Hiromi wins … damnit!

Summary:

After the fall, Noe is taken to hospital and fortunately only suffers a fractured leg. Jun and Shinichirou share a conversation on the rooftop where Jun asks why Noe can’t shed any tears and Shinichirou supposes that it could be from self-suggestion. Upon hearing this, Jun demands that Shinichirou leave for hurting Noe like this and mentions how he will never be able to forgive him. Shinichirou obliges and walks off. Later, Jun visits Noe in the hospital wing where she explains that after she saw Shinichirou dancing she felt that she could fly, and apologizes for getting him concerned. She goes on clarifying that if she had known Jun’s true feelings for her all this time she would’ve treated him much better. The next day, Jun and Hiromi share a small talk where Jun bluntly states that not once had he ever loved her, not even a little bit. At school, the kids praise Shinichirou for doing so well during the dance. Hiromi manages to slip through the crowd that surrounds his table and tells him to see her later in her apartment. Shinichirou arrives at the designated place and realizes that Hiromi has served only one cup. After taking a sip out of it, Hiromi snatches the cup and drinks from it herself. Shinichirou points out that she’s acting strange and immediately Hiromi tells him to leave.

As the day drones on, Shinichirou gets a phone call at home from the Tokyo Publishing Company which had previously rejected his script. Surprisingly, they request that he resubmit his story to them. Shortly afterwards, Shinichirou questions his father in asking when people cry to which he replies when one’s heart wavers. He continues to think about this when Hiromi appears and apologizes again for acting weird earlier. Finally she confesses her love for him and tells him to quickly make a decision between her and Noe, and whoever she chooses, she will accept his choice. That being said, it was because Hiromi had hated herself for acting this way where she didn’t want to interfere but at the same time not lose him. Shinichirou informs her that he’ll meet up with her again in the afternoon and leaves to visit Noe with his picture book. Once he gets there, he shows her the finished story but Noe refuses to read the ending since it had nothing to do with her and because Shinichirou was capable of ending it anyway. Shinichirou explains that this book was dedicated to her, therefore if she doesn’t read it he will throw it out. Noe encourages him to do so but asks where he plans on throwingi t. Shinichirou says at the place beside the sea where Jibeta couldn’t fly. This surprises Noe since she never knew that he had been watching at that time.

After a while, Shinichirou is sitting on the bank, forming paper airplanes out of the sheets from his story. He aims them randomly at spots along the shore but stops once he sees Noe struggling to walk as well as pick them up. Shinichirou helps her out and the two sit at the bus stop so Noe can finish reading the story. However, the last page is missing and Noe reassures Shinichirou that she will just have to imagine it herself. Shinichirou admits to Noe that he’s in love with Hiromi, but even though that’s who his heart desires, it wavers every time he sees Noe, the one who believed that he could dance beautifully and finish the picture story book. Noe explains that she knew all along Shinichirou was in love with Hiromi and the two go seperate ways, both singing Noe’s cockroach song. Here, Shinichirou starts crying. At the same time, Kanae visits Hiromi in her apartment and feels sorry for her because she’s suffering with wanting to know Shinichirou’s final decision. Shinichirou goes back to Hiromi’s house but finds she is not there. He tracks her footprints all the way to the bamboo area where they shared that “special” moment. Shinichirou asks Hiromi to go out with him and even though she refuses, he persists and the two end up embracing.

Time Skip:

Now it’s Spring and Noe has started making friends, Hiromi continues to play basketball, Shinichirou still doesn’t pay much attention in class, Jun accepted the job in Tokyo, Shinichirou’s father decides to hand his business over to the worker and Aiko and Nobuse stay together and slowly get closer at their own pace. One day after school, Noe heads over to the chicken coop and since the snow has melted, she can see the stones which Shinichirou had used to write out that he likes her. A breeze comes and Noe sheds a glistening tear.

Thoughts:

What?! No! I was really hoping for a Shinichiou x Noe ending! But I kind of predicted that Hiromi was going to be the one with Shinichirou anyway, and even though I liked Noe the most, I think she deserves better. I was hoping also that if Noe didn’t end up with anyone, at least Jun should be with her, but I guess he finds it too painful. There wasn’t enough incest going on between those two which I found myself a little disappointed by. On the other hand, I’m glad that Shinichirou did fall for Noe because if he just thought of her as a “friend”, then I’d probably strangle him. It’s nice to see that Aiko and Nobuse are together and that Noe has made some friends. Now that this series is over, we all can stop debating and calm ourselves down before each new episode. The way true tears ended hasn’t made me exactly the happiest person — quite frankly, I enjoyed watching this anime much more before than after watching this one. But the animators have done an excellent job until now so … Go them!