'Tatta Hitotsu no Koi' Episode 10 (finale) review
Finally, the review! Excuse the typos, as I'm sure there are many, and I must warn that this may not be my final word, especially as I rewatch parts of the drama. But for now:
As I mentioned yesterday in the screencap picspam, the finale was somewhat anticlimactic, which I will try to examine later on.
The episode opens where we left off: Hiroto and Nao facing each other in the old factory with a rope stretched out between them. Hiroto is shocked to see her, and asks her why she's there - and when she tells him that she's there to see him, he reminds her that she's getting married and that she shouldn't be doing anything like this at all. It's clear that she is hoping for some sign from him that he still cares about her, but Hiroto is back to being the Hiroto we met in the first episode: fiercely self-protective. This scene hurts my heart, because it just extends the pain of episode nine. Hiroto seems almost bewildered and mired in his unhappiness as he sees her, and he can't see how much she wants a sign from him, because he feels like she's achieved the life she was always meant to have, and that doesn't include him. He finds it hurtful that she might come back to find him and see him and make him feel something that he doesn't want to feel: he doesn't want to love her because it hurts too much.
I love how he anticipates her apology, because it shows that he still knows her and her mannerisms and expressions so well that he can see in her face what she wants to say before she can say it. The final note of agony is what Hiroto says to her at the end:Nao: it's bad to laugh and have fun right now.
Hiroto: Nao, I'm not having fun. I'm working hard, eating, supporting myself. So leave before I become not cool.
My heart squishes up for poor Hiroto - the tone of his voice is just so filled with so much pain. I almost can't see him anymore because he's just hurting so much. Nao compounds his pain when she says "I loved you." Note the past tense, to which he can only say, "I know." She's a bit hurt by that, because I think she hoped that by going so far as to remind him of that, that perhaps she could get him to let down his walls even a little, but clearly that's not happening. When she finally walks away, stops, turns to look back at him only to find him gone, I can only imagine that Hiroto has gone off to find a corner and recover and lick his wounds. He must be so tired of suffering all the time!
The next scene I found a little puzzling - I wondered why Nao's brother, Tatsuya, was so silent and virtually rude at the table with Saito-san's parents. I wonder if perhaps he didn't like them, or he didn't like it pointed out that he wasn't carrying on the family business. In any case, when his mother jolts him out of his reverie, he begins to talk about fish (because they are eating fish), and we see a "look" pass over Nao's face and Nao's mother glances at her sideways, which I suppose means that just bringing up the topic of fish reminds Nao of Hiroto and Nao's mother knows it. Later, Nao's mother asks to have a private chat with Saito-san during which (presumably, because we only see the tail end of their private conversation) she tells Saito-san that he is a kind of "second choice" because Nao was not able to have the man she truly loved (and that she may never be able to love Saito the way she had loved in the past) - I guess her mother wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into if he still wanted to marry Nao.
The scene between Saito-san and Tsukioka-san is after a cute and almost-pointless scene in which Nao is teaching the English of "Greensleeves," if I remember correctly, and she happens to be pointing out the line "for I have loved you for so long" when her fractious students attract her attention and prompt her to throw chalk. Nao is really quite girlish here, and quite adorable. (Nao also gets offered a job working as a teacher at a school for the disabled in Hokkaido which she turns down because she's getting married)
What follows is a couple scenes that aim to show us Hiroto's life as a conscientious worker who looks out for his co-workers (and also illustrates why that white helmet is absolutely necessary, eeek!), and also that he works very hard and very long. His boss points this out and wonders why, so Hiroto tells him (and us) that he wants to send his little brother to college and that his brother now plays baseball very well. I thought it was interesting that the boss says to him something like Hiroto's only display of happiness is when he's thinking of others. The boss encourages him to live for himself and to find his own happiness in life to which Hiroto responds by saying that he's been like this for so long that he doesn't know how to do anything else. (winterspel *cries*) This just reminds me that Kame's last two roles, Hiroto and Yuya, have both been guys who take care of other people and put themselves second or last.
Moving on...
...which is what Saito-san does when he breaks up with Nao because he's totally in love with her and knows that she's totally not in love with him the same way, so he'd rather break it off, and take responsibility for it with her father (which is really nice of him, of course. I thought it was cute that he asked her if he could "show off" at the end - but I also thought it was interesting that his directness with her reminds her of how she used to be.
