H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ Episode 12 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Dec 13, 2014 8:43 PM

#251

supyall

Offline

Dec 2014

lets add another wtf can u remember when the whole hinata hotaru ordeal went off and at the end of that hirose asked otoha if she was coming back to life an i believe she she said something along the lines of people from the past should stay in the past if that true why did she bring hamayi a couple of years later wouldnt that technically make her a person from the past this series was ok very predictable at times especially ep 12 get done in by a train was super predictable n guessing thats when he would get his site back totally obvious shit even things they said were predictable but is she a spirit now like otoha or real human again the only advice we got on that subject was watch her properly this time so 6/10 the ending was stupid its nor an ending when it leaves people with simple questions

Dec 13, 2014 8:52 PM

#252

supyall

Offline

Dec 2014

and when you bring people back to life usually they are the exact same age not grown up like hell sing fang says but to me she looked like a kid still shewas even weaering her old school uniform and who is maki my brain doesnt recollect her so much for trying to save a child by huggin it the could of easily gone under the guard rail or even over it the show was proper messed up plot wise

Dec 27, 2014 9:12 PM

#253

SkyTate

Offline

Jan 2011

650

In the end, it wasn't even the Kohinatas who drove Hirose's mother to commit suicide. Wow, now it just makes all the things that happened over the past few episodes even more unforgivable. At least that grandfather got what he deserved. Wonder what about the other villagers as well.
Damn... Hayami didn't deserve to die like that.

Hamaji actually had a baby with Maki?! And he still chooses to remain a trap.

The last part where Otoha comes and suddenly Hayami appears felt kinda forced. Like a sudden 180 when you thought that it was all over.

I mainly see the animes... so don't blame me for not knowing about the Manga/LN

Dec 28, 2014 10:52 AM

#254

ZENSX

Offline

Aug 2014

189

I'm all for happy endings, but seriously WTF happened in this episode?

This series was a mess.

https://zensx.wordpress.com/

May 19, 2015 1:58 AM

#255

King_Luffy32

Offline

Nov 2013

I want to say is that I just finished the hole anime ins one go. The VN does have as equal but I dunno if that's equal would work as anime season 2 due to I don't know where the second game take place. I do wish that there is an OVA or some kind or a season two to tie up some unanswered question. Due to um still confused on ha yami being spirit like otoha. I'm giving it 5 due to I really like the story as hole.

Jun 10, 2015 12:08 PM

#256

ghost-otaku99

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Dec 2014

I don't even know what to think if the ending other than WTF.

Nov 17, 2015 5:11 PM

#257

JustAnotherShiro

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Nov 2014

5378

I didn't expect it to be so good. Ending might've been a bit WTF, but I'm happy it turned out this way, tho last scene could use kiss, hug or even holding hands - anything other than standing in place and looking at windmill o.O

Jun 25, 2016 8:30 PM

#258

AnimeLaver01

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Mar 2014

3282

It was overall a good story with a wonderful ending ~ :D .

Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines.

Aug 26, 2016 10:15 PM

#259

Astraea_

Offline

Sep 2015

180

Ok I'm extremely confused. What the hell just happened? I don't want to say I'd rather her die and end the series off like that but she just comes out of nowhere and is alive for some reason. WTF!?!
There's no explanation whatsoever. I did however enjoy the series as a whole but this ending was just confusing and feels like they threw it in because they didn't want to get hate like from School Days.

Sep 23, 2016 2:39 AM

#260

AsianKungFu

Offline

Sep 2013

2717

Pretty weird ending. Kinda reminded me of Clannad but I didnt get any sense of satisfaction over this at at all.

I think the anime started off pretty good. Despite its subpar art and animation quality, especially around episode 7 onwards, I think the drama was okay. The last few episodes killed it for me though. Hirose being whiny and all. I understand that his dead mother was involved but after lecturing the others about bullying Hayami, when he they told him his mother died because of Hayami's family he started blaming her as well. Now that's just being a hypocrite. I think that's the wrong way to approach the matter. It would have been better if they showed him overcoming his suffering without too much whining and just cut out hitting Hayami.

I know Im not the only one confused about the ending but what Im more curious about is, why the heck does Hirose still have a girly voice? They should have at least gotten a male voice actor for the last scene. Reminded me of Naruto's cringey adult voice. Hayami's voice was already cringey but it became 10x more cringey when he was showed to be an adult with the same voice.

Overall this is still kinda a watchable anime. It had a lot of flaws but I've seen worse.

