Shojo: Another Perspective- Kimi ni Todoke Episode 10 “Cooperation”

Last time on Kimi ni Todoke, Sawako began to unknowingly feel jealous of the close friendship Kazehaya and Kurumi seemed to share, while Kurumi unexpectedly pronounced her and Sawako friends, surprising both Sawako and a watchful Chizu and Ayane….

Next up we have,

Episode 10 – Cooperation

Again, for subtitle-less screen caps and further commentary, make sure you check out Cidz’s post on Episode 10! ^_^

Summary: Sawako is once more practicing soccer, but right as she goes to hit the ball, Kurumi calls out to her, causing her to miss. Throughout the rest of the day, Kurumi continues to show up and say hi to Sawako, often interrupting any conversation she had been having with Chizu and Ayane. The two girls briefly worry about Kurumi’s sudden “friendship” with Sawako, as Sawako waves goodbye to Kurumi. Later that night, Sawako herself even wonders about how quickly she became friends with Kurumi as she tries to fall asleep, but she soon has more pressing things to think about, as Kazehaya pops unbidden into her head. The next day in class, Sawako drops her eraser and, when both she and Kazehaya reach for it, they end up unable to meet each other’s gaze, and shift around uncomfortably in their seats. Chizu and Ayane take note, and when Chizu wonders what is wrong with them, Ayane says they’re just nervous around each other. Kurumi shows up to talk with Kazehaya about some committee business, and Sawako once more wishes she could get along with Kazehaya as comfortably as Kurumi. Later on, Sawako is carrying some papers (again) when Kurumi bumps into her (again). Under the overture of being friendly, Kurumi offers to talk with Sawako about anything that might be bothering her, and so Sawako and Kurumi end up outside, talking about Sawako’s problems with Kazehaya. Eventually, Kurumi slyly suggests that Sawako isn’t anything special to Kazehaya, but this backfires epically when Kurumi insists that she and Kazehaya are just friends, leading Sawako to believe that having a more casual relationship with Kazehaya really is better. Back in the hallway in school, Sawako adds insult to injury when she says that talking with Kurumi has actually helped her and she even mentions that she hopes to become like Kurumi someday, leaving Kurumi stewing while Sawako runs off. Not according to plan!

Meanwhile, Chizu and Ayane are discussing Kurumi in a classroom, and Chizu reveals that she’s actually witnessed Kurumi’s manipulations firsthand before: in a previous class, Chizu often helped girls try to ask Kazehaya out, at Kurumi’s insistence. Eventually, though, after Kazehaya has rejected a bunch of them, the girls get mad at Chizu when she doesn’t want to introduce them to Kazehaya anymore. However, a tearful Kurumi interjects and suggests that none of them should try asking Kazehaya out anymore. To Chizu’s bewilderment, they all agree with her and decide that Kazehaya will be “Everyone’s Kazehaya!” However, even after Chizu’s story, Ayane seems content to wait and see if Kurumi’s latest plans actually come to fruition. Outside, Sawako is watering flowers and worrying she was too foreword with Kurumi, when Kazehaya shows up and calls out to her. Sawako realizes that Kazehaya is just as nervous as she is about talking with her, and this eases her mind somewhat, giving her another radiant smile and allowing them to talk a little bit more normally, now. They start talking about Kazehaya’s dog, Maru-chan, but right as they are happily discussing plans for Sawako to visit Maru-chan, Kurumi spots them and hurriedly interrupts. Once more, this backfires spectacularly, though, when Kazehaya refers to Kurumi by her full family name, Kurumizawa, and he tells a confused Sawako her full name, Kurumizawa Ume, which leads Sawako to realize that Kazehaya hasn’t been calling Kurumi by her first name after all! Attempting to recover from this setback, Kurumi momentarily swallows her anger and asks to borrow Sawako from Kazehaya for some “girl talk”. Leaving the school, Sawako tries to call Kurumi by her first name, but this deeply angers Kurumi and she’s barely able to maintain her façade as she says that “Kurumi is fine”. Kurumi finally reveals that the reason why she wanted to talk with Sawako was because she’s having problems working up the confidence to confess her feelings to someone she likes. Sawako promises to help if she can, but Kurumi then drops the bomb: the person she likes is none other than Kazehaya….

Closing Thoughts: FUCK YEAH, CALLED IT. Kurumi really is a manipulative little yandere after all! AND HOW!! HURRAY!! :D

…erm, of course, I’m hoping she doesn’t do anything too bad to poor Sawako and her friends. ^_^;

Seriously, though, I might not even have to worry about it. One of the most awesome things about this episodes, besides Kurumi finally revealing herself in all her evil glory, was the fact that it was, amazingly, Sawako’s own innate optimism and innocence that shot down Kurumi’s schemes every. Single. Time. XD It was beautiful. I almost had to feel bad for Kurumi after all a certain point. She had NO idea who she was fucking with. :D I’m even confident that her latest ploy, confessing that she likes Kazehaya, is going to eventually backfire SPECTACULARLY. Probably not before causing poor Sawako some grief in the meantime, but still….

Also, it was great to see that Chizu and Ayane figured out Kurumi’s game early on as well, after some initial irritation. It might have been nice if they had dropped some hints that Chizu knew Kurumi previously, since up till now the show has been really good at foreshadowing things like that, but despite the mild deus ex machina nature of this, I think it will really help in the long run for Chizu and Ayane to have firsthand knowledge of Kurumi’s manipulative powers; Chizu, thanks to being apart of her schemes once before (much to her disgust) and Ayane because she’s probably on the same level as Kurumi (or maybe even higher!) in terms of deviousness. What’s especially great is that Ayane seems content to sit back and let things run their course for now, rightfully trusting in Sawako to take care of it on her own, which I think is just awesome. It will prevent the potential drama I was worried about in my last thread and it shows that Ayane trusts Sawako’s innocent nature enough now to let her go it alone. SHE’S SUCH A GOOD FRIEND!! T-T <= Chizu crying emote :D

And Sawako even managed to get over her brief jealousy of Kurumi, at least when it comes to Kazehaya. That was another thing I was worried about; even without Kurumi’s coaxing, that she would start to grow apart from Kazehaya, since she didn’t fully understand her own feelings about Kazehaya or how he felt about her. Her realization that Kazehaya himself is just as nervous when talking with her will definitely go a long way towards those two finally figuring out what each means to the other. ^_^

All and all, I really enjoyed this episode, obviously. ^_^ All off the previous fears and concerns I had during the last episode have all but evaporated. Hell, as I said, I’m even pretty sure Kurumi’s latest plan is probably not going to get too far, considering how Sawako and Kazehaya are. I think the only thing I’m worried about now is how Kurumi will ultimately react when Kazehaya inevitably rejects her for Sawako! Still, I definitely can’t wait to see how things turn and am looking foreword to the next episodes even more!