Magic-kyun! Renaissance – Episode 4 [Dancing on the Moonlight]

Louis Anjo is the star of this week’s episode. We see that he’s a huge hit with the school’s female population, and he plays a game called “sexy basketball” with Kanato.

At the next committee meeting, Todo-sensei assigns everyone their roles, being sure to include the two still-missing students. Teika then takes over control of the meeting and he proceeds to explain what the Hoshi Festival usually looks like. He points out that all committee members will be required to attend, including the dance party at the end, of the main festival and therefore must learn how to dance. The committee members encourage Louis to teach Kohana how to dance, but Louis shies away from the idea.

Lacking a dancing instructor, Kohana checks out a book from the library and proceeds to start to teach herself the next day. Louis shows up out of the blue to give her a brief lesson, then takes off when Teika shows up at the lesson’s conclusion. Teika has some sharp words for Louis, who appears to just brush them off as he walks away laughing.

Kohana is angry with Teika, who fills in some of Louis’ past for Kohana. Teika, naturally, only knows what he sees as Louis’ peer: that Louis is a dancing prodigy but puts forth little effort into his studies. In reality Louis should have already graduated but was permitted to stay behind another year. Kohana is confused; she can tell from Louis’ sparkles that he must truly love dancing, even if Louis himself or anyone else says differently. So why does Louis not apply himself to his magical art?

Later Louis taste-tastes a new cake baked by his roommate, Rintaro, and asks his friend why he’s not attending the committee meetings. Rintaro dejectedly admits that he doesn’t have the time, and apparently has so much on his plate that he hasn’t even had time to work on his sculpture. These issues are not elaborated on and I’m assuming we’ll find out more details once it’s Rintaro’s turn to have an episode.

Louis spots some of Rintaro’s photos of some ballet dancers, and we get a flashback to Louis’ childhood, a time when he loved to dance. However we learn that his mother pushed and pushed Louis to always do better with his dancing so that he would win. She valued his life at nothing unless he was a good dancer. Then when Louis was a teenager, she up and abandoned him anyways, causing further damage to an already-struggling Louis.

Flash forward to when Louis was invited to join Hoshigei. The principal tells Louis that he only has to dance when he wants to dance, and Louis says he’ll never want to dance again. He is unable to recall his love of dancing without thinking of his mother’s cruel words.

We see that Louis will often say “Just kidding!” to take the sting out of his words when he says or thinks something personal. Such a habit is probably a coping mechanism, one that I share with Louis and can understand.

At the committee meeting the next day, Louis is further startled to hear Kohana’s comment about her ikebana: that more than anything, she loves to practice it. This is of course in stark contrast to Louis’ feelings about dancing.

There’s a short scene with Monet and Rintaro, where Monet shares his opinion that the two of them shouldn’t have to join the committee since they were assigned to it without their consent. Which is fair, but in which case they should speak up and make their feelings no before they waste more of the committee’s time, no?

Louis shows up later to give Kohana another spontaneous dancing lesson, and this time they definitely get a little closer to each other. Kohana learns quickly, and she’s encouraged by Louis’ beautiful feather sparkles.

Kohana’s kind words of gratitude cause Louis to have more flashbacks to himself as a child, to a time when he actually enjoyed dancing and was proud to learn new moves. Kohana tells him that he always looks graceful when he moves, like he’s dancing, and that she loves his sparkles.

This moment is the catalyst for Louis and Kohana to have their own “sparkles moment” as Louis’ insert song plays in the background. Kohana transforms into a formal dress and the two dance together in a ballroom. Afterwards Louis thanks her, saying her smile reminds him of the joy he felt when he was first learning to dance.

The next day, Louis and Kanato play sexy basketball for what Louis says will be the last time. Louis announces that he’s going to start dancing again, and while Kanato is admittedly disappointed over losing his basketball partner, he says he’s happy for his friend.

My thoughts: I feel like Louis’ experiences with his magical art were an interesting contrast to what has been the established norm for youth learning a magical art. Up until this point in the series, we’ve seen students happily use their magical arts at will. They’ve come from families where their skills and talents were lovingly encouraged to grow and develop, and Kohana was no exception.

Kohana came from a single-parent home, but her mother loved her and encouraged her to practice ikebana without pushing or pressuring her daughter. Kohana has memories of her mother being kind and loving, and when her mother left her it was due to circumstances beyond her control, not a choice.

Louis’ mother was the exact opposite of Sakura Aigasaki: she was demanding and verbally abusive, always expecting Louis to be the very best and if he fell short, then she made him feel like his life had no value. Furthermore his mother was so selfish that she up and willingly abandoned Louis. These behaviours are definitely abusive and obviously not conducive to a loving relationship between parent and child. Poor Louis.  ;~;

It looks like the next episode miiiight be Kanato’s turn, and if that’s the case then I’m excited because he’s my favourite bishounen so far and I like his personality. ^_~V