"I have been wielding a blade since before your were swimming around your father's scrotum." - Kurou

Oct 1, 2016 10:23 AM

#261

Tsuneda

Offline

Sep 2016

I hate when most of you guys gave a low score, just because of the ending.. I mean, come on, there's still many points that you guys can judge, not just the ending..

for me, overall is 7.. scored by all things that i judged, not just the ending.. i can approve if the ending isn't the typical that everyone wanted to watch.
In many points, this series was so good, especially the drama. I think it's not a typical story that can come out in that year.. but this is it.

TsunedaOct 5, 2016 1:04 PM

Jan 9, 2017 3:56 AM

#262

genesic123

Offline

Jan 2013

829

They "killed" her off only to bring her back for a few moments later lol.

There was never a reason for her to die plot wise.You are better off pretending that never happened.

Just make it such that he snapped out of it,and pair them up.

Great anime, just pretend that stupid shock factor moment never happened.

Feb 10, 2017 2:05 PM

#263

RedDawnRocker

Offline

Apr 2014

Last night I decided to marathon H20 for my first time since originally seeing it a few years back. Back then, I found myself very confused and bothered by the ending. Here it is, a few years later and it all seems to be fitting into place while re-watching it and the ending seems not too strange at all to me (maybe, I've watched wayyyyy too many anime since then).

The way I see it, while there are many things to question there's one thing said that answers it all, when we first meet Otoha and she refers to herself as the Spirit of Time. It seems she is the one responsible for everything that happens not to just heal Hirose and Hayami but also the whole village and what it has become. She gave Hirose time to see which she told him not to waste due to nothing being permanent. He used that time to heal Hayami. She in turn healed him. I'm pretty sure there was no child at those train tracks just a ghost of the past that Otoha conjured up to show Hirose what actually killed his mother. She used the shock of Hayami's death in an identical way to his mother's death to break the psychosomatic wall that was causing his blindness. It seems to me that the whole reason of making him able to see in episodes 2-11 only to him and nobody else was Otoha's lead-in to this moment. To bring back his will to see after in episode 1 we only saw him accepting his blindness. When Chibi Otaha returns there's recognition on his face he realizes who Chibi Otaha actually is. It's obvious by the look on his face the boar scene must be Otoha's way of reminding him of a past meeting between the two of them (especially when her Mother call's to her). Otoha being the Spirit of time not only gives Hayami back to Hirose but both are now healed and Otoha makes the message clear (I got her back for you so don't screw it up again! Protect her this time!). As others pointed out, if she wasn't really back there would be no need for him to protect her. Now the next question ...

Did Hayami actually get hit by the train of was it another "It's a Wonderful Life"-style moment presented to Hirose like those 10 episodes of vision. Otoha is his guardian angel, after all, and a spirit of time so this would definitely fall within her wheelhouse.

Mar 18, 2017 8:24 PM

#264

OppaiSugoi

Offline

Jul 2014

4195

Damn. That ending. Really, what a rollercoaster of a show. IMO I can't believe a VN adaptation was this good. She died? No, she came back!

8/10 teetering on 9.

Damn it, someone pick up the VN TL already!!!

Mar 28, 2017 11:22 PM

#265

_Koutarou_

Offline

Sep 2016

483

Well, the story was kinda bad, forced and tiresome, most characters were really stupid and all of the sudden the plot forced them to act normal, but then again they are forced to be stupid one last time.

Additionally, WTF with that ending, I don't care if the VN explained this better, I'm taking what I saw in the anime as my base. So.. you as a god, makes him see how his girlfriend is killed by the train the same way his mother died just to get his senses back? Wouldn't that make things worse? That doesn't make sense at all!

The story wasn't all that bad, it had certain things I liked, for example that little "plotwist" was interesting. In the end, some mediocre drama that you can use to spend some time on a weekend.

The last scene was cute tho.

May 8, 2017 11:12 AM

#266

Sorrowsenpai

Offline

Feb 2017

251

Wow i had a lump in my throat for a while near the end, canon wise she is alive right? Her 'death' was weird as fuck and not clearly shown at all or explained in a satisfactory way to make it look like she was even hit by the train, its all like suggestion...

I guess i'm happy if she IS alive and they have happy life together, but it was a bit of a mess really.

Jul 10, 2017 11:01 AM

#267

john_suzuki

Offline

May 2016

dude i swear i'm cry these last scene

I don't care

Sep 11, 2017 9:54 PM

#268

b5326

Offline

Sep 2017

Just watched it and what confuses me is she was on the second set of tracks but the train came on the first set as what I could see so I'm a bit confused how she ended up dying in that seen?

