10. “Aoi Hana” by Kukikodan - Sweet Blue Flowers OP

This is a nice little song to start off the countdown.

9. “Super Driver” by Aya Hirano – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya OP2

While the ED was the good song from the first season, the OP was the good song from the second season of Haruhi.

8. “Kimi ni Todoke” by Tanizawa Tomofumi – Kimi ni Todoke OP

Another nice soft rock song that I think is pretty good and matches the show pretty well.

7. “Kimi Shinitamō Koto Nakare” by May’n – Shangri-la OP

I wasn’t too sure about this OP to start with, but it kind of grew on me after a while

6. “HANAJI” by Yu Kobayashi – Maria Holic OP

Rather ecchi, but how can one not like this OP?

5. “Karma” by KOKIA – Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom OP1

KOKIA once again makes the list, this time for her excellent, if not eerie, OP for Phantom.

4. “Parallel Hearts” by FictionJunction – Pandora Hearts OP

This OP just stuck on me from the very start.  I think it’s pretty good, anyway

3. “Oyasumi Paradox” by Etsuko Yakushimaru – Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū OP

I didn’t watch this show, but I love this OP.

2. “Falling Down” by Oasis – Eden of the East OP

One of the very best OPs of the year, if not for the past few years. And being sung in English (being that it’s sung by Oasis) probably doesn’t hurt either.

1. “kiseki” by NIRGILIS – Birdy the Mighty DECODE 02 OP

However, the #1 OP of the year goes to a show from all the way back in the winter season.  It was a tough choice between #1 and #2, but I thought this one just won out.

It’s time for the next semester of school to start again, and, after being late due to sleeping in, Akira talks about how quickly the summer seemed to pass by with Fumi on the train. At school, due to her membership in the Literacy Club, Fumi is roped into helping the library dispose of the old books in the library. However, spending so much time in the library is making Fumi remember her time with Yasuko. Kyoko, meanwhile, has started practicing drawing again with Kazusa, where she finds out that Yasuko is leaving to study abroad.

The next day after school, Fumi sees Yasuko on the train platform, but doesn’t say anything, and seems sad that Yasuko gets on the train to go home without saying anything to her. Afterwards, Fumi tells Akira that she thought she was over Yasuko, and says she’s not sure she understands herself, and Akira decides that the best medicine for Fumi’s down mood is to chow down on sweets.

Soon it’s almost Christmas, and Akira decides that everyone should get together for a Christmas Eve party, however, Kyoko is apparently unable to come. However Ko soon calls Akira up and asks her for the favor of asking her for help in picking out a gift for Kyoko, since she’s tired of all the normal ones Ko gives her. But while Akira and Ko are out looking at gifts, Fumi sees them and feels uncomfortable.

Back at her house, Fumi concludes that she doesn’t think Akira and Ko are dating, since she believes Akira would tell her if they were, but thinks that she wouldn’t mind if they did start dating, but she wonders to herself why she hid from them. That night, the girls throw their party and look at old pictures of Fumi and Akira, where the drama trio is shocked to find out that Fumi was the small one when they were younger. Fumi starts flipping through an old sketchbook of hers and finds a leaf taped to one page, and it seems to make her remember something.

Later in the party, Akira gets a text from Kyoko saying thanks for the present, since she found out she picked it due to her grilling Ko about it because it wasn’t something he would normally get. She tells Fumi, who is suddenly relieved that that’s all Akira and Ko were doing. After that the three girls leave, but not before Motegi gives Akira’s brother a note, asking him out.

That night, Fumi and Akira find that they can’t sleep, so they look outside to see that it’s snowed. The two decide to go look at the snowy trees in the party that they parted back in elementary school. Fumi then tells Akira that she’s sad that she never got a chance to go back to see their elementary school, so Akira asks if she wants to go visit it then. However, once there, Fumi teases Akira by deciding to look around the school, despite the fact that Akira finds empty schools at night creepy and scary. Fumi then finds an old passageway in the school and remembers that that’s where she got the flower – a blue flower – that was taped in the sketchbook, and remembered that her “first love” was Akira way back then.

And it is finished (and really seems so since it says “Fin” at the end, suggesting that we’re not going to get a second season or anything).

I kind of have mixed feelings about this episode. I suppose it was a good episode for the type of show this was, and at least started heading towards some conclusions, such as Fumi finally seemingly getting over Chizu, and Kyoko and Ko doing better in their relationship, and Yasuko going overseas for college.

However, in other ways, we never really resolved what the status of Akira and Fumi is. Fumi finally realized the answer to the question that Yasuko asked her when they broke up: “do you remember who your first love was?,” remembering that it was Akira way back in elementary school. However, I sort of felt that this could have been set up better. For example, the flower in the sketchbook could have, perhaps, been discovered earlier in the series instead of halfway through this episode, which made the whole situation feel sort of forced to me.

