“No matter how bad I am, no matter how much you hate me, the past would still belong to me.”
Synopsis: After Yokodera kisses Azuki Azusa to save his and hers’ lives, she falls even more in love with him and begins taking drastic measures to keep his attention fixated on her. Tsukiko is worried about Yokodera’s past, Tsukushi is worried about hers and Tsukiko’s futures and the Cat God is creating yet more trouble for Yokodera.
Impression:
HenNeko is easily my favorite show from the Spring 2013 season. Full stop. This episode possessed a potent and well delivered mixture of hilarity and seriousness that created an awesome atmosphere and kept me on my toes at all times. I do have on question however… just what is the Cat God and how strong is it? What is the extent of it’s powers? Does it move from body to body at will or is it now permanently ‘stored’ within Ponta’s rabbit’s body? So many questions… two episodes to go… I don’t think my heart can take it.
Azuki Azusa. I want more of you my darling blonde haired princess! I was on the rocks about this girl when she was first introduced… and now I’m infatuated. I guess I have a thing for flat chested girls who look like they’re 8 years old and flash their panties shamelessly? Paedo? How dare you! But I digress, I was expecting a serious shit storm to erupt after last weeks kiss… and there was nothing. Zilch. So what if Azusa is now completely in love with Youto? I thought we established that several episodes even if it wasn’t to this extent. It saddens me still because I know that Youto and Azusa will never end up together… this world is too cruel. And what is it with honey covered lemons as an after exercise snack in Japan?! I’ve seen them in almost every anime and I’ve always wondered y’know? It sounds way too sickly/sour to be nice… But what would I know, eh? Oh! And one last thing about Azusa: Will she be brushed aside from now on? Now that one of her main arcs is over does this mean she’s gone? Forever doomed to be a cheerleader flashing her panties? I hope not.
Emi… might as well have not been in this episode. What was her role? To tell Youto to go home? Good job. Whilst she needn’t have been physically present, I did think that the photo of her and Youto together was important. All the time Tsukiko was going on about how she’s sad about how she hadn’t (supposedly) know Youto the longest I was expecting him to give a ‘it doesn’t matter how long I’ve known each of you, you’re the one I love the most’ speech but I guess we’ll have to wait until either the next or the final episode to see how that unravels?
And before we talk about either Tsukiko or Tsukushi I’d like to talk about their parents and Youto’s selective amnesia. At this point it’s obvious that the Cat God has everything to do with Tsukiko’s parents and the loss of Youto’s memories (hence the evil Cat God laugh when Youto has his ‘flashback’). I’m still a firm believer in the fact that Tsukiko’s father isn’t what he seems. Those pictures of him and Tsukiko’s mother? Why is his face blurred out? And why does he have the same hair style as Youto? It’s all too suspicious… Did Tsukiko wish for Youto’s creation in her fathers image? Or are the pictures of Tsukiko’s mother and father actually pictures of Youto and Tsukiko? I’m so confused! Speculation is fun!
Speculation aside, Tsukiko. Tsukiko has been taking somewhat of a backseat role in the last few episode and her ‘role’ hasn’t really changed by much in episode 10. Not much has been done for her in the way of character development and that worries me… but on the other hand the next two episodes are definitely going to be all about her, which is great! Whilst I’m curious to find out just how far back Youto and Tsukiko go (because we all know that she’s definitely the one with the most history with him), I’m also curious to see if she’ll ever get her emotions back… although I think Tsukushi ate them several episodes ago? That sounds weird when I write it out…
Tsukushi’s dilemma! Does she go to Italy or not? No. She’s not going to go. And if she does, she’s not going to take Tsukiko with her. Tsukiko’s the freaking main character! Ain’t no way she’s disappearing… unless it’s one of those ambiguous ending disappearances where the character returns for a second season? I have nothing else to say about ‘Tsukushi’s dilemma!’ so let’s move on…
On one final note I’d like to talk about this shows brand of humor. Usually in anime it’s all about the ‘situational humor’, this show isn’t completely about that. Sure there’s some situational humor (like the sudden appearance of Tsukiko behind Youto and the scene where Youto steals the running team’s vice-captains bra) but the rest of it is simply well delivered lines, lines that are actually comical (like the translation of the vice-captains rhetoric) and brighten the show up… it’s refreshing y’know? And speaking of bright things… I LOVE THE ARTWORK! I don’t know how many more times I’ve got to say this but I love it! It’s beautiful. The character designs are amazing and are true to the light novel, the scenery is awesome (as in literally awesome) and the color scheme is vibrant, crisp and clear. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
To conclude, HenNeko is amazing. Comical, serious and exciting, this is the one show this season that I genuinely look forwards to EVERY week and in my eyes that’s quite the feat. With Youto and Tsukiko’s ‘wish’ being granted and their being sent back in time, I can only wait joyfully for episode 11, the penultimate episode. What convoluted plot will be drawn up in episode 11? I guess we’ll have to wait a week to find out… Oh! And what’s up with this episode’s title? ‘The Longest’? The longest what?
Preview:
Based on the current conflict: I think it leans towards ‘knowing Yokodera the longest,’ in which case Tsukiko wants to fill that role as it was believed by her to be her only advantage over the other girls. Does that make more sense?