July 28, 2012
Mysterious Girlfriend X Ep. 13 (last)
[Note: Feh, I've been sitting on this since the 13th. I've only just started on screencaps, and I'll add them as I go. Work is getting VERY demanding -I have to come in this Sunday as well as Saturday, so I'll let the text go free and add images as I can.]
[Update: Working on it. But my new manager is "Designated Overtime"-happy.]
This last episode was very different from what went before. While not precisely an ending, it was a sort of Coda. We collect a lot of background information that may not have been known to the audience, but was known to the characters. We learn a lot more about Tsubaki's sister (including her name) and his family history. We also see that while in many respects Urabe is like an alien, in others she is traditionally Japanese, and the two things mix in odd ways.
The open is a bit of interaction between Tsubaki and his sister, revealing a few bits of information that wouldn't have come out in the normal course of the series. Tsubaki arrives home to find his sister napped-out on the table, drooling in her sleep. And NO, he's not going there, although he's a bit embarrassed to see it. She awakens, groggy, and Tsubaki points out that she's still got drool running down her chin. She is grossed out and mortified to be seen like that, and quickly wipes it away. Then, because the connection between the topics is perhaps obvious to him, he asks his sister if she's seeing anyone. Okay, normally you'd think he would KNOW this from living with her, but then again, there are a lot of secret relationships in this series. The connection is not at all obvious to his sister, who questions why he's asking, and just pronounces him weird. And he is, because he wonders to himself if she did have a boyfriend, would he think her face was cute while she drooled in her sleep. Poor boy is a mess.
"Living life vicariously through me is exhausting, isn't it?"
"Akira, you are one disturbed unit."
After the credits, Urabe is walking through a shopping district when she spots Tsubaki's sister buying something at one of the stalls. She dithers for a bit but finally decides as she's walking by to talk to her. Urabe introduces herself as Tsubaki's classmate, and she remembers her from "that one time you brought him his homework". Small talk with boyfriend's family member achievement unlocked, Urabe is about to take her leave when Tsubaki's sister asks her is she would accompany her for a bit.
"I was walking downtown when I spotted the Dame I was supposed to be tailing...."
"The Client wanted me to be discreet, unseen, but my target made me."
"I tried to be nonchalant, made some small talk, and was ready to leave..."
"... but the Dame wanted to talk, and whenever Dames talk, it's trouble." -- Mikoto Hammer
Retiring to a nearby coffee shop, Tsubaki's sister suffers from an attack of Nostalgia. She fondles the sleeve of Urabe's school uniform, remembering the feel of it from when she wore the same sort of uniform six years before. Then she starts pressing Urabe for any gossip about her brother dating anyone. For reasons I have yet to fathom, she denies knowing anything. Still in the grips of nostalgia, Tsubaki's sister speculates that her brother must at least have a crush on someone, being 17 and all, since when she was that age, she did, and eventually dated him.
She suddenly laughs because of the confluence of recent events. She mentions how just the other day, she woke up with drool on her face and Tsubaki asked her about having a boyfriend, and how strange that was. But the strangeness was how that echoed her crush. Apparently one day she fell asleep at her desk and drooled all over it, and her boyfriend snapped a picture of her. She was mortified, and wanted him to throw it away, but he said she looked cute and kept it.
At the end of the story, Urabe asks her what happened to her high-school boyfriend, and she tells her that after graduation, he went to college in Kansai, and after about six months, they drifted out of contact. She wonders if he still has the picture, or if he got a new girlfriend who made him throw it out. Urabe is thoughtful, but not entirely comforted by the possibilities this story lays out for her future with Tsubaki. She then says that she really doesn't have time to think about romance any more, she has to act as Akira's mother. Their dead mother would want it that way. This shocks Urabe, who didn't know that Tsubaki's mother was dead.
As they part outside the shop, Tsubaki's sister thanks Urabe for listening to her boring old stories, and then gifts her with one of the sakura-mochi she had been buying when they met. She says that their family loves it. Just before she goes, Urabe catches herself, and makes a point of formally introducing herself with her full name. Tsubaki's sister repeats it and says she'll remember it. Unfortunately she doesn't return the favor, so so far, we're stuck calling her Tsubaki's sister.
The next scene opens in a graveyard. Not the spooky horror movie type, but the nice, neat, somewhat sterile collection of markers the Japanese favor. Tsubaki is fetching the pail of water for washing the stone, while his sister and father wait for him. Yes, his dad. 13 episodes in, almost halfway through the last one, and we finally see his dad. Sis dominates the visit, telling stubaki to wash the stone, saying that she'll manage the flowers and offerings, and tells dad to get the incense. I never imagined the incense would be so hard to light, but apparently it's necessary to burn a section of newspaper in order to get it going. Right there on the path. This is what that Sakura Mochi was for. Dad says that it was mom's favorite. Preparations complete, she tells them all that it's time to say their prayers for mom.
