Every so often an anime makes an unintendedly brilliant scene. It is one so perfectly drawn and executed that it could only be explained as a sheer accident. H2O’s appeared in episode 11.

We were not sure what was going on. It was slowly being revealed that the past may not have been what we thought. Takuma was as confused as we were, but he was quickly coming to the conclusions that we had already drawn within the preceding minutes.

Here, at this very moment, is when Takuma officially “snaps.” Notice, one need not actually be 100% crazy to be technically crazy.

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Yeah, I’m trying out this writing on screen caps thing to see how it goes. meh.

Once again, this show keeps pushing Noe to the side in favor of Hiromi. I truly cannot see this show any other way than through Noe’s character. Considering that she is the only character for which time was devoted explaining her background story it is understandable to an extent. That coupled with the fact that it is her story that the title of the show alludes.

Previously it is made certain that Noe had realized the extent of Shinichiro’s feelings for Hiromi. Shinichiro, for his part, has played the role of ambivalent love interest. I suppose we will see some major story progression now that we have moved into the part of the story where literally all of the main female characters not only are in love with the male lead openly but also are free of prior constrains limiting their affections.

I’ve stated in the past that one of the best ways to develop a character, in my eyes, is to put them through hardships. To witness a character’s progression as they endure emotional suffering is an effective way to convey their experience. How many of us can identify with a heart broken Japanese school girl as much as we can simply identify with being heart broken?

Noe’s tears:

Noe contemplates loss.

Noe sees your soul.

Noe left behind.

We see through you, Noe.

Noe caught you…

Noe is angry…

Noe is direct and to-the-point…she also seems to think you’re hungry.

Epic battle!

Noe is confused and frustrated. Your indecisiveness confuses Noe.

The majority of the show is dedicated to the developing relationship between Noe and Shinichiro. We get a lot of plot movement and character development throughout the cast, which was a nice bonus. That’s not to say that the previous episodes didn’t move the story along.

I think I was waiting for Shinichiro to discover Noe. I was surprised it took so long. Seriously, that girl gave him chicken feed. Girls don’t go around giving chicken feed to just any random guy, ‘ya know.

One of the prevailing elements of the Fuko arc was the thought of being forgotten. The simple thought of other’s memories of one’s self being left behind in the flow of time and events is an issue that everyone deals with. Some people simply do not care of their legacy while others devote their entire lives to its pursuit. I don’t believe that the “message” of the first nine episodes of Clannad were about being forgotten, but I do think it was a major factor in the overall conveyance.

Many recognized the undertones of friendship and family in the story. In particular, the differences between Tomoya and Nagisa’s home lives. The difference was that of a dysfunctional incomplete family versus a complete and happy one. The disconnect between the two polar opposites was not played upon in the story because the story wasn’t about family alone. Obviously, these elements have future roles to play. I point these out here because family and friends are, most often, the only people who care to carry our memories.

Naturally, this being the Fuko arc means we spent most of the time with the opportunity to examine Fuko herself. Going back to my original comment about one’s legacy, we see what Fuko was doing was totally altruistic. She has no idea when or if she will ever awaken; yet, she devotes her time to her sister’s happiness. One could go over the reasoning or her motivation without much enlightenment. The simply fact is that her goal was singularly focused on the wedding and nothing more.

Fuko didn’t seem to care about much else other than the wedding (…and cute things). Although, the final episode of her arc did show that she cared about the futures of the friends she had made. The fact that memories of her existed after she had gone was the key point for me.

I don’t care if I ever appear in a history book. It doesn’t matter to me much if I have a footnote in a paper somewhere or if I get a section in an encyclopedia. What does it matter? One can make a strong argument that we are the summation of our memories. More than that, our existence is only realized when we are the memories of others, living within others.

My name in a book, written as a story, read by no one, doesn’t matter. Whether we are famous or infamous our existence is bound to be forgotten. Forgotten by the masses of people on this world who never knew us or wanted to know us, save for a few people who were put upon this earth with you. Save for that small group who actually knew you because they had to know you. If life’s one saving grace was that at least someone remembered us for a little while, I don’t think that would be so bad.

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I can think of 37.5 naughty things I would do if I were an astral projection. The plot would follow an exponential curve getting progressively naughtier from 1 to 37. The last 0.5 is pretty much an asymptotic naughtiness bound by infinity.

“…crying school girls…” – check!

It’s rather embarrassing that I would do a mid-season review of some of the shows I’m watching and coincidentally not watch episode eight of Myself; Yourself. This episode turned out to not only be a very good episode but also a turning point in the story.

Many of the other bloggers who did Fall ’07 reviews mentioned the necessity to not rush one’s judgment based on superficial content. Something I don’t recall being mentioned was the intentional way a story is structured to put all of the really good stuff at the end, near the climax. It seems evident that Myself; Yourself will not have multiple story arcs (or subplots apparently). Those facts initially lead me to expect something “big” towards the end of the series. This is fairly standard stuff. For the most part I still expect a quick climax and conclusion.

I think the key point here is Nanaka. Naturally, with all the buildup around her character, I’m enticed to discover what it is that caused her so much pain. Nanaka’s emotional outburst added the emotional charge that this show needed. It was all about our expectations. We knew that she was suppressing her feeling, and we could tell that those emotions would burst forth eventually.

Watching it finally happen is a release for the audience as much as it is for her character. It should have happened earlier. Although, then we wouldn’t have been treated to a moody evasive Nanaka. Honestly, do we not all like moody evasive Nanaka.

I was expecting a gradual escalation of the story line and was totally unprepared for a transient point in the series where the story would get even “better.” Silly me, it looks like that’s exactly what happened.

On another note, Aoi’s tendency to jump to conclusions makes me think she has a dirty mind.