You’ll know what I mean when you watch through the episode. It’s full of twisty goodness. But don’t get me wrong — it’s very entertaining. Mostly leans towards the lovelove and moe side of things, but there’s a lot of promise for the other genres, too. I heard from other blogs that this is an anime original thing? Those typically are hit or miss; this one is hit so far for me. I mean, the beginning of the season got a little tiring because the high-school drama lasted for about 8 whole episodes. This one seems to be just one or two.

Synopsis

Sabrac isn’t dead. -_- Yuuji’s parents’ reunion was more eventful than you thought, unless you could pick out that Chigusa was pregnant already from her previous “sickness” spells. Yuuji learns that he was not the firstborn of his family but the second. Shana wants to make babies, too. It’s Christmas Eve, and both Shana and Kazumi finally plan out their final battle for Yuuji’s heart. Ike also confesses to Kazumi, which adds more segments to the love polygon. And then before Yuuji has a chance to decide, Hecate shows up and steals the Reiji Maigo. Perfect…

Hecate is jealous

Impressions

Again, well crap. Too many darn cliffhangers this week. Clannad 21 left us with the main character realizing something really, really huge. true tears 11 had a cliffhanger supported by a huge musical crescendo that totally left you on edge. Spice and Wolf 11 and Bamboo Blade 22 are on the verge of awesome things. And here Shana II 22 gives us an ‘OH NOES YUUJI’S GONNA DIE’ moment.

So my prediction is that Kazumi does use the Pheles summon in order to save Yuuji’s life at the cost of her own. This screws over poor Ike once again, but he seems satisfied enough having been able to confess. So maybe he’ll be okay moving on? Maybe with one of the student council girls.

Is Yuuji a twin? I think that’s what his dad was trying to explain. Chigusa had twins, Yuuji being the younger one, and the whole process was a mess that led to the older twin dying and Chigusa not able to have children again (though now proven wrong after sixteen years of trying).

So the dad explains Yuuji’s name, 悠二. The second kanji is “two,” referring to him being the second Sakai child; it’s why he wants the third child to have the kanji for three, 三. The first kanji of Yuuji’s name seems to mean ‘eternity’ or something that’s long or long-lasting and easy-going. So Yuuji represents the second life that Chigusa gave birth to, who has lived strongly and healthily where the first child could not. Awesome. I love Japanese names for this reason: all the etymology that is mostly lacking in American names.

Romantic-drama Shana is so cute!!! Oh how my imagination went in all sorts of ways I should not speak of on this blog when she goes around asking to be shown how to make babies. First he asks the whole Sakai family (or just Yuuji wow), and then Alastor (even a King of Guze can’t bring himself to explain it), and Kazumi finally thinks of a comparison that Shana can relate to.

A reference to season one

I still think Shana has no idea, but at least she’s aware that the process of making a baby is somehow as personal as being naked in front of somebody. Well that’s a start. More later I suppose. Actually I’d love to hear Margery’s and Marcosius’s responses to that question. They might not be so conservative in their answer. XD

Twintails and crunchy melonpan. First of all, how does melonpan get that crunchy!? I import some every few months, and it’s always soft, even after I put it in a toaster oven. Either I don’t reheat it right, or it’s only crunchy when it’s freshly made instead of packaged. I’m jealous. But anyway, the tsundere-loli fandom gets a lot of service today with Shana’s look and the whole baby conversation.

But Wilhelmina gave great laughs, too. That poor toast; butter knife went straight through it. As Totali explains, Wilhelmina acted like a protective mother who didn’t want her daughter to get hurt by wishy-washy guys. And yet Tiamat had to be the one to halt the argument. But I like who Alastor gets all the credit in the end for staying silent. I wish I had that much respect, to be praised for totally avoiding the subject. –But I understand why; he’s already accepted that Shana won’t turn back, but at the same time it’s a mature decision as well and not a thoughtless passionate youthful mistake.

This is funnier when you realize they’re barely 5 feet tall

The whole plan to resolve the Shana/Kazumi conflict just amuses me. Yet again Yuuji is being treated somewhat objectively … or as some experimental lab rat. This plan to write dual love letters and strategically position themselves at opposite ends of the park; it’s too well constructed for a decision so important and so emotional. I’m glad Kazumi showed Shana how to get proper stationery, though, although the diction is still a riot with Shana’s letter sounding more like a military order than a thoughtful request.

And in other news, Keisaku is committed to joining Outlaw. We totally forgot about him after his scene at the very start of the episode. ^^; I suppose Eita got his final showing earlier when he helped out Yuuji one last time; perhaps Keisaku will get some final scene soon.

~Crisu

More amusing commentary available here by Aroduc featuring Loli, Busty, and Maidy among other characters. XD

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