So Nao decides to take the job offer in Hokkaido, and tells Yuko, of course, who we get to see being all competent medical-studenty in Kobe. Which is followed by a scene in which Nao's father is all down and depressed because Nao is growing away from him and doesn't need him monetarily anymore - I thought it was really sad that he asked "If I can't give her money, what can I do for her?" when he realizes that his precious child will be moving out and moving on. Nao's mother is the wise one here, who knows that her daughter has wanted her independence and her own life for some time and has been working towards it, and she tries to share this with her husband who just seems lost and bewildered. [As an aside, when I watched this raw, I was really annoyed with Nao's mother for smiling so much in this episode. For some reason it made me want to slap her. Seeing it with the subs, I understand why she's smiling all the time, but still I am stupidly annoyed. I guess I'm still mad at her for all the guilt trips she tried to lay on Nao in the past]
I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Hiroto to go to Nao's going-away party, especially going with his mother in tow - the way that he was with her in the street when he reassured her just shows how much this guy has always had to be the grownup. The short scene at the door where Hiroto's mother and then both Hiroto and his mother apologize to Nao's mother for the blackmail and the trouble in the past made me very tense, but I thought Nao's mother was LOVELY and totally redeemed herself by saying such a nice thing: that she could understand why Hiroto's mother had done what she had done, that having a sick child and trying to care for him on her own must have been very hard. It was also very nice to go off with Hiroto's mother the way she did which left us with the delicious tension of Nao and Hiroto looking at each other until Hiroto follows Nao in and closes the door. It's the first time he's ever been in her home.
Which brings us to the big drama moment of the episode (well, other than the Hiroto!running! drama at the end) in which Ayuta gets drunk and reminds everyone of how Nao wanted that orange toy at the festival and how Hiroto went back and won it for her. When Hiroto claims not to remember, Nao gets very upset. "why do you forget such an important thing?" she demands, and when he says, "Huh?" she just mutters "Don't worry about me, just talking to myself," and Hiroto replies with "You're not talking to yourself, we can all hear you," which I thought was HILARIOUS. The way Kame delivers that line: I love it when he throws out lines like these. So matter-of-fact, and so cutting.
In any case, Nao flies off the handle because Hiroto seems to have forgotten (but of course, we know he hasn't forgotten even a tiny bit) - and he scoffs at her for remembering that festival for being the first time they held hands ("holding hands is like middle school") and Nao proceeds to go ALL MIDDLE SCHOOL ALL OVER HIM: "Give me back my memories! They were really important." Their fight is really immature, but I love it. I love how Nao just goes right back to being a pouting girl who wants what she wants and is PISSED LIKE HELL that what was important to her is flicked like cigarette ashes to the floor.
But then it gets worse: it's not just that Nao is upset that he's purportedly forgotten their shared moments, but that she really wants him to tell her not to go, to ask her to stay, and this brings back what he said to her in the first scene of the episode when he told her she was being unfair. He feels like she has NO RIGHT to ask him these things, no right to go around trying to get a reaction out of him, not right to stir up feelings in him that he would rather forget because they hurt so much. WHY? Because she has obviously moved on in her life - she's working, she had plans to marry, and now she has a new job waiting for her, and even though he is not in the same place, I think Hiroto feels like Nao has moved so far beyond him that there is no catching up, and he doesnt' want to go through that hurt, he wants to keep himself safe from that because he can't do it, he can't open himself up to disappointment again.
So Hiroto says something unkind to Nao - essentially he tells her that he hasn't given a thought to asking her to stay and he indicates that he doesn't care what she does. And Nao fires right back with the unkindest cut of all: she accuses him of building walls and not letting his guard down, and she tells him something like he doesn't know how to love anyone. Which brought back to me rather painfully Hiroto's voiceover from episode 9 in which he asks, "back then...did I love you well?" There was so much self-doubt in that voiceover, and after Hiroto leaves the party, her words echo in his head and he just mutters to himself for awhile as he sits and smokes near the waterside where we saw him in episode 9.
(ETA: I FORGOT TO MENTION how much I love Kou (and Koki's performance) in the going away party scene. I can't exactly explain why, but he was so, so awesome in this scene, despite his orange hair. ;) )
Hiroto thinking she is being unfair to him is demonstrated by how he is completely stuck on the fact that she didn't shine the light on that third Christmas (after which his heart became dark, as he said in episode 9, as well as his hair color). We get a really, really sad flashback that just makes me cringe with how sad it is, of Hiroto on that third Christmas Eve, waiting for the right time, and then going to his window with his flashlight which he shines hopefully, but then we see him completely deflated some time later. I want to hug him so much right there.
