This episode is the final episode of this anime series. The ending is a happy ending nevetheless. Best of all, no one was left out. At first, I didn't mind how the story would end, but now, it seems that the story near the end happened to be... a little too simple. I was expecting more. Plus in the end, they never revealed Karada's real parents. =/No, she isn't short; she is normal. You are the one who is tall, Crispy-Amino. XDEveryone knows about it already, you old geezer. -_-"You better come back home with me, Iokawa!" So you finally recognize her, eh Crispy Amino? What took you so long?Reminds me of one of Fish Leong's song, "小手拉大手" (Small Hand Holds Big Hand).ZOMG Shouko x Tetsu OTP!!one11!11!!!1one!1Shouko x Kotomi OTP!!1one1!11!!!oneAnother Shouko x Kotomi OTP scene, lol. Look at how nice they look together! :DThe green little stone: the wishing stonePlotHiro and little Shouko are now in a train heading towards the beach they had been to fetch Karada back home to Kanouchou. Shouko was talking about Karada, and that she had fallen in love. Without a doubt, Hiro guessed it was Tetsu and Shouko nodded her head. The two chatted as they realise that they owe Karada an apology. Hiro told himself that he didn’t want to lose Karada anymore once he found her.Back at the Pension Isogai, Tetsu went off in a bicycle, ignoring Karada who was sweeping the floor, as if she were invisible. Tetsu rode his bicycle as fast as he could, only to see Hiro and little Shouko walking by the roadside. After being demanded to stop, Tetsu was shot questions by Hiro. Tetsu said, “If you’re looking for Karada, then I’m looking for her right now. If you’re looking for Satou-san, she’s in the pension right behind of me.” Saying that, he sped off. Hiro, noticing that that the Satou-san Tetsu was talking about might be his little sister, wanted to go to the pension, but he was stopped by Shouko. Hiro then went off looking for Tetsu. He then saw him beside a middle-aged man with a fishing rod. They went to the old fishing spot as Hiro tailed them. Reaching the spot, Isogai-sensei started to tell the story about ‘Shiranui’. Getting fed up with the story, Tetsu wanted to leave him but he was nevertheless stopped. He continued on his lecture and finally when he had finish, he stood up and started to leave Tetsu behind. To serve as an anticlimax, his final message was, “Please don’t tell them that I have bought the fish from the fish store.” Tetsu reflected on himself as Hiro approached him. Finally, Tetsu stood up and said, “Let’s go.”At the pension, Kotomi and little Shouko were surprised to see each other. As Shouko told her that she’s here to fetch her friend, Kotomi brought her to the viewing platform by the ocean. As they walk to the platform, Kotomi started to talk about what Karada told her, that she had grown up while someone else shrunk. With the ‘please believe me’ looks from her eyes, Shouko told Kotomi that it was the truth. Reaching the entrance to the viewing platform, Kotomi decided not to interfere and let Shouko approach Karada alone. Holding a wishing stone, she waved it high above her head. Karada was looking towards the ocean quietly when Shouko called out Karada’s name. She didn’t expect to see Shouko at all and was surprised. Shouko then said that Karada, she herself had told her where she was when she talked about playing volleyball and using the tube in the phone a day before. “You have been keeping this lovely sceney all to yourself.” Shouko then said that she saw Tetsu. “You love him, don’t you?” Karada’s emotion changed for the worse as she started to cry. “Falling in love with someone is a wonderful thing, but because of that you get hurt and feel the pain.” Shouko wanted to bring Karada to meet Tetsu, but Karada changed the topic, asking Shouko whether she had been Hiro’s lover, and that they split up because of her. However, Shouko said that because of her, they were able to meet again. Before Shouko could say anymore, Karada ran away from her in embarrassment. Shouko went on and looked for Hiro. She wanted to tell him about Karada. But before she could finish, Tetsu, who was next to Hiro, went off in his bicycle to look for her.As Karada was running way from them, she told herself that Shouko was lying, and that she was saying all that to be nice. Because she made that wish, Shouko became a child, Hiro-nii was troubled, and even Tetsu-kun became involved. She ran and ran, but stopped running when she saw Tetsu who was in front of her with his bicycle. “Are you planning to go somewhere again, Iokawa?! Fine, go! But I’ll continue to look for you again and again!” Karada then realised that Tetsu had finally believed that she is indeed Karada. Then right at her face, Tetsu confessed, “I LOVE YOU!” She slowly walked to him as tears started to roll in her eyes again. Tetsu only smiled, and so did Hiro and Shouko who are peeking at them from a corner. They walked back together, slowly, under