On the way out, she says how great it feels to have sent her message to mom. Tsubaki asks her what she sent to Mom, and she says "I told her about you, of course.... 'Until Akira graduates college and gets a good job, I promise to be a good mother in your place.'" It's kind of a scary bit of determined martyr-ism. Akira (I guess I can call him that in a family setting) is shocked, "So that means you won't get married until I get a job?!" She maintains her determined expression and says yes. Akira protests that he doesn't need her to babysit him THAT long. Then Dad pops up, and days "He's right Yoko." (SD:Youko). Ah, THAT'S her name. "If you're interested in a guy, you can move out and marry him. I'm guessing Dad is a bit tired of having his 24-year-old daughter running the house, and determined to be a guaranteed spinster at 30. She turns the conversation to Akira, and asks what he told mom. He replies that he just told mom about what's going on in his life, and Yoko demands examples. He hems and haws and avoids an answer, but he thinks to himself that there was really one thing he told her about (and we can easily guess what that is).
After the break, we join Tsubaki and Urabe on their way home from school a couple of days later (Why a couple of days, I don't know). Urabe finally works up the courage, I guess, to tell Tsubaki that she met Yoko (Wait, I don't think she knows Yoko's name yet) Saturday out shopping, and that they had coffee and talked. Tsubaki's reaction is like he's scared that she told her about them. But, remember that this is a show about secret relationships. When Urabe answers his interrogation about what they talked about, she mentions that his sister talked about her high-school boyfriend, which is news to Tsubaki. (He would have been around 10 at the time). After filling him on on how they drifted apart and such, she asks him out of the blue if he likes Sakura Mochi, and he says not really. She relays that his sisters said your family loves it, and Tsubaki says "Oh, that must have been because we went to mom's grave Yesterday." (Someone has goofed on the timeline here). Ah, I see what she did there, she asked an innocent question to get him to talk about his mom. And he does, at length. Except that she died when he was so little, he had no memory of her at all. To him, it's normal not to have a mom. I think this makes Urabe a little sad. So after giving him his daily dose, she asks what he's doing next Sunday, and since he's free, she proposes that they go visit his mom's grave together.
That Sunday, as Tsubaki heads out, he reflects that Urabe sure asks for some strange things sometimes, like this trip to the grave. There are some other odd ways of thinking going on here, like how because they're NOT wearing school uniforms, it's more like a date. I had no idea that the uniform provided so much important context. The outfit she shows up in shocks Tsubaki, who is dressed very casually. HE likens it to her dressing up for a party. It causes him considerable angst that I really don't get. He does think the outfit is pretty, but he doesn't get why she's wearing it.
At the grave, Urabe makes her offering, and SubDesu badly blows the line. Aside from the flowers, she's brought bacon wrapped meat rolls, which according to HorribleSubs, she learned to make from Oka-san. Oka is known for having 11 different ways of preparing bacon. SubDesu translates it as okasan, Mom, and mistakes meat for vegetables, which isn't even close. This is why I like getting both translations, because they both make mistakes that the other catches. Next time I'll keep score....
After paying her respects, Urabe gets up and starts explaining to Tsubaki why she's dressed up like this. It's because this is the first time she's "met" his mother, and she wanted to look pretty for her. Tsubaki is rather stunned to hear that she thought it through like that. She asks him what his mother was like, but he really can't remember her. He can't even remember how he felt when she died. But Urabe proposes an experiment. She puts his hand on the grave marker, and tells him to keep it there while they both exchange saliva. This is something new, and he balks a little. But in a somewhat overwrought scene, as he gets to put his finger in her mouth, he thinks about how soft her lips are, and what the inside of her mouth feels like, and think I don't need that vocabulary.... (I think SD wins this round by translating it as "Moist" instead of HS's "Slimy".) But they sample each other, and Urabe starts flowing tears.
While he got an amazing feeling from her, she explains that what she got was the impression that he may not remember himself. That when his mother died, he was crying, but that his life has been full of love from his family members, and she wants to be like that to him in the future too.
Roll the series end theme as they walk out of the cemetery. Disappointing that SD didn't get the lyrics (HS never tries). Tsubaki reflects that it was kinda weird and a little inappropriate for them to be swapping spit in front of his mother's grave, but her reply was just wonderful, that it couldn't be helped, because they're going to be doing even more inappropriate things in the future.
