Current mood:	refreshed
Current music:	Kaori Hikita - Kumori Garasu no Mukou
Entry tags:	review

Marimite S4 Review
GAHRGSDF Took me the whole day to do this .-.
WARNING: Storyline summary is long-ass, with all sorts of spoilers, and heavy screencaps. Only read if you've seen it or you care less about watching it in the future.
EDIT: Made the entry public.

Preface

I never thought Marimite would make me watch anime but it did. The first thing that caught me was the beautiful ending theme, sung by a singer I've always liked, Kaori Hikita. Its cover art is Yumi and Touko separated by the titular glass barrier. I went on and translated the ED here. I must be honest with you, I haven't watched any of the previous 3 seasons, save one ep, that was regarding Rei and Yoshino. So this one's written by a guy who hasn't really delved deep into the Marimite universe so to speak.

So some entries ago I posted about Touko and congrats for being Yumi's soeur. Little that I knew, that the signs were there all along. Soon as you start it this shows up:

The Garden of Maidens

Which definitely means, even if you didn't read the novels, that Touko will eventually be Yumi's.

The OP sequence is heavily based on the OP theme itself, giving glancers quite the wrong impression about the series:


OPは「地図散歩」、略して「ちんぽ」。(逃

The ED (and the whole darn season) can be summed up in one shot:


It tries to be the next agony. Close, but not quite.



Thoughts

(Putting this above Storyline Summary because page-loading would push this down if I put it after)

I had the feeling that the whole thing was rushed but looking back at it again, it was only slightly done so. I would have preferred more drama actually, even though I usually hate conflict in my anime, because it's kinda surreal that everyone can act in such a positive way towards others. Even the arrogance of Touko is a whimper to other roles Kugyu plays.

Speaking of Kugyu, her voice acting was outstanding. It was the right Kugyu for me - not the one that gives you the Kugimiya Virus, but never boring either. And what about the character herself. All the lessons Touko learned along the way, I can relate those to myself too. Touko's soul-searching and owning-up should be a great moral lesson.

Kashiwagi earns my respect. From what I heard he is an arsehole in the earlier seasons but this season proved what a good man he is, irrelevant of which way he swings he showed the wonderful thing that is love in different facets. He was so central to the plot, having a connection with Sachiko, Touko and Yumi.

The plot was 80% Chinensis. It's probably wise that Yoshino's new sister isn't that much involved yet because it'll distract things, but alas, she is revealed. Shimako's parts are diminished, good news for Noto who's been very busy as of late. But I'm a fan of ShimakoxNoriko, this season showed how they were meant for each other.

I'm amused that Pizza Hut gets airtime in Marimite. I can understand if it's in Code Geass and Sorakake, but putting pizza in an anime with girls like in Lillian? Surely pizza is not part of the diet, but ah well, marketing and whatnot.

From what I remembered in the first two seasons, I didn't like the art style, but it has greatly improved since. Facial expressions are less shoujo-mangaish and more into the current anime style and groove.

Ahh I'm sorry if this is just random writing without any proper guidelines. I was skeptical at first but fact is that Marimite is really a nice universe to live in, and this season could make many more new fans like me into the series.

Storyline Summary

Please note that the summaries are real, the screen captions aren't serious and the mouseovers are SRS-BSNS.

The show starts off rather tamely, with attention shifting a bit more to Kanako, probably tying loose ends from the previous season. The School Festival arc has Yumi and the Yamayurikai perform a cross-dressing play directed by Sachiko, which disturbs Kanako because she'll be playing a male role. Touko's acting skills are also needed since she's in the drama club, they themselves showcasing Little Women with Touko playing Amy.

Touko skips practice. Yumi confronts her and gradually convinces her to go back to the drama club. This is the start of many Yumi-Touko situations.

Yes it looks more like a staring contest

The day of the festival, Sei and Youko meets a guardian without a ticket.

"You look familiar."

After some small talk with Touko, Yumi then encounters a desperate Kanako running away from somebody she doesn't want to meet, but is dragged to the infirmary by Sachiko.

Apparently somebody's trying to enjoy the festival three times the allowed dose

From there Kanako resolved her differences with her dad and the mistress who is also Kanako's fave senior, Yuuko.

It must be scary to have a really tall stepdaughter

Yuuko lets Kanako have her baby Chikako.

I wonder if Chikako will be as tall as her half-sister...

Because of this Yumi was late for Touko's Little Women performance. She pokes at it after the play ended.

Tell you the truth, I haven't read Little Women...