the rays of the orange setting sun. This is when Shouko confessed that she had without knowingly, also wished that she was able to become a child and start life over. The very next morning, Tetsu and Karada bade farewell to Isogai-sensei and Kotomi before leaving the pension. Somewhat, they made up a story that Shouko was the classmate that Tetsu was looking for. Also, Isogai-sensei was surprised that Karada (Satou-san to isogai-sensei) decided to go back to Kanouchou with them as well. However, she was no where to be seen at that moment. She was at the viewing platform with Hiro. They had a short conversation. Hiro promised to let Karada be his little sister while Karada did the same. Meanwhile, Tetsu and Shouko were for them on a bench by the railway tracks. Back at Kanouchou, Hiro had a haircut which made him looked smarter than before. Tetsu had to work in the café for his sister to pay her back his debts. Karada was preparing lunch for her brother when he reached home. Shouko wasn’t around as she had gone to the train station to send Kotomi who was about to leave Kanouchou. Before boarding the train, Kotomi slipped something into Shouko’s pocket. It was a shiny green stone... it was a wishing stone! The end of the story goes like this: Shouko returned to her adult body and Karada regained her child body. The end. The wishing stone slowly turn into dust and flew with the wind... Stop reading here. Don’t blame me for any harm done to you for reading here forth.And when I say “The End”, it’s indeed The End. For once, a happy ending. Good for Karada and the others, unlike in the mangas where the story gets rather... complex. In the second volume of the mangas, it was revealed that Karada is Hiro’s daughter, and that Karada is a result of Hiro having sex with one of his aunt. Major spoiler. =X
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Running time: 25 minutes Number of episodes: 12 Vintage: 2006-10-05 to 2006-12-21 Age rating: ??? Genres: Drama, Slice of Life, Supernatural Animation Production: J.C. Staff Source: Anime News Network The Good: It starts out pretty good. The Bad: It runs out of gas very soon. Status: Dropped I don’t want to rant too much since I actually enjoyed a nice little portion of this anime. [...]
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It took around a day for Youtube to verify the AMV. >_<;But nevertheless I am glad that Youtube didn't kill the quality of the video.Anyways, back on topic. The Youtube-hosted video you see above is an anime music video featuring Asatte no Houkou made by none other than yours truly. Being a loyal fan of Michael Wong, I have used a song from his latest album, a Chinese song, "I Am Who I Am". Not-so-obvious spoilers lurk, but it won't hurt those who fear of being spoiled. At least I had not included in any dialogs from the anime so you'll not know what'd happened.Well, that's it. If you are already reading this, why not spend some time watching the AMV? I would be glad if you would leave a comment. I shall upload the AMV to animemusicvideos.org soon enough after I finish my exams. By then, you're free to download the AMV as well. ;)x-posted to awishingstone
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Whatever Karada was thinking, in this episode, she decided to tell Tetsu that she was indeed Karada, the little, short and playful Karada he’d knew. Tetsu couldn’t accept the fact.Erm... Tetsumasa, sir, that Tamagoyaki that you’re going to eat is very salty, just for your information... ^_^;In my opinion, an extra 0.1 degrees Celsius in your body temperature is quite normal... =\Flowers, eh? You can find them by the roadside, too. Why go so high up to the plateau? That camera looks a lot like my Olympus camera. Cool, eh?Oh no, you’re not going to tear that photo of yours with your ex, eh, little Shouko? You’ll regret it later on, I tell you. (Well, in the end, she didn’t tear the photo)Wow, lots of fish. Great catch, Isogai-sensei!...or maybe not. A rather serious face of Karada, confessing that she is indeed Karada.Interesting indeed. But for your info you old fellow, it’s the fact. Yeah, I know you know a lot about the wishing stone. Now, confess that you’re the one who stole it. :OYou don’t expect him (Hiro) to use airmail to contact you again, do you, Shouko-dono?Plot:The episode started with a short flashback of the final part of the last episode where Tetsu had called Karada “Satou-san”. It had badly hurt Karada’s feeling. All she wanted was to tell Tetsu the truth that she is Karada, not “Satou-san”, but courage didn’t seem to be with her at that moment.Tetsu was having a dream. In the dream, he had brought the little Karada he knew to the top of the hill where the source of the water in the shrine was. Suddenly, the little Karada grew up into a beautiful, fully-developed lady. It was Satou-san as he knew her, and she was saying “thank you” for bringing her up there. Slowly, he woke up from