This episode begins with Sawako having a flashback of elementary school showing us how she got the nickname of Sadako, it came from her friend Shino and it was a slip of the tongue that stuck.
Brick one of the wall
This continued through middle school where people thought is was fun to talk about Sadako having supernatural power, so this became her perceived nature.
Brick two of the wall
Brick three of the wall
Sawako goes on to tell us that rumors beget other rumors and by high school everyone assumed she had supernatural powers, and while she says it makes her sad she’s never experienced anything truly painful.
All in all it’s just another brick in her wall.
The wall is now complete
Then the scene switches to Sawako’s confrontation with the girls who were bad mouthing Yano and Yoshida, and just at that moment Ryuu and Kazehaya find out about the conflict in the bathroom. Then Yano and Yoshida arrive on the scene and they find out about Sadako and the girls, Ryuu tells Kazehaya that it looks like he wants to do something. Yes, but this situation has to settled between the girls or it would be meaningless.
Sawako tells the girls to take back those rumors, but the lead girl (Yuuka) tosses Sawako to the ground and tells her that she, Sadako, is the one who started the rumors. Sawako tells them she would never say anything like that, but Yuuka says they have a issue with her. She then goes on to say that she thought that Yano and Yoshida were just hanging out with her because she was interesting, but then the issue of Sadako using Yano and Yoshida to get close to Kazehaya comes up. Yuuka tells Sadako to just keep to herself and leave everyone alone like she used to do, and they won’t bother her anymore.
Judgement time approaches
Sawako tells them No, it’s all a lie, because while everyone avoided her Yano and Yoshida didn’t avoid her, and they weren’t frightened of her. She goes on to tell them that they were kind to her, and they have no idea how much she likes Yano and Yoshida, she even says that she loves them. At that point, Yano and Yoshida have made their way to the bathroom and have overheard the whole conversation, they now intervene on Sadako’s behalf.
Sawako finally decides to tear down her wall
Yuuka demands to know why Yano and Yoshida are sticking up for Sadako when she started the rumors, and they both say that there’s no way that Sadako could have started those rumors. Yoshida goes on to offer a beat-down to Yuuka if she doesn’t leave now, and it seems that Yuuka and Yoshida seem to have some history dating back to middle school. After some bitching, the other girls leave Yoshida, Yano, and Sadako alone in the bathroom. Sawako begins to cry as she thanks Yano and Yoshida for believing her.
Outside, as the other girls are leaving the restroom, Kazehaya states that he hates false rumors, and that they were so untrue. Later, Hirano and Endo tell Kazehaya and Ryuu that Sadako stood up for Yano and Yoshida even after she was tossed to the ground. They say that they couldn’t do anything for her but Yano and Yoshida saved her, and this confirms to the rest of the class that Sadako couldn’t have started the rumors.
Later, back inside the bathroom, Sawako talks with Yano and Yoshida about the rumors and how she felt that they hurt both of them but she wants to be together with them, and she finally says she wants to be their friend. Yano then asks Sadako if she thought they were hurt by the rumors, and being close to her? Yano then goes over and hugs Sadako, she also says that when Sadako was worried about them being hurt she must have also been hurting inside. When Sawako tries to blow off her being tossed to the ground by claiming she fell down Yano calls her a fool but keeps hugging her. Yoshida then goes on to tell Sadako to not get used to being alone, and they’ve become friends without even realising it.
Standing in the ruins of her wall Sawako finds friendship
Just as things are getting really emotional between the three girls Pin shows up expecting he had a fight to breakup. When he sees nothing but a “stupid adolescent scene”, he breaks up the mob and tells them move on.
At the conclusion of the exams, Sawako tells us her ranking fell to 30th while the rest of the students in Sawako’s class rose, and they thank Sadako for her study notes. Sawako begins to feel that everyone is starting to look at her differently.
As Sawako heads off to eat lunch with Yano and Yoshida, Kazehaya comes to the realisation that he’ll won’t have much alone time with Sawako, he thinks it’s not fair but Sawako flashes him a wonderful smile as she’s leaving, and he really doesn’t want to share her.
