Posts in Futakoi Alternative Category
June 30, 2005ネタバレ含有
Contains spoilers
So read after you watch, so on, so forth, etc. ;)
Skipping the opening this time, we go straight to a Sara monologue, speaking of the days past with Rentarou and Souju that won't return, of the happiness they had together. What would they be like if they hadn't met Rentarou? If...
A boatload of dignitaries is at the Wadatsumi castle in Germany to attend Sara and Kimihiko's wedding and someone is watching.. whoever it is ;) In the castle a group of squid mask wearing men watches the procedings on a big screen. The real reason behind the wedding is revealed -- Kimihiko and Sara are the perfect couple for them, and when they put the Ikaros wedding ring on it'll take the DNA from them for use in making even better squids than before. An auction begins...
Kimihiko walks in the room where Sara, now in a wedding dress, sits by herself crying. He's doing as (he thinks) her father said.. and he'll love her and make her happy. And so the wedding ceremony begins...
One of the Ikaros people speaks with the Sakurazuki boss, Zenji, about the redevelopment project. The real purpose lies underneath -- they'll build a factory to produce squids under the new development. Zenji seems to not be going along with the plan.. Outside, the owners of the shops that will be razed sit down in protest in front of bulldozers, while Kinoshita tries to talk them into giving up. But Gen-san decides to stand up and confront the looming bulldozers...
「このニコタマが好きだから！！」
by 弦さん
But the bulldozers turn into robots and start attacking...
1945. In the utmost secrecy, the Wadatsumi Group is conducting forbidden research -- the IKAROS project. Combining the DNA of humans and squids, they sought to build the ultimate warrior. And so was born イカファイヤー ika faiyaa, our friend the squid, who now terrorizes Nikotama once again.
Dirty Harry tries his hand at slaying the beast, but though he unloads a barrage of ammo into the squid, it doesn't faze it one bit. Now it's Rentarou's turn to take on the evil squid -- the squid still has a grudge against his father, so he'll take it out on everything Rentarou loves. His office, the people who work at the shops, and finally... Souju and Sara. Rentarou's not going to let things repeat themselves again, so he hops on a bike and takes off in pursuit of the squid. He gives a call to Souju, who's watching the action on TV along with Gen-san and Midori-san. He'll definitely be back... not so the two of them can be together. So the three of them -- him, Souju, and Sara, can be together. So he continues his pursuit...
After being posed the question "How will you protect her [Souju]?" by a big guy from Kimihiko Mitsugi's company, Shimojima -- that can't have been a pleasant feeling for Rentarou, reaching for rinse and instead getting one zou-san (^^;) -- Rentarou answers that he'll protect her, but he once again falls down pretty low this time. With the office burned down and no work, he dresses up in a bear suit and hands out flyers protesting the redevelopment of the area by Zenji -- Kira and Yura seem to have been unable to bring their dad back to his good old ways, so they pack up and leave -- and then an old friend shows up. His dad's old nemesis, the squid, comes back and gives him a beating down using his Sasuke copycat fire no jutsu. Even the squid says Rentarou's useless. After going back, Gen-san and Midori and the rest throw a party celebrating Rentarou's 2nd anniversary as a detective and he parties along... but he forgot something important -- Souju had asked him to search for her, once again as he did 2 years ago. He rides to her, crashing on his motorcycle but still going on despite being hurt badly. That evening... the town is in flames as the squid once again terrorizes Nikotama.
And it seems Rentarou has gotten his confidence back and will stand up and fight, just like his dad did. This time really did feel like a repeat of what happened in the past, with Rentarou turning into a loser for a bit again, Souju asking him to search for her again, and the squid coming back again. But what's he going to do about getting Sara back? Perhaps this battle with the squid would be the opportunity for things to happen... from what I've read, this episode was the last of the "losing happy days" arc, and next time Rentarou and Sara and Souju will start to get those happy days back. Supposedly with a ton of action, which should please those who've been waiting for it :)
There aren't any "ifs"... that's what Rentarou tries to convince himself of this time, as he and Souju are separated from Sara. Sara went off on her own to Kimihiko, seemingly to become his fiancee, so Souju could stay with Rentarou. Just like Sara to go off and do things on her own... Kimihiko and Rentarou decide to cut off all contact between themselves... Souju and Rentarou try to have fun together -- the whole shopping cart race in the grocery store was rather amusing -- but it's pretty easy to see that they're not really enjoying themselves. And to add to the list of problems... the office burns down, leaving them with nothing. Even though Rentarou doesn't want to ask "if", he still wonders -- if they could fly would they be able to become happy? If he had slept with Sara and Souju would they have been able to be happy together? Everyone ends up in tears at the end this time...