Also…so Fumi found out who her first love was. I mean, yay for sentimental purposes, I guess, and perhaps a realization by Fumi of who she really likes, but it didn’t really have much impact on the series since it came at the very end (barring a second season).

Despite those complaints, like I noted above, I guess this was overall a nice ending. I keep having to laugh at Motegi crushing on Akira’s brother, though. I can just see Akira’s face if she ever finds the two alone in his room lmao.

I’ll do a full review of this series later, but this seemed like a nice slow paced story which, even though wasn’t necessarily very eventful or fireworks filled, still seemed reasonably entertaining.

It’s time for Kagami-sensei and Kazusa’s wedding, but Yasuko is being all grumpy about it. Kyoko, Ko, and Akira are also attending, along with Akira’s brother, much to Akria’s annoyance. Meanwhile, Fumi is spending the way just going around to places, wondering where Akira is (since Akira couldn’t bring herself to tell Fumi that she was going to the wedding).

Finally, after the wedding, Fumi gets ahold of Akira, and they agree to meet up. However, Yasuko tags along with Akira (along with Akira’s brother, who drove them all) which just makes everyone, especially Akira, uneasy. Akira tries to go alone with Fumi, and when Yasuko tries to find away to tag along, Fumi asks her not to come with.

Yasuko then tells Akira’s brother that she used to date Fumi, as well as some of her past with Kagami. When Yasuko met him, he was already dating Kazusa for a while. Yasuko thought Kazusa had a strong personality, so to try to be more like her, she decided to cut her hair really short. She then became popular at school, which is when Kyoko became attached to her. Yasuko admits that Kyoko was rather annoying, but then admits that she was probably the same toward Kagami-sensei.

Akira and Fumi decide that they want to visit some caves, but when it looks like Yasuko and Akira’s brother are going to tag along, Akira demures, but Fumi still says she wants to go. Once in the caves, Fumi asks Yasuko why she came. Yasuko tells her that she wanted to see her, but Fumi tells her that she didn’t want to see her, and that Yasuko should focus on the one she loves or “give up gracefully.” Fumi finally tells Yasuko that she’s given up on her and tells her to “grow up.”

Well, any very small opening there might have been in any future Fumi/Yasuko relationship was slammed cut and welded together in this episode, as Fumi shows some unusual backbone in shutting down Yasuko once and for all. Perhaps with this, Yasuko will finally give up on Fumi (since it seems like she was still interested in her, despite breaking up). Since Kyoko seems to be heading in Ko’s direction, even if she still likes Yasuko, Yasuko seems to have pinned herself into a corner regarding any potential relationship matches.

The one thing I was kind of mad about was the fact that Akira didn’t appear to put her foot down in regards to Yasuko tagging along originally. It sounded like they were going to drive, in which case they didn’t have to bring her along. Or maybe they ended up walking, which is why Fumi was waiting there so long (though they didn’t have to do that either…). And, of course, Akira’s brother wanting to tag along with Akira wherever she went just gave Yasuko cause to follow suit.

As I said, I think last time, with only one episode to go (yup, that’s right) the ending looks like it’s either going to be Fumi and Akira realizing that they might be a match for each other, or it’s going to be a set up for a second season. We obviously just don’t have the time for any sort of development after Akira and Fumi get together, if they get together in the final episode at all.

The pace of this epside was also slower than usual, though in a sense it played well since there was a lot of awkward silence in this episode.

Akira and friends head towards Kyoko’s summer place with Akira’s brother driving the van. Waiting for them is Ko and his mother’s sister, who gives everyone a tour of the house. Along the way, Fumi admires a painting hanging on the way, and Ko’s aunt tells her that it’s Kyoko’s. The girls then go to play tennis why the guys go out for a nice game of golf.

After tennis, Kyoko leads the girls down a trail. She tells them that when she was little, she got lost on the trail, but Ko found her. Yoko, Miwa, and Misako decide to check out the spot so Kyoko, Akira, and Fumi follow. Along the way, there is a steep drop, so naturally, Akira slips and falls right into Fumi.

The next day, the group decides to go camping at a nearby campground. That night they decide to do a test of courage, with the goal of picking some lilies that were next to the river they visited before on the trail. Kyoko and Fumi go together, where Fumi tells Kyoko that she liked her painting. Kyoko tells Fumi that she’s been in the Art club since middle school, and that’s where she fell for Yasuko.

Meanwhile, Ko is with Akira, who is frightened to death. Along the way, Ko remarks that he knows Kyoko likes someone else, but Akira slips out that she was turned down. Ko then says he wishes he were the one Kyoko liked. That night, Akira ponders to herself if she’ll come to like someone eventually too.

