Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Suzuka – episodes 15-18

March 23, 2006 on 9:31 pm | In Suzuka | Comments Off on Suzuka – episodes 15-18

Yeah! Everyone’s using everyone! Or, more accurately, Yamato is using Honoka, and Suzuka is using Yamato. Man, they’re all doomed.

Spoilers ahead

Yamato and Suzuka get stranded in Hiroshima, and spend some time with Yamato’s family. Then Suzuka sends incredibly mixed messages to Yamato, Yamato forces himself on Honoka, a pop idol sets Yamato straight, and Honoka’s insecurities send her mad.
Damn this is moving fast.

There’s not much to say about this because I think Suzuka’s sudden change of heart is a very obvious dramatiser. That may be unrealistic, but the relationship between Honoka and Yamato is all too real. Honoka is, sadly, the meek type who will take whatever is dished out to her.

The big eye-opener was the flashback to a scene of Honoka arguing with Shirakawa Nana, the latest pop idol. In this scene you see a much more interesting side of Honoka than has been presented by the vapid girl that we’ve had on display here.

The fact of the matter is that Honoka is a boring character because Yamato doesn’t really care for her but just wants someone to call a girlfriend. It’s not that Honoka is a non-character, it’s that Yamato makes her a non-character. The fact that he relates to her entirely in comparison to “Asahina” truly shows that he doesn’t care at all.

It’s thanks to the inspired use of that flashback that you can feel sympathy for Honoka; problem is that it makes one feel that Yamato is more clueless than he’s already been shown to be.

Basically Suzuka and Yamato are made for each other because I don’t think anyone else would really be able to put up with them. Hook up Honoka with Kobayakawa and Miki with Hattori (not so sure about that one) and we’ll be fine.

Oh, I neglected to mention that the series has almost entirely forgotten about its athletic nature, as I was warned; Suzuka has jumped nary a high for episodes! The real problem with these episodes is that they dealt with something that has very clearly been doomed all along, and ignored the positive aspects of Suzuka (which, honestly, I’ve kind of forgotten).
I still want to watch it through to the end, and it’s not so much that I disliked these episodes … but they felt very much like a means to an end.