After dusk settled on Sae and Junichi III’s day of frolicking in the land of Cosmos,
making the lovers return to their homes, Junichi felt unsteady
and sought the guidance of the stars.
For much lay ahead of him, and Sae, as the day of festivities drew near.
As Junichi attempted to consult the heavens in his closet recreation of the celestial sphere
Sae began to work in the ways of mankind. Relying on her self,
mind sharp as the edge of Achilles’s blade, she searched.
From the Nishishi and Ai she learned of the legendary Lover’s Parfait.
A massive dish of ice cream and ambrosia fit for Aphrodite herself
and blessed by the Fates to tie the destinies of those couples who shared it.
She knew it to be massive, but through fained hesitation she ensnared her lover into sharing it.
Many would vie for the favor of the gods during the winter festival,
maidens resplendent in colorful garb
and the manly virtue of Poseidon’s favored sushi chef embodied by noble Umehara.
And before they strode elegantly onto the stage,
the Nishishi was there to guide them in their endeavor.
But even next to Junichi and Sae none shown more brightly
than Hibiki and Haruka.
O muse! Grant me such worlds as may describe their radiance!
To but convey a small amount of their splendor on these pages.
For their beauty was beyond that which the gods would grant to man,
a yuri vision of unconquerable Ares and breathtaking Aphrodite.
And when the judging came, all were in agreement
even as they acknowledged the grace of Sae and Junichi,
granting them a cinema pass to an exclusive chamber.
Walking to their second date Sae’s heart was filled with pride,
for she had successfully convinced all that the wedding outfit,
supposedly of her mother, was in fact her own romantic snare.
At the theater she removed her winter cloak to reveal
such an outfit as to rival the goth-loli frills of Sugintou,
causing Junichi much apprehension at the beautiful sight.
In a moment of hesitation he headed to wash his hands,
but destiny would not allow him to delay in such an unmanly fashion.
Just then, a visitor from a distant land approached
and spoke rather decent words from the realm of Brutus
encouraging young Junichi to, as the sage TK often opined, “get chance and luck.”
Now resolute, Junichi decided that he must act
and with vigor he came close to saying those magic words.
But with a gigitty-gigitty the couch upon which they sat reclined,
bringing the lovers face to face with overwhelming feelings bringing them to warm embrace.
And then the words were spoken, under the flicker of the unwatched film,
and their first kiss was shared.
They would spend the snowy eve together before the tree of Saturnalian festival,
and from then on their love grew and grew.
With moments of romance and of silly cosplay their saga concluded,
happily together with the Nishishi.
Commentary from Codicer ExecutiveOtaku, Imperial Librarium
- From my lowest expectations for any arc to one that far surpassed the anticipate Kaoru arc, the Sae arc surprised me with its good pacing, funny new approach to the story, and genuine romantic moments. While I liked Kaoru more as a character, Sae proved to be much more than she seemed to be from her moments in the previous arcs and her story ended up being told more effectively. Similar to the Haruka arc, which still remains my favorite, the pacing and character development was well thought out, leaving barely any wasted time. Part III wasn’t quite as eventful, but at least it was purposeful and went somewhere.
- Including Miya much more in this arc also added a lot of fun to it. Both as a character to make snide comments from the side and as the focus of a few moments herself, it was great to have more of the Nishishi this time around.
- Haruka X Hibiki: OTP ACCOMPLISHED! As Kabitzin has been saying since the Kaoru arc, Haruka just steals any scene she’s in. It doesn’t matter whose arc it is or what’s going on, Haruka owns this show. And her arc is still the standard by which other arcs will be judged in my view. Here’s to you Haruka! And as for the later arcs, may they surpass even that great story.
She really likes the wedding fantasy thing. Reminded me of Minmay in that moment, though thankfully for Sae, that’s where the resemblance ended.
Wait, wait! Wedding fantasy (that the girl instigates.) Giant tuna. MACROSS!!!! Either that’s a huge coincidence or the most indirect reference I’ve ever seen.
