Meiji Tokyo Renka Episode 11

….I honestly don’t know how to feel about this episode. It had a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand, my heart was both elated and in despair when Syunso finally expressed his feelings towards Mei. It’s hard to say whether or not she actually picked it up on the hidden meanings, but regardless she was there for him when he needed someone to be. Thanks to her earnest efforts of gathering the drawings he had cast into the winds, he was able to open his heart and share his fears and desires and what she means to him.

Without a doubt, this moment has to be my favourite scene of the entire series. There was so much feeling, and chemistry that I couldn’t help help but compare it to Ougai’s lacklustre showing. Another thing that was incredibly apparent to me, was the different of expression. Maybe I’m just forgetting this because Ougai x Mei has failed to leave an impression on me, but I can’t remember a single instance where Ougai truly expressed what Mei means to him. Syunso was able to do that without outright saying he was in love with her. Instead he described it as admiration for her, and how he wishes to preserve his feelings for her into her painting.

Syunso has been avoiding surgery because he’s afraid of the consequences if it were to fail. If succeeds, his sight will be restored, but if it fails, he will become immediately blind. Right now, while his vision has deteriorated significantly to the point he can barely make out what is in front of him, at least he can still see, but it’s still difficult for him to paint. While he tells himself he should give up, the truth is he doesn’t want to, and while he gains comfort in the darkness instead of seeing the blurry world of color, he is also terrified of it.

Overall, I thought the episode was okay, not the best but still passable. Ougai has grown on me since last week, and I am definitely finding him a lot more adorable (especially when he blushes, it’s precious). Again, it’s a shame that it took this long for his character to finally grow on me. On the other hand, what I didn’t like was how they concluded the case of the missing black cat. I don’t know about you, but it felt almost forced, or maybe rushed is a better word for it. It didn’t help how I feel confused about why the black cat suddenly reappeared beside Syunso. The only reason I can think of is that it’s because he finally expressed his true feelings instead of keeping it all bottled up inside. Regardless of what it was supposed to mean, I still think it could have been executed in a better way.

And then we have the final scene, where Mei makes a comment how the golden eyes reminds her of the moon, and all the sudden, it triggers a flood of both old and new memories (we haven’t seen before). The new memories all contain details/belongings in regards to all of the men she has met. We have never exactly seen her experience these memories, so it appears he had forgotten something important after-all, something which Charlie appears to have been waiting for. It will be interesting to see how this will influence her decision of whether or not she will stay or go.