Josh’s Anime Blog

It’s episode 10, and it’s time for the next girl’s story arc: Kotomi, the genius girl. Okazaki quickly finds out that she has no real world experience and decides to give her some.

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The highlights of this episode:

• The girl and the robot stand in a field filled with light, in the world with to birth and no death. The robot containing the boy’s spirit finds the lights weird, but not the field and the sky, but can’t remember why one seems odd but not the others.
• On his way to school with Nagisa, Okazaki nearly (or actually does) get run over by Kyou’s bike. After seeing how close the pair are when they ask if each other is OK, Kyou asks them if they’re dating. Of course, both Okazaki and Nagisa denies this. Okazaki then ponders when he DID start calling Nagisa by her first name. Then both of them almost remember Fuko, but can’t quite.
• Okazaki decides to see if Kotomi is interested in the theater club, and brings her to meet Nagisa after school. When Okazaki remarks that Nagisa should tell Kotomi that they’ll “shed the tears of youth together,” Kotomi asks if she has to cry. Nagisa tells her that if there is a part that requires it, she does, but Kotomi says that she doesn’t want to cry.
• While Okazaki walks Kotomi home that afternoon, they stop by a bookstore. There, Kotomi sees something in a book she likes, and then tries to cut it out with a pair of scissors. Okazaki is able to stop her and chides her, and gets Kotomi to buy the books instead. After Kotomi doesn’t really understand why this is a problem, Okazaki decides that Kotomi needs to learn to socialize with others.
• Okazaki’s first target is Kyou, but she just blow the situation off, saying that it’s weird to be asked to be someone’s friend. However, Kyou does mumbled regretfully to herself that another rival has now appeared against “her.”
• Nandeyanen
• Next up is Ryou, who decides that she’ll read Kotomi’s fortune, and ends up reading that Kotomi won’t have luck finding any friends. However, Ryou tries to smooth things over by saying that bad fortunes can be reversed with hard work. In the end, Ryou agrees to be Kotomi’s friend.
• Next up is Sakagami in the bear outfit, whom Kotomi warms up to quickly, since she likes bears. Meanwhile, Sunohara, who passes by, sees that it’s the bear who beat him up during the school festival and rushes it to take revenge, only to be punted away again.
• Okazaki and Kotomi skip class and go to a bakery, but when Kotomi introduces herself to the baker, she recognizes the name, and tells Okazaki that Kotomi is the daughter of the well known brilliant academics nearby. However, Kotomi doesn’t seem too enthused when her parents are mentioned.
• Back at school, Kyou mushes all over Kotomi, stating that she’ll be her friend now. Kyou tells Okazaki that he should take the two of them and Ryou to some place interesting later, but he just brings them to the drama club room to hang out with Nagisa. There, all 5 people introduce themselves to each other. After Okazaki makes a jab at Kyou, she jabs him back (by kicking him to the wall). Kotomi then begs Kyou not to bully her since she’s (Kotomi) really strong.
• Kotomi then hears someone playing a violin next door and runs to check it out. The other follow her, not knowing what’s up, but the girl playing the violin asks Kotomi if she wants to try it out, and Kotomi agrees. However, Kotomi end up creating a horrible screeching sound which seems to bend space itself when she plays. Meanwhile, a man hangs outside the school…

So we jump right into the Kotomi arc in this episode, and I picked up 5 things which I definitely think we’ll address later:

1. Kotomi’s fear of crying
2. Kotomi’s fear of bullies
3. Kotomi’s lack of enthusiasm about her parents, and
4. Kotomi’s fear of using her strength
5. Kotomi’s horrible violin playing

So, the question is how does all of this tie in, and does Kotomi being anti-social and highly intelligent a part of it (I’m guessing yet?). I can think of a few possibilities, such as her beating the crap out of some bullies and sending them to the hospital (why she fears bullies and her strength), and the thought has passed my mind that her parents, who are apparently brilliant, have used Kotomi in some sort of experiments to make her some sort of super-child too. But as most of my predictions, I’m probably way off. I guess we’ll find out as usual.

Also, the camera started making space bend when Kotomi played the violin. What this just an effect to show how bad she played, or was she really bending space somehow when she played? As usual, lots of new questions at the start of a new story arc.