Kotoura-san - 12 [End]

"The Things I Want to Tell You"

I propose we make forehead touches/eskimo kisses a thing.

After last week, I had mentally prepared myself for the worst in terms of the Kotoura-san finale. This has been such a good show despite its bipolar nature that I was rather disappointed to see the penultimate episode fall to the conventions it did. However, that's not to say that this series hasn't been conventional; in fact, I'd go far enough to say that while it has tried to be different, Kotoura-san has always toed the line carefully enough that if it went to far, it always had the safety net prepared to cross right back into familiar territory. Unfortunately, that's how we've been getting all these conveniently forgiven antagonists, and with Kumiko-san on the lose, I was downright disheartened to think that we'd go out on a similar note. In a perfect world, forgiving others is a wonderful thing, but I still think Haruka does it for the wrong reasons (because she's punishing herself) and far too easily, so this episode actually made me feel a bit better about the whole affair; at least, it ended much better than I thought it would.

That's not to say that saintly Haruka didn't go around absolving people and taking the blame onto herself as usual, but at least there were other things going on at the same time. While Kumiko ultimately did get forgiven for walking out on her daughter (feeling sorry doesn't make your actions acceptable, by the way) as we always knew she would, at least Haruka got to vent a little bit before she did it. I never expected her to push her mother or call her stupid, which I think points to at least an inkling of growth in her character; it shows that she's not completely blaming herself anymore, though it's still definitely a problem. Moritani and Yuriko too are forgiven for the way in which they used her, another convenient development (and one I think Manabe should have continued handling the way he did initially, rather than following Haruka's lead).

That all being said, what cinched the episode for me, as it consistently has all season, is Manabe and his relationship with Haruka. Having read the 4-koma now, it's interesting to me that the anime is told in the perspective of Kotoura herself, because the 4-koma is the opposite; Manabe is the narrator there, and it's curious how different it is to see things from his direct perspective, rather than just through Haruka's mind reading. However, I do find it amusing to note that in this case, Haruka wants a direct admission to Manabe's love for her, rather than just hearing his thoughts; it's a nice little nod to the way we all are as teenagers, especially ones with low self-esteem. Sometimes we just need an assurance to things we already know, and sometimes knowing things doesn't necessarily mean you make good judgements. It's also nice to see a confession scene without all the usual drama and shocked participants. Manabe knows as much as Haruka does that their feelings are mutual, and that's why it's such a sweet scene. There didn't even need to be a kiss for it to be poignant (I actually liked that there wasn't one; the forehead touch was much more intimate considering the nature of the relationship) and it's just nice to know that despite deliberately causing herself pain in most of her social relationships, Haruka has at least one genuine and honest person at her side to help her change one step at a time.

N.B.: Thanks so much to Ivan for helping screencap this series every week!