Summary:
Haruka gets harassed for a date by thugs, but Mana screams for help and so Haruka escapes after a boob-grope. As they walk, Mana quickly deduces that Haruka’s “brother” is Touya and that Haruka wants Touya as a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Rina gives Touya her schedule and chats about how Eiji likes Yuki because she is growing as an artist. Eiji and Rina achieved perfection and this bores Eiji, so now Yuki is his favorite toy. Ironically, Rina also muses about how nice it must be to have a BF who cares about her. The Sakura-dan take advantage of this Touya-mania to pull ahead in the ratings.
There’s more scenes of Yuki being unable to reach Touya, and even reaching Misaki for a short awkward conversation. Meanwhile, Touya is helping Misaki, falling asleep “tutoring” Mana, and enlisting Haruka’s help in picking a gift for Rina’s birthday on 11/26 (while Mana confuses Haruka for Yuki). Things get super weird when Touya meet Rina at the studio to give her the gift, only to run into Yuki as well. The couple sits without talking, and Touya is upset and confused to hear Yuki recording Rina’s song in the studio. When Yayoi gives Touya a ride home that night, she finally succeeds in seducing him, and as Touya embraces Yayoi, he mentally apologizes to Misaki in advance for being late.
Reaction:
I thought the contrast between Touya and his dad was excellent; Touya will do anything to take his mind off Yuki because he cannot be with her, while Fujii-otousan watches TV with the picture frame of his wife because he cannot be with her. I think at this point it is clear that Rina is definitely trying to poach Touya, if only because she is hurt and lonely. I’m still not sure yet if Yuki will be singing a duet with Rina or stealing Rina’s song at the show. I’m leaning towards the latter, since it seems like Eiji is recording secretly. The Christmas Eve concert is going to be a crazy showdown, because it is Yuki’s birthday, the moment that Yuki will be the surprise replacement for Rina, and the showdown between the Sakura-dan and Eiji’s forces.
There were a lot of confusing moments in this episode, such as the bunch of letters to “Yayoi-sama” that Yayoi dumped in the trash. It’s intriguing that Yayoi never says anything on the phone when she picks it up, but these phone calls always order/motivate her to seduce Touya. That final scene was so absurd, and you know after Touya is done sleeping with Yayoi he’ll ask her for some money and a ride to school the next day. I bet Touya has even convinced himself that he is doing the right thing, because he doesn’t want to interfere with Yuki’s career. This explanation is going to sound awesome when he has to repeat it to Yuki.
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17 Comments
What’s her name’s presence in the show is so pathetic the boob grab she got subjected to didn’t seem like a boob grab at all (What the hell am I saying?).
Haha, poor Haruka. She has a bike and yet she has to walk it everywhere. I suspect that since he was going through that puffy vest, the thug barely felt anything at all
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It was still one of the funniest villain-retreats that I have ever seen. I also like how the thug justified it as compensation for Haruka probably bumping into him.
:4 One more Haruka-dog/bitch comment from you and!… and… okay it was pretty funny :3 You know, she has a reasonable sized rack under that Marty McFly jacket… forgot which episode she takes it off (and only has her white sweater, MMMMMMMMMMM!!!! *fapfap*)
Speaking off fapfap, the Eiji moan-moment was legit. Like, its as if the animators did it on purpose! Whos NOT gonna talk about that scene? =3 (I mean, you even made a whole post on it… which I will spam shortly)
I still say that Rina has no interest in poaching Touya, I have no idea what her plan is, but she still does not seem to be working against Yuki in the least.
(also, no way in hell is Yuki winning any sing-off against Rina, Yuki’s not that good, and, even more so, Aya Hirano is not that good. She’s a good singer, but Mizuki Nana is in a completely different league)
I dunno; the Sakura-dan have been winning this whole time, and they are just a bunch of bitchy no-talent lolis. I don’t think anyone believes that Yuki is a better singer than Rina, but maybe Yuki will be awesome on stage (despite having probably never performed live…).
Rina’s definitely a mysterious one still. Is she really helping Yuki out still? I think Rina fans are blinding themselves into thinking that Rina is completely pure, when all the other girls are imperfect. I wouldn’t say that Rina has done anything terrible yet, but she is walking awfully close to the edge.