his dream and noticed that Karada (now Satou-san) was sleeping next to the bed with her arms folded. Karada woke up straight away. It seems that Tetsu’s fever had completely gone away.Karada then prepared breakfast for Tetsu. Tetsu planned to go out to continue his search for his classmate but with Karada and Isogai-sensei’s advice, he decided to cancel his plan. After breakfast, Tetsu went back to bed as Karada checked his body temperature. Tetsu told Karada that he had had a weird dream, but in the end, never told Karada the exact details of the dream. He also told her that he’ll still go look for his friend after he had recovered. Back at Kanouchou, Hiro were having a chat with Tetsu’s sister in the café she’s working in. She told him that Tetsu hadn’t contacted her even once since he left. Although so, she is not even worried a bit. As Hiro walked back home, he noticed a few wild flower by the road. He then recalled his experience with his ex-girlfriend, Shouko, where the two of them had travelled together to the mountains to look at the flowers. The flowers being somewhat dull, making Hiro didn’t like them very much. Shouko then asked someone to help them take a photo using her camera. It happened to be the photo which caused Karada to leave. After Shouko had had a final look at the photo, she wanted to tear the photo apart. However, she didn’t have the courage to do it. She then had a visit to the site where wishing stone had been. She then remembered herself telling Hiro about Karada’s wish. Back at Isogai’s Pension, Tetsu and Karada was playing with cards as Kotomi and Isogai-sensei came back home after a day fishing by the ocean. Seeing Tetsu was fine already, Kotomi wanted to bring him out for a walk. However, since Isogai-sensei needed Kotomi to help her with dinner, Tetsu ended up going out with Karada.As they walked by the beach, Tetsu started to talk about himself with the Karada he knew. Karada then started to talk about things that only the ‘real’ Karada would know. Finally, she confessed, “I’m... Iokawa Karada”. Back at the pension after dinner, Karada was washing the dishes as Tetsu hid himself inside his room. Being rather worried with the two’s reaction, Kotomi decided to question Tetsu about what happened when they were away. Tetsu told Kotomi everything that Karada said to him, about the wishing stone, her wish to be an adult and stuffs. However, he refused to believe in what she said. Isogai-sensei eavesdropped on them and found the story rather interesting, interesting like something he himself would say. As Isogai-sensei talked about the stuffs with his wife, Kotomi slipped out of the house looking for Karada.Kotomi found Karada in her favourite spot, a bench facing the wide ocean. Kotomi told Karada that Tetsu had told him everything. Karada, still rather down, told her that it was the truth. Kotomi then started to say that she was born in Kanouchou and that she knew a lot about the wishing stone. Her father had told her a lot of story about the wishing stone and that it truly grants wishes. However so, he never had a wish come true. Karada insisted that the stone grants wishes.Karada called Shouko using a public telephone, telling her that she had told Amino that she’s Karada but he would not believe her. Shouko realised that Karada is with Tetsu in the place they had been to. Before she could say a word of comfort, Karada hung up. Shouko called Hiro as he told her that he had decided to look for Karada alone, no matter where she could be. Shouko then told him she knew where Karada was, and that is by the ocean they went to. Saying that, she hung up the phone. The very next morning, Hiro took a leave from the place he’s working and after packing up his things, headed towards the train station. Shouko was already waiting for him there. They smiled at each other and went in the train station together.
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This is incredibly late, but I just finished watching the final episode of this series, and I’m going to try to recall everything that happened to try to review this as fairly as possible. As an ending alone, I felt that it was just the nice pacing. Everything was resolved in the end, even the size [...]
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After all the oblique references to real life, interviews and the like, it turned out that my application to a research degree that I thought was a sure thing turned out to have been rejected. Oh well, this must be what they call a ‘character building’ experience. Now off to learn about teamwork and problem [...]
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Iokawa Karada has always felt like a burden on her older brother Hiro, especially once she becomes old enough to realise how much he has given up to look after her. One summer, she prays to the local wishing stone to make her old enough to be independent, and to her surprise, it grants that [...]
