Kare Kano – 14-16

Ep14 and the first half of ep15 remind me why I do not consider Kare Kano a top favorite of mine despite enjoying the first half so thoroughly. I mean, 1.5 episodes of recap? That is insane. Gainax really was something else around this time. At least it apparently guilted them into featuring minimal recap for a few episodes afterward. Eps 16-18 have no recap to speak of! Amazing!

So after all that wonderful recapping, ep15 picks up with Miyazawa hanging out with Hideaki and her sisters while her dad grumbles about a pervert like Hideaki being around his beautiful little girls. I’m trying to remember if something is done with Hideaki’s story later the in the series, but I am drawing a blank. This seems like a weird place to develop his character, though. Not really sure what to feel after hearing his story, actually. It is yet another in a string of people with family issues who revolve around the Miyazawa clan, but where there is development regarding Arima and Tsubasa, but Hideaki’s story kind of hangs there like, “Yeah, my family sucks, but oh well!” It is kind of strange.

Kare Kano – 12-13

Haha, my weekly schedule for watching Kare Kano is working nicely so far to separate each part into clear arcs! This week, the focus is on Tsubasa, who is dealing with family issues and her own intense sense of loneliness.

After a bit more than two-and-a-half minutes of recap (oh, Kare Kano), ep12 kicks off with Tsubasa and Maho spending the evening at Miyazawa’s house. Tsubaki gets a call from Miyazawa and drops by to lay down the law, because she is used to Tsubasa acting out. It’s absolutely hilarious to see two crazy, forceful personalities go at each other, both getting a victory in some way: Tsubasa stays at Miyazawa’s home for the time being, but Tsubaki has called Tsubasa’s father over to talk some sense into her. Then Tsubaki has a heart-to-heart talk with Miyazawa and lays out why she can understand why Tsubasa acts the way she does.

Kare Kano 9-11

These three episodes drift away from Miyazawa and Arima’s relationship for a moment to present some musings on a couple of themes — the value of friendship, and the pain and pettiness of jealousy.

Ep9 features Miyazawa confronting the consequences of abandoning her carefully cultivated “perfect student” persona and acting more like her true self. Although the girls in the class generally like Miyazawa and appreciate her advice on homework and things like that, they get a bit suspicious about her being so chummy with Arima and Hideaki, two of the most popular boys in the school. A girl in Miyazawa’s class, Maho Izawa, fans the flames of these suspicions. “What makes you think Miyazawa is such a great person?” Maho asks. “Maybe she’s tricking you.” Later we find out that Maho leads the attack on Miyazawa based on her intense jealousy of Miyazawa’s abilities, combined with the sudden realization of the limits of her own abilities, but for now I’ll just address the general sense of jealousy in this episode.

Kare Kano – 6-8

Ep6 is one of those stories I forgot about, but on second watch, it is pretty damn fascinating.

Through the first five episodes, Kare Kano parallels Arima and Miyazawa’s thoughts and feelings on their building relationship, but ep6 makes it more overt — from the beginning, scenes play out from both Arima and Miyazawa’s perspective, showing how different they are (and how differently they view each other), and what they both need to recognize about each other, particularly from Arima’s end.

Kare Kano – 4-5

The next two episodes of Kare Kano do not have quite as much pure energy as the first three, but I think that is a deliberate decision on the part of the creators.

Ep4 concerns Miyazawa’s nervousness regarding moving forward in her relationship with Arima. She realizes she has not made it clear, in words, that she loves Arima, while Arima has told Miyazawa several times that he loves her. There is this pressure on Miyazawa to make her feelings known to Arima in a way he can truly feel, body and soul. This is where that lack of energy comes in — it’s not so much a lack of energy, actually, as it is Miyazawa being completely flustered around Arima, and her natural spirit being crammed down a bit. Miyazawa cannot think; she cannot form the words she wants to truly express how much she cares for Arima.

Kare Kano – 1-3

I hope I never become too old to appreciate Kare Kano‘s boundless energy.

I barely watched Kare Kano for the first time back in January and am now re-watching it with some friends. After graduating college and suddenly having a lot of free time, I didn’t know what to do with it all, so I consumed a crapload of anime in a short space of time. So while I loved Kare Kano on first viewing, I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I could have — this thought is reinforced by how much the show’s style barreled through me a few days ago and settled straight into my heart. I hope I never forget this feeling.