Well, essentially Rina removed herself from the “support Yuki at all costs” camp. She explained very elaborately (and convincingly) what’s making her tick. She’s reached her peak, the end of her development. Her brother has lost interest in her due to that, and he’s about to replace her against Yuki. And while she doesn’t envy Yuki for her blessing that she has a boyfriend who really really cares for her (hah!), it’s a bit vexing to her. She feels lonely, and would like to see Touya fill a part of this void.
Also (and I consider this part fairly important), she told Touya not to consider her a goddess anymore. She might become a devil tomorrow (and I’m sure she will – if she decides to pursue her own interests). Also, her explanation to Yuki that Touya came to visit her on her birthday entirely on his own volition almost felt like fighting words to me.
I like and respect her honesty alot. Unlike Yuki/Touya, she’s no social retard. She’s getting things done. And it seems that by openly promoting a contest with/against Yuki, she’s suggesting a “may the best girl win” ending. Unfortunately, I see nothing but disappointment and heartbreak for her. Which would be a shame.
I’m not saying that Rina necessarily wants to go all Yayoi on Touya, but she definitely enjoys the attention that Touya gives her. Without her brother’s support and attention, Rina is probably very lonely and Touya is an easy distraction.
It would be interesting if Rina is purposely setting herself up to lose to Yuki in some fake competition. There’s still time for Rina to be revealed as a loyal Yuki supporter, but the scenarios are getting more far-fetched with every episode.
I think the Touya/Yuki/Rina situation was so awkward because Yuki recognized the gift bag as coming from the same store where Touya bought meido cosplay gear for Yuki’s last birthday. Haruka cracked me up this episode because Mana hypnotized her into believing that she really is Touya’s girlfriend and then she broke into his apartment… to sleep in the bed that Misaki last slept in. When Yayoi finally reveals the contents of the letters we’ll see that they’re all from her husband. Tear stained, each letter contains but three lines: “I miss you. The kids miss you. Please come home.”
And I like the steel cage vibes coming from the approaching concert. I’m just curious as to who is going to throw the first chair….
OMG!!!
While this is delicious dorama, I figure it’s not her husband simply because of the honorific used on the envelopes. I almost wonder if Yayoi was an idol or something at some point, and those are fan-letters. Perhaps she’s decided to stop holding on to her past, and is taking out her bitterness at Yuki on Touya.
That or the letters and phone calls are just helpful advice clips like, “Use more tongue.”
Also Haruka is a big joke at this point, and I love how Touya cannot pay his rent and yet he can afford a nice gift for his non-GF that he barely sees (although he sees Rina more than his GF).
My reaction:
Touya – He listened to Yuki’s RAWR vocals and ran. He even hit it off with Yayoi. Although, I feel a little bad for him…just a bit…
Yuki – That pissed off look at not calling was my fave. Was she also doing Gravure?!
Rina – “In the beginning…” For a second there at the start of the subbed episode, I thought she really would start a whole New Revelation. She’s still my Goddess.
Mana – That’s not Yuki, my loli-chan. That’s a lost puppy.
Yayoi – I don’t like her tactics to push Touya away from Yuki but man, was she SEXY! I sense NICE CAR! NICE ALBUM? COLLEGE DAYS?!
Mitsuki – She can be Kotoha from School Days if she knows how to handle that sewing machine.
Haruka – She was lost, almost gang-raped, saved by a loli, picked up by her master, almost lost again, found again, patted on the head, and now, she’s singing about birthdays…meh
Akira – ??? I miss you! Come and bring some reality!
Eiji – Take it to the ARENA and FIGHT!
Other – There’s a bro-con for Rina and Dr. Quack a.k.a. Eiji for Yuki(He lost himself, remember? That’s why he’s testing on his new subjects.)
– Flashback scene is FTW?!
– Nothing wrong with Christmas Birthday. Yuki is saying the opposite of how she feels, I bet.
WTF?! Why?! Was it the women throwing themselves at him? Was it the money he earned while sleeping over at some loli’s house? Perhaps the limo service he gets? Touya has a tough life!
At first I thought she was doing the tastefully nude behind a curtain thing, and after I looked again it seemed more like the my dress is ugly like a baggy curtain thing. I am happy you bring up School Days, because anime girls give the funniest looks when their faithful boyfriend refuses to pick up the phone.
