Yeah Kasuga’s love life is doomed.
So Nakamura dumps a bucket of water on his head in the middle of the touching scene. Brilliant. To me, this is a bit of a turning point in unveiling Nakamura’s character. Before this, she was more of a supernatural force of destruction than a person: her evil schemes were unstoppable, her desires were unspeakably evil, and there was no rhyme or reason to them.
But now she just runs out in the open and dumps a bucket of water on Kasuga, right in front of Saeki. Her armor has developed a chink. Now she just seems like a silly, jealous teenager.
Of course, our main male isn’t going to interpret it that way, because he’s also a silly teenager. The reason our main character is so susceptible to Nakamura’s abuse is because he actually cares what she thinks. If he just burned the stupid gym clothes no one would ever believe her, they all hate her guts.
If Nakamura said the above to me now, I’d just reply “Yeah? I thought I was too, until I met you. Fuck off.” If she said it to me in high school though, I’d have been horrified and tried to deny it like the main character does. One of the most valuable life lessons I’ve learned is that you don’t always have to give a crap.
This whole situation reminds me of the cruelest, most horrible thing anyone has ever said to me. It happened when I was fourth grade. I was kicking a ball back and forth with my friend at recess. I kicked it over his head and it landed in a circle of girls who were sitting and chatting about whatever fourth grade girls chat about. Afterwards one of them accused me of flirting with her, the most terrible crime an elementary student can ever commit. Actively seeking to become infected with cooties. I was horrified, and emotionally scarred for the rest of my life.
Further Thoughts
Really? I couldn’t tell. No, seriously, I couldn’t.
I’m sure this is obvious to everyone at this point but Saeki is also just a stupid teenager. God teenagers are stupid. Why didn’t I realize this ten years ago?
A lot of anime good and bad is much more explicable when you remember that the characters are stupid teenagers. It’s how I built up a certain level of tolerance/desensitization to the average plotting and character motivation levels in most shows.
This episode was highly amusing and I’m not sure that was intended by the creators.
Yep. It’s all much more believable when you remember that they’re stupid teenagers.
Personally I think the entertainment factor in this episode was intentional, but it’s hard to tell for sure.
You are scarred for the rest of your life because you are accused of flirting with a girl? That’s… an interesting life experience you shared here.
😀
Hey, the point is, when I was a stupid kid I thought it was a terrible thing to say. 🙂 I see this episode’s situation in kind of the same way.
hey draggle, always a delight to read your posts. And you help me decide which shows to watch. Our tastes don’t always match but they are pretty close!
If not for you, I wouldn’t have touched Aku no Hana but wow, now it’s like a train wreck you can’t tear your eyes away from! I guess the art isn’t for everyone but I love the direction and the pacing.
This is a little out of place but did you ever do a final review of Polar Bear Cafe? Would love to hear your analysis on that.
A train wreck you can’t tear your eyes from is a great way to describe it. Not because the show itself is bad (like how people used to describe Code Geass) but because that’s actually what the show is attempting to portray.
I haven’t done a final review of Polar Bear Cafe because I never finished it. I’m at episode 20 something… I still enjoy the show but can’t take more than one or two episodes at a time. Many of the episodes are hilarious, but some of them are just sitting around trading bad Japanese puns which I don’t understand. We’ll see if I end up finishing it.
haha, I’m also finding that I can’t sit through too much Polar Bear Cafe at a stretch. Not in a bad way though. It’s like candy. Too much and it gets cloyingly sweet.
Sometimes I wonder why I’m watching a “childish” show but I keep coming back. And I love how the animals are drawn more realistically (relatively, in terms of proportions, features, etc.) rather than employ simple caricatures.
Oh, and I like their OPs and EDs.
Exactly. It’s great but only in moderation.
I don’t see it as childish at all. I doubt that children would appreciate Polar Bear Cafe at all.
The OPs and EDs are great.
It’s that type of show that, love it or hate it, the show will always call you a “shit eater”. No saving grace nor little moments of relief, it’ll just insult the hell out of you and it wants you to love it because it’s being so edgy and so unique.
In fact, the show is pretty much Nakamura: The Anime. XD