Mar 7, 2018 11:15 PM

#269

KenshinXHimura

Offline

Sep 2014

Those who are confused and are in need of answers read below please, hopefully it helps

The anime overall was deeper than I expected. Each time a problem was solved, a new unexpected one was introduced. Most of the hate and confusion people express about this anime is due to lack of imagination or not giving it enough thought and looking back at previous episodes. I can't really find these plotholes in the story. I'll just counter/explain some things people have said and share how I perceived this anime.

1. We don't see these characters parents.

- We do. At the festival, the village council, preparing before the typhoon and the fathers of the 2 Yui followers in the farm. Can't expect the anime to detour and go house by house showing us irrelevant parent characters for no reason.

2. Hayami is too young to work, take care of mentally ill Takuma, the characters show behavior not pertaining to their age.

-It's all about the artstyle. The characters look like lolis or way younger than what they really are. They are teenagers. In high school people can have 16-17 years....thats more than enough age to work at some places...

3. Why would they send Takuma to a far away village to heal his illness? Why would his father send him to his brother?

-His father had to deal with the loss of his wife, now his son ended up blind without medical explanation. Most likely he couldn't handle it (same as Takuma couldn't handle his mother's death) and simply chose its best to send him to his trustworthy brother for a while in a countryside place closer to nature. Quite normal to send off ill people to such places. Pollution, dangers, stress from the city life doesn't really help.

4. So much WTF and magic!

-Yes, there are supernatural stuff but not as many or as senseless as some people want to make it seem. I'll list them here:

A. Hinata's/Otoha's spirit roaming around Takuma, being able to ''heal'' his vision for a short amount of time.
B. Episode 8, Which can be simply be explained as Hinata's/Otoha's spirit creating a custom made dream for Takuma before she can completely pass on to the afterlife in peace after seeing the story/prophecy her sister Hotaru
made became true.
C. How Hinata/Otoha was reincarnated as a daughter of one of the village's family.
* D. How Hinata/otoha bought Hayami back to life. ( I'll explain below how this didn't really happen.)

5. Takuma could see or couldn't?

-Yes, no and yes. Best way to explain this is that his eyesight illness is actually a mental one and nothing more. When he was little he was able to see, then he lost his mother which traumatized him. It seems he had relapses and in one of those he ''lost'' his eyesight. Notice how this repeats itself when he relapses again due to Hayami bringing up the topic to him. Then Otoha ''heals'' him for a period of time. It is shown to us that in reality he did never recover his eyesight. We have to keep in mind the anime wants to show us the point of view of the protagonist, but if we look at this story from an outside perspective, the anime is just showing us the train of thought of that mentally ill boy as HE sees/perceives the world around him. In other words what was shown to us from episode 2 to episode 11 is how he thought things happened, but in reality it wasn't exactly like that. This is proven in one of the last episodes when he has a moment of clarity and realizes that Hayami told him indirectly that she knew he couldn't have peeped her because of his lack of eyesight, and apologized afterwards. In his mental state, he believed, or imagined that he could see, that everyone simply accepted the fact that he regained his eyesight and interacted with him as such, but in reality, his friends had to help guide him, did bought up the topic when needed, helped him walk and such. The evidence is in his school notes and in the beach party picture in which its proven that he never really saw. How things really occurred from episode 2 to the first half of 11, is how episodes 1 to last part of 12 happened, with his difficulties to move around without sight. After accepting what has happened to him and overcoming his trauma completely he does really see again for the first time in a long time. The anime is showing us an illusion for the most part, and this is why people get confused and think there are plotholes.

NOW, about Hayami's ''death''.

Things to note:

-Hayami wouldn't just grab a child and kill herself with him.
-If you watch episode 12, it CLEARLY shows how she was standing in the farthest away railroad, and how the train passed by the closest railroad.

Being as Takuma basically fixed her life, she couldn't be more grateful, and as such she wanted to pay back the favor. When Hayami learned about Takuma's past and evident cause of his trauma she did whatever she could to help him, even if at that moment it was simply to support him and take care of him in his old house in Tokyo. Same as Takuma, which at some points in the anime did step by step help Hayami, then thought he couldn't do anything else and then was able to do something MORE to truly help. Hayami when she had the chance to do give that EXTRA mile to help Takuma heal, she took it. Was the perfect moment, scenario and time. At some point Takuma must have told her how her mother took her life (train). Notice how Hayami guided him near the railroad and suddenly bought up the topic about her real mother, stopped the role playing and tried to make him understand that his mother must have died saving him. In that exact moment, a boy happened to pass by playing with a ball. The boy wasn't necessarily in immediate danger, but she took the opportunity to re create the scene to make him realize, by simply rushing to the boy and holding him by standing in the farthest away track, as if to stop him from going back the the dangerous one which is the closest to Takuma one. As the train passed by she moved away with the boy and then decided it was best to disappear from his life for a while until he completely learns to accept both ''deaths'', his mother and her fake one. As time passed by and he completely healed, she determined it was time to go back into his life, both happy, both stronger and both without main traumatic issues. Basically he helped her, then she helped him.

