A lot of series will have their “bring the whole cast together for an event” episode, but in this series actually it works well, due to the small cast of main characters. The only requirement is to get Akiko home, and she flies around so much it’s easy enough for her to make it somewhere in time.

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This episode I accidentally set to English when I meant to set it to Japanese for my first viewing. I didn’t even realize this until about 3 minutes and 46 seconds in, when Ms. Yuunagi said, “Mr. Shirakawa.” I thought, “That ‘Shirakawa’ sounded almost like it was said by an English-speaker’s voice,” then realize it had “Mr.” in front of it.

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I wondered whether I should skip commentary for this episode. Things are still moving along slowly, but at the same time the series is pulling me in a little more. The backgrounds still stick out more than I’d like.

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I’m starting to get a better feel for the flow of the episodes, and this is the second almost enjoyable episode. With three episodes left, maybe it’ll improve enough to have been worth it. This is also the first episode where I don’t think I noticed the background once. It’s the same background as every episode prior, but there was enough going on to keep it from standing out for me.

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There are so many little things unique to a culture which lose meaning when viewed by another culture. When Miu sees her sister’s shoes, they might not be a pair Miu’s ever seen before. Rather, the style probably matches what Akiko wears. Seeing shoes by the door can indicate a visiting relative, such as with Akiko, a visiting guest, or even an older brother’s visiting friend (as seen in an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura when Sakura sees Yukito’s shoes at the entrance). A western audience might not understand the culture behind shoes in Japanese households, but I’d like to think someone with no knowledge in it would be able to piece it together quickly and understand what seeing the shoes means for Miu.

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