Later, we see Nao explaining her departure to her class, and also a short conversation with her brother who seems depressed that she's leaving. But I squeed a little bit when I saw the room where Nao was taking a photo out the window - Yuko wants to know why Nao is taking a photo and she replies "it's a memorable spot." Because it looks exactly like the room where she and Hiroto had that awesome dinner that Yuko and Ayuta set up for them, the night of their first kiss. Nao wants to know if they have time and asks Yuko to join her to visit one last place before she leaves on the bus for the airport.
They go back to the old factory. Yuko makes me fall in love with her again (after being mad at her at the end of episode 8) when she asks "Is it okay to leave behind your important thing?" And Nao responds with a laugh by saying that it's too big to bring, so she'll just take the memories. Awwwww! They find the beautiful whale that Ren & Hiroto made for Nao along with a card that wished her a happy birthday and a happy Christmas.
So the Super!Friends spring into action one last time, although thus far, Ayuta's best efforts to bring Hiroto and Nao together have so far failed. Yuko calls Kou and tells him that he has to find a way to get Hiroto to come to the factory right now. Kou is skeptical, but he puts on a hilarious and ridiculous show by calling Hiroto and telling him that he and his wife stopped in to the factory for old times' sake to poke around and that a machine fell on his wife and she was hurt. In a panic, Hiroto runs off to the factory, but he realizes pretty soon after he arrives that he was tricked, and I wonder he must have been thinking...at last he notices the whale with Nao's white scarf lying over it, which he picks up and a letter falls out. The letter is beautiful, and we hear Nao's voiceover over gorgeous shots of Hiroto racing across Yokohama to find her again:Nao: Hiroto, you shone your light from here. Did you see it the 3rd year too? I was in the hospital so I couldn't, and I had no way of telling you, but I waited another year. The 4th year I shined the light, but there was no response. I always hoped that you would watch me, even though that's impossible, but that's why it was shocking.
I'm so all over the place. I'm always depending on others, and to say bye to myself who is so weak, I've decided to work hard by myself. I'm going to Hokkaido. Work hard, too. Even if I don't see you again, I'll never forget you.
Hiroto...I loved you and now too. I love you but don't worry. I have treasures you left me which is your time and memories. I am so weak and cry easily, but those treasures will help me. I really, really, from the bottom of my heart, loved you. I wanted to talk on, but goodbye. Sometimes in my heart, I want to shine that orange light. I think you will understand, and if you feel that please shine back. Nao
I love how Hiroto runs right up to the bus depot, brushes past Ayuta and says "Yo," and just keeps going - the Three Shipper Friends almost don't know what happened, so it takes them a few seconds to realize that Hiroto had just breezed by them, so they chase after him.
As Hiroto begins to close in on the bus, he begins yelling at the bus to stop, but then he yells, "Nao!" and somehow she hears this (ha, yeah, right!) and goes to the back of the bus to see him chasing after her. She stops the bus, and gets out as Hiroto runs up. This final scene is so cute, because Hiroto just starts off scolding her for not telling him sooner that she had been in the hospital that third Christmas Eve - because that's the whole reason why he turned back into dark!Hiroto! - He scolds her for leaving a letter like that, for not telling him about being in the hospital, and he says "don't go." AND THEN he ask her if they can try again! Squeee!Hiroto: Can we try again? Can we try again from now? We couldn't before but now can we overcome the wall.
The bus driver wants to go, so Nao tells him she's getting off, which surprises Hiroto.Hiroto: What about your bus?
Nao: It's fine. Planes always fly, and you're only here now.
AND THEN SHE TOTALLY GLOMPS HIM!Nao: I'll work hard and overcome everything, and do it all again!
Hiroto: [who is ever the realist and bring her back to reality] But you'll actually work hard as a teacher.
Nao: Yeah.
Hiroto: I'll cheer you
Nao: Yeah.
Hiroto: But we'll go out...
Nao: Yeah. Distance love?
Hiroto: But we'll always be together
Nao: Yeah.
Hiroto: And...and...we can be together.
Nao: [VERY HAPPY] Yeah.
Hiroto: [laughing] Your answers are so quick - it was a proposal.