I just realized it would be hilarious if Eiji was just using Yuki and Rina to test the new song. How awesome would it be if on Christmas Eve, Eiji came out painted DMC-Krauser-style and sang the song himself?!?!?!
I think the Sakura-dan would just burst into flames at the sight of Krauser-Eiji!!!
The best part about this birthday is that when Yuki is single and alone on her 25th birthday, she can hear everyone talk about leftover Christmas cakes.
Well I have a few thoughts about this episode.
I think it seems to me that by now it’s pretty clear that Touya really doesn’t like Yuki nearly as much as she likes him. She’s always just been around him and one day she was his girlfriend just like that. I really wonder at what he truly thinks of her. Although superficially we can say that Touya is a loser (typical male harem lead), and that Yuki is super cute and waaaay too good for him, he’s still allowed to not really like her all that much in his own head.
I think it was probably easy for him to go out with her when they saw eachother all the time, because hey, she’s cute and he didn’t have to do much. But once she turned pro, he could use the excuse of ‘well I don’t want to bother her’ to not put any effort into the relationship.
Now that he has all these girls fawning over him, I really don’t think that Touya can last. The law of anime states that there will more likely be a happy ending than not, in which case things will end up okay, but if we ignore that law, then this could really end with just Yuki being heartbroken, Haruka going crazy, and Touya spending more and more time with Misaki thus alienating his guy best friend even more. It will be fuck up after fuck up. Oh and Mana? Well she’s just a loli side character so I’d ignore her in the final equation.
How about the Rina question? I personally think Rina occupies the same space as Ami-chan. Namely that of cool girl who knows too much about life in general, who does her own thing but is mildly interested in current events because she’s feeling a bit lonely in her own life. As much as I’d like to see her try and seduce Touya, I really don’t see why she would actually fall for that loser.
I believe that one of the key sentences in episode 08 was Touya’s “Yuki… she’s like air”. That’s pretty much how he treats her. Taking her for granted. He likes her as a concept, as the cute idol, as his “everyday”. But so far, he isn’t putting in any effort whatsoever to maintain the relationship, because, why should he? Yuki is just THERE. She always was. And he doesn’t grasp so far that unless he’s getting his sh*t together, she won’t be much longer. I suspect that he’ll learn that living without this “air” will be quite hard very soon. It’s the old saying: You don’t recognize the value of something until it’s gone…
Mana – you guys did pick up that she took Touya’s self-praising “I managed all that after being kicked out” monologue at face value? And that she REALLY sees him as a replacement oniichan figure? While on one hand, I enjoy imagining the shock value once she realizes that he and Yuki ARE an item, I dread the wakeup call once she realizes that all grandstanding of his aside, he’s actually a lazy bum…
Rina is lonely and about to be discarded, and she realizes that. I don’t see her “falling” for Touya yet, but she enjoys being with him and talking to him. The thing is: She sees the better side of Touya: The boyfriend who really really cares for the one he likes (loves?). This is what she wants but obviously doesn’t have. So this is why she passed her schedule to him. Once she “becomes a Devil” and goes after him, we’ll see
Yup I picked up on that Mana comment too Mentar. Hard to say whether Mana really ‘took it at face value’ or is just repeating what she heard to sort of brag/group therapy to Haruka.
Mana probably thinks that Touya is always falling asleep during tutoring sessions because he’s working so hard. Then again, shouldn’t Mana be suspicious that Touya begged to tutor her because he kept getting fired from all his part-time jobs?
It’s funny that everyone thinks of Touya as a hot brother, when Touya doesn’t even have a little sister (or does he? dun dun dun!).
I think Touya does like Yuki, but he isn’t used to having to work hard to maintain their relationship. Sorta like how he likes being able to pay rent, but he doesn’t like having to wake up at a reasonable hour to make it to his part-time jobs on time. Mark my words, it is not at all surprising that the first girl he went for post-Yuki-idol was Yayoi because now Yayoi is like air.
Yayoi is Touya’s new everyday, even though she can’t kiss worth a damn! Yayoi also comes with money and wheels, so I guess it’s an upgrade.
I am rather boggled that of all the women he seems to have “chosen” Yayoi.
Though for all we know he’s always had a fetish for older women.
I am eagerly anticipating this day. There will be lulz~ And probably Yuki crying, again.
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