“What the hell? What do you want from me? How selfish can you be? You fan up my feelings, only come in after, get in my way, and screw everything up. Now isn’t that mean? Have you ever thought about how I feel? I should be asking you what you’re thinking.” – Nagase Iori

Pi933

Summary

Iori’s classmates have begun to notice the change in her personality, and are reacting badly to it, with some jealous girls taking the opportunity to wreck her reputation. Refusing help from Taichi and Yui, Iori finally opens up to Inaban and assaults her with an onslaught of emotions.

Impression

Pi909Ohhhh, fuck. Well, things could, and did end up getting much worse this episode, as suspected. I was actually very wary about the confession that Jazz Band member Shiroyama would give Iori at the back of the school building (all the confrontations seem to be happening there xDD) but it turned out to not be much. I suspected that Iori might break down or something, but she remains as emotionless and dispirited as ever – all everyone liked was the bright, happy and cheerful version of Iori, which turned out to be the fake, masked version of her. The Fuusen Kazura-like Iori is the real one right now, and everyone suddenly changes their attitudes towards her because of it. People only care about what’s on the surface, and everyone liked Iori because she was spirited and cheerful – and as always with these scenarios, you have jealous bitches on the sidelines who hate her popularity, and have the best chance they have to mess up her reputation with the class. Wow, what a low blow – but jealous girls WILL go far, and it’s happened countless times. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as they say.

“Can’t you give this “back to normal” crap a rest? You don’t see it. You don’t get it. And it’s not just you. It’s everyone. No one sees the real me.”

Iori mentions that she can’t be her “normal” self any more, and that she’s too tired of lying – and one of the bitches said that she just acts like she’s being nice. If this is her real personality, then Iori must have been a mental and emotional wreck on the inside if she has had to conjure up a facade as strong as the happy personality she’s greeted everyone else with. Or perhaps this is the “blank slate” version of Iori – the one who’s tired of having to live up to people’s expectations of what they want from her and just can’t care less any longer. She doesn’t even care about the rumours those bitches are spreading – and is indifferent to the few members of the class who try to stand up for her. She’s starting to get bullied, and her reputation on the whole is falling to bits.

Pi943What I do find a little irksome is that Iori’s pushing away help from all of her friends – with Taichi, she rejected both his love and his help, and even with Yui, she’s lost her patience and willingness to be friends. It’s true that all these people see her for her exterior facade, and that it’s hard to adapt to change when it’s as dramatic and abrupt as this – but trying to cope with it all yourself and blanking the help of your friends isn’t something I’m admiring Iori for doing. What’s real and what’s false is being blurred with her, and what Taichi said at the start of the arc rings true as well – no-one knows who Nagase Iori really is. In the end, I think everything’s boiling down to this revolving around Taichi. Iori’s finally opened up to Inaban, but in a way I really wish I hadn’t heard that monologue at all, because it cut really deep into my heart. Everything Iori said was essentially true – Inaban has been trying to act as the matchmaker on one side of things, yet also as a love rival, and it’s just gone off into a tangent where both rivals are wondering: to what extent can I act on my own feelings?

Man, that was depressing. On other fronts, it seems like Fuusen Kazura is going around to various members, trying to rile up their emotional state. Yui’s really grown – she’s very mentally mature now, and she’s now become strong! Admitting that she’s scared, but won’t run away is a good way to go about it, and it’s because of this mental security that Fuusen Kazura is losing interest in both Yui and Aoki. He wants people who are unstable and prone to emotional outbursts – someone like Himeko or Iori. I’ve also noticed that the CRC members are starting to be able to use the telepathy as a form of communication – it’s really useful at times, especially when situations are potentially dire like with Yui.

I shall end this post with an obligatory imouto picture, who the directors seem to want to randomly insert into every episode.

Pi921

Note: Episodes 16 and 17 are out, but it’s late over here and I’m tired – so I’ll do them tomorrow. Stay tuned!