This episode is our introduction to Monet Tsukushi, also known as the “Monochrome Prince” around campus. He’s a quiet, reserved guy who uses his artista to paint, as you might guess, only in black and white.
Although she doesn’t yet know him, Kohana’s first introduction to Monet is when one of his rare colour drawings, which had been blown away by a “mischievous wind”, flies into her face. She can see his sparkles and she of course thinks that the picture is beautiful.
At the committee meeting later, Todo-sensei tells all the members that in order to perform artista displays with another person, they must “make their hearts one.” This would involve things like sychronizing their breathing, which the committee decides they should start practicing immediately.
Kohana is a klutz like me, so I can sympathize with her having difficulty with each practice exercise. They first try blowing up balloons (hers gets so large it pops), then they try swinging slippers (her rhythm is off), and then they try bamboo-shoot squats. Monet has wandered by at this point and is giving them a “WTF…?” look, along with his cute hedgehog pet Rin.
The last exercise Teika gives them to try is volleyball. They’re going to volley the ball to each other as many times as they can without allowing it to touch the ground. Naturally when it’s Kohana’s turn her hit goes wild, and the ball flies over to Monet. He gives it back, but the interaction between him and Kohana is enough time for the committee to ask him why he hasn’t joined yet (he’s leaving very soon to study abroad). Louis asks him if he could at least make a drawing they can use for the cover of their festival pamphlet, and Monet is about to say no when he realizes Rin is missing.
Everyone searches high and low for the little hedgehog, but it’s Kohana who finds him inside the building where they hold their meetings, relaxing on his back next to one of Kohana’s ikebana displays. Whew! Kanato teases that Kohana’s ikebana displays apparently have the ability to draw animals to them, although I’m not sure if he’s joking or being serious. Rin takes to Kohana immediately, and it’s this reaction which seems to convince Monet to make a drawing for the Hoshi Festival pamphlet cover after all.
The pamphlet’s theme is the Artista Stairs, so Monet makes his drawing a literally sketch of the stairs. Kohana and Kanato find Monet while he’s working, and Kohana accidently shoves her foot in her mouth by asking Monet when he’ll be adding colour to his drawing. Monet leaves, a little miffed, and Kohana feels awful for her mistake.
Kohana later finds the scene Monet had used for the drawing she found, and this is where Rin and Monet find her. Kohana apologizes again, and shows him his drawing that had come to her on the wind. Despite some baited words from Monet, Kohana tells him that she thinks his drawing is truly beautiful. He’s still not impressed with her opinion though, and he leaves, saying he’ll have the final drawing ready for the committee very soon.
The school principal comes to Monet later as he’s working, seemingly wanting to confirm some details about Monet’s upcoming school transfer. For the first time Monet appears to have some regrets about leaving, but he says nothing to the principal.
The next day, the committee is practicing their volleyball training exercise again. They’re doing very well, but Kohana continues to make mistakes. Nonetheless they all support her and resume the exercise. Monet and Rin have wandered by again, so of course the ball goes flying towards them, and just when it looks like the ball is about to hit Rin, Monet volleys the ball back towards the group. And not just once, but twice! It’s when Monet and Kohana both try to hit the ball at the same time (making their hearts one I guess) that their magic kicks in and the two are transported to a vast field of flowers.
Monet takes Kohana’s hand, and together the two run through the flowers, leaping into the air. After they land, they lie together in the flowers and watch all the flower petals blow about.
We see afterwards that Monet has added colour to his sketch of the Artista Stairs, and it’s an amazingly gorgeous drawing now. Over at the committee house Monet has shown up for the next meeting, and he’s brought someone along – his cousin Rintaro! Now at last, all of the committee members have joined. Imagine what they can accomplish now!
My thoughts: I’ve never personally been a fan of the cool, reserved type when it comes to men, and I think that’s why I didn’t absolutely love this episode like I have with the others.
If you’re wondering what the differences between Aoi and Monet are, I feel like Monet has an awareness that Aoi doesn’t. For example when Aoi was working so hard he was literally ignoring Kohana, he didn’t do it intentionally, he was just so focused on his task. Whereas when Monet initially turned down the committee’s request for him to do a drawing for their pamphlet cover, he knew that he could help them but he chose not to.
And at the risk of sounding too much like a whiner, I found the change between normal-Monet and magic-Monet (when he and Kohana were taken to the field of flowers) to be too drastic. Suddenly he was all happy and smiling, a complete 180 from his usual personality. I guess he was happy because he could see colour again, and that could account for the changes in his personality, but I dunno. *shrug* I guess I prefer characters who have a more natural, postive personality, like Kohana, Louis or Kanato.
That being said, I was really glad to see that Monet decided to do the pamphlet drawing in color after all, and even happier that he dragged Rintaro with him to meet the festival committee. I thought it would take longer to get everyone together, so I’m curious what new challenges lie ahead for the committee with half of the season left.
Although if Monet is going to be attending the committee meetings now, what does that mean for his school transfer? Has that been cancelled now? I hope that gets addressed in a future episode. (Unless it’s assumed that the transfer is cancelled and I’m just being oblivious. xD )
Author’s Note: I apologize for this review being slightly delayed, I wasn’t feeling very well this week. Next week’s review will be out on time.