Later, Shino runs up to Sadako and asks her if her dreams of making friends have come true? Yes. Shino then tells Yano and Yoshida that she’s leaving Sadako in their hands as she runs off to join her friends. After Shino leaves, Yano and Yoshida gets Sadako to admit that she used the term “love” to describe her feeling for them, and the walk off together.
Then we see the group of girls that were harassing Sadako and spreading those rumors talking about Kazehaya reaction to the whole affair. They wonder how Yuuka, the leader, is taking this since she been infatuated with Kazehaya since middle school. Well, it seems that Yuuka has just walked up in time to hear their talk, and Yuuka starts to cry and runs off with the other girls chasing after her.
Just then we see another girl (the French Doll) commenting that of course Kazehaya would hate them after such a childish act. Well, that’s all for this episode.
Well, I thought this was one hell of an episode. Throughout most of Kimi ni Todoke we watched Sawako go through life in a state of emotional disconnection with the greater world around her, while Sawako had managed to function as a student, and a daughter, Sawako was functioning only at a minimal level as a whole person. Sawako had emotionally detached herself from those around her in an attempt to shield herself from harm and hurt, and her detachment took many forms; Sawako wore the mask that she thought those around her wanted to see, Sawako erected her AT-Field that allowed her to deflect the negative perceptions of her, and finally Sawako build a wall that separated her desire for human connection from the possibility that she could be emotionally hurt and hurt others.
When Sawako finally met Kazehaya, Yano, and Yoshida they chose to not pre-judge her based on her reputation, and a few cracks began to form in her various methods of protection. As Sawako slowly let her guard down she discovered that the life she had been leading was false and hollow, but due to her low self-esteem she felt that she had nothing to offer but pain. Kazehaya’s major role in Sawako’s growing strength is that he made her understand that it’s not her choice to decide what her value is to those around her, and that Sawako decided that her market price was zero before the bidding had even started. In the last episode Kazehaya demanded to know where his choice was in the matter of whether they should still be friends, and where was Yano’s and Yoshida’s choice in the decision of whether they should be friends with her.
So, when Sawako had her confrontation with Yuuka she was faced with the choice of staying behind her methods of protection and continuing her emotionally stunted life or tearing down the wall and opening herself up to the wider world. After having briefly tasted the warm feelings of connection, and the possibility of love, Sawako chose to throw down the wall surrounding her and open herself up to the world around her and possibility of pain and rejection, but she also gave herself the chance to taste love and friendship, well done Sawako.
Oh, by the way, for those of you who think that Kazehaya should be doing more, I feel that he’s got his role perfectly right, he can’t intervene for Sawako’s sake, it doesn’t work that way. Guys settle problems in a more physically confrontational manner, we can throw punches one day and have a beer together the next day. An intervention by Kazehaya in this girl on girl matter would have only made it worse on Sawako and the others, they had to settle this matter on their own.
Outside the Wall, by Pink Floyd
All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they’ve given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it’s not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger’s wall.
Outside her wall Sawako finds the real world
Screencaps from the Wall are from http://www.thewallanalysis.com/Intro.html
This episode picks at the point where Choco, Kashino’s sweet spirit jumps out and tells Ichigo to not get full of herself after a little praise from Kashino. Choco starts digging on Ichigo when Vanilla pops out and starts to get into it with Choco, and Ichigo grabs a bowl and covers up Vanilla and Choco. The princes tell Ichigo it’s OK because only students with a sweet spirit of their own can hear other sweet spirits.
Later, after class, Ichigo introduces Vanilla to the princes, and Choco and Vanilla soon start fighting again. Then Caramel, Andou’s sweet spirit pops out and tries to stop Vanilla and Choco from fighting, and soon Hanabusa’s spirit, Cafe joins the group. After each boy goes over their dream, they hold a welcoming party for Ichigo and Vanilla featuring treats created from each of their specialities.
Later, we see three girls spying on Ichigo and the princes. They all comment on what an eyesore Ichigo is, but she’s surrounded by the three princes who seem to be enjoying themselves.
