Episode rewatch comments.
Starts with a nice reflection back to the first episode, with the same music played as was playing at the start, behind lots of birdsong. And Hotaru talking about how it's been a year since she moved to the village.
And the shot of the corridor, with the hole still boarded up where Suguru fell down it. No buckets now, though.
And the image turns to show Hotaru with the rabbits. More allusions to earlier episodes.
As the opening starts playing my heart is pulled with the love I've built up for this brilliant series. This is probably the last time I'll hear it until the first volume arrives. Sad thought, that. But I can't dwell on this stuff forever. There's another season round the corner, and of course I have yet to finish most of this season's stuff. But NNB rewatching takes priority over things like that.
Anyway, like the first episode, this one has quite a lot of scenery images.
Picnic by the river, under a blooming tree.
Komari's all fidgety about the bento. And her eyes tear up slightly as she apologises.
Slow zoom in on Hotaru's face, and then sudden resolution as she braces herself for what she has to do.
Komari is completely perturbed by the suggestion, though.
Does Hotaru genuinely think that's squid ink pasta, rather than charred stuff?
That sweatdrop when Hotaru picks up the entire thing. So much for only having a tiny bit.
And Hotaru makes another suggestion about what the food is. Doing that only makes the cook feel worse. It's so bad you can't even tell what it is.
Hotaru is looking at Komari, though, and not the food. Maybe she doesn't want to look at it. Or maybe she just wants to look at her senpai.
Crunch.
That's not a sound yakisoba is supposed to make.
Freeze.
.
Komari's worried. Has she just poisoned Hotaru? She's not chewing. Not moving at all in fact.
Hotaru tries to dig herself out of a whole by... err... praising it.
Unfortunately it turns out that she was digging straight downwards. And possibly hitting her foot with the shovel a few times in the process.
Komari doesn't believe what she's seeing. Rightfully.
Crunch
Crunch
Cronch
Burnt food "just made it more savory". Her voice fades away with the obvious lie, but Komari brightens up. And starts force feeding her.
Hotaru gets worried.
Chocolate sauce?
And Hotaru starts repeating to herself. The meat is so bad that she can't bear to taste anything but the chocolate. I think it's that way round? She looks genuinely ill though.
More lies. More hitting yourself in the foot in your desperation to dig your hole ever deeper.
Kyun!
"Of course not! Chocolate doesn't go with rice balls!" Oh? I would think it would go with them better than with burnt meat.
Normal onigiri, but of course Hotaru gets the trap straight away. Lightning bolt flashes through her head.
"Tea... Have some Tea! Oh! That's noodle broth!" Komari is hopeless.
Hotaru is actually choking. And crying. What does Komari do? Grab more food.
And what does Hotaru do? Beg to eat more. Oh dear.
It's over, and Hotaru looks on the verge of collapsing. Or rather, she thought it was over.
Hotaru's eyes turn to actual spirals. But then Komari starts to spoon feed her and they start sparkling like crazy.
New scene.
More birdsong, music and scenery pictures. Hotaru and her parents walk along the road.
Is it just me or has Hotaru's hair grown?
Kaede on her bike thing.
Road repair is as a result of the snowmelt.
Natsumi carrying Renge. Komari sat on a rock. And Suguru relaxing against the tree.
"Hotarun, nyanpasu!"
We've heard that before. This time, Hotaru replies herself rather than just responding blankly.
Natsumi and Suguru get ahead of the other three fairly fast.
No trespassing. But it's okay, because the mountain belongs to Ren-chon. Or her family anyway.
I love that conversation.
"Sagasun!"
Komari invites Hotaru to "come over here" because of the fiddleheads. Hotaru shuffles closer, all the time staring at Komari. I think we need some scepticism about Hotaru's motives.
Renge's mugwort. Lots and lots of mugwort. And she's in search of more. She walks into a Suguru, though, still chewing his sorrel. And they stare at each other.
"Hotarun, this really is the country, isn't it?" More references back to the first episode.
Hotaru has fallen in love with the place.
"Then it's okay if there are people chewing on grass too, right?"
Freeze.
Hotaru says its fine, but she doesn't sound quite so sure this time.
Running across a field of flowers.
"It's beautiful!" So it is, Hotaru. So it is.
Natsumi's thoughts are on food, not beauty, however.
"Why did you use my real name all of a sudden? What happened between you and me in these last few moments?"
It is the first time Natsumi actually called her by her real name, though.
"They look even cuter, knowing they have the same name as me. I like these flowers now." (paraphrased because I think that both fits better and is more accurate than what CR put)
The power of shared names. But Renge doesn't want to eat renge.
However, Renge wearing a crown of renge works.
And leaves stuck behind the straps of her clothes to give her fancy fairy rings. Or funky ones. Take your pick.
That look that Renge gives Kaede. All excited.
And the cry of celebration.
Walking home at the end of the day, and Renge is still wearing her fairy outfit. And she keeps inviting the others to play fairy with her.
Were those instructions supposed to be for how to act like a fairy, Renge? Natsumi takes it to heart, though.
And an offer for Sakura viewing. Again referencing back to the first episode with their desserts. And Komari scares Hotaru with an offer of another bento.
Jump to the cherry tree, in the same way as it did back at the start, as the voices gradually fade behind the music.
And then the Sakura tree, currently devoid of leaves, on top of the hill, with the surrounding mountain vista. And even the background music draws to a close...
...to be replaced by the ending song on a closeup of the first signs of the budding blossom.
And then, finally, with birds singing in the background, a picture of the school, and then the sky, which slowly fades into whiteness.
And that's it.
The perfect ending to the perfect anime.
I know I kind of wrote a lot here, probably because I knew that the series would end for me for now as soon as I finished writing, and I didn't want that to happen. But there really was a surprisingly large amount that happened in this episode, despite how slow paced it seemed to be, with lots of pauses perfectly utilised. In fact, that's one area in which this anime has really excelled - the perfect use and timing of stillness, or silence for effect, be it that of comedy, of emotions, or simply of relaxation.
So yeah, that's it.
I wonder when I will next come upon an anime I love so much as this. I look forward to it happening again. Although I'm not sure my wallet holds the same view. |