Episode 5
Living as Hazuki has its challenges at first, like not knowing where he lives and having no money. On top of that, he has very poor eyesight, so Atsushi goes out of his way to replace his contact lenses with glasses. I can finally relate to him on one thing…contacts are horrible! Personality-wise, Hazuki appears to be much more emotional, which is often mistaken for drunkenness. He acts confused with himself, calls Rokka’s name over and over, cries, hugs, and sleeps at the shop. Plus, he gets a whole new, geeky look! Now I can’t wait to see Hazuki’s reaction when he comes back and looks in the mirror…
Speaking of the real Hazuki, where is he? Well, apparently he’s in a storybook filled with sketches of nature, accompanied by a younger looking Rokka who is searching for her “prince.” At first she is a tiny girl like Thumbelina, and with the turn of a page, she’s suddenly back to normal size with pink fairy wings. Since Atsushi was an artist, this world is thought to be an unfinished story of his.
I really like this episode because of the mix of slice-of-life and fantastical elements. Spirit possession is a very fun concept to play with here. Without the ghost, I can’t imagine this anime being nearly as interesting. I wonder how long Atsushi is going to keep this going…or perhaps Hazuki will find a way to break free. xD
Man, this was such a mean episode of Natsuyuki. Atsushi cutting Hazuki’s hair was a pretty not so classy move right there. I can only imagine Hazuki coming back and pretty much going on some sort of tirade–ok maybe not, but I can imagine it.
Well, Natsuyuki could be interesting without the ghost, but the point of the anime is that it does have the ghost, meaning it has a lot of elements to play with. If it didn’t have Atsushi, it would have to come up with something else compelling which can be done, but it’s not something we have to worry about for this series.
Omg, first comment on a Natsuyuki Rendezvous post! *celebrates* Nice avatar, by the way.
Yeah, you make a great point there. I made that comment when thinking about my friends who felt that this was turning into a typical romance anime without any punch. I’d probably feel a tad bored like they are if the ghost character was removed and this was simply about two people falling in love at a flower shop. God knows how hard it is for me to get into romance anime. It’s just that much more compelling to me because of the ghost character. But in the end, everyone has their own tastes. =P
Yeah, I was actually behind on Natsuyuki for a couple of weeks due to Grand Jury (three words: don’t do it), so I couldn’t comment on a lot of blogs who were talking about it. But once that was over, I dived right back in and caught up on the show :3
“God knows how hard it is for me to get into romance anime”
lol stop watching all the bad ones– ok ok jk jk
Hmm, it is based off a josei manga so it should be a bit more mature than the usual typical romance. What Natsuyuki has going for it so far is the writing is really clever at times (I mean, that scene back in Ep 4 where Hazuki asked Rokka to have sex with him while at Hanayashiki and the way she said no had a devastating yet subtle effect somehow lol) So eh, your friends are crazy for saying this is turning into a typical romance anime.
….Maybe O.o