The next day, students from St. Marie pay a visit to the local kindergarten where they all get mobbed by the kids. At first, Ichigo has to calm down Kashino after some kids piss him off then Kashino has to return the favor when some boys get more personal with Ichigo then she expected. When the students pass out birthday cakes to the little kids Ichigo notices a little girl sitting by herself. Ichigo goes up to Ringo and tries to get her to join her classmates, but it doesn’t work. Rumi then tells Ichigo that Ringo is Koizumi’s little sister (another student at St. Marie Academy), and that she’s quiet so she has a hard time making friends. When Ichigo makes another attempt at talking with Ringo some of the boys start teasing both of them. After Ichigo chases the boys off, she finds that Ringo has left the classroom.
Ichigo then follows Ringo outside where she has a little talk with her, Ichigo finds out that Ringo loves cake that has lots of apples and cream, so Ichigo vows to make her a special cake for her birthday. While Ringo is happy about this she tells Ichigo that she can’t eat it with the others because they tease her about her rosy cheeks, and that Ringo has just joined this school and misses her old school. Ichigo can relate with how it feels to come to a new school where everything can seem depressing and lonely.
Ichigo tells the princes about her idea, and says she’ll design an exciting cake for Ringo because Ringo’s just like her when she came to St. Marie.
When Ichigo gets back to her room, she struggles to come up with a idea on how to incorporate apples, cream, and friends into a cake for Ringo. After Ichigo returns from Ringo’s school (field research) she presents the three princes with her cake design, and they agree to attempt the design tonight. The girls who have been complaining about Ichigo decide to attempt something against her.
After Ichigo and the princes finish the cake they decide to head to the store for some snacks, and Caramel decides to stay behind with the cake. As Caramel is hanging out with the cake the evil girls come inside the room and put down Ichigo’s creation, and they also take pictures of the cake and plan on embarrassing her when she delivers the cake. As Ichigo is walking back from the store with the princes, she thinks to herself that before she only got sweets when her mom treated, and now she making sweets with her friends.
When the day finally comes to make Ringo’s cake, Ichigo and the princes think that they’ve practiced this so many times that they could do it in their sleep until they notice a group of girls carrying the exact same cake that they’re been working on. When they question the girls about the cake they claim that Ichigo copied the cake from them and say that Ringo will be teased if they bring her the same cake that their group made. Well, Ichigo wonders why they’d do such a thing but she’s also happy that the princes believe her, and they figure the girls must have seen their design at some point.
Then Caramel pops out and starts crying, saying that she thought that the other girls were just taking a picture of the cake because it was so beautiful. Well, Ichigo thinks it’s unforgivable, and Kashino says they have one hour to come up with a new design. As the clock winds down, the group wonder what they’ll do for a new design in only one hour until Ichigo says she has an idea for a even better design. Well, that’s all for this episode.
Well, this episode was really too sweet by half. After Choco makes her appearance to berate Ichigo we discover that each of the princes also has their very own sweets spirit, and each spirit has some sort of personality trait that matches their partner: Vanilla is a little bit of a slacker like Ichigo, and she loves sweets almost as much as her; Choco seems to be a bit of a tsundere like Kashino; Cafe seems be as well mannered and slightly vain like Hanabusa; Caramel seems to have very deep emotions like Andou.
After the princes discover that Ichigo also has a sweets spirit I think that her credentials are now established and she a full member of group A. Also it seems that Ichigo’s relationship with the princes has drawn the ire of some of the other girls, and they decide to strike a mean blow at Ichigo. The funny thing about these types of attacks is that they always backfire on the attackers, while attacking the sweet girl seems to be a good idea the boys always see through the charade and only look down on the attacker, in shoujo, sweet always wins over the boys.
This episode begins with Nelli reaching the Bifrost bridge only to find the main span missing. She wonders where the bridge is when the guardian (Signal) tells her that he is able to verify the identity of all those wishing to cross bridge by using the smoke from his pipe. She tries to show the crossing pass but he tells her that his pipe can’t confirm that she’s Lag Seeing, so he summons a monster to deal with her.
