Estuans interius
Ira vehementi
Estuans interius
Ira vehementi

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With the Wakatsuki twins gone, school mornings have been mundane for the remaining three best friends. Sana is riddled with frustration and is still reeling over the fact Shuu never told him anything.

And then out of the blue, Sana receives a package from Shuu, which turns out to be fishing equipment. Unfortunately the package did not come with a return address, leaving the former in dismay. Sana then later heads over to the convenient mart to get dinner only to meet Yuzuki-sensei in the park. She laments about not being able to help the twins, but at the same time realizes there might nothing that she could have done anyway.

The following day, Sana invites Aoi and Nanaka to the riverside where the gang usually hangs out, hoping it would cheer the girls up. However, Aoi fakes a cold at the last minute to give Sana and Nanaka some alone time. Surprised by her kind gesture, Aoi’s mom gives her daughter a fondling and praise at the same time.

The outing turns out pretty well, although this time around, Sana fails to catch anything. Fortunately, Aoi predicted this and told Nanaka to prepare food for two in advance, denting Sana’s pride. Despite it being an odd combination of Japanese egg omelet and cookies, Sana polishes it up and commends Nanaka, sending her blushing.

After food, Sana decides to take Nanaka to a secluded location in the mountains for some tender loving. It turns out to be a secret spot inside a cave both he and Shuu found in their past. Just as the pair are gazing in awe at the sparkling minerals on the cave ceiling, Sana’s flashlight batteries run out. Since it was still raining, both Sana and Nanaka decide to take shelter here for the time being. It is at this point when Nanaka asks Sana about the wristwatch, wondering if it was a present from some girl. He denies it, but is unwilling the reveal the truth as well. Sana then in turn queries Nanaka on why she did not personally send the letters to him, if she had really needed his help. Nanaka explains that the fire incident left her mentally scarred which lead to a personality change. Afraid Sana would have changed during their time apart, Nanaka decides instead to mail the letters to the “old” Sana by putting them in the secret mailbox. Of course, after meeting up once again, she realizes that the Sana she had always knew and loved remained the same. Awww.

Nanaka who awakens after having taken a short nap finds herself alone with Sana nowhere in sight. She heads to the entrance and is sent into a trance-like state after being momentarily blinded by the sunset. This triggers something within her and through a series of head-splitting flashbacks, she finally regains her memories during the fire. She breaks down and screams in agony from the sudden trauma as she recalls the events leading to the tragedy, as Sana embraces her.

A pretty straightforward episode leading to the finale. Not sure how they are going to manage to resolve everything within an episode, since they still have Sana’s past to explain, and how Nanaka is going to come to terms with her traumatic experience and the how the tragedy came to be. Should they somehow manage to accomplish this, the likelihood of seeing the twins return seem pretty slim now, and I guess that concert event we see in the OP sequence isn’t going to materialize Shin out.

It’s been a while since I last posted on Myself; Yourself, as I felt there wasn’t much worth mentioning, with the exception of last week’s eventful episode. This time however, the brick shittin’ , tear sheddin’ moments for this episode reminds me of why I love this show so much. Everything past this point is going to contain major plot spoilers, so be warned.

Previously on Myself; Yourself, the senile old lady finally snapped and tried to mutilate Syuri, only to have Asami intervene and receive the stabbing instead, which lands her in the hospital. Sana visits her the following day, bringing gifts. Asami then comments on the irony of having to visit someone hospital and actually ending up being admitted there. Perhaps, she says, it was a punishment from the gods. The puzzled Sana is then thrown into further bewilderment when Asami reveals to him that the anonymous letter was her doing. When questioned as to why she did it, she drops the bomb on him(and me) by saying that it all it began after she confessed to Syuri(OMG YURI) a year ago but was then rejected outright. Expecting the latter to ignore her after that, the ever kind Syuri acts as though nothing has happened and continues being good friends with her, and although Asami still bore some resentment, she caved in and decided to play the role of a good friend as well.