Akira’s stomach grumbles, however, so she and Fumi run down to get a snack. However, they then get confused and think they’re in Sora no Manimani and decide to go outside to look at the stars, where they apparently both catch colds.

I guess this episode was another Akira/Fumi bonding episode, as there basically wasn’t much else going on, except perhaps some slight progression on the Kyoko/Ko relationship front.

No really, that’s about it. We learn some about Kyoko’s past, such as a little bit more of her history of Yasuko and what happened when she got lost. But that’s about it as far as notable events as far as I can tell in this episode.  At least Akira’s brother decided not to go all siscon again.

I guess having said that, this isn’t all that bad of an episode.  It just seemed kind of slow and with no obvious action (though we definitely have some buildup)

As I’ve said in the past couple of episodes, we seem to be heading toward a Akira/Fumi end. The next episode might be at the summer house as well, though at the end of the episode, Akira remarks that they both catch colds by looking at the sky all night, so we’ll have to see how that plays into the next episode.

We finally get Akira pondering whether she’ll ever like someone, but there isn’t any evidence that she consciously realizes that Fumi is an option, so with only 2 episodes left, this realization might end up being the climax of the series. Or we could have a second season (though I haven’t heard anything about that).

After Yasuko breaks up with her, Fumi decides to go home. Kuri offers to drive Fumi home, and on the trip, Fumi asks her if Kagami-sensei is the person Yasuko loved before. Kuri sort of confirms Fumi’s suspicion, but does tell her that Kagami-sensei is engaged to Kazusa, the sister who used to teach at Fujigaya.

The next day, Fumi is down, and tries to change the topic when Akira asks her about visiting Yasuko’s house by saying that she wants to go see a movie. During the movie, Fumi still acts weird, so Akira asks her what’s up, and Fumi finally tells her that Yasuko dumped her.

The next morning, Fumi doesn’t go to school and Akira decides to make her displeasure obvious to Yasuko. Yasuko decides to pull Akira off the train a few stations early and takes her to a restaurant, where Akira finally lets lose on Yasuko, and where Akira gets confirmation that Yasuko still has feelings for Kagami-sensei. After this, Akira, seeing that it’s way to late to actually go to school, decides to go see Fumi where we have some nice Akira/Fumi bonding.

Some time passes by and it’s almost time for summer vacation. Kyoko tells Akira that she and Ko are going to a summer home over the break and asks if she and Fumi and friends want to go with them there. However, Akira in her enthusiasm in agreeing to go, accidentally spills to Kyoko that Fumi and Yasuko broke up.

Upon hearing this, Kyoko goes to see Yasuko as soon as she can, where Yasuko gives Kyoko her harshest rebuke yet, and does so again after Kyoko continues to be insistent on pursuing her. That night, Akira asks Fumi if she wants to go on the trip with Kyoko, and Fumi says she will. The next day, the three girls decide to hang out, but in the middle, Akira decides to excuse herself. Fumi and Kyoko end up talking about Yasuko and end up having a crying session.

Just as I thought might happen after the last episode, the Akira/Fumi angle is really starting to heat up. While, I think despite what she says, Fumi still has lingering feelings for Yasuko, I think she’s starting to see that Akira is the one who truly makes her happy. However, I still don’t think Akira sees Fumi in this way yet, and that is probably still the biggest obstacle before we can get an Akira/Fumi relationship.

However, I thought it was interesting that, in the end, Fumi and Yasuko are very similar. They both ended up getting depressed when the person they liked got engaged to someone else, and ended up falling for the other as a fallback, and perhaps Yasuko, after finding out that this was pretty much Fumi’s situation, figured out that that’s what happened to her as well.

However, the chances of a Yasuko/Kyoko ending is on extreme life support after Yasuko soundly and seemingly definitively rejected Kyoko yet again. While Kyoko has another possible pairing, with Ko, Yasuko is really boxing herself in a corner now by rejecting everyone but Kagami-sensei.

We also see Akira perhaps at her angriest in this episode as well. She was angry at her brother for following her around on the date, but that was more because she was embarrassed. However, in this episode, she was downright pissed at Yasuko. While Akira has seemed to be an airhead at times, she does seem to be a girl who knows where she wants to go and isn’t afraid to speak her mind if the situation prompts her to.

So, only 3 episodes left in this series, and presumably the next episode will be at Kyoko and Ko’s summer house. Maybe this will give Akira and Fumi as well as Kyoko and Ko some time to do some bonding. However, I just have a feeling that something regarding Yasuko is about to snap. It’s just a matter of by whom towards whom.