Unfazed, Yumi pulls her by the hand to hurry on to get ready for Yamayurikai's own play, Touko still in Amy garb.

That costume kinda makes Touko look like an obasan

The play goes well, Kanako (nearly) gets her lines properly spoken. Night falls, and so does the anniversary of Yumi and Sachiko becoming sisters. Sachiko says there's nothing special about the day because Yumi is her sister yesterday, today and the future, there's nothing to commemorate.

Scenes like this make me want my own oneesama

With Yumi still in tears to that heartful scene, Sachiko promptly commands her to find a sister.

Scenes like this make me want to punch my oneesama

So starts the Soeur Audition arc, Yoshino also needing to find a sister due to her promise to Eriko.

Suddenly they look desperate...

It proved to be a disaster, with Touko not joining despite being the hot favourite for Yumi, and the candidates not up to scratch unlike the furore it caused.

You'd think at least one or two of these girls are decent enough...

The day comes when Yoshino has to introduce her new sister to Eriko. After considerable acts of trying to cover it up, she stumbles across Nana Arima. Yoshino is saved by Nana, but in truth Eriko knew, as Nana is still a junior high student, her uniform covered under a sweater.

This is the fanservice ep!

School Holiday arc is where the story gets more deep. Yumi and Sachiko goes for a date in the amusement park, but Suguru Kashiwagi shows up with his gay partner, Yumi's brother Yuuki.

I love Yumi's hairstyle outside of her twintails

Yumi understandably gets fixated and jealous seeing Kashiwagi. But after frolicking too much Sachiko has a blackout, fortunately Kashiwagi was there to help. He brings them all home to his place, where Sachiko is nursed to health. After a one-on-one with Kashiwagi on what she thinks of him, Yumi is told that she must aim a lot higher than just reeling over Sachiko's fiancee.

"I'm your comrade, not your foe."

Now at Sachiko's bedside, Yumi gets more advice in which there's nothing to be jealous about despite how much Kashiwagi knows her as childhood friends and so being with her company longer - because Kashiwagi couldn't do more things Yumi can do with Sachiko.

I'm guessing Sachiko has her own room at the Kashiwagis

Days later, Yuuki spots Touko wandering around outside, and invites her inside the Fukuzawa household. This comes after Kashiwagi calling Yumi for Touko's whereabouts. Apparently there's an altercation with Touko's parents which resulted in Touko running away from home.

Can't her drill wither loose?

Touko is invited into Yumi's room, somewhere even Sachiko has never been in. Despite Touko's reluctancy, Yumi pulls her inside.

Talk about uncharted territory

There, Yumi has visions of a cold Touko and gets the urge to cuddle her. However, her act is spoiled by the dinner bell.

My eyes instantly go to her thighhighs and zettai ryouiki

After dinner, Kashiwagi picks Touko up. Curious about her visions and why she left home in the first place, Yumi asks him the following day, but he asks her to think twice about wanting to know, "for her and your own sake".

No, no, those are sunglasses, not megane

Christmas arc. The Yamayurikai Christmas Party is held, among invited guests are Nana, Kanako and Touko. Touko recites lines in A Little Princess/Princess Sarah for her introduction.

Foreign literature in Japan is a very interesting subject. Like how "Gone with the Wind" becomes "Kaze to Tomo ni Sarinu"

After much fun and games, Touko goes home early, Yumi following her. She then talks about mono/outline maps and how nobody can really make their own perfect map when outlining their lives.

Loli Drillhead

With the impulse of comforting Touko, in front of the Mary statue Yumi offers her rosary to her.

There was a joke about the rosary being all purpose... including as a lassoo and a fishing line

But Touko recites A Little Princess again, refusing Yumi's "Christmas Charity".

Touko's expressive faceshots are awesome

Yumi goes back to Sachiko and breaks down.

I guess it's more painful than getting romantically rejected

Then comes the new year slumber party organised by Sachiko's household. The whole Yamayurikai are invited, plus Touko, who doesn't show up. Sachiko expected as much, only doing it as a gesture that she is not going to be kicked out of the gang.

Wish we have things like this

Fun times are abound, but the underpinning theme is the episode title, "The Other Side of the Cloudy Glass", and it is featured in Yumi's dream, between Yumi and Touko lies a cloudy glass wall which she wiped furiously to no avail.

At least she wasn't foolish enough to punch the wall

Election arc. After making a pass on Yumi, Touko surprises everyone by announcing her candidacy to become one of the three students in the council.

She's a Democrat

Still with motive unknown, Touko and the three existing Yamayurikai go into the polls. Evidently, Touko lost, but she appears to be appeased with the result. The strain between Yumi and Touko is greater than ever.