Everything went awry after the Asami saw Syuri crying at the amusement park, an expression that Shuu only gets to see. This triggered the jealous Asami’s vindictive nature and so she decided to make the pair suffer by sending the letter as well as scribbling the love umbrella on the chalkboard. Despite all the spite, she wonders why she took the blow meant for Syuri when the old lady when berserk. Sana then tells her that this was her true self and Asami, feeling a tinge of regret after that, cries.

The twins make their timely visit, to which Asami takes a moment to reveal everything to Syuri in private. The guys on the other hand spent that time at the courtyard talking, when Shuu brings Nanaka up, saying that she seems to have warmed up. Sana then tells him about the promise he made to her about being with her forever. Although it was conceited, Shuu comments, it was actually great of him. Syuri then runs out crying, embracing Shuu, as Sana just looks on, knowing very well what just took place.

The next day at school, the twins informs their friends that Syuri will be leaving for London soon. Aoi mentions that it was still okay, since it wasn’t eternal farewell. Later in class, Sana finds the twins missing and it suddenly hits him that, the pair has decided to elope run away, taking into consideration what Shuu said to him the previous day and his facial expression earlier at lunch.

We find the twins about to board the train, when Sana suddenly shows up in front of them, but it was too late. Just as he was about to leave the station, Sana bumps into Aoi’s mother and borrows his bike. [Dramatic Moment] Sana then cycles with all his might to the same railway bridge where Shuu first said his farewells many years ago, and utters the same line back[/Dramatic Moment]

Wow, what a great episode. Certainly didn’t expect that bit with Asami, as I merely expected her to play the supportive role of just making Nanaka green with envy, but she turns out to be more than that, and an antagonist at that. It was sad to see the Wakatsuki twins leave like that, and the way writers did the farewell was commendable. Judging from the preview, we’ll be heading back to Nanaka’s route, which leaves Aoi without one, who incidentally is the only one without any issues whatsoever. Is it safe to say that Aoi is nothing more than a fanservice character? Who knows. Shin out.

If there’s one reason I dislike this week’s episode, it’s because Nanaka barely showed up and didn’t even utter a single line of dialogue. Then again, this episode is all about the new loli and Shuusuke. On the way home from kendo practice, Shuusuke stumbles upon some boys bullying a girl. Being the gentleman, he intervenes, and immediately has her swooning all over him. While lending a hand, he accidentally drops his student handbook, to which the girl picks up with intention of returning it to him. In the afternoon next day, she approaches Shuu who is going home with the rest of the gang and gives his handbook back. She introduces herself as Mochida Hinako, and from that point onwards, promises to show up every afternoon.

In one of the nights after that, Sana forgets to put the rice to boil and decides to eat out instead. Sana then runs into Hinako at a family food joint. Questioning her, he finds out that she comes out to eat alone whenever her mom is busy with work. She follows up by telling him that since she is 10 years old already, she’s no longer a child(whut) Right after that statement, the waitress brings her the child’s meal that she ordered which had Sana in stitches. Explaining herself, she tells him that she merely ordered the set meal for the purpose of collecting the Yeti-kun toy that comes with it.

The next day after school, Hinako approaches Sana who is with Aoi, for advice and they return to his apartment. There, he begins taking off his shirt, which had Hinako making a big fuss over. He stops to listen to what Hinako had to say and it turns out she wanted to talk about her feelings towards Shuusuke, to which he responds with a laughter. Hinako gets upset about it and decides to leave. Attempting to apologize to her, Sana trips on the table and falls on top of Hinako, and at this exact moment, Aoi shows up at his door with some cake. Oh boy. After clearing things up, Sana tells Aoi about Hinako’s crush for Shuu. Aoi then tells Hinako that the first thing that needs to be done is to find out what type of girl the target likes. Like your average guy, Shuu tells Sana who approached the latter about it, that he likes girls with with huge breasts. This prompts Hinako to seek advice from Aoi about her secrets for having such ample bossoms. In a bind, they both go to Aoi’s mom instead and asks her about it. Aoi’s mom then suggests to Hinako that she eats well, sleeps well and play a lot, and concluding it by telling her that a woman’s breasts has a lot of dreams. Aoi must dream very often then, hehe.

