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Rating: 8.8/10 & 8.6/10

Impressions:

These two episodes felt extremely lengthy to me, though it was probably due to how I usually watch one episode of a series before switching to another. However, these two episodes are meant to be watched back to back, and having done so gives you stronger feeling of the characters, as character development is extremely high. Yamazaki is out of the picture: he is now more financially secure than before, and his mental state has probably stabilised. Kashiwa, with the help of Satou, has seen the light of day again and has resolved to lead a happy life. And now the two remaining in the dumps are Satou and Misaki, the two who had started this show and the two who will end it. Everything should be about them now, and wow what two messed up people they are. Oh and before I go on, I’d like to point out how horrible the quality of episode 22 is in comparison to 21. It was rather shocking really. Both Misaki and Kashiwa look rather ugly, which is quite disturbing. And to think episode 21’s quality is actually fairly high. I was hoping that, as the end is near, the quality would remain at an acceptable level. I guess I was hoping for too much.

Misaki troubles me. She has been of low importance recently, but now that all other interference has vanished, she is free to roam around and do as her evil mind dictates. Or should I say, truly screwed up mind? Seriously, her motives just disgust me, and her last words at the end of episode 22 about Satou being her prisoner…that’s actually rather frightening. Although she is no hikikomori, her mental state is far worse than Satou. Of course, it was seeing Satou with Kashiwa which triggered this. She must have had a terrible childhood, as suggested by her fear of getting hit (during the time when Satou had tried to kill himself), which brought her up to need at least someone to feed her troubles into, namely Satou. I’m still wondering whether she’s in love with him or not, or perhaps those emotions are really just her desire to keep Satou down in the dumps and use him to feel more at ease. It’s like using him as a scapegoat to conceal your own faults. And Satou too, he’s still pretty much a failure; not even brave enough to tell Misaki the truth about his senpai. How pitiful…but I guess that’s what this show is all about! Surely they will be able to escape from such misery soon!

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