Yumeiro Patissiere episode 5 review; The Kashino Angel & Devil Fruit roll.

      This episode begins with Ichigo and the princes working on a chocolate cake project in class. While Ichigo fails at the decorating process, Hanabusa and Andou tell her she’s did the baking well and she’s improved a great deal since her first day, but Kashino continues to pull her strings causing Ichigo to vow that she’ll shut him up.

      Later that night, Ichigo and Vanilla practice making a chocolate roll cake for Ichigo’s upcoming exam, everything comes out great but the chocolate flavor doesn’t seem quite right. Try as they might, Ichigo and Vanilla can’t get the chocolate topping to taste right, Vanilla says she’s sorry because chocolate isn’t her strong suit. Vanilla mentions something about chocolat(?) and then freaks out, after calming Vanilla down Ichigo suggests that they call it a night.

      Early the next morning, As Ichigo is heading back to the kitchen she spies Kashino practicing. Ichigo is quite surprised that Kashino would be practicing at 5am, and Kashino tells Ichigo he’s conditioning his body for the work. So, Kashino asks Ichigo if she gave up already, and Ichigo gets angry because if he knew all along that she was working late nights at least he could acknowledge her efforts, this drives Ichigo back to her spot for more practice.

      As Ichigo begins to work on her chocolate, Kashino chews her out for using too high of a melting temperature on her chocolate and he tells her what temperature not to exceed. While yelling at Ichigo, Kashino gives her good advice on the proper preparation of chocolate. After following Kashino’s advice and using some books he gave her, Ichigo’s next chocolate roll cake turns out good. Ichigo thanks Kashino for his help but he tells her that he’s only helping her so she doesn’t lower the group’s grades, he also chews her out for wasting too many ingredients. Kashino lets Ichigo taste his creation and she loves it, but he won’t let her have another taste telling her she can create it herself.

      When Vanilla finds Ichigo in the kitchen, she sees Ichigo reading a really advanced French chocolate recipe book, and Ichigo tells her that she needs to up the level if she’s going to compete with the devil Kashino. Well, Ichigo works really hard at making her cake, Vanilla falls asleep from exhaustion but Ichigo soldiers on. When Ichigo is getting ready to melt the chocolate she passes out from exhaustion and Kashino catches her before she hits the floor. Ichigo tries to blow off this incident when Kashino notices she’s trying to make a very complicated cake and he tells her it’s impossible. Ichigo says she’ll make it because she’s in group A, and either emotion or exhaustion gets to Ichigo and she begins to cry even though she doesn’t want to cry in front of him.

      Kashino tells Ichigo that when he was a very little kid he used to hang out at his uncle’s chocolate shop and watch him work, and eventually he began to learn from his uncle, so that’s why he’s here now. Kashino calms Ichigo down with some hot chocolate and he tells her not to stress out about it because sooner or later she’ll find her magic. Later, Vanilla notices that Ichigo’s in a better mood, and Ichigo tells Vanilla that she won’t stress about chocolate because it’s supposed to relax you.

      The next day is the big test, Ichigo decides to make the chocolate roll cake after all but Ichigo modifies the recipe to make it both bitter and sweet, like Kashino.

       When the tasting comes, Andou and Hanabusa thinks it’s great, and while Kashino has a small criticism he tells Ichigo that it’s delicious and the best she’s created so far. Just Ichigo’s is basking in Kashino’s praise, a sweet spirit name Chocolat pops out of Kashino’s pocket and tells Ichigo to not get carried away with herself. Well, that’s all for this episode.

      Well, in this episode we get to see how Kashino became motivated in his quest to become a great worker of chocolate, like Hanabusa and Andou, Kashino was motivated by family. Hanabusa was motivated by his mother’s and father’s love of roses, Andou was motivated by his desire to mix his family’s Japanese sweets tradition with cake, and now we see that Kashino was motivated by his uncle’s love of chocolate.

       I really like the love/hate relationship Ichigo has going with Kashino, while he infuriates her, he also drives Ichigo to become a better patissiere. If anything, Kashino just might be a tsundere when it come to Ichigo. Also, I had wondered how long it would take us to finally meet the sweet spirits that I thought belonged to the three princes, well we finally meet Kashino’s sweet spirit, Chocolat. I wonder if we’ll see the other two spirits in the next episode or will we have to wait for a few more episodes? Overall, a nice episode; Kashino you’re such a meanie!

 

Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) episode 5 review; Pain, uncertainty, loneliness, and Sawako’s AT Field can no longer protect her.

     Well, this episode picks up with Sawako still being confused about how to react to the rumors affecting Yoshida, Yano, and Kazehaya. The next school day brings the start of midterms and the students have to sit alphabetically instead using the seating chart, so Sawako doesn’t get to sit by the group. She sees Yoshida and Yano and thinks they’ve never gotten angry or mad at her. Sawako quietly goes to her seat, and Yano notices that Sadako isn’t her usual self.

