[Ascaloth] ef ~a tale of melodies~, Episode 9 at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

[Ascaloth] ef ~a tale of melodies~, Episode 9

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Popularity: 7% [?] Published by Ascaloth December 6th, 2008 in Ascaloth, Anime

In the end, Amamiya is the one who is, unlike Yuu, unable to let go of his past, wallowing irretrievably in his personal tragedies as he hurts the ones around him with his selfish behaviour. Too unwilling to live, and yet too afraid to die, the character who has by this time been popularly nicknamed as "Wakame-sensei" for whatever reason is one of the most hated, and yet at the same time one of the most tragic figures in the series. Having served his tour of duty as the primary antagonist, Amamiya receives a swansong worthy of his tragedy and evil in this episode. Farewell, Wakame-sensei.

ef ~a tale of melodies~, Episode 9.

Her manipulations have borne its evil fruit, her revenge is complete, and served cold and chilled to perfection, it tastes sweet indeed. Or does it? Finally, Yuuko tastes the bitter in the bittersweet, and finally starts questioning her purpose for enacting such a revenge on Yuu.

Tied down by their pasts, by the consequence of their actions, the star-crossed lovers chew upon the decisions they’ve made, and what to do from there. How do you atone for your sins, for the consequences of the deeds by your own hand?

We’ve seen the scars on Yuuko’s body, but I think this is the first time we’ve actually seen Amamiya abuse Yuuko in the flesh.

A man hampered by an inability to admit his fault in anything, who commits dastardly deeds and blames them on external factors, whether such buck passing be justified or otherwise. Hmmm, sounds just like certain people that I have the misfortune of knowing. And what makes it worse is that such people are so pathologically incapable of recognizing one’s own culpability in the greater scheme of things, that they exasperate anyone attempting to deal with them….or worse, as in this case.

Yuu mans up and makes yet another attempt to save the day….with equally futile results. Wow, he’s one surprisingly weak male lead, if he doesn’t even seem to know how to put up a fight. Why does it look like he’s not even trying to stop Amamiya from stepping all over him?

Why is it that the faces of the late are soon forgotten, no matter how beloved they were in life?

Ultimately, Amamiya shows himself to be the utmost coward amongst siscons, having always wanted to die to join his late sister, but never being able to build up the courage to do so, not until he finally finds an excuse to do just that. Because of his cowardice, which prevented him from moving on with his life much as Yuu has, and even from ending himself until he has found an excuse to do so, others got hurt because of him.

It was years in coming, but Amamiya finally passes on by his own volition, having never forgiven himself for something he should have realized he never needed forgiving for. He leaves behind a legacy as both a source of utter tragedy, and a tragic figure in his own right; just like Yuuko, who inherited his legacy of tragedy, he ends his sad life both as victimizer and as victimized. With his passing, will the chain of tragedy finally be broken?

If only it were so easy.

Back to the present day, having driven everyone away from himself, Kuze returns to waiting for his impending death, lamenting that it remains a long, long wait. But he has been irreversibly affected by Mizuki’s entrance into his life, for she has shaken his erstwhile solid belief in putting an end to things before it is too late, so much so that he has to keep reminding himself of his ultimate goal. Or perhaps, such a goal was ill thought out to begin with?

And as for Mizuki, she suddenly finds the words that go with Kuze’s melody, also finding the key to why it used to have so much ‘colour’ in its tone; it is a song about one’s courage to live on, which Kuze have since lost.

Funny how they’ve only just met each other for the first time in years, and yet Kei and Chihiro are already finishing each other’s sentences. They sure made up pretty fast; now one must wonder, why didn’t Kyosuke take the chance to come along with Kei and film this touching scene?

Oh ho ho. It’s THE key, the charm that sets everything right in one’s troubled love life.

Yes, we know, Chihiro. I mean, the place that this key gives access to is so powerful, it causes a couple in love to take the effort to fold their clothes in a neat pile before doing the deed, right? ^_^

Slowly, Kuze is beginning to doubt his rationale for pushing everyone away from him, for his goal of passing on to the next world, beholden to nobody and no one. Though he’s done his best to prepare himself for the final journey, he is still not ready.

Just like Amamiya years before him, Kuze has become a coward in the face of death, eternally wishing for and yet at the same time fearing the coming of his own passing. Ambivalent about the medicine which would only prolong his wait for the end, yet gulping it down anyway because of his fear.

According to Akira from The Nihon Review (yes, the same guy who’s doing the Nodame ~Paris~ piece analyses), Kuze was not this emo and angsty about his impending death in the original VN, and instead took everything with the same detached outlook we’ve seen him do at the beginning of the series. The result is two very different Kuzes from both mediums; SHAFT apparently won’t be winning any awards for faithfulness in adaptations anytime soon, but what do you guys think? Is Kuze’s being emo in this series fine as it is, or perhaps it would be better for him to remain cool and collected about the whole idea of his mortality?

In any case, here’s a snap announcement; I’ll be flying off to Tasmania, Australia hours after the publication of this article, and while I’ll make every effort to continue regular coverage of the three series I’m covering, I’m sure some of you will understand the difficulties I’m bound to face with the ‘limited bandwidth’ nature of Australian connections. Therefore, there is every possibility that I won’t be quite so timely with my articles (not that I’ve really been that timely these days) as I used to be, so I’m afraid you guys will have to make do mostly with whatever TJ Han deigns to write these days, whenever he feels like taking a break from living his World Is Mine life with hisお姫さま.

Ascaloth, out.

Popularity: 7% [?]

4 Responses to “[Ascaloth] ef ~a tale of melodies~, Episode 9”

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1 animekritik 25 comments Dec 6th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

The (metaphorical) camera angles while Kei, Chihiro and Mizuki sat on the bench were pretty interesting, to say the least. From what you’re saying it sounds like the original Kuze was too detached, whereas the anime Kuze is doing melodramatic overkill. I think a happy medium would have been optimal…
2 SnooSnoo 175 comments Dec 7th, 2008 at 10:45 am

I’m thinking Kuze is confusing what he wants to do with what he thinks is the right thing to do.
Also, the lack of Kei x Kyousuke has left me in despair.
3 ETERNAL 29 comments Dec 8th, 2008 at 10:50 am

My personal opinion is that Kuze is acting realistically, or at least more so than if he were completely detached. I mean, it may not be the most pleasant thing to watch (depending on your perspective), but isn’t his reaction much more believable, AND much more interesting, than if he simply accepted his impending death from the very beginning?

Also, lol at the folded clothes, I remember that XD
4 Hikage 2 comments Dec 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am

Never played the original VN, so whatever the writer’s original intention with the story and the director’s adaptation hit my heart right where it needed to. So, I think Kuze is ok as a character as it shows contrast and all. Thats about it laters.

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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