Just as the monster is about to get Nelli, Niche and Lag arrive on the scene, and Niche uses her swords to open a passage for Nelli to escape. In the skirmish Nelli and her letter are separated, Lag decides to go after the letter, and as he does so, he ends up firing a Shindan from his hand that strikes Nello’s letter and releases his memories of his relationship with Jiggy. It turns out that Jiggy didn’t want to leave Dead End Town, but Nello urges him forward towards his dreams. Nello tells Jiggy that someday he’ll become a man like Jiggy and protect Nelli, Jiggy gives Nello a fist bump, and tells him to protect Nelli for him. As Nello lays dying, he tells Jiggy that he’s sorry that he can’t protect his sister and he asks Jiggy to protect Nelli.
Later, Lag tells Nelli that Nello wasn’t mad that Jiggy left, he was sad that he couldn’t become a man and protect his sister. Lag wonders why a Shindan came out of his hand and the traveler walks up and tells him that Shindan are created from the spirit amber, heart shaped into a bullet, and the gun is merely a tool that helps shape the bullet properly. So, since Lag has amber in his body his body became the gun and shot the bullet, and he goes on to speculate that Lag’s Shindan has the power to peer inside the feelings and emotions stored inside a object. Then we get a further memory that points to the fact that Jiggy might have been responsible for the construction of the church so Nelli could have a job providing food and medicine for Nello, and then the church could provide shelter for the children and change the town. Well, Nelli kind of blows this off, but she give Lag his crossing pass back.
Lag grabs Nelli and tells her that they’ll just find out Jiggy’s true feelings. As Lag heads off with Nelli, the traveler tries to grab Niche, but she see him, and easily avoids his attempt.
The traveler then talks with the bridge’s guardian (Camus), and the guardian asks Master Lloyd if he’ll be heading back to the main post office? Then we see that Lag has taken Nelli to the church where he tells her he intends to shoot the church with his shindan to find out the truth.
Well, Lag fires his Shindan at the church but nothing happens, so he fires it again and again until he collapses. Nelli tries to go to Lag but Niche blocks her, and says that if she ever hurts Lag again she’ll kill her. Lag tells Niche, bad, don’t say such things. Well, Lag tells Nelli that Jiggy must have cared for them like Gauche cared for his sister, so Nelli directs him to the church’s bell which was made on the other side of the river.
Well, Lag’s Shindan reveals that Jiggy did indeed commission the construction of the largest bell in all of Amberground for the church, he wanted it to be a beacon of hope for those who gaze upon it, and some day he wished to stand there with Nello & Nelli. In the end, Nelli refuses to let Lag take the letter saying that she wants to save up and send it on her own. Nelli tells Lag that some day she wants to become like Jiggy, and she also wishes Lag luck in becoming a Bee. Well, this episode ends with Lag heading towards the bridge, and Nelli heading back towards town.
Well, this was one hell of an episode with us getting to see how Lag and Niche function as a team even though Lag still refuses to acknowledge Niche as his dingo. Also, Lag and Niche got to indirectly meet the Head Bee which was the position that Gauche was striving for. One thing that confuses me is why the Head Bee is after Niche/the child of Maka? It can’t be money, I assume the Head Bee has to make big dollars unless my original theory of there being some sort of corruption existing between the upper Bee management and the Amberground government. At least it’s proven that some of the Bee’s make a little side money by carrying non-posted items; Connor and his girly mags, and Jiggy and his non-official pickups. Well, I really look forward to see how Master Lloyd’s and Jiggy’s interest in Niche ties into the mystery of Gauche’s and Lag’s mother’s disappearances. Also, this one’s for Ghostlightning, I guessed it right with the Bifrost bridge’s nature being tied to the Norse myth, but I still haven’t got a clue how the Bifrost’s guardian, Camus ties in with the storyline. Letter Bee seems to make use of names very carefully, so I assume that Camus is the Albert Camus of The Myth of Sisyphus fame, so I’m still working on how all this links up.