Nao: It's fine. I agree.
And there are glorious big smiles of elation and more glomping while the Shippery Friends look on. :D
But of course, then Nao realizes she left her suitcase and handbag on the bus. I love how Hiroto ruffles her hair fondly and mouths, "baka" before they both start running after the bus. Of course the Shippery Friends call after them to ask why they are running, and chase after them.
Hiroto: I am always looking for things when I'm with you.
It's so nice to bookend the drama with Hiroto's final comment!
Huge thanks to dancestar24 for the subtitles!
Just a few additional comments: I love how Nao and Hiroto are in the opening scene, together in the factory again, as I said yesterday, as though within the wreckage of their old love, with all their memories around them, but now, instead of there being a chasm between them of space and time and so much else as there was between his bedroom and hers, they've grown into their futures and now there is only a thin rope between them. I love how the director kept framing the shot and positioning them to show that rope between them - it seemed such a small thing separating them, and yet it was still a hurdle to be overcome.
I definitely had a vague sense of feeling let-down by the end of the episode, despite all the wonderful glee over the joyful happy ending. Honestly, if there had been one more episode between nine and this one, it would have been easier to go from the rollercoaster emo!angst!fest of episode nine to the finale. I wish really hard that we would have gotten at least an hour long episode so that we could see a bit more of them in the future, or at least something akin to the end of Long Vacation whose adorable ending made me VERY happy.
I thought the ending we got was fairly realistic, though, and in keeping with the life lessons that run throughout the drama, of growing up, of doing the right thing, of being practical, and yet, through it all, of keeping a youthful spirit. Hiroto doesn't ask Nao to stay, he asks her not to go like that, which is more important. He realizes that they both need to grow more, and he wants her to fulfill her dream in Hokkaido. They will be like whales again, who despite their distance, will still keep the fire of their love burning bright. Their big smiles and glompy hugs are just gorgeous, and I was really elated to see Hiroto finally, finally smiling like that again.
However, as I said yesterday at the end of the picspam, I absolutely adore the final image of five friends running forward together, laughing and smiling: these five friends have changed and grown, but here they are, still together, and running forward bravely and gladly, running forward into the shining future that awaits them. Much as I love the romance, I love these five friends even more - especially after everything the Shippery Trio did to get Hiroto and Nao together and then BACK together!
The change in tone was pretty dramatic, though: I've been rewatching snippets of the early episodes in the drama and frankly it's really strange to hear Hiroto's angsty doomed voiceovers from the first few episodes evaporate into...this, five twenty-somethings chasing after a bus. I felt like maybe we were supposed to get something else, something different. OR, maybe this was the point: that youth can often be over-dramatic and self-important and that part of growing up is getting past that. I don't know. The tonal shift was too stark, too much, and I just don't know how we can go from the wracking pain of episode nine to the bus-chasing at the end of ten without feeling a bit off.
That being said, it was a lovely episode that tied most everything up nicely, and I did enjoy it. And seeing Kamenashi smile like that always does me good! :D I have no regrets over getting a happy ending at all, and in some ways it was a relief after the unbearable tension of the last few episodes.
My only real regrets are getting just ten episodes and that there will be no more Hiroto to look forward to next week.
*applauds all heroic readers who read this far* :D
As I mentioned yesterday in the screencap picspam, the finale was somewhat anticlimactic, which I will try to examine later on.
The episode opens where we left off: Hiroto and Nao facing each other in the old factory with a rope stretched out between them. Hiroto is shocked to see her, and asks her why she's there - and when she tells him that she's there to see him, he reminds her that she's getting married and that she shouldn't be doing anything like this at all. It's clear that she is hoping for some sign from him that he still cares about her, but Hiroto is back to being the Hiroto we met in the first episode: fiercely self-protective. This scene hurts my heart, because it just extends the pain of episode nine. Hiroto seems almost bewildered and mired in his unhappiness as he sees her, and he can't see how much she wants a sign from him, because he feels like she's achieved the life she was always meant to have, and that doesn't include him. He finds it hurtful that she might come back to find him and see him and make him feel something that he doesn't want to feel: he doesn't want to love her because it hurts too much.
I love how he anticipates her apology, because it shows that he still knows her and her mannerisms and expressions so well that he can see in her face what she wants to say before she can say it. The final note of agony is what Hiroto says to her at the end:Nao: it's bad to laugh and have fun right now.