Since it didn’t go as planned, Sana approaches Shuu again to ask him about features he wants in a girl apart from being well stacked. Shuu thinks about it for a moment and after looking at his sister across the classroom, he tells Sana that he wants girls that can cook. Again, Aoi offers to help Hinako learn how to cook, with disastrous results. As a final measure after the fact Shuu still treats Hinako like a kid, Aoi tells her that she should confess to Shuu directly. The plan was for Sana to take Shuu to the aquarium and “bump” into Hinako. Things proceed smoothly and Sana lets the two be, while he wanders elsewhere but is soon found out. Seeing the expression on Hinako’s face, Sana figures out the outcome of the confession and suggests to go home. Alone with Sana, Hinako admits that she got rejected flat out by Shuu, but tells him not to sympathize with her and is not sad, since she was treated like an adult this time around. Just as Hinako was about to cry, Sana embraces and comforts Hinako, telling her that even adult weep from a broken heart.

Despite the lack of Nanaka, this turned out to be a decent character introduction episode, and we get to to find out Shuu’s preference in women, which taking his two perquisites into mind, describes Aoi perfectly. So does this mean that he actually likes her? Well, maybe not, since he is telling Sana those things as they are also precisely his sister’s shortcomings, so I guess he wants someone completely different from her. Also, the part where Shuuri narrates the preview for the next episode put a smile on my face, as it was a nod to Rika from Higurashi, as she does it in a similar fashion. Sana confirms this when he asks if Shuuri might have gotten the wrong show. Speaking of next episode, it looks like it’s going to be fully dedicated to Nanaka and Sana, so perhaps we’ll see some progress between them as well some new revelations. Shin out.

In hopes of patching things up between Sana and Nanaka, twins Syuusuke and Syuuri plan out a weekend fishing trip which will be followed by a spa visit and promptly invites Sana and Aoi, to which they immediately agree to. Just as they head off to class, Nanaka drops her compact near the entrance, and Sana accidentally steps on it. D’oh. Sana apologizes and promises to compensate for it, but the ever tsun-tsun Nanaka declines.

Later in the day on the way home, Nanaka spots both Sana and Hoshino in a gift shop together, raising her tsun-tsun counter even higher than it was earlier in the day. It’s only the following day when she was given a new compact that she realized what happened, and good timing too, as she would have probably declined the trip if Sana had not done so, and so in the moment of dere-dereness, she complies. Admiring her gift in the utmost dere-dere fashion, she recalls about how she used to make cookies for the gang and decides to do so again for the trip.

It’s the weekend and the gang gathers at the bus stop and destroying all love points he gained with Nanaka the other day, Sana informs the rest that he had invited Hoshino as well. YOU IDORT! As though that wasn’t enough, Nanaka finds out that Sana had also bought the very same compact for Hoshino on the bus. D’oh.

At the campsite after having caught a fish for their meal and a cute and funny moment involving Aoi and fishing lures, the gang start preparing the food. It is here we stumble on a disturbing revelation where we see Sana grimacing nauseatingly at the sight of blood, as Hoshino guts the fish he caught. Hmm…. As they all finish their meal and just when Nanaka is about to give everyone a taste of her cookies, Hoshino steps up and offers everyone a cake she had baked as thanks for being invited for the trip. Due to the bad timing of it all, Nanaka decides not to bring it out after all. Sigh.