Best narrator since Kuroko-narrator!
Miya, you make every scene better. Shall we dance?
30 Comments
Dammit, now I need a new nutbladder….
You knew the risks!
Hmm…during this arc I kept thinking maybe they’ll show Haruka or Kaoru with another boy since Junichi’s taken…but I guess that’ll make everyone mad?
I’d actually like to see that now that you bring up the idea. Though I think they’d have to have introduced another boy in the background of the arcs to not make it seem arbitrary. Well, unless they want Haruka or Kaoru to start dating Ume, heh. (Well, maybe I could see Umehara X Kaoru…)
Yes Yes Yes! This arc turned out to be way better than Kaoru’s and I ended up loving Sae by the end. The narration grew on me, but I think my initial distaste for it stems from the fact that Kuroko-narrator wins hands down against all narrators. Ookami-san has spoiled me (fingers crossed for a second season).
I wasn’t excited for Sae, but seeing how well her arc turned out has me anticipating Ai-chan’s, now.
p.s. Harubiki 4ever! Such epic yuri love this epsiode. Yay!
It is hard to top Ookami-san’s narrator, but this one was pretty great too. The Haruka arc and this one showed off a lot of good pacing and character development, albeit in arcs with different feels to them. So I’m hoping that just means that the Kaoru arc was an anomaly and the Amagami staff remain on their game for the last three arcs. And yeah, after not having much of an idea one way or the other with Ai, the Sae arc has shown me not to count out any of the heroines.
This arc better than i expected and that Goth loli outfit was epic, hahah… i guess i need some doujin for harukaXhibiki ASAP.
Haruka X Hibiki needs its own arc, really. I could watch a whole season just about those two, hehe.
THE BEST COUPLE WON! Hurray for great justice~
There is justice in this world! Three cheers for the winning couple!
Hahaha! just as planned, I think Sae is a sly one.
Quite the cute ending, me like it., but it makes me sad for Kaoru’s arc (my favorite character), she deserved some love!
I mentioned at RandomC that Sae’s arc was quite awkward for 3 episodes and then we go all cute, weird but… how should I put it… that was the best thing for “Parental control” I guess…
Now we pass to Ai, another of my personal favorites, makes me wonder what are you gonna do for the next episode Mr. ExecutiveOtaku. Thanks for the review.
Seeing how well Haruka’s and Sae’s arcs played out does make me sad for Kaoru too. When I read the basic descriptions of the characters at the start of the show Kaoru was my second favorite behind Ayatsuji Tsukasa. But for whatever reason the writers seemed to be off their game until the end of the last episode.
Hmmm, have to think of something for the next posting style. Always tough to think of something else, but maybe I’ll get some inspiration from the first Ai arc episode.
They built and held Sae’s character far better than I could have hoped. They really did an excellent job with her. She improved in her ability to interact with other people, but they didn’t change her fundamental character.
Junichi was also far better done than in the first arc, and more stable and active than Kaoru’s arc.
Overall it didn’t feel like it was done as a childish rush of hormones, but as a more mature matching (… despite the penguin outfit), somewhat ironic considering Sae is the youngest of the girls.
In one sense it almost feels more emotionally shallow than the others; there isn’t that obvious deep emotion current forcing things along, nor the sappy romantic surge of first love of more typical scenarios, nor the awkwardness of transitioning from childhood friends to being lovers. They instead stepped delicately alongside Sae’s feelings, allowing her to stay at her natural distance without being overbearing or forcing her to play someone else’s story just for a more blatant emotional overtone.
Also as a personal note, regarding Haruka: While I despised her in her own arc, I find more and more that I agree, she’s an excellent secondary character in the other arcs.
The way the Sae’s arc and her character were done was quite a pleasant surprise. I can see what you mean about the lack of a “rush” or that it was emotionally more shallow. Which is not to say, in my opinion, that it was lacking in content, just that it didn’t have the melodrama of the Haruka and Kaoru arcs. The previous two arcs concentrated more on the traditional surge of emotions or moments of dramatic doubt, but I think such methods would have felt out of place in this arc given its tone.