Some final clear ups:

-There is a high chance that the uncle didn't say the truth about Takuma's mom death because it would have just made it worse for him by making him think he was the one that got her mother killed by playing with the ball by the train tracks. Wasn't the moment and time to straight out let him know of that. Or simply since he was a member of that village he was told the fake version blaming the Kohinata's. Pretty sure Takuma's father knew the truth tho.

-I can easily see Hayami being able to hide herself from everyone else, since she is too used to live alone in isolated places. After the train scene she simply went back to her old life style until it was time to go back to the village.

-Notice how she smiles when the train is about to pass by. It is because in that moment Takuma called her by her name ''Hayami-chan''. She realized that her plan worked and that he was heading in the right direction to completely heal. She was just happy for him.

-Reincarnated Hinata/Otoha's words about bringing her back to life could simply be that she didn't want him to know what Hayami really did what she did to cure his illness at that moment. She pretended to bring her back to life to have a way for him to believe what happened at that moment. Later on Hayami would explain it to him. It is shown how the H2O characters have a sort of spiritual connection to each other. I wouldn't ignore the idea that Hayami talked to his uncle first, and found out about named Otoha in the village, same as the spirit Takuma told her and Hotaru about, and that this girl(Otoha) and Hayami talked before presenting herself to him after so many years. Same as there's a link between the story Hotaru drew as a child and how it became reality, while Hinata/Otoha took part in it as a spirit.

*-If you notice, all of Otoha's supernatural actions didn't really occur. It is proven he never recovered his eyesight when Otoha said she did, episode 8 was a dream and she never bought anyone back to life. Again as I mentioned before, the anime shows us how the ill teenager Takuma perceived the things happened. In reality Otoha was just the spirit of dead Hinata giving him that spiritual and mental support he needed. It shows how she didn't really have to make supernatural things happen for him to improve and recover, it was all by himself and his will power, thanks to the cheering and support he had from this ''ghost'' and his friends. That's one of the main lessons from his anime to begin with so it fits perfectly.

I know this is just how I understood the anime but hope it helps some people understand some things, clear doubts and shed some light about the plot of the anime. After analyzing it and understanding what H2O really wanted to portray I gotta say I loved it.

KenshinXHimuraMar 31, 2018 12:05 AM

Dec 23, 2019 1:35 AM

#270

Syureria

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Feb 2018

27097

It is Hayami? She die or nah xD.

Jun 2, 2021 2:28 AM

#271

Radnitzky1890

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Oct 2013

426

I wanna beat the shit out of SCA-DI so bad

Feb 7, 2023 7:55 AM

#272

FarCritical

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Jul 2016

1428

I'm just really glad Hotaru finally stood up to that awful, awful grandpa and got him arrested.

Hayami suffered for like 90% of her screentime so it's bittersweet that she had to go as soon as she got a glimpse of happiness. Pretty sure Otoha's "deal from the fairy world" was just to let Hirose see her one last time. Or was it a full revival?

Mar 13, 2023 1:52 PM

#273

Rad_Scientist

Offline

May 2020

535

Random, confusing, but... it was ok.

The best things in this episode:

- Maki and Hamaji have a baby!!!
- cute little Otoha!

Sep 2, 2023 4:25 AM

#274

bezardo

Offline

Feb 2021

515

what ? just like that she comes back to life

Oct 19, 2023 6:04 PM

#275

Archean-Return

Online

Dec 2022

4068

So Hayami actually did move to the city. Unfortunately, she made the decision of taking Takuma with her, and died for the trouble. I have no idea why she still wants to be with him after being resurrected. Takuma and the village have done nothing for Hayami besides giving her continuous, unceasing, and undeserved grief since she moved there.

ｲ乇刀乇乃尺ﾑ乇

㊎

㊰

☽ Shaded Horizon ☾

Dec 14, 2023 12:52 PM

#276

AdityaRizkiS

Offline

Oct 2018

240

Uh, what? How did she come back to life and why there are chibi otoha? Isn't she dead? I'm confused about what score to give.

See All Discussions

Poll: » H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Phrosh - Jan 25, 2008	77	by AdityaRizkiS »» Dec 14, 2023 9:23 AM
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H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ Episode 12 Discussion

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