Later that day, the gang heads to the spa as planned, and my favorite part of the episode, as the girls show off their respective swim suits. With her figure, Aoi easily impresses the two males in the group. The two healthy males turn their attention to Hoshino, who looks pretty hot in hers as well. Unfortunately, Syuuri is overshadowed by the previous two entrants, due to her less than impressive figure and flat chest. Hehe. Having said that, the girls have nothing on Nanaka, who shows up in her school swimsuit, to which I responded with SO MOE I’M GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, Sana and Shuu responded with a =.=; expression, which shows they aren’t into these kind of fetishes. =P

After having fun playing, the group gathers to talk, and Shuu comments on the wristwatch Sana is wearing and asks to see it. As Sana refuses and seems overprotective of it, Shuu suggests that it might have been a present from a female, prompting Nanaka feel bad again. Nice move, you dope.

At the end of the day as everyone part ways, Aoi brings up on the cookies they all used to have as kids. Nanaka then mentions that she had actually made them, to Sana and Aoi’s surprise. The three head over to Aoi’s place for supper, to which Sana redeems his earlier stupidity, as I’d to call it, by giving Nanaka a pink stone he found by the riverside at the camp site. Nanaka graciously accepts and goes into dere-dere mode for the rest of the night, admiring the stone, saying how it was Sana’s gift to her, and her alone. Kawaii!

Hmm, a good episode where we get to see Nanaka swing between her tsun-tsun and dere-dere modes. However, her reaction at the end had me worrying a little, as it could mean she is a somewhat possessive person. While it may not be too big a deal, after the recent Nice Boat anime, such behavioral patterns have me on edge. Hopefully, it’s just me thinking too much. The biggest concern right now would be regarding Sana’s fear of blood and his reluctance in parting with his wristwatch. My guess? He slit his wrists. Lulz. Well, let’s hope these things involving blood and knives will not make this show into that other one involving nice boats. Either way, we won’t be finding out so soon, as next episode, we are introduced to a the obligatory loli character, who seems to have the hots for Shuu. Well I guess even the side male character needs some loving too, no matter how obnoxious he may be. Lawl. Shin out.

Even though it’s still too early to tell, I can’t help liking this show already. Granted the fact it has bishoujos, there’s something more to Myself; Yourself than just that reason alone, which explains why something like Kimikiss, which has a better looking lineup didn’t leave that much of an impression on me.

The episode kicks off with Sana bumping into the ever cheerful(and moe) Aoi-chan, or should I say Aoi-san, since she is actually a year older than him which puts our hero at a loss on what to address her. Can’t blame him though, since her loli-like appearance does not reflect her true age.

Anyway, in school, Sana is elected class representative along with the ever tsun-tsun Nanaka, an impromptu plan hatched by Syuuri to bring them closer together and as an excuse by Shuu to avoid the burden of being one, according to her. Their plan bore no fruition, as Nanaka still acts apathetically towards Sana, who is ignored by the former when he asked for directions to the place they are supposed to have the committee meeting. The pair end up at the library, as Nanaka wanted to kill some time before the meeting, something which librarian Aoi-chan mentions to him. Time passes and Sana realized he was left behind by Nanaka who had already went for the meeting.

Enter Hoshino Asami, who now officially doubles as a potential love interest for Sana and rival to Nanaka. She introduces herself and brings him to the audio visual room soon after. There, Sana sounds off at Nanaka, who calmly replies that she never promised him to bring him to the meeting point. Ouch.

The next day during break, Aoi-chan meets up with Sana, who is together with the twins and offers him a homemade bento and promises to make him lunch every day. Lucky bastard. They all have food together, and like a scene from a visual novel where the protagonist gains love points with a heroine, an awkward moment happens between Aoi-chan and Sana leaving the former blushing. +5 love points to Aoi-chan counter. Damn you, Sana.

Later in the afternoon, the Nanaka meets with Asami, who asks her to pass a book of some sort to Sana. Just as she leaves, Sana enters the classroom and has a brief chat with Asami, to the bemusement of Nanaka. Expecting to be bitched at(hehe), Sana explains to Nanaka on why they both seem so close, to which she says it does not concern her. Yeah, right.