      As Sawako is sitting watching Yano and Yoshida, she thinks that it feels like she never had that seat, like everything was a dream, she wanted to help people and not get in their way, and she hasn’t even been able to clear this misunderstanding. Sawako thinks that even if she finds the source of the rumors she just might hurt them again if she gets near them. Hurt, how could I even fix the hurt, Sawako wonders if she should go back to the old way and distance herself from the others? As Sawako thinks about distancing herself from the others, tears begin to flow, and when she thinks of Kazehaya, her inspiration, she really begins to cry.

      No, Sawako tells herself, she’s doesn’t remember how to be alone, the feelings of people being nice to her, and her being nice to people are too strong, she can’t remember how to return to the old days. How did she ever manage or accept being alone,  Sawako’s forgotten everything.

      As Sawako’s walking home from school she finds Kazehaya waiting for her, he tells her he doesn’t understand, don’t you like me, why are you avoiding me? She tells him not to talk with her, but she breaks down in tears and says she can’t say something she doesn’t mean. Kazehaya tells her to calm down and talk with him clearly so he can understand the situation. Well, Sawako spills the beans telling him about the rumors and how she feels she’s ruining Yoshida, Yano, and his reputation.

      He tells her who gives a damn about rumors, where’s his say in the matter, it’s his decision who he hangs around with, he’ll do as he wishes, he’ll talk with who he wants to, and if he cared about rumors he wouldn’t be talking with her now. Sawako now understands that this is what she wanted, to have people who care for her, and to care for people. Once Sawako calms down, Kazehaya talks with her about Yano and Yoshida and the rumors, he tells Sawako to reverse the situation and think about how they would feel if they heard that their association with her was hurting her? Sawako says that she’d still want them to hang out with her. Kazehaya says that Yano and Yoshida most likely feel the same way.  Kazehaya tells her, in the end it’s up to the other person to decide, but he says that if he was Yano or Yoshida he’d feel uncomfortable if she started avoiding them. Yes, Sawako says she was over thinking, she needs to tell them her feelings, she wants to become their friends.

      Later, we see Pin running into Yano in the hall and she’s pissed because she got pulled away from hearing what Sadako had to say, he tells her he doesn’t know what happened but quite blaming other people because you’ll run into more unreasonable situations in the future. In the library, Yano thinks of Sadako and how seriously she took her suggestion.

      Then we see Ryuu having a talk with Yoshida, he asks her if he needs to comfort her? Hell no. He asks her if those rumors are bothering her? She goes on about how she must be stupid, she just doesn’t know, is Sadako really Sadako or a fake Sadako and is she using her? She tells him that people are saying that Sadako is spreading those rumors? How, by talking to herself, and she doesn’t seem that she has anyone to talk to. Well, Yoshida brings up the point that Sadako was talking with someone, and she said they weren’t friends and she is avoiding us. Then Yoshida brings up the “I’m sorry” point and the issue of why she just didn’t say she liked us?

      Well, Ryuu says maybe Sadako doesn’t really like you, or she doesn’t care, or maybe she has other reasons. Ryuu tells her that if it’s really bothering her just ask Sadako, and he’ll comfort her if the answer is she doesn’t care. Later, Yoshida looks over the study book that Sadako made for her, and she becomes even more troubled and uncertain about the issue. Later, that night, Yano and Yoshida meet up and talk about the Sadako issue, and how Sadako hasn’t smiled since the rumors started. Yoshida wonders if Sadako’s so used to being alone if this is normal for her, and that thought makes her sad, that’s why she couldn’t leave her alone. Yano speculates that maybe Sadako became so used to every one’s attitude towards her that she really doesn’t understand emotions, even her own. Yano says that when she saw Sadako smile it made her happy. Yano also says that we thought we knew everything about her but there are many things we don’t understand. Yoshida speculates that they never got a clear answer from her but they also haven’t told her how they feel, and they never got to finish their conversation with her. Yano asks Yoshida that after all this thinking and worrying about Sadako, don’t we already love her? We’re already friends?

      At that moment, Sawako thinks to herself that we don’t know other peoples feelings unless we ask, and they won’t know ours unless we tell them. Sawako resolves to tell them how she feels and ask how they feel, she can be comfortable with this.

      The next school day, Sawako is building up her courage to talk with Yano and Yoshida in a bathroom stall, she’s nervous but doesn’t hate the feeling. Sawako hears some girls talking about the rumors of Yano and Yoshida being her backup,  and she confronts them by says they’re not her backup and both of them are nice people. The group just laughs at her, and one of the girls tells her to shut up(the French doll?, I can’t tell) and backs Sawako against the wall and calls Yano and Yoshida the criminal and the slut. As the group laughs at Sadako, she balls her fist up and …? Well, cliffhanger time, that’s all for this episode.

     Well, this episode had it all; pain, uncertainty, loneliness, melodrama, angst, and tears (including my own). As Sawako’s slowly let her guard down and began to open herself up to others, she tasted the feelings of friendship and love for the first time and discovered she liked these new found but confusing emotions. 

