思い出は時の彼方なの。。。 Memories that Lies Beyond Time...
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Nanoha Episode 06: Feelings That Can't Be Understood?
Nanoha Episode 06: Feelings That Can't Be Understood?
There are times in one's life where one begins to excel at a certain task - either by chance, in the course of pursuing your dream, or because circumstances force it upon you. One reaches a point where they are confident in their own skills in this area - no one is better than they.
But, we all live in a bubble - a small subset of the real world. As we grow and our understanding of the world expands, so too does that bubble expand. And it isn't long before one finds out that there is indeed someone better than themself - even at the thing that one has been striving for their whole life. This is a critical point for many - how does one handle this realization? For some, they acknowledge to themselves that there must be someone superior, somewhere - but even so, facing them for the first time can be daunting. Moreso for those who refuse to admit such a fact.
Under this pressure, it is easy to crack, and feel as though one is inferior to everyone - taking the inverse to the extreme. One withdraws from the world - there is already someone better than they - so there's no point in them even trying, ne?
Of course, we also each have our own unique take on any one thing - there are plenty of people out there better than I at summarizing anime, but none ramble on quite the same way I do ^_^. And it's that realization - the knowledge than one can provide something unique to the world, even if that uniqueness isn't perfect - that is really needed at a time like this.
Currently it seems as though Nanoha-chan is facing that crisis. What will she do, I wonder?
Nanoha-chan is feeling a little overwhelmed after the last incident between her and Fayt-chan. She's taken a propensity to zoning out and not paying attention to her friends, which Yankee Arisa-chan takes offense to.
Both Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan are certain Nanoha-chan is worrying over something, but she won't tell them (for what, we know, are obvious reasons). Still, they'd like to be able to help her, even if it only means commiserating with her..
A short scene as it's apparent Nanoha-chan brought them all together. The two of them obviously feel in debt to her - but Nanoha-chan isn't the type of gal who'd ask others for help.
Nanoha-chan ends up walking home alone - the first time in quite a while. So she's alone both emotionally and physically. Not a conducive environment to lifting one's spirits.
Arisa-chan is riding along with Suzuka-chan in Arisa-chan's limo (must be nice to have a rich Yankee as a friend). They chat a little - Suzuka-chan was even shier before they met, while Arisa-chan was even more Yankee-ish (can you believe it?). It seems as though meeting Nanoha-chan showed them both the postive aspects of themselves, and brought them together. I can definitely see a little of each of them in Nanoha-chan.
A series of flashbacks reveal what happened - Arisa-chan had taken something of Suzuka-chan's (her headband, it looks like) and was teasing her about it - when Nanoha-chan stepped in and slapped her. And then said:
Does that hurt? The hearts of people who have their precious things taken away from them, hurt a lot more.
I think it's quite a relevant quote, although it may not become fully apparent until later on. Suffice it to say that Nanoha-chan obviously places a higher value on emotions than on material things (rather endearing, really).
(Nanoha-chan stops on the way home to try to pull herself together.)
So, Arisa-chan and Nanoha-chan had gotten into a bit of a fight, and it was Suzuka-chan who'd stepped in and broken them up. (On another level, a case could be made for the symbolism of traffic - while they're talking about the gap between them, and their first fight, the limo was stuck in a traffic jam. As they realize they have to let Nanoha-chan do what she can on her own, and offer her encouragement, a lane suddenly opens and the limo takes off..)
Nanoha-chan made it back home, and tells Yuuno-kun about the events of the day over some taiyaki. She wants to go looking for some Jewel Seeds that evening..(presumably, to redeem herself - to make her feel as though she really is doing the right thing.)
Cut to Arf, in full kawaii-kitsune form, munching on some snacks. She goes to check on Fayt-chan. She hasn't eaten much (if any) of her dinner, doesn't look too happy, and seems to have some scratch marks on her back..she didn't make it out of their last meeting unscathed.
Well, she's going out hunting, too. Even though she's really pushing it. Since, of course, her mother really wants those seeds...
