Kotoura-san - 7

"In This World, I..."

Wait, how did all three of them end up sleeping in the same futon with Manabe and Moritani naked?

I assumed that the reappearance of Haruka's mother would signal a return to a focus on drama, but that isn't the case with this episode. Since Kumiko seems to want nothing to do with her daughter and it wasn't her idea to come see her in the first place, the inevitable confrontation has been pushed off for the meantime, which is just as well. I'm sure that somehow Kumiko will come to love her daughter and that Haruka, saintly as she is, will forgive her. Funnily enough, this isn't even unrealistic, though it sounds ridiculously convenient. There are seriously parents who abandon and abuse their kids, and there are kids who will take them back like nothing happened. It's a sad fact of life, something I've seen happen in my own family. While Kumiko may not have been the focus here, she does have an effect on Haruka, who discovers that she visited by reading the priest's mind. It's a sign of how much happier and stronger she's become that this news doesn't faze her outwardly and that she can continue to smile after finding out.

Regardless, the episode retained its recent humorous flavor, and the pacing actually worked to its advantage here by splitting itself into two separate story lines. For the first time, Kotoura-san felt very much like the 4-koma format it was adapted from and it worked just fine. The first half of the episode focused on the end of the stay at the Kotoura mansion, where, among other things, Manabe and Haruka's grandfather strike oil, Moritani nearly rapes Manabe after eating her own questionable food, and both of them awaken naked in a futon the next morning with Haruka next to them, leading to some sexual misunderstandings. It was certainly funny stuff, what with Haruka's grandfather lamenting the fact that money doesn't bring happiness (his fortune has increased, but he was still unable to take a bath with his granddaughter) and Manabe being Manabe (I choked with laughter when he forced Moritani to taste her own nasty food by way of answer; that NEVER happens), and I think in some ways it's a better path for the series than all the forced drama (though that was fine too).

My favorite part of the episode was the second half though; it was sweet and cute while still addressing some of the issues that remain a problem in Haruka's life. I think it was great that even Moritani herself has openly shown regret and guilt at her actions and punishes herself accordingly, for one thing, and for another, there's the matter of trust and privacy between Haruka and Manabe. He might be blunt and honest, but everybody wants some right to privacy in their thoughts once in a while, even Manabe. In order to throw Haruka a surprise birthday party, he gets a job and avoids her like the plague, even repeating multiplication tables over and over to throw her ESP off; it's quite a lot to go through just to keep a little surprise, which is why Haruka immediately thinks something else is up. As adorable and awesome as the outcome here was, the fact that Manabe gets no privacy of mind when he's around the girl he loves is a bit unfair; it's not as if he gets to read her mind in return, after all. It's definitely something I can see as coming back to mess things up, but Manabe is normally so carefree about it that perhaps it isn't a real problem unless surprise parties are involved.

N.B.: Thanks to Ivan for the wonderful caps! I'm exhausted today (which is why the post is a bit lackluster, I apologize), and the help is hugely appreciated!