Moé Moé Rabu

Yuuichi heads to school in the afternoon, after leaving Makoto in Akiko’s care to meet up with Mishio. He tells her how Makoto won’t talk anymore, laugh, or get angry. The only person that she accepts is him, so he wants Mishio to meet with her. Agreeing to meet her, later Yuuichi brings Makoto out, and Mishio introduces herself. Yuuichi encourages her to go ahead, so she does into Mishio’s arms, and finds it comforting due to Mishio petting her. Mishio successfully gets Makoto to say her name and then Yuuichi’s, with him glad that she remembered. Although Mishio warns that it is only temporary and she will forget again soon, reminding him the next fever will be the end. With that Mishio tells Yuuichi to grant her anything that she wishes for.

Later that night, Yuuichi asks Makoto if there is anything that she wanted to do, but she doesn’t say anything except Auu’s. He ends up taking her out with Akiko and Nayuki to a family restaurant, having fun like a family. After dinner, Yuuichi suggests that they all go in a photo booth. But Makoto seemed hesitant at first, but Nayuki, Akiko and Yuuichi eventually coaxed her to join them in the photo. The rest of the evening, everyone is enjoying some Japanese sparklers, but as the night progresses, Makoto comes down with a fever. But the only thing that Yuuichi can do is hold her hand, and with Nayuki and Akiko there watching.

The next morning, Yuuichi is woken up by a slightly healthier Makoto. Asking her if she wants anything, but Yuuichi realises that she wants nothing more than him to be by her side, so he decides to read her favourite manga to her. Whilst reading to her, he also starts to reminisce the first time he met her. After finish reading the manga, he remembers how Makoto wanted to marry him. Taking Makoto downstairs, telling Akiko they are heading out for a while. Outside they find Mishio waiting for them. Walking along with them to school, Mishio says that she may be helpless, but this all she can do, whilst holding Makoto’s hand as she considers them to be friends. Arriving at school, Mishio takes her leave, asked to give a message to Nayuki from Yuuichi. During lunch, Nayuki comes out to play with Makoto but only for a short time. With Nayuki having to return to class, she also says that hopefully they can play again together again.

Alone with Makoto again, Yuuichi takes her to Monomi Hills where the two sit in the green field eating nikuman until it reaches sundown. Noticing that it is time, Yuuichi wakes Makoto up and presents to her a wedding veil, since he can’t buy a whole dress. Standing together, Yuuichi makes his vows to be with Makoto in sickness and in health, in good and bad times, for as long as they lived. Staring out to the city, Yuuichi believes he has granted her wish, but starts to question if that truly made Makoto happy, even though she hates him. He knows everyone loved her, and admits he loves her as well. If she had noticed, she should have been happy. But as he was saying to Makoto that they’ll be together forever, a strong wind blows the veil away and Makoto starts crying. Yuuichi, trying to tell her not to cry, since it’s a day of celebration, a day that they become a real family, but she doesn’t stop crying. So Yuuichi calms her down by letting her sit on his lap and by petting her. Turning her attention towards playing with the bells, Makoto is soon tired and closes her eyes. As her arm goes limp, she suddenly disappears, with the bells falling to the ground. Yuuichi realises what just happened and gets up, looking for Makoto in a snow covered field.

Only later does Yuuichi remember the time that they took the photo together and how Makoto said that she wanted spring to come and it to stay forever. At school, he is talking with Mishio once again. She believes that once spring, the kitsune will be running around again. A new life will be born and raised, surely appearing to seek the warmth of humans. There is no helping it since this is their nature. Mishio also suggests that half the city could be made up of the kitsune, and that they simply don’t notice that everyone isn’t human. Yuuichi thinks about this seriously, but Mishio assures him that she was only joking. She explains that if the kitsune were to gather together, they could produce an amazing miracle. Saying that it’s a dream and asks Yuuichi wouldn’t it be wonderful if candy fell from the sky. Yuuichi doesn’t think so as the candy would be dirty. But Mishio calls him too pragmatic, but Yuuichi in turn says that she is quite the day dreamer, and the two laugh it off. Yuuichi thinks that they were having the same dream and that they have now returned to reality. Mishio asks Yuuichi if a miracle could really occur, what he would wish for. He simply says that it’s obvious: Makoto sleeping in a warm green filed with Piro.

Preview:

Impressions

Just WOW! Where to start? Though I must admit it wasn’t as teary eyed as I thought, but it was still enough to pull a heart string. Just the general build up towards the end, with everyone saying their goodbyes to Makoto I think Yuuichi knew that her time was really near the end. With what Yuuichi said about everyone loving her is reinforced with those scenes. We even see a crying Akiko for a few seconds. Though with the scene of Makoto at the end of Piro gave the Makoto arc a very fulfilling ending.

Though I noticed a few differences in this compared to the Toei version. Mainly the part with the wedding veil, which if I recall correctly was not presented at all. I feel that this was an important factor in the series as it also portrays how Yuuichi felt about Makoto and that he would go this far to make Makoto happy. Another is the family dinner outing, where in the Toei version, they celebrated it as Makoto’s birthday. This issue I see as something more minor than the marriage as marriage has a larger impact when it comes to love and family.

Now with the Nayuki part, I really do feel sorry for her at this point. She has always been my favourite character ever since, and we are seeing the jealousy parts coming up. There have been small hints of it in earlier episodes but I think we won’t get to really good stuff till later in the series. Well next week, Nayuki meets Ayu, so perhaps we’ll see something more.

Also with the conclusion of the Makoto arc, we are moving onto the Mai arc. But what happens to Mishio at this point? Does she simply take a step of the stage never to be seen again (except for the occasional walk by)? I hope she doesn’t as she had some good character build up, better than the Toei version i assure you.

Kanon Merchandise of the Week

Since this week’s episode is the conclusion of the Makoto arc, I thought it would be fitting to show something Makoto related. What I have here is a Makoto artbook. Well not really an artbook, but it’s a collaboration of the game CG (and HCG) mixed together with interviews, facts, and some fanwork. It even comes with a poster. Though this book is only 1 out of 6 books from the Kanon Visual Fan Book. The other books I’ll show in other weeks.