack up and start over. I’m sure that sooner or later he will get tired of being owned by Souju at the arcade (the real surprise of the episode), and do something to get Sara back!
Personally, I don’t think sleeping with the twins would have accomplished anything except make it all awkward. I would have liked to see how Kimihiko would react in such a situation, though!
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This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