At the end of the day, and the most significant part of the episode(we call this triggering a flag in visual novels), Sana heads off to the music room to recover his pencil case. Coincidentally, Nanaka is there as well, as she was asked by the music teacher to get some handouts. He sees a piano there and instinctively sits down and plays a very familiar tune, which is none other than the very same tune Nanaka played for him during the farewell party. Watching him from the next room, Nanaka is surprised by it, and just as he finishes playing, Asami shows up and claps, complementing him. Sana then explains to her on the significance of that tune and how it is so special to him, as even though he’s not played the piano in a long time and has forgotten to play anything else, he still remembers it. +10 to Nanaka love point counter. The scene that follows up also has lead me to suspect that he has also gained at least +5 love points with Asami, as just as he presses a key on the piano, the wind blows and sakura petals enter the music room through the window. Oh, so dramatic. Below is a graphical representation by yours truly of what it would have looked like if we were playing the visual novel and had to decide on our next move.

The next morning, Sana heads off to school with Aoi-chan as usual, and is greeted by the twins the same way before, which is getting slapped in the back. This time however, Nanaka also wishes him good morning, much to his surprise.

Yup, looking great so far. We’ve already got the rival character, which leaves us with that twin tail loli in the OP left. Nice to see Nanaka showing a little of her dere-dere side at the end, although things will start getting real interesting in the next episode, where everyone goes for a field trip. You can bet there’s bound to be some tension between Nanaka and Asami as they begin competing for Sana’s affection. Also, swimsuit episode! I cream my pants in anticipation of Aoi-chan wearing one. Shin out.

Based on a visual novel(aren’t they always?) of the same title and featuring character designs from the person who brought us Futakoi and Happy Lesson, Myself; Yourself is a story that revolves around Sana Hidaka, who after leaving his hometown of Sakuranomori for 5 years, returns only to find out that while it has stayed the same over that time period, certain things, such as the people he knows, has changed. So far so generic.

Well, based on the first episode alone, it does look like it’s going to be another one of those harem animes, but if School Days had taught us anything, it’s best to sit through at least a couple of episodes before coming to such a conclusion.

As for the story, after coming home, Sana heads off looking for a place to rent, only to bump into one of his childhood friends, the clumsy yet adorable bespectacled Aoi. After catching up on old times, Sana heads to school the next day where he is put in the same class as his other close friends, twins Syuuri and Syuusuke. During break, the three are approached by another person, whom Sana remembers as the shrine maiden from the day before and greets her as though she was some stranger, incurring her wrath. An unexpected slap to the face follows up, to which Sana finds out that she is none other than Nanaka, his childhood crush(?)

Hmm, not bad. Being the shallow minded person that I am, I guess I’ll be following the show after all, if just for the pretty girls. Lulz. A quick rundown on the heroines:

Aoi - Holy shit, a loli-faced kyonyuu megane dojikko all rolled into one. This bookworm is a walking pillar of turn-ons that will easily be a (male)fan favorite, if you take into account her voice and housewife characteristics as well. 10/10 on the moe scale.

Syuuri - Can’t really tell what archetype she is supposed to represent, but if this twin is anything like her younger brother, I’m guessing she’s the spunky tomboy sort, with a slight tsun-tsun side. 7/10 on the moe scale, since I don’t really dig this archetype, although given the fact she’s voiced by Yukari Tamura makes me happy fanboy. Hehe.

Nanaka - It’s evident from the flashback Sana had that she is the central female heroine, being his crush and all. It’s worth noting that despite being tsundere, the Nanaka of yesteryear was someone who is shy. Perhaps something happened along the way that caused a change in personality. 9/10 on the moe scale, given the fact she’s also a miko. Will probably score higher once she shows her dere-dere side.

Judging from the intro, there will be more girls later in the story, although I really hope this won’t turn into a crappy harem anime that’s purely relying on fanservice to cater to the audience. With a high profile staff involved, this could very well be this season’s sola. Shin out.