We're back at Midori-ya (Nanoha-chan's family's famires - I almost said 'Angel's Kiss'!), where Shinobu-san (Suzuka-chan's older sister) is conversing with Kyouya-san, Nanoha-chan's brother. Seems she's noticed Nanoha-chan is kinda down in the dunps. She offers to speak to her..but as Kyouya-san mentions, Nanoha-chan is the kind of girl that keeps her problems to herself. Even though this is a pretty blasted big problem for a third-grader.
It's a little after 7pm, and Nanoha-chan still hasn't found anything. Yuuno-kun offers to look around a little while she heads back to dinner. She pauses momentarily to check her email on her cell phone..no one's sent her anything. It's pretty clear that while she doesn't want to ask anyone for help, she really does want someone's help.
Or maybe, need someone's help. Fayt-chan is on the scene, and Arf releases a blast of magic to try to get a jewel seed to activate. Considering that it blacks out the city and causes a serious transformation in weather patterns, I'd say it's a big blast of magic.
Nanoha-chan detects this and transforms. Yuuno-kun detects it and thinks "Oh my god, we're screwed!". All right, not exactly, but I bet he's thinking that. Arf notices Nanoha-chan's transformation, and Fayt-chan sets up to seal the jewel seed before anyone can get in her way.
Nanoha-chan and Fayt-chan's sealing spells hit the seed (number 14, for the bean-counters at home) at exactly the same time.
In a flash of cluelessness, Nanoha-chan walks up to the seed and gazes at it, remembering the aformentioned meeting between her, Arisa-chan, and Suzuka-chan. Meanwhile Fayt-chan is, no doubt, heading there at full speed.
She does bring up an important point though - communication is the most important part of a relationship (right? ^_^) There's a parallel between that meeting, and the gap between her and Fayt-chan now.
Still, the whole let's-all-be-friends-okay? sequence, while destined to take place someday (this is mahou shoujo, so there's no getting around it), it doesn't mean it's going to happen right now. Fayt-chan has her own goals, and she needs the jewel seed to satisfy them.
Cut to Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan, after music practice, where Suzuka-chan is sending an email to Nanoha-chan. And man, is she fast at it or what.
Back to the battle between mahou shoujo.. Once again Nanoha-chan gives up her advantage to explain that she wants to learn more about Fayt-chan.. She explains why she's doing this (originally to help Yuuno-kun, and now to protect the city). Fayt-chan is about to answer her..but since it is Too Early In The Series ™, Arf interrupts and tells her not to bother...they're there for the jewel seed, not to have tea.
The two girls dash for the jewel seed, each of them hitting it at exactly the same time with their staff..and the resulting magical force cracks them both, sending up a brilliant light that even Suzuka-chan seems to notice.
Suzuka-chan sees that she hasn't got a reply back yet from Nanoha-chan (it's been what, five minutes?), and so she gets into Arisa-chan's to head home... and credits roll.
So we'll have to wait until next time to see what happens. Judging by the preview, though, it looks like Fayt-chan doesn't come on top, and her mother is none too happy.
I think there's an important theme running through the episode. In the intro, I talked about how each person brings their own uniqueness to the world, and implied that Nanoha-chan needed to learn this for herself. While that would make a 'good lesson (i.e. 'Everyone is special', I think that's more of an artificial theme based on recent circumstances. It could be ironic, actually, given that the characters are all stereotyped rather heavily.
So let me try again, and pick a theme more or less at random. The first one I can think of that might apply is 'belonging' - a kind of relationship where one feels at ease (or at home) with another.
First off, we have the 'simple' belonging, such as Nanoha-chan's parents with each other, Shinobu-san with Ryouya-san. While it's more outspoken in the first can than the second, it's obvious the two pairs feel at home together.
Nanoha-chan's sense of belonging with her friends is under strain right now - she's keeping her mahou shoujo-ness from them. The other two, though, seem resolved to stick by her, even though they don't know what it is that troubles them.
Fayt-chan's belonging with her mother is still to be revealed, but it seems to be a bit darker than Nanoha-chan's. Still, she doesn't question it one bit. It will be interesting to see how this works out. How does Fayt-chan feel that she belongs with her mother?
Even though it's been a while since I've seen the last episode, and I'm very behind writing about them, this one episode has got me back into the flow already. More to come. ^_^
Labels: Nanoha