Whisper Me a Love Song – 06 – Finding Her Love

When Yori and Himari go shopping for clothes for the concert, it counts as their first official date, and they treat it as such. Himari’s outfit is adorable as expected, while Yori is as effortlessly cool-looking as ever. Himari has Yori try on a more girly dress, and is then scandalized by her bare, miles-long legs. Yori gets to pick the outfit Himari will wear to the concert, but it’s a tough choice as to her she looks good in anything.

While having ice cream, Yori tells Himari that she’s the reason she’s playing in a band, as having fun with her and wanting to be by her side gave her the push to take it seriously. Himari admits to having never gotten too absorbed in anything until Yori came around, and that being with her makes her so happy she’s able to lose herself. After walking Himari home, Yori can’t resist kissing her on the cheek.

Yori promised she’d win Himari’s heart at the concert, and armed with the confidence-bolstering earrings Himari bought for her, Yori proceeds to do exactly that. The SSGirls are finally animated as they play, well, not a whole song, but good parts of two songs, including “Sunny Spot”, written specially for Himari. As she listens, Himari finally finds “it”—that is, what kind of love she has.

After the last song, Himari is compelled to run to the stage, and she and Yori go outside to talk. Yori tells Himari that she wants nothing more than to keep being with her, listening to her beautiful songs and learning more about her. She believes this is what it means for her to be in love, so she confesses to Yori and asks her out. Naturally, Yori accepts, and as they embrace, her tears lead to Himari tearing up as well.

It’s a damn fine and cathartic confession scene, gorgeously performed and animated. Kudos also to the layered performance of Aki, who obviously harbors bittersweet feelings. Bitter because she lost Yori to Himari, but sweet because Yori is happy, and still considers Aki to be her very best friend.

And so, just like that, Yori and Himari are an official couple. But Yori is concerned that they way they’re hanging out as girlfriends is pretty much exactly like they hung out before. But when she voices her worries about wasting their precious time together, Himari asks why anything has to change.

Himari is perfectly happy with things the way they are. That said, she returns Yori’s earlier kiss with one of her own, and Yori is so flustered she sees the benefits of things remaining “normal.” Anything more might be more than her tender heart can take!

With the will-they-won’t-they dynamic of HimaYori decisively resolved, we move on to the next conflict: the SSGirls all agree to play in the cultural festival, but they learn they’ll have to audition to secure a slot. The former vocalist of SSGirls, Izumi Shiho, who seems like a real haughty bitch, watched Yori perform and didn’t think much of it.

She believes the band to be a bunch of amateurs, and with her new three-piece band she intends to claim the top spot at the festival. The battle to win Himari’s heart has been won. Now the battle of the bands begins.

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 31 – The Ruka Line

It’s August 26th, Ruka’s birthday. And for her birthday she wants to go on a date with Kazuya, so on a date they go. Her goal is to make her heart race as well as his, so she has Kazuya take her to the pool, she dons her first bikini, and she asks Kazuya to apply sunblock to her back and legs. It turns out to be an overload of stimulation for the both of them.

After the pool, ice cream, and a sumptuous hotel buffet feast, Kazuya and Ruka head to the beach, which both note is a place where several other couples are getting frisky. Kazuya feels guilty for continuing to lead Ruka on as her “trial” boyfriend, and tries to lay the groundwork for gently extricating himself from the relationship.

Naturally, he tries to make it about him not deserving a girlfriend as angelic as Ruka, and apologizes to her for making her go out of her way for his sake. The tack doesn’t work. She slaps his shoulder and tells him he’s not doing this for her sake, or to get one up on Chizuru. She simply had a dream of going on a fun date with her boyfriend on her birthday…that’s it!

Kazuya really is a cad for not so much as bringing a physical birthday gift, but Ruka forgives him even for this, because she wants a gift he can give her right there and then. She wants to drop the honorific and call him simply “Kazuya”, he agrees, and makes her happy beyond belief.

We’re now past the halfway point of this third season, so it made sense to re-introduce Ruka as a legitimate threat to Kazuya and Chizuru getting together, and they don’t encounter one another in the whole episode. Instead, Sumi comes with flowers for her gran, along with some much-needed words from a third party.

Sumi tells Chizuru that Kazuya worked so hard, and how many times he almost gave up, only to get back on his feet each time, all for Chizuru. She says Chizuru’s desire combined with Kazuya’s support to make something amazing together. The sentiments bring tears to Sumi, and Chizuru’s genuine smile shows that she appreciates them.

