Brothers Conflict: [Episode 10]

So Kaname isn’t actually a priest but apart of a Monk-themed Host Club? Legit. I’m glad that was cleared up because I was wondering if Kaname didn’t feel even an iota of shame with his double standard. But he’s just a pretend monk. It’s a bit sexy when you think about the entire prospect of it. I liked this episode. It’s a bit weird, as this anime is coming to a close, things are getting a bit better when it comes to Ema, her brothers and the entire atmosphere of the anime.

Three episodes are left and it doesn’t seem Ema is making any moves to choose a brother to have a relationship with. Choose Natsume, I begs. And even if it ends and she chooses no one, I shall take my ships to the land of fan fiction and pour my soul into creating possibilities for Ema and the brothers of my choice (Natsume, Azusa, Yuusuke, Kaname and Tsubaki are the only ones I care about. Subaru might get a one-shot snickers bad pun, I know.).

I REALLY enjoy Hikaru’s character and role as a bit of an antagonist. He knows about his brothers’ feelings for Ema and teases them about it whenever he has the opportunity. He gave most of the laughs, for me, and both Natsume’s and Azusa’s reactions to his questions were absolutely hilariously – especially Natsume, with his spitting coffee all over the steering wheel. These people have absolutely no skills in hiding anything, especially Ema – she was just blushing and stammering; it was all cute, really.

The family took a trip, on Kaname’s invitation, to a festival, hosted by Club Buddha. Both Louis and Yuusuke were absent from the trip. I was a little disappointed that Yuusuke was absent for most of this episode but he has exams to study for. On the trip, she met the leader of Club Buddha, who happens to be a real monk and sensed Ema’s worry about the contradiction between family love and intimate love. His advise to her is to just go through the conflict the way she is; because family will not be broken by it.

She took his advice and when she was finally with the brothers, she told them that she wanted them to be more of a family. And I’m sure all of them got the subliminal message I’ve already made a note of the few who will still want to pursue her.

Fuuto being the first. I still haven’t warmed up to his character and this little scene here did nothing to ease me into his character. He started to unbutton her top. No, Fuuto. Just no. Stop. Go away. He has a very creepy way of doing things and it is neither cute nor excusable. I really cannot appreciate his character and I almost wish Ema wasn’t such a heavy sleeper to catch him in the act. But then…probably he’d just have continued anyway.

Subaru also made an appearance in this episode, I actually missed him. He told her about a team, associated with Japan’s pro league, that wants to recruit him; but if he went ahead then he wouldn’t be able to see her. Ema told him she doesn’t want him to come between him and basketball; that she wouldn’t want him to make any choices he would later regret which brought some level of satisfaction to Subaru now that he had her opinion and could think about making the right choice.

Kaname is such a tease!! I really wanted him to kiss her but Ema already has enough on her plate so his cheek kiss is fine. And I’m STILL not sure if Kaname truly carries feelings for her or if he just loves being a tease for the hell of it.

The best part of the episode was the last part, when Masaomi took Ema to visit her parents’ graves.

I really liked this ending, it got me a little teary-eyed for some reason (family always touches a soft spot). I do wish that they had saved this for the last episode. I really think it would have been a nice climax to the series. Ema finally going to her parents’ graves, seeing Rintarou and her step-mom again and finding her complete sense of belonging within the family. It would be a perfect climax.