      When we first met Sawako, she basically surrounded herself and protected herself with her masks, the mask of Sadako that others projected on to her which she embraced, and the mask of emotional disconnection with the world around her, the mask of her own creation. Basically, Sawako’s masks were her AT Field, her protection, her curse, her barrier, and Sawako had to discover like Shinji that in order to truly make human and emotional connections you have to let others in on your real feelings and emotions. Sawako comes to this understanding towards the end of the episode when she realises that “you won’t know other people’s feelings unless you ask”. 

       Throughout the majority of NGE, Shinji pouted and disconnected from others because he only viewed the world from a “nobody understands me” point of view and he made no real effort to bother with how others around him felt. Yes, Sawako now understands that communication and feelings have to be a two way street, life’s uncertain but she can live with it. For a brief period Sawako considered trying to recreate her AT Field, but after her exposure to human connection I don’t think that she had the stomach to embrace her seperation again.

      One other point I would like to make is that all the guys in this episode seemed have a calming and thoughtful influence on the girls: Kazehaya helped Sawako understand that she needs to tell Yano and Yoshida how she really feels; Pin helped Yano come to the realization that problems and misunderstandings don’t just fix themselves, you have to do it; and finally Ryuu helped Yoshida realise that just stewing in your own doubts does nothing.

      Oh, this episode just made me a big Yano fan, she really showed me a level of subtle thoughtfulness and sensitivity that you really don’t see that often in supporting characters.

 

Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) episode 5 review; a bad apple in the Bees?

       This episode begins with Lag and Niche making it to Kyrie aka (Dead-End Town) with only one day left to spare before he has to be at his interview, all he has to do is cross the bridge tomorrow.  After asking for directions to an inn, the fact that they have a temporary crossing pass draws the attention of Nelli who was trying to get a Bee to take a letter to another Letter Bee (Jiggy) which he refused to do because of no postage or a proper address. Nelli leads them to the Cold Case hotel, a pretty run down place that charges a lot of money.

       In the lobby, Lag runs into a traveler who has returned from Love Someone Down, he was looking to buy the child of Maka. Well, Lag gets Niche out of his presence and tells her that he’s thinking of sending her back to his home town because it’s dangerous of a girl. Niche gets pissed off, takes off her pants, and walks out on Lag. Later, Lag finds out that Nelli has taken his bag which contains his crossing pass and is on her way to the church.

       When Lag catches up with Nelli he finds that she has his crossing pass and plans on becoming Lag Seeing. Lag tries to take his pass back but Nelli pulls out a knife and slashes his arm, and the sent of his blood draws Niche’s attention. They argue for a while then Nelli calls out the locals, and tells them Lag wants to become a government worker (Letter Bee). Nelli is pissed off because her brother Nello idolized Jiggy who left the town and became a Bee breaking his heart and causing his death.

       As Nelli is ranting about getting her revenge on Jiggy she gets cracked upside her head by another local who wants the pass for themselves. A huge brawl starts over the crossing pass, Niche leaves the hotel to find Lag and the traveller in the lobby notices that Niche is the child of Maka and sends a message to his master (Jiggy) to come pick her up. Niche enters the fray and disables the brawling mob while Lag tells her not to hurt humans. In the end, Nelli still has the pass and runs off towards the gate. Lag starts to go after her but Niche stops him demanding to know if she’s his dingo? Lag doesn’t want to argue right it right now so he tells Niche if he doesn’t get the pass back he can’t become a Bee and Niche can’t become a dingo. So, Niche and Lag give chase to Nelli.

      As Largo Lloyd (the traveler) watches the scene he thinks to himself that Nelli is in danger because the temporary crossing pass won’t be enough to get her through the gate, and he’s also astonished that Lag could tame a child of Maka. As Nelli is running towards the gate we get flashbacks of her brother, he loved and idolized Jiggy and was very sick, Nelli worked on the church and Nello continued writing a letter to Jiggy, but soon Nello became sick and died and Nelli swears revenge on Jiggy for breaking her brother’s heart. Well, that’s all for this episode.

         Well, this episode was pretty good, Lag continues his journey to his interview and they stop at Kyrie (Dead End Town) and Lag’s naive trusting nature causes him problems. I’m not going to comment much on lag’s youth or Nelli’s desire for revenge because I think this episode reveals a very important plot point. Up until now, all the Letter Bees seemed to be diligent government servants just doing their jobs, but we now have reason to suspect that at least one of them (Jiggy Pepper) is corrupt in some way, and where there’s smoke there’s fire. Also the name of the bridge to the capital is very interesting, Bifrost; in Norse mythology the name of the bridge linking our world to the world of the gods is also called Bifrost. The traveler made the comment that Lag’s temporary crossing pass would not be enough to get Nelli across the bridge, and if the nature of the bridge is similar to the Norse bridge she’ll be in trouble. In the Norse myth, Bifrost is guarded by a god called Heimdall who is rumored to have hearing and vision that can reach the ends of the worlds, he never sleeps, and he’s even rumored to be able to tell if people or gods are lying to him, so Nelli might be in real trouble. Overall,  a very a nice and enjoyable episode with Niche’s facial expressions and looks stealing the show.