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It took me around two days or so to finish download this particular soundtrack from Nipponsei as the seeds weren't that healthy. But nevertheless, it's worth it. I was only a little disappointed that scans of the soundtrack's album were not available with the torrent. I had to look around for the cover for the album so that I could blog (it would hold no meaning at all if I were to blog without an image). I tried searching Google and Wikipedia but I found nothing. In the end, as you can see, I found one over at Amazon and it's in quite a high resolution. Yay.First of all, I have to tell you all how shocked I was when I saw that there were over 40 tracks! 40 tracks in a single album! In that case, they could have release two separate albums, but somewhat, they decided to arrange them all into an album sold at the price of 3000 Yen. 40 tracks in 12 episodes, wow. The composer of the tracks must have been a really hardworking guy. The composer's name is Mitsumune Shinkichi. He has also done the soundtrack of Zero no Tsukaima and Rozen Maiden, according to his page in ANN.Now, back at the soundtracks. The first track, "Kumikyoku [Asatte no Houkou]" is also the the background music of the message you hear from both Karada & Shouko. It started of symphatatically, but then goes on in a lively mood. It slows down to the sounds of a violin and other mixed instrument. The second track is the TV sized version of Hikari no Kisetsu, the OP for the anime. I couldn't help but sing along with the song, lol.As for track 3, I can hear more than one piano performing to the track, going up together, pausing together every now and then. Track 4, "Summer Dream" was one of the most soothing tracks in the soundtrack thanks to its sudden quick piano sounds. Track 5, "Natsumatsuri" makes me think of the happy times when Shouko and Hiro were together. The sixth track, "Negai Ishi", like its name, was played during the moment when Shouko and Karada made a wish and changed bodies besides the wishing rock. Track 7, "Pure", which was played during before going on a commercial break, was the shortest track in the soundtrack. Track 8, "Odekake", has the free and light feeling like those Karada had before turning into an adult. Track 10 is somewhat like track 8 as it also carries the 'carefree' type of message with it. Track 12, "Deai", is a track with some simple sequence in it making it quite nice. Track 13, "Sad Things", was one of the main BGM used in the anime as far as I am concerned and it carries the feeling of being sad. "Wadakamari", track 15, is a slow and peaceful song with a tiny bit of sorrow with the piano tones as if they were getting deeper and deeper. Track 16 is a short soothing song somewhat like track 15. Meanwhile I don't remember hearing track 17 "Konwaku" in the anime, it sounded like a rather 'cheeky' track. I can hear unclear voices in the background of track 18 and it sounded rather solemn, compared to others. Track 19, "Jealousy", was quite soothing nevetheless even with its tense moments. Track 20 makes me feel like tapping my feet, dancing around happily, like those game BGMs. ^__^Track 21 "Odayaka na Hibi" sounded rather easy going and cool. Track 23 "Sabishisa", or lonelyness, is also a BGM used in the anime which I can clearly remember. Track 24 sounded rather 'naughty' and I don't remember the BGM being used in the anime at all. Track 25 was a track which has the feeling of easy going. Track 26, Kazoku no Youni, happens to be a slow, soothing song which can be used as a lullaby, in my opinion (I'm feeling very sleepy as I am writing this). Seriously, I don't think the other tracks are even used in the anime so I'll skip writing about them. I'll jump directly to the piano version of the OP theme, Hikari no Kisetsu. It was played in such a slow pace that if one doesn't listen to it carefully, one wouldn't notice that it was the OP. Meanwhile, track 35 which was also the ED "Sweet Home Song" in Music Box Version, it sounded rather... weird, listenning the song as if they were played through a music box. o_o;Track 41 was the TV version of the ED theme. Quite nice, but I'd go for the full version instead.Last but not least, track 43 "Manazashi" would usually be played during the preview of the upcoming episode. The track was so soothing that I wouldn't mind putting it on loop while listenning to it on my mp3 player, lol...zzz...
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Rating: 9.4/10 Overall Series Rating: 9.7/10 Impressions: So the ending plays out like how I predicted, except for how Shouko doesn’t return home, and instead ends up with Hiro. I still think she should have returned home for that ‘perfect’ round about scenario, since this show is really about a ’summer story’ that is meant to go away [...]
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Wow, the last poll exceeded 200 votes pretty quickly, a lot faster than I expected. However, it is a pretty easy poll, and the clear winners are Death Note, Kanon and Code Geass. Personally my top 5 of last season would be: Negima!?, Code Geass, Kanon, Asatte no Houkou and Soukou no Strain (Death Note [...]
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