And the ending is much too effective, so much so as to bring a tear to your eye, once again this time. I was happy to see Souju get some good time in to show off, but since it wasn't really fun in the end, "happy" isn't quite the word to use here. They really pounded home the whole "3 of us have to be together" theme this time... Well, I asked for drama and I got my drama, done very well to say the least, especially in the past few episodes.
This whole depressing segment is supposed to be resolved in the next couple of episodes, so we'll see how Sara, Souju, and Rentarou will be able to bring themselves back together. And after that... a return to the insanity of the first episode, or so I hear ;)
Quickly, since I'm behind again...
The mood between Rentarou and Sara/Souju isn't as lively as it was before.. The day marked "Don't forget" on the calendar, Sara and Souju's birthday, is the next day. Rentarou goes off to the store to buy some presents for Sara/Souju, and when he arrives back at the office, that man who tried to call him a few episodes back is there to speak with him. He's Mitsugi Kimihiko, guardian of Sara/Souju, also CEO and many other things of a large company. He's appreciative of Rentarou for stepping in and being what he couldn't be, and letting Sara/Souju be themselves.. but... he's fiance to them.. well, one of them in the end. On their 16th birthday he has to choose one or the other or else he'll lose all the authority he has. Sara/Souju's mother and father died, leaving them by themselves, so their father thought this would be the best way for them to become happy...
Rentarou spends one last night with Sara/Souju, finally realizing what they were afraid of. He brings a birthday cake to have a party, but the mood never really changes. He tells them he met Kimihiko, and heard all. Everything they told him was a lie... Why did they come to him? What is he to them? He's just Rentarou, nothing more. Sara repeats her invitation from earlier... 抱いて... Rentarou says no, saying that it won't change a thing. When he goes to the other side of the bookcase, they're gone, already on their way to the bus stop. Rentarou chases after them in the rain... Sara leaves Souju behind, saying she'll get something to warm her up, but that's not the case. Sara thinks she'll be okay since she's strong. She can do it on her own...
If Rentarou had known everything, would he have been able to be with them as he had? If he had known everything, would he...
We end with a piano/vocal arrangement of "Bokura no Jikan", along with a new claymation of a "memories" book, fitting for this time. So, that's what they were afraid of.. Kimihiko seems like a nice enough guy, but seeing what life was for them before and after meeting Rentarou, it's easy to understand why they'd want to stay with him. And wow, that was a pretty straight pitch from Sara. Just like her to come out and say something like that ;) And just like her to try and fix everything on her own, protecting Souju... As for Rentarou.. seems he's lost all the confidence he has in himself, just like he was before meeting Sara/Souju.
Next time, it looks like we'll get to the "Sara ga..! Sara ga..!" part that was shown in the preview trailer. The episode title is "Futakoi", which would make you think that some very important stuff is going to be brought up. Hopefully we won't be stuck in this sad rut until the end, hopefully the three of them will be able to live together in happiness...
(Added May 27): Keep on reading for a translation of the ending. Really fits well with everything that went on this time.
Sara and Souju look through a phonebook, seemingly for a detective. They don't have time, so they have to find a place soon or... They find Rentarou's dad, Ainosuke's, office...
However, Rentarou's dad died. The only memento of him Rentarou keeps is a lighter with 愛 (also the first character of 愛之助 Asinosuke) written on it. After he quit college everyone thought he'd follow in his dad's footsteps and become a detective, but he's not sure what to do as the winter comes. He remembers his father's words: "What are you doing to do?". But one day, Sara and Souju show up, asking him to do a job for them. He tells him that his father died and he's not really doing things now.. Sara says that if he can solve their case, he should become a detective, otherwise don't.