And in a final dose of symbolism, we see that the cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom, and a butterfly is fluttering around, landing in a flower... just like the one in the sex dream Tsubaki had in the opening of the first episode....
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[Update: Working on it. But my new manager is "Designated Overtime"-happy.]
This last episode was very different from what went before. While not precisely an ending, it was a sort of Coda. We collect a lot of background information that may not have been known to the audience, but was known to the characters. We learn a lot more about Tsubaki's sister (including her name) and his family history. We also see that while in many respects Urabe is like an alien, in others she is traditionally Japanese, and the two things mix in odd ways.
The open is a bit of interaction between Tsubaki and his sister, revealing a few bits of information that wouldn't have come out in the normal course of the series. Tsubaki arrives home to find his sister napped-out on the table, drooling in her sleep. And NO, he's not going there, although he's a bit embarrassed to see it. She awakens, groggy, and Tsubaki points out that she's still got drool running down her chin. She is grossed out and mortified to be seen like that, and quickly wipes it away. Then, because the connection between the topics is perhaps obvious to him, he asks his sister if she's seeing anyone. Okay, normally you'd think he would KNOW this from living with her, but then again, there are a lot of secret relationships in this series. The connection is not at all obvious to his sister, who questions why he's asking, and just pronounces him weird. And he is, because he wonders to himself if she did have a boyfriend, would he think her face was cute while she drooled in her sleep. Poor boy is a mess.
"Living life vicariously through me is exhausting, isn't it?"
"Akira, you are one disturbed unit."
After the credits, Urabe is walking through a shopping district when she spots Tsubaki's sister buying something at one of the stalls. She dithers for a bit but finally decides as she's walking by to talk to her. Urabe introduces herself as Tsubaki's classmate, and she remembers her from "that one time you brought him his homework". Small talk with boyfriend's family member achievement unlocked, Urabe is about to take her leave when Tsubaki's sister asks her is she would accompany her for a bit.
"I was walking downtown when I spotted the Dame I was supposed to be tailing...."
"The Client wanted me to be discreet, unseen, but my target made me."
"I tried to be nonchalant, made some small talk, and was ready to leave..."
"... but the Dame wanted to talk, and whenever Dames talk, it's trouble." -- Mikoto Hammer
Retiring to a nearby coffee shop, Tsubaki's sister suffers from an attack of Nostalgia. She fondles the sleeve of Urabe's school uniform, remembering the feel of it from when she wore the same sort of uniform six years before. Then she starts pressing Urabe for any gossip about her brother dating anyone. For reasons I have yet to fathom, she denies knowing anything. Still in the grips of nostalgia, Tsubaki's sister speculates that her brother must at least have a crush on someone, being 17 and all, since when she was that age, she did, and eventually dated him.
She suddenly laughs because of the confluence of recent events. She mentions how just the other day, she woke up with drool on her face and Tsubaki asked her about having a boyfriend, and how strange that was. But the strangeness was how that echoed her crush. Apparently one day she fell asleep at her desk and drooled all over it, and her boyfriend snapped a picture of her. She was mortified, and wanted him to throw it away, but he said she looked cute and kept it.
At the end of the story, Urabe asks her what happened to her high-school boyfriend, and she tells her that after graduation, he went to college in Kansai, and after about six months, they drifted out of contact. She wonders if he still has the picture, or if he got a new girlfriend who made him throw it out. Urabe is thoughtful, but not entirely comforted by the possibilities this story lays out for her future with Tsubaki. She then says that she really doesn't have time to think about romance any more, she has to act as Akira's mother. Their dead mother would want it that way. This shocks Urabe, who didn't know that Tsubaki's mother was dead.
As they part outside the shop, Tsubaki's sister thanks Urabe for listening to her boring old stories, and then gifts her with one of the sakura-mochi she had been buying when they met. She says that their family loves it. Just before she goes, Urabe catches herself, and makes a point of formally introducing herself with her full name. Tsubaki's sister repeats it and says she'll remember it. Unfortunately she doesn't return the favor, so so far, we're stuck calling her Tsubaki's sister.
The next scene opens in a graveyard. Not the spooky horror movie type, but the nice, neat, somewhat sterile collection of markers the Japanese favor. Tsubaki is fetching the pail of water for washing the stone, while his sister and father wait for him. Yes, his dad. 13 episodes in, almost halfway through the last one, and we finally see his dad. Sis dominates the visit, telling stubaki to wash the stone, saying that she'll manage the flowers and offerings, and tells dad to get the incense. I never imagined the incense would be so hard to light, but apparently it's necessary to burn a section of newspaper in order to get it going. Right there on the path. This is what that Sakura Mochi was for. Dad says that it was mom's favorite. Preparations complete, she tells them all that it's time to say their prayers for mom.
