I really appreciate getting a flashback episode. Some people may have thought it was a little much, but I felt that it was necessary for the rest of the story to know who these characters are and this episode did that well. And yes I know the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Lalalalala was annoying to hear over and over. Let’s just get that out of the way and actually talk about the episode.
We know that music and singing are very important for Nino. But in this episode we learned why and when she put on a facemask, and just how lonely she was as a child. She had been friends with Momo for a very long time and they were the best of friends, holding hands walking to school and walking home from school, singing Kira kira hikaruuuu~ the whole time. And at night they would open their windows and sing the exact same song. Some of the kids would make fun of them holding hands, but Momo as the cool kid he was, just brushed it off and told off Baldy that no girl wanted to be near him. Momo also stood up for Nino when the kids were making fun of her singing in class. Momo said she wasn’t annoying, it’s not bad, and that she just just keep singing. Nino said something interesting in that all the kids think it’s annoying that she sings all the time, but she also mentioned that her mother thought it was annoying too.
Now, we didn’t get much of Nino’s mother this episode. She appeared a few times and through those scenes she just seemed like a calm loving mother. She told her daughter Momo moved away but said she’ll see him again, she consoled her daughter when she was screaming in her room, and she looked fine when she walked with Momo’s mother as the kids walked to school singing. I certainly do want to know more about Nino’s home life as she mentioned her mother’s annoyance toward her singing. We didn’t get any of that this episode but we might see more of that soon. It could maybe explain why Nino is such a shy and reserved girl who’s always unsure of herself. Or maybe that could also be explained by her dependence on Momo all the time. But without Momo, it was like Nino couldn’t be herself. So, to keep herself from this suffocating feeling, Nino put on a facemask to keep herself from screaming her frustrations out. Which is worrying as she started doing that in elementary school. Little kids shouldn’t be feeling like that, so I wonder if there are other mental issues with Nino that haven’t been shown and explained yet.
After Momo suddenly moving, it’s then that Nino suddenly meets with Yuzu. And god he was a cute kid. He gets mad at Nino for stepping on the musical score he drew on the sand but then when he hears her singing he falls in love and doesn’t mind. Yuzu was another very important person in Nino’s life. Again, singing and music seem to be very important to her and having another friend sharing her love for music made her all happy again. And singing that Lalala tune made all those horrible feelings within her to disappear for awhile.
Yuzu believes that if Nino keeps singing like she does, her voice will reach Momo and hearing that makes her happy. But then she’s immediately discouraged when the same Baldy at school makes fun of her and says that what Yuzu said is crap, so she runs to the beach and just starts screaming. Again, it worries me and made me sad that a little girl like her can have so much negative emotion to make her scream like that. Thankfully Yuzu was there to comfort and sing to her with the same Lalala tune, the only time that song didn’t annoy me this episode because it was a sweet scene. Yuzu suddenly leaves just like Momo, but Nino continues to sing the same song and believes in the words Yuzu said to her, and that leads us to the present time. When it comes to Yuzu, we still get a bit of mystery with him. He says that he can’t sing, he doesn’t go to a school, and then he just disappears. In the ED we see Yuzu in what looks like a hospital bed, so I’m betting that he has some sort of chronic disease concerning his esophagus or something around that area and if he sings it’ll just make his condition worse. It could be just a disease, or it could be as bad as cancer, we don’t know, this is just speculating on my part. But he’s in high school right now so whatever illness he may have, it must be in a more stable condition.
Back in the present, the club got no punishment and didn’t get disbanded. That Miou girl sent someone a recording of Nino’s voice from the concert, I think to the manager of in NO hurry (or whatever they’re called). Don’t know what for, but Nino seems to fit their image. Also, Yuzu finds Nino at the beach and says he’ll keep making music for Nino to sing so that her voice will finally reach Momo, but deep down in his heart he wishes that they’ll never find each other.
Looks like the love triangle will be more complicated with that Miou girl and the blonde guy from the band. I’m not sure what Miou was doing, don’t know if it’ll be good or bad. I really like Yuzu, and if Momo is still the same guy as he was as a kid, then I like him too. I feel like I understand Nino a little bit more too. All in all, I thought this was a good episode. The singing was a little annoying I admit, the repetition of it and other things (“Momo, Momo, Momo!”), maybe a little too dramatic at some points, but this is shoujo and I’m so used to seeing these tropes that I don’t care because I’m liking this series so far.
But…maybe they can sing a new song instead of the La la la one? Or at least add lyrics and instruments to that tune.