Also, come to the Haruka side. It it unavoidable. It is your destiny. /Emperor Palpatine
Eh, I finally downloaded episode 4 just to see the ending of the Haruka arc. Think I like it even less than I did before, if that’s possible.
Haruka’s arc is still the one to beat, of which Tsukasa is the only one I think who has the chance of doing that.
I’m actually looking forward to Ai’s arc, since I didn’t really feel for this one, even with Haruka and Miya cheering in the background. But how is Junichi going to hold his head with Ai; from the looks of it, she isn’t exactly much of a talker.
I’m wondering about that too. Though perhaps Junichi mark IV will be a more outgoing individual. While I hear some talk of Ai being tsundere, I have to wonder if she might be more of a kuudere type like Futami Eriko from KimiKiss: Pure Rouge. In which case Junichi need not be super outgoing, but he will have to be persistent.
Well, Umehara did say that this was going to be Hard Mode. From what little we saw in the preview, looks like she’s one of those “Who the hell are you and why are you talking to me?” girls. Doesn’t seem like a particularly happy girl, at any rate – happy girls never are on the swings in the park alone while MC is passing through.
If Ai ended up being a kuudere, she wouldn’t really care much about Junichi regardless of what happens in the world. Perhaps this next arc is the super-extra-hard one, where Junichi has to seriously work his poor little cotton socks off to win her heart. Oh well, makes it all more interesting an arc, no?
Moe overload. My brain has been successfully scrambled.
It’s a little known fact that Amagami is used in psy-ops warfare to distract enemies with momentary moe-overload.
That friend of Rihoko, the long haired girl, is she a creepy sadist or somehting like that?
Something’s definitely going on with her. I’d like to see more of her honestly, she kind of reminds me of Izumi Maki from Nadesico and that’s always a good thing.
Started this arc with bare expectations, but this turned out to be really hilarious and well developed. Not sure if i could say it beat haruka’s but… i enjoyed this one alot! Great blog entry btw, i ll start checking here more often
Same here, I was expecting an arc that’d be a long, hard slog to make it through, but ended up pleasantly surprised. And I think it follows some of the successes of the Haruka arc, even if it had a different feel to it. Namely, the efficient use of time to develop a character and constantly move the plot forward.
Glad you liked the entry
Next episode is a new arc, so I’ll have to think about what new format to use on Friday.
Odd that they didn’t go with the pregnancy end after the movie like in the game. Instead they went with a kinky cosplay movie end. Where Miya comes in accusing her brother of unseemly things, yet she herself comes in prepared for said unseemly thing, exactly prepared.
She was also responsible for Sae’s outfit to the theater. And Junichi knew it.
Miya is quite aware of what her brother likes, as we learned last episode.
And last arc Miya rushes into the bath while Junichi is there, with no embarrassed response one would expect from anime.
Methinks Junichi has a prawn buddy that Umehara doesn’t know about (heh, prawn, Umehara).
Also, it is interesting that they followed the Best End pretty well closely in the last two arcs (according to my sources, Kaoru End is Bike End), but this one we deviated a bit. Sae should be preggers after the movie (how much after, I don’t know, but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t seem too terribly long after). Guess we can’t have that kind of bad influence.
Honestly I’d be a bit creeped out by that game ending. What the hell is with having the petite/loli-esque characters have a pregnancy end? Reminded me of what I heard about the Taiga end in one of the Toradora games.
The main thing that strikes me about Miya’s behavior is how she reacts to the different girls. She seemed to be hostile to Haruka, initially shocked but eventually receptive to Kaoru, and then best friends with Sae, showing only a hint of jealousy towards her when Junichi started spending time with her. It can definitely be put down to her feelings about each girl, but I find it kind of interesting how she has these different reactions considering her close relationship with her brother. It’s almost like she’s the older sibling.
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