On the way out, she says how great it feels to have sent her message to mom. Tsubaki asks her what she sent to Mom, and she says "I told her about you, of course.... 'Until Akira graduates college and gets a good job, I promise to be a good mother in your place.'" It's kind of a scary bit of determined martyr-ism. Akira (I guess I can call him that in a family setting) is shocked, "So that means you won't get married until I get a job?!" She maintains her determined expression and says yes. Akira protests that he doesn't need her to babysit him THAT long. Then Dad pops up, and days "He's right Yoko." (SD:Youko). Ah, THAT'S her name. "If you're interested in a guy, you can move out and marry him. I'm guessing Dad is a bit tired of having his 24-year-old daughter running the house, and determined to be a guaranteed spinster at 30. She turns the conversation to Akira, and asks what he told mom. He replies that he just told mom about what's going on in his life, and Yoko demands examples. He hems and haws and avoids an answer, but he thinks to himself that there was really one thing he told her about (and we can easily guess what that is).
After the break, we join Tsubaki and Urabe on their way home from school a couple of days later (Why a couple of days, I don't know). Urabe finally works up the courage, I guess, to tell Tsubaki that she met Yoko (Wait, I don't think she knows Yoko's name yet) Saturday out shopping, and that they had coffee and talked. Tsubaki's reaction is like he's scared that she told her about them. But, remember that this is a show about secret relationships. When Urabe answers his interrogation about what they talked about, she mentions that his sister talked about her high-school boyfriend, which is news to Tsubaki. (He would have been around 10 at the time). After filling him on on how they drifted apart and such, she asks him out of the blue if he likes Sakura Mochi, and he says not really. She relays that his sisters said your family loves it, and Tsubaki says "Oh, that must have been because we went to mom's grave Yesterday." (Someone has goofed on the timeline here). Ah, I see what she did there, she asked an innocent question to get him to talk about his mom. And he does, at length. Except that she died when he was so little, he had no memory of her at all. To him, it's normal not to have a mom. I think this makes Urabe a little sad. So after giving him his daily dose, she asks what he's doing next Sunday, and since he's free, she proposes that they go visit his mom's grave together.
That Sunday, as Tsubaki heads out, he reflects that Urabe sure asks for some strange things sometimes, like this trip to the grave. There are some other odd ways of thinking going on here, like how because they're NOT wearing school uniforms, it's more like a date. I had no idea that the uniform provided so much important context. The outfit she shows up in shocks Tsubaki, who is dressed very casually. HE likens it to her dressing up for a party. It causes him considerable angst that I really don't get. He does think the outfit is pretty, but he doesn't get why she's wearing it.
At the grave, Urabe makes her offering, and SubDesu badly blows the line. Aside from the flowers, she's brought bacon wrapped meat rolls, which according to HorribleSubs, she learned to make from Oka-san. Oka is known for having 11 different ways of preparing bacon. SubDesu translates it as okasan, Mom, and mistakes meat for vegetables, which isn't even close. This is why I like getting both translations, because they both make mistakes that the other catches. Next time I'll keep score....
After paying her respects, Urabe gets up and starts explaining to Tsubaki why she's dressed up like this. It's because this is the first time she's "met" his mother, and she wanted to look pretty for her. Tsubaki is rather stunned to hear that she thought it through like that. She asks him what his mother was like, but he really can't remember her. He can't even remember how he felt when she died. But Urabe proposes an experiment. She puts his hand on the grave marker, and tells him to keep it there while they both exchange saliva. This is something new, and he balks a little. But in a somewhat overwrought scene, as he gets to put his finger in her mouth, he thinks about how soft her lips are, and what the inside of her mouth feels like, and think I don't need that vocabulary.... (I think SD wins this round by translating it as "Moist" instead of HS's "Slimy".) But they sample each other, and Urabe starts flowing tears.
While he got an amazing feeling from her, she explains that what she got was the impression that he may not remember himself. That when his mother died, he was crying, but that his life has been full of love from his family members, and she wants to be like that to him in the future too.
Roll the series end theme as they walk out of the cemetery. Disappointing that SD didn't get the lyrics (HS never tries). Tsubaki reflects that it was kinda weird and a little inappropriate for them to be swapping spit in front of his mother's grave, but her reply was just wonderful, that it couldn't be helped, because they're going to be doing even more inappropriate things in the future.
And in a final dose of symbolism, we see that the cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom, and a butterfly is fluttering around, landing in a flower... just like the one in the sex dream Tsubaki had in the opening of the first episode....
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