Hourou Musuko- 6. Cultural Festival ~ Dream of a butterfly

I'm back! Exams ended back in June but there's much going on still now, searching for a job, studying for a public exam... and my laziness. I'm going to blog to episode 9 for the time being, since later in the summer and early fall the last dvd volumes of the series will be out with bonus stuff and episode 10 and 11 seperate and whole, unlike the way they got aired (due to noitama slot's restrictions).

As the title says, we finally get the festival day. The episode can somehow be split into 3 parts: pre-play (the preparations of last moment before going on-stage), play and after-play (comments from friends and family members to our little actors). And since the main actors are Chiba as Romeo and Makoto as Juliet, the episode centers around their feelings and reactions.


The episode doesn't start though with either of the two students. Can you recognize the good-looking man?

It's Yuki-san. The 'okama'? Yes, that pretty lady.

We get a bonus story material, even if little, about Yuki. There is a flashback to Yuki's past about the suit that (s)he wears. Yuki's mother emphasizes how good the suit looked and made him a 'man'. Anyone can guess that's something that leaves a bittersweet taste at your mouth, if you don't want to be a man. How people perceive gender and in particular how people understand manliness and womanliness is what we got acquainted with from the very first episode. The difference here is that we see an adult that has trans-passed and has stopped 'wandering'. It's more important as a tidbit. Yuki has managed to accept the past and doesn't hold any grudge. This is an anime version of the It gets better project.

If you haven't realized about who we were talking about, the series gets you one more hint.

Yuki can smile even while remembering the difficulties and bashing. Shi seems worried. He knows Yuki might have developed a defensive system, but questions somehow her attitude.

Not everything is black! There were nice memories, very valuable ones at that, too.

I just love Yuki's openness and Shi's reaction (well, they are in a school...). I wonder how many years those two live together. We haven't seen them together in public before.

Wow. Quite the statement. This shows that Yuki IS  a woman. (Biological) Sex doesn't necessarily tells who you are. People find their identities for themselves and strive for them.

We couldn't believe it either in the beginning XD

The pre-paly part lasts longer in compare to the other two. Most probably it was intentional to not only show us Yuki and Makoto's insecurity about being good enough to play the role, but generally we get to see how lively the school got and how stressed Nitorin's class became. In this pre-play time we got to see once again Sarashina being the overreacting oddball with Momo clinging to her and frowning around, when her 'Chi-chan' gets to admire Chiba-san and other people. Momo has got a serious jealousy problem. She should get a lesson. She's become more than annoying.

I can't say I disagree on that one, but Momo is trying desperately to get Sarashina's attention, too...

Look that smile Momo is giving...

Maiko-tachi couldn't be absent from this, could they? Maho has almost a crush with Maiko to the point of sulking about the thought that Maiko wouldn't come at their humble festival- she didn't invite her after all. Teenage idolization for you in the face of Maho. And as much as Maho loves Maiko, Anna appears to be compromising hanging around Maiko as a part of the job (they are modelling, remember?). She tries to avoid expressing annoyance or jealousy directly, yet fails miserably when the not so humble and innocent Maiko understands Anna's intentions and bodly rubs in Anna's face her excuse.

PRICELESS expessions from a 'diva'

yeah, tsundere-chan :P

total fangirlism of youth

Maiko retorting to Anna who suggested that they shouldn't distruct them in the theatre.

Maho recognizes for once the worth of her brother after the play

During the pre-play time the series gives us something out of place: a teacher-student relationship?? They can get by unobserved in the mess of the festival. The weird thing is that holding a teacher's arm even among the rockus can be risky... has nobody from the classmates noticed anything? The role of this relationship can only be a trolling one or a small one, adding to the not socially accepted behaviours in the series.

What an expecting gaze coming from the student! It says clearly 'My, my, aren't you late, Knight-san?'

oh let me guess... the haunting house is used as an excuse?

Momo isn't the only one jealous... this girl has a nerve to complain...

something is veeeeeery fishy! it's so obvious they are an item yet no one has ever mentioned anything...

Back to the main characters of the episode: Makoto and Chiba. Makoto usually is the wise one of the company along with Chiba, but in a different way. Here this profile is deconstructed to reveal him as a normal child, with insecurities about his image, about making it through with the lead-role and a child that gets pissed with his mom's teasing after the play is over. The way others see him, what others say affect him as any other child. He must prove himself worthy. He has to stop being in Nitorin's shadow of cuteness. Everyone compares them and hadn't awaited him playing the fair princess. Makoto suffers stress the same awful way I do:  stomachache- I even get nauseau or dizzyness. He makes effort to 'get it out of his system' by screaming in the 'Haunting House'- what really works fom him is unexpectedly Chiba. She encourages him, she's the one to whom he turns to look the first tough minutes of standing in front of the audience alone and gains determination and it's again Chiba that reaffirms that he did a good job, granting him Fumiya's bouquet and telling a white lie about it.

Fumiya being the idiot he is...says such insensitive things without second thought.

Even the students that made the haunting house got scared :P

Even Yuki got careless and expressed her sadness for not seeing Nitorin as Juliet.

Trying to convince himself that he IS a butterfly.

After stuttering from stress, he takes a look at a serious Chiba behind the curtains and decides he can't ruin it.

he made a very cute Juliet in the end :D

her words may sound harsh but she does it, imo, to make Makoto understand that she doesn't do what she does out of pity

this was a very sweet lie

what a mean mama to laught at your stuttering! the 'shut up' answer was perfect for such teasing

Chiba now gets all the attention- even from Takatsuki. Their relationship puzzles me. I wonder if in the manga there'll be in the future a kind of romance between them... Of course among the admirers the annoying Fumiya sprung up only to get the cold shoulder. I won't say 'poor him', because he really is a helpless case of no-brains.

she accepted the flowers because flowers aren't in fault :P she could be a bit more polite

And well the play was very good, with children acting like pros. It gives an unrealistic feeling some say, but who cares? We enjoyed it! They kept things short and that was a wise decision, since we already know the plot in general lines.

they got a standing ovation- they deserved it :D

The unimportant remark:

the stairs have stickers that advertise the activities of each class on them! cool, ain't it?

P.S.: I'm exhausted... extensive blogging like this... no way I'm gonna redo this. Perhaps I'll only do shorter ones. Summer season 2011 is very special after all with so many good series. I'll try blogging Usagi Drop and Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. The 3rd season of Natsume and Ikuhara's crazy new anime will get a series overwiew- the previous is to be enjoyed, the latter is simply too bizarre and I'll leave symbolism interpretations to others more capable.