Can anyone remind me this is reminiscent of what scene again...

Like the previous year, the event for Valentine's Day is the Card Search, an invitation for a date. The Valentine's Day Card Search arc is the last storyline.

I'd hold the contest earlier so that the date would be on V-Day

Touko first meets Takashiro, the drama club's president. She offers Touko to be her sister, but then retracts it, knowing Touko loves Yumi. She also knows why Touko ran for the student council candidacy; to generate animosity and to get away from the Yamayurikai.

If Touko was taller this would look like a kiss scene

Then she encounters her cousin Kashiwagi at the school gates, who presses her for the events at Christmas, something Sachiko vaguely told him before.

In this scene she shouted at Kashiwagi she wanted to pee. This is no joke.

In her first act of You Make an Ass Out of You and Me, she thought Kashiwagi knew about Yumi's failed attempt last Christmas, which is not the case. Pissed, she retorts, but Kashiwagi reveals to her the motive of the psychological abuse she's playing out that is evident in many of us attention-seekers: we push away, but wanting to be saved. Kashiwagi warns her that if she continues running away, nobody will chase after her anymore.

In this scene she's taking a piss. This is no j- *shot*

The next day, on her way back home Noriko stumbles across Touko and gives her the Card Search leaflet.

Noriko also gave Touko her own date invitation card

Touko then meets Yumi. In the mellow state of her own, Yumi tries to clear the air - but Touko remains stubborn. Praying in front of the Mary statue, she utters something of a taboo to Touko.

Quite the Stella eh?

Yumi lets Touko run her sharp mouth, but then asks Touko not to move until she counts to 100.

It's probably a good thing she didn't ask for 1000... or more

Touko goes back to the school compounds and confronts Sachiko.

If Sachiko didn't stay, this probably wouldn't have happened and we'll still have a pissy Drillhead

In her second act of You Make an Ass Out of You and Me, Touko accuses Sachiko of revealing Touko's secret to Yumi.

Another impressive Touko faceshot

Of course, Sachiko tells her the real truth that she doesn't know anything.

Yes, Touko, you were wrong

On her knees and not knowing what to do, she remembers Yumi's orders and starts counting again, lamenting over the bonds she had severed all this time.

Why didn't she orz instead...

Noriko shows up, sacrificing her own time, and comforts Touko.

"I skipped watching the documentary because its rerun is on Friday at 9..."

Valentine's Day comes, as usual lovebirds exchange gifts. Yumi stumbles into the lovey-dovey Gigantea sisters.

Actually why are they doing it in front of the door?

Touko meets Sachiko at the stairs, and they exchange words. In it, Sachiko tells how being with the straightforward Yumi will reveal one's own weaknesses, yet Sachiko doesn't mind all this because she loves Yumi. Sachiko also deems Touko her current rival for Yumi's affections and especially for the card search, but as Touko looks to be leaving it might not be the case that she has to fight. Touko then agrees to participate in the card search.

"Yumi is like a mirror showing me all my weak points. I love that mirror."

While everyone else is frantically searching for the cards, Touko calmly runs over the clues for Yumi's card, then recollects her monomap conversation. She tries to find them inside atlases. Noriko, knowing where the card really is by Sachiko's own behaviour, confronts Touko saying that it's not as easy as she thinks. She won't find luck in an empty room.

I'm still figuring out how Noriko knew Touko would be in here

Having recollected all her memories of Yumi, Touko summoned all her might and went to the Rose Mansion, only minutes before the card search ends.

Tsun = 2 Dere = 8 by this point

Sachiko asks Yumi to stand up, she refused - but Touko comes barging into the room and asks Yumi to be her sister.

100% Dere

Yumi stands up just before time is up. Touko wins Yumi's card as it was Touko who made Yumi stand on her feet.

Honestly what were the clues to her card? "Check my butt" or something?

The epilogue is the good chunk of the last ep as I figured that the story ends with Touko's apology and request. Having won the date with Yumi for finding her card, Touko brings Yumi to her grandad's hospital. There, Touko's secrets are explained wholly to Yumi. Yumi ends the date, the trip to "Touko's heart", imagining on the way home the act of giving Touko the rosary in front of Sachiko.


Happy ending!!! ＼(^o^)／



Ahh that was an enjoyable experience. I need more stuff like this, and I think I have quite a few in mind on what to watch next. If you were thinking about my summary, I'm just borrowing skills I learned from people like DarkMirage or Kurogane but I hope I did my best.