Gimai seikatsu is one of the most pleasant surprises I've watched this year. This episode is also a major episode where the director himself takes on the storyboarding, and it's full of surprises, too.
The opening chapter sets up an foreshadow about hair. The girl cuts her hair for romantic reasons or because of a major change in relationship, and it becomes an important technique to express the character's emotions or to show the character's transformation.
Because of the enormous pressure of living at the lower social class, Saki, who is still a middle school student, has started to suppress her emotions for the sake of her family and for the sake of others, and this also explains why she didn't want to go to the pool in the last episode. (Going to the pool - delaying studies - studies are expected by the family - going to the pool would disappoint the family)
Following the film + small view frames, a high grayscale + leather texture is used as a memory staging. The same scene is also imaginary as Saki imagine a state where she and asamura are brother and sister. Awesome. That's exactly why I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the show.
Spots of light cascading through the broken holes in the fender. The spots of light are also one of the performance cues in this episode, representing some sort of emotion that is fleeting and impossible to catch. Here it is the warmth of memories. On the way to the pool, it refers to the joy for the brother's ability to care for her, and note that later in the pool dialog there is a close-up of the spot of light on the brother's hand, which is the complex and bitter sweet mutual attraction and taboo relation.
Many of the close-ups of the sister in the pool section are suspected to be the brother's subjective point-of-view shots.
The sister is proud to have discovered her brother's hidden strengths, and by this point the true nature of her feelings is self-evident. And the long buildup to the first eight episodes does nothing but emphasize the sister's discovery of and empathy for these hidden virtues, already in the diary's self-movement and self-strategizing.
The hair flutters, not the wind, but the heart. This is the intention when the wind is used as a performance prop several times in this episode.
Then follows the scene where thhe brother's heart is shaken. (That's so SHAFT) The low contrast, exaggerated composition, and single-point perspective all enhance the cool, inorganic quality. But the contrasting composition sets off the warmth of the brother's mood. The sound design, which is always in place, makes the “heartbeat” scene very impactful.
Fireworks: The sound design continues to be excellent, with the sound of the bicycle wheel spinning emphasizing the sense of anxiety, and at the moment when the brother is about to act on his impulse (how can he do it again?) the bursting of the fireworks breaks the previous impression of the sound and takes the audience to the next topic of conversation.
A small detail in the voice acting: the crying voice when making up her mind. Echoing the character of “not wanting to cause trouble for her family”, she must pour cold water on her feelings at the moment when both sides are about to break the windowpaper and when she realizes the true nature of her feelings.
This silences the sound of fireworks that should have been the second time around.
The diary component of the first part of the episode steals the show, with many episodes featuring dual perspectives and diary style narratives. And after the diary fails as a cage to hide emotions, continuing to keep a diary to supposedly reflect on oneself is no longer necessary. The feelings have become clear, I don't need the diary anymore, but I can't reach out for that either. What bitterness and loneliness.
Final scence: the intertwining of the sister in the photo with the sister in reality continues to reinforce this disconnect, rejection and regret.
Post ED Buffy moment, saying goodbye to naivety and taking on the pain and love.
この義妹生活に、もう日記はいいらない
I no longer need a diary in this righteous sister life.
A very well paced episode.
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