After Sumi departs after shyly saying hello, Granny Sayuri notes how Chizuru seems to have made more friends since meeting Kazuya. Unbidden, Chizuru starts talking about Kazuya, initially with irritation with how little he knew about filmmaking at first and eventually with admiration and fondness, her whole face lighting up as she remembers him falling in the drink and having to cross dress.

Watching Chizuru go on like this about someone brings a smile to Sayuri’s face, and she tells Chizuru that true love begins when you’re having the time of your life talking about them. Chizuru insists it’s not like that, as is her wont, but her blushing face suggests otherwise.

Horimiya – 13 (Fin) – Gifting the Sky

Like Yuru Camp, Horimiya ends with an ending, namely high school graduation, and all the bitter-sweetness that comes with such an event. Kyouko and Shuu had been gradually emptying out their lockers day by day, but no one else thought to do so, which means they’re forced by default to help Yuki, Izumi, and Tooru with her much larger loads.

While cleaning up the StuCo office, Remi, Kakeru, Sakura, and Akane all agree to go on a post-graduation trip once one of them gets a driver’s license. Remi momentarily feels a bit lonely about the prospect of her boyfriend being able to drive far away from her, but…he’d never actually do that!

Speaking of hypotheticals, while Kyouko is napping in Izumi’s lap (a cute quiet couple moment I wish there’d been more of), he ponders what might have been were it not for all of the little coincidences—like saving Souta—that led to him not only befriending and falling for Kyouko, but everyone else in their circle of friends.

He imagines an alternate reality in which no one ever approached him or interacted with him, but things simply happened around him. Remi has shorter hair for some reason, Sakura doesn’t know Tooru, while Kyouko and an unnamed friend ogle Akane.

Kyouko wakes up, snaps him out of his daydream, sits in his lap, and says it must be fate that brought them together. But even if fate didn’t exist, Izumi likes to think the world would gradually move in the direction he wanted.

Graduation Day arrives, and as StuCo president and class rep, Kakeru is ready to give his big speech, only for Izumi to sneeze loudly before he can get a full word out, causing the entire class to start snickering. After the speech, Kakeru chases a contrite Izumi, who hides up on the roof.

There, he encounters his old, lonely self, tells him how well things have gone and how happy he is, and then looks at his old self for the first time, promising he won’t look away again. The old Izumi, in turn, decides he’ll “disappear” for him, no longer needed.

A parade of farewells and see-you-laters ensue. Tooru stumbles over a goodbye with Sakura before she holds her hand out for him to shake, and tells him she genuinely had the most fun ever this year, and he was a part of that. Awww. Similarly, Akane tells Yuki how he wants to join everyone on a post-graduation trip, and Yuki preemptively thanks him for doing the driving.

Kyousuke arrives after school to see Izumi, much to Hori’s chagrin, and is momentarily mistaken for Izumi’s dad (as opposed to future dad-in-law). Finally, Motoko gets a taste of Iura’s loud, peppy high school persona, and it’s a shock to say the least, though no doubt she’s happy to see that side of her brother.

Finally, our cozy lovey-dovey titular couple walk together to get some sushi with Kyouko’s fam, hand-in-hand. Izumi remarks how he once feared all the boundaries between him and Kyouko, but no longer. The two are so close, they might as well share the name Horimiya…and that’s fine with him, because wherever she goes, sunny days follow.

The spring sky looks bluer and more beautiful than he’s ever seen—so much so that he wishes he could repay Kyouko for shattering his old reality and wanting a future with him…by gifting her that sky. The vivid colors, soft focus, and dancing sakura petals add to the sense that Kyouko and Izumi are on cloud nine. If this ends up being the last we see them in anime form, I couldn’t ask for a lovelier parting shot!

Horimiya was by no means perfect. I didn’t always agree with some of the narrative choices made after the couple slept together, and there were ultimately a few too many characters to juggle (with Shuu, Akane, and Sawada getting particularly short shrift) but at its best the central romance was as fun and electric as anything I’ve seen in the genre. It certainly won’t be a series I’ll be forgetting anytime soon.

Omedeto, Nadeshiko!

Hearty congratulations are in order this morning, as the Japan women’s national football team (Nadeshiko) won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, becoming the first Asian team to do so. If it wasn’t in the cards for the U.S.A. to win this year, I’m glad it was Japan who beat us. The ladies deserved it. The nation needed it. The men’s team will have their chance in Brazil in 2014 (a USA-Japan final is unlikely, but not impossible!), but for now, savor the victory, Japan!