Sara was like that from the beginning. Change to a scene with Sara and Souju in a bathhouse with a rather crazy looking person with a big gun pointed at them who rambles on about putting metaphysics ahead of physical science and using the 90% of the human brain that's not utilized, so on (with Beethoven's 5th playing). Rentarou's there as well, underwater. Sara waits for her chance to come. The commotion outside gives her that chance, and she jumps out of the bath, unleashing a rather strong kick. Sara's always been like that ;)
Quickly summarizing since I'm behind... Sara, Souju, and Rentarou head to a luxurious onsen hotel out in the middle of nowhere in a town called... wait for it... Futagozuka (that sounds familiar, doesn't it?). Actually, it's where Rentarou's mom is from.. His mom died when he was young so he didn't really know her or anything.. Kaoruko and Sumireko work as mikos at a nearby shrine, and you bet they're happy to see Rentarou-chan when he comes. He doesn't remember who they are at first... after his mother's funeral, he comforted Kaoruko and Sumireko, telling them he'd marry them when they grew up... it's the old childhood promise thing again ;) Sara and Souju are not happy with it, but more than that, an important day is coming up... they get in the onsen with Rentarou, then embrace him.. but something happens and after Sara gives Rentarou a nice hard smack they run off. Rentarou has no clue what's going on...
Kaoruko and Sumireko find Sara and Souju and apologize for intruding... Sara cries.. once they turn 16 (the circled day on the calendar is their birthday) they won't be able to be with Rentarou anymore... Rentarou rushes home to find Souju and Sara there.. he still doesn't know what's going on.. Sara suggests they continue what they were doing at the onsen...
Whatever that means... now, why exactly do Sara and Souju have to leave Rentarou when they're 16?... and who is the guy that was calling Rentarou and who came to the office to talk to him? Too many questions and I have no idea where they're going with things... which makes things quite interesting, doesn't it? ;) We'll see if some of this mystery is unraveled next time. It seems we'll see what went on two years ago when Rentarou met Sara and Souju.
And...
たたりじゃ！双子塚のたたりじゃ！
It's the curse! It's the curse of the Futagozuka!
I just about fell out of my chair when I heard Lulu and Lala say that. And there was actually a Futagozuka there.. looks like ufotable had a bit of fun at the other Futakoi's expense ;)
Monday
Rentarou thinks of taking Sara and Souju somewhere as he prepares their coffee, but once he turns around.. they've eaten his most favorite pastry. But it looked yummy, they say. And now Rentarou's motivation to work has gone way down ;) But there's no work to do..
Sara goes out, taking pictures of seemingly random things. Back at the office, Souju plays a Daisy Fitzgerald song on the guitar while Rentarou rests. And while he sleeps they disappear. From time to time they'll do that, going away for a couple of days without any way to get in touch with them. But this time, it ended up being longer than that...
Tuesday (one week later)
Rentarou goes to the Chigusa twins', Ui and Koi's, pet shop for a job. Some rather interesting animals in their shop to say the least... There's a lost dog they want him to find, so he takes the job since that's all there is. He gets all the necessary preparations done for looking for a lost dog, then tries to call Sara and Souju. No response... Rentarou goes around putting up the lost dog flyers he made at various places around the town. He goes home and crashes, listening to a Daisy Fitzgerald record (yes, a record) he bought..
Since some of y'all who watched Futakoi Alternative probably aren't familiar with the twins who appeared, and even some who watched Futakoi might not know so much about the the twins, so I'll introduce them here and tell y'all how to differentiate each set. As more twins are introduced in the show I'll do the same here ;) I'm getting most of the information here from the Futakoi Visuals book (definitely a good buy if you're a Futakoi fan).
桜月キラ＆ユラ Sakurazuki Kira & Yura
Sakurazuki Kira & Yura are the ojou-san of the Futakoi twins, coming from a rich family. They're 2nd year middle school students.
