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| What answers lie in the pages of this book? |
A generally uneventful episode with small bits of character development. Main parts of the episode are Jinta's interaction with Anaru and their trip to Menma's house (with Poppo). Hoping that this is just a build-up to future episodes and that they will be more entertaining than this. However, Ano Hana has delivered well so far and a bad episode here and there won't affect my opinion that much. With that being said, I'm still expecting better episodes than this one, with more drama and plot twists that make viewers keep guessing. With an interesting story that was executed extremely well, the question now is can Ano Hana finish off what it started?
After the events of the last episode, Jinta can't help but question the existence of Menma. His thoughts eventually go back to that fateful day - the day he called Menma ugly by accident. Her smiling face after he insulted her still haunts him to this day, constantly making him want to apologize. Thinking about it more didn't help much as the conclusion he came up with was to go to school so he can grant Menma's "wish". For those people who forgot about it, Menma had once told Jinta that her "wish" was for him to go to school. After his first attempt of going back to school was ruined by Anaru's stupid friends, Jinta must be mentally prepared this time in order to succeed. So the next morning, Jinta heads to school. As for Menma, she thinks back to the day before when Poppo spouted his random ideas about her existence being caused by her inability to attain nirvana.
When he finally reaches school, Jinta decides that he will remain calm and not think too much about it. After he says that, he ironically hears two guys talking about how girl came to school like "nothing" happened. So much for thinking about "nothing". Shortly after, Anaru walks by with a teacher and I instantly knew what the "nothing" was. Before following the teacher somewhere else, she spots Jinta in the crowd of onlookers. In class, things were no different. Everywhere he turned, people were gossiping about Anaru. Even though there were some people who noticed his presence, Anaru's "actions" were the center of attention. This whole situation was new to Jinta who has always been the victim of gossip because of his horrible attendance. As the gossiping continues, it became more and more obvious that the other students were talking about Anaru's encounter with the perverted guy from the last episode. Suddenly, the teacher comes in to the room, silencing the students. After him was Anaru, who walked silently to her desk. As the teacher began his lesson, Jinta is amazed at how Anaru is able to take notes despite the circumstances. However, he soon realizes that she was writing down cries of distress in her notebook, claiming that everything was a misunderstanding. Even during the lesson, the gossiping continued, escalating to the point where Anaru could barely take it anymore. Seeing his friend suffer made Jinta extremely angry so he decided to confront the whole class about it, despite his inability to communicate well. At first, the nervousness in his voice was very noticeable but as he went further in his rant, he emphatically states that Anaru would never go as low as prostitution. After defending her brilliantly, he gets carried away and starts telling the class some of her personal information like her hobbies but gets stopped by her before he could embarrass her more. She then drags him out of class with her, finally able to escape the gossip-filled classroom.
After the two end up in a nearby park, Anaru takes the opportunity to thank Jinta for bravely defending her but not before laughing at how stupid he sounded. While he was unaffected by her insults, her words of appreciation sure got a reaction out of him. He then advises her to go home since he thinks her mother must be worried about her. However, she believes that her mother would be angry with the rumors and runs away instead, ignoring his advice. It turns out that, of all places that she could've run away to, she decides to choose the secret base, much to Poppo's dismay. She even offers to clean up the place and unknowingly picks up a few Poppo's pornography magazines until he tells her not to touch them. Her reaction is a typical girl's scream of disgust. The two guys wisely get out of the secret base before Anaru can lecture them about the magazine. All of a sudden, Poppo suggests that they go to Menma's house in an attempt to get a clue about her wish. After some convincing, Jinta reluctantly agrees. In the end, only Jinta, Poppo and Anaru head to Menma's house because Yukiatsu and Tsuruko are apparently busy with midterm exams. Along the way, Jinta once again wonders whether going to Menma's house is a good idea or not. This time, it is Anaru who convinces him that it is a good opportunity to burn some incense for Menma. When they get there, Menma's mother gladly welcomes them in, saying that Menma would be happy that they all came. Inside, they each take turns to remember Menma. During that time, Jinta notices that something was troubling Menma's mother but didn't ask her about it. Later, the three visit Menma's empty room, which must have caused Jinta to remember something because he looked shocked when he saw it.
Meanwhile, Tsuruko had just refused to be the messenger of a girl who wanted to confess to Yukiatsu but was afraid to do it directly. This caused the girl to call Tsuruko stuck-up, saying that the only reason she refused is because she likes Yukiatsu and is lucky enough to always by his side. Shortly after, Yukiatsu appears, looking more happy than usual, and scares off the girl who thought Yukiatsu saw the whole thing. Tsuruko, who looked jealous at how easily Yukiatsu can talk to people, leaves first with Yukiatsu close behind. After getting on a train home, the two end up talking a bit. At the end, they remembered that on "that day" (I'm not sure which day they are talking about but I think it's the day of Menma's death), Menma called them to the secret base because she wanted some advice. This memory caused their conversation to stop suddenly as the two start thinking about it. While that is going on, the other three had just left Menma's house with her diary in hand. It turns out that Menma's father had cleaned up her room after her death because he didn't believe in dwelling upon her memory. Her mother, on the other hand, did not think that way and decided to lend them Menma's diary which was kept away inside a box in the closet. On the way home, Anaru ironically commented on how mothers must really care about their children. Poppo quickly caught the irony in her words and made her decide to go home. After she leaves, Jinta decides to leave to but not before telling Poppo not to read the diary without him. After he leaves, Poppo is left there like a loner. While eating dinner, Jinta reveals to Menma that they went to see her mother today. At that moment, Menma starts taking all the food on the table way, surprising him. Through many tears, she tells him that she is the reason for making her mother sad and that reminding her mother of her makes it worse. Having had enough of her selfless attitude, Jinta starts raging, telling Memna to think for herself a bit more instead of trying to please everyone else. At the most intense part of the scene, Jinta ends up getting a nosebleed which instantly eliminates the atmospheric tension. I found that part stupid and unnecessary. Anyways, Jinta then decides to run off to the secret base for a while, giving him and Menma time to think about what just happened. There, he finds Anaru changing which made his nose bleed again, much to my amusement. Now if only this nosebleed was shown, it would be more fitting. Like in a romantic comedy, Anaru then starts chasing him out of the secret base out of embarrassment by throwing anything she can find at him. With that, the episode ends on a slightly lighter tone than usual. However, the question of what actually happened "that day" still needs to be answered. Judging from the next episode preview, Menma's diary will be opened next episode, with the contents possibly answering some questions viewers may have. Looking forward to it.
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