Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Kobato Episode 13

For some reason this episode really made me happy and smile. Despite the fact it was about a tree. Oh spoiler alert: this episode is about a tree.

Nothing majorly exciting happens and this episode is pretty fillery. There isn’t even a friend of the week per say. But this episode has a lot of Kobato charm to it. It has an innocence about it that is hard to explain but I love it just the same. Even the kids didn’t annoy me this week with kid problems and kid whining.

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But fantasy stories are the best!


It is time to enjoy this week’s episode of Kobato. Come enjoy it with me and please bring cake. I crave cake.





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There it is folks!


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Could have done with less anger since Ioryogi is always angry...

I would like to take this moment and have an insane FINALLY moment. After 12 episodes of complaining about the hat issue THE HAT ISSUE was discussed. Rejoice the masses AKA the three people besides me who really wanted this issue to be mentioned. Okay it took a whole 20 seconds and comes off very unimportant but I don’t care! The point is that it’s out there in the back of people’s minds. That and it didn’t get that much more attention in the manga. Ioryogi does make a slightly bigger deal about it in the manga instead of screaming at Kobato like he always does but for the most part it goes unnoticed and not brought up again. Until the end of the series of course when it turns out that Kobato has massive cat ears under all her hats. For now I am happy that this small issue (that could have been brought up in any episode) has been brought up. Go writers.

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Although sometimes anger works...

Of course this goes hand in hand with Ioryogi telling Kobato that she needs to get her butt in gear in regards to her candy collecting. She is down to 6 months now and she only has like 10..WHERE DID ALL THAT CANDY COME FROM? That bottle wasn’t so filled last episode. Me thinks that is a bit too generous of the artists but I guess if they showed how many Kobato really collecting we would all be feeling a sense of dread right now. Now we think Kobato has a fighting chance WOOT!

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I know YOU know. Now tell me.

BUT WHERE IS SHE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOING?! I want to know.

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Wooden blocks are very serious business.

So back to the meat of the episode: Kids are spoil brats. Okay okay…maybe not. But those kids fighting made me mad. They shouldn’t have called the toys crummy; they should have called each other doo doo heads or whatever. How dare they be unthinking creatures and say such cruel things! Clearly calling old toys old means that Sayaka is dirt poor and everything is her fault and it’s the end of the world.
So since Fujimoto runs out insulted that wooden blocks aren’t considered cool Kobato is left to pick up the pieces of this tragedy. She takes the nursery to the huge tree she happened upon this morning. Just this morning….This tree is like a million feet tall and in walking distance from the school and Kobato just now noticed it?! And some of the kids and neighbors didn’t notice the tree either. X_X Such crazy people.

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Kobato is too cute sometimes.

But back to the point Kobato takes the kids to play with tree leaves (because tree leaves>wooden blocks apparently) so she can be there when the MOG moment happens. Men arrive to set up a barricade around the tree. Turns out that a few people have noticed this tree (thank God) and complained about the mess so down the tree goes. Now here I thought the Japanese were the kind of people who cherish old trees and would have some sorta cool legend behind this particular one. But no, everyone wants this tree gone and Kobato looks on in HORROR!

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That stupid tree, losing leaves and stuff!

The tree business makes the toy conversation earlier a little more relevant. The boys toss aside the toys because they are old and people are tossing away this tree because it is in the way of progress. Putting aside the fact that this would be an improbable problem in Japan this is a very real scenario, a very real situation to feel sad about. Sure it is easy to say it’s just a tree, it’s just some toys but you can replace tree with just about anything. Something that is important to you but it is old and considered by others too useless/out of date to keep around. And that’s what this episode is so sad.

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Yes because neighborhoods don't need trees.

I feel as if I am not explaining myself well and that I am being wordy. ME wordy?! Never. While the episode was playing I was saying WOW a tree….such drama over a TREE. But then I thought how sad I would be if I grew up in a neighborhood/lived there all my life and there was something cool about it. But then one day someone decides this cool, yet old thing wasn’t worth it anymore and that a condo would look better in its place. Then I realized it wasn’t just a tree but it was progress that made the episode so sad. You hold all these wonderful memories (like I am sure Fujimoto played with those very same blocks) and someone comes along and changes it all. Sure progress can be good but sometimes progress means that traditions are forgotten and part of our present becomes part of our past way before its time.

Of course this all would be much more powerful if the person feeling bad for the tree wasn’t Kobato. I love Kobato but she hasn’t been around that long. If Kobato was trying to help someone who had lived there for 48687 years and wanted to save the tree that might have been more powerful. But since it was a newbie to town it loses a bit of its importance.

But since Kohaku has been around since like 200 years (at least) does that count as an oldie being upset at the cause? Even if she wasn’t upset and she totally gets used as Kobato’s close friend which doesn’t exist in the manga?

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Summon up some sadness please?

Part of me wishes that Kohaku had been a little more concerned about the issue. But Kobato is very emotional and Kohaku seems more mature. Which is a good thing she is an older angel. She has seen her own boyfriend die 5 times so it is probably hard for her to cry over a tree that seems happy to die. But yeah, her voice was a little bit too happy for me.

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And here we have it folks. The moment that Kobato will look back on for the rest of the series: the day Fujimoto hugged her.

And none of this matters as the tree died anyway. :( Sorta like Knowing. Oh snap more spoilers.

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The tree appreciates your song.

But the singing was nice. Wish Kobato had a new song to sing but it was nice and pretty and fillery.

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BRB dying of shock.

But the tree dies of natural causes which makes the whole thing less sad I guess. It is better to live a full life than for it to be cut short. And now pieces of the tree can be loved by little kids for years to come thanks to Fujimoto’s rare moments of nonjerkiness. Kobato earns a piece of candy and Ioryogi isn’t as angry as he usually is. This episode was a complete success!

So yes I got a little dramatic with the explanation, something that I fault animes/mangas for at times. But I guess it’s okay to be a little dramatic sometimes. Only sometimes of course. So that is my take on an episode that is probably just okay at best but touched me for some reason.

Now if they would focus some of the story back on the nursery school drama I would be a happy blogger. See me never being happy? XD



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