Hiroto: Nao, I'm not having fun. I'm working hard, eating, supporting myself. So leave before I become not cool.
My heart squishes up for poor Hiroto - the tone of his voice is just so filled with so much pain. I almost can't see him anymore because he's just hurting so much. Nao compounds his pain when she says "I loved you." Note the past tense, to which he can only say, "I know." She's a bit hurt by that, because I think she hoped that by going so far as to remind him of that, that perhaps she could get him to let down his walls even a little, but clearly that's not happening. When she finally walks away, stops, turns to look back at him only to find him gone, I can only imagine that Hiroto has gone off to find a corner and recover and lick his wounds. He must be so tired of suffering all the time!
The next scene I found a little puzzling - I wondered why Nao's brother, Tatsuya, was so silent and virtually rude at the table with Saito-san's parents. I wonder if perhaps he didn't like them, or he didn't like it pointed out that he wasn't carrying on the family business. In any case, when his mother jolts him out of his reverie, he begins to talk about fish (because they are eating fish), and we see a "look" pass over Nao's face and Nao's mother glances at her sideways, which I suppose means that just bringing up the topic of fish reminds Nao of Hiroto and Nao's mother knows it. Later, Nao's mother asks to have a private chat with Saito-san during which (presumably, because we only see the tail end of their private conversation) she tells Saito-san that he is a kind of "second choice" because Nao was not able to have the man she truly loved (and that she may never be able to love Saito the way she had loved in the past) - I guess her mother wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into if he still wanted to marry Nao.
The scene between Saito-san and Tsukioka-san is after a cute and almost-pointless scene in which Nao is teaching the English of "Greensleeves," if I remember correctly, and she happens to be pointing out the line "for I have loved you for so long" when her fractious students attract her attention and prompt her to throw chalk. Nao is really quite girlish here, and quite adorable. (Nao also gets offered a job working as a teacher at a school for the disabled in Hokkaido which she turns down because she's getting married)
What follows is a couple scenes that aim to show us Hiroto's life as a conscientious worker who looks out for his co-workers (and also illustrates why that white helmet is absolutely necessary, eeek!), and also that he works very hard and very long. His boss points this out and wonders why, so Hiroto tells him (and us) that he wants to send his little brother to college and that his brother now plays baseball very well. I thought it was interesting that the boss says to him something like Hiroto's only display of happiness is when he's thinking of others. The boss encourages him to live for himself and to find his own happiness in life to which Hiroto responds by saying that he's been like this for so long that he doesn't know how to do anything else. (winterspel *cries*) This just reminds me that Kame's last two roles, Hiroto and Yuya, have both been guys who take care of other people and put themselves second or last.
Moving on...
...which is what Saito-san does when he breaks up with Nao because he's totally in love with her and knows that she's totally not in love with him the same way, so he'd rather break it off, and take responsibility for it with her father (which is really nice of him, of course. I thought it was cute that he asked her if he could "show off" at the end - but I also thought it was interesting that his directness with her reminds her of how she used to be.
So Nao decides to take the job offer in Hokkaido, and tells Yuko, of course, who we get to see being all competent medical-studenty in Kobe. Which is followed by a scene in which Nao's father is all down and depressed because Nao is growing away from him and doesn't need him monetarily anymore - I thought it was really sad that he asked "If I can't give her money, what can I do for her?" when he realizes that his precious child will be moving out and moving on. Nao's mother is the wise one here, who knows that her daughter has wanted her independence and her own life for some time and has been working towards it, and she tries to share this with her husband who just seems lost and bewildered. [As an aside, when I watched this raw, I was really annoyed with Nao's mother for smiling so much in this episode. For some reason it made me want to slap her. Seeing it with the subs, I understand why she's smiling all the time, but still I am stupidly annoyed. I guess I'm still mad at her for all the guilt trips she tried to lay on Nao in the past]
I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Hiroto to go to Nao's going-away party, especially going with his mother in tow - the way that he was with her in the street when he reassured her just shows how much this guy has always had to be the grownup. The short scene at the door where Hiroto's mother and then both Hiroto and his mother apologize to Nao's mother for the blackmail and the trouble in the past made me very tense, but I thought Nao's mother was LOVELY and totally redeemed herself by saying such a nice thing: that she could understand why Hiroto's mother had done what she had done, that having a sick child and trying to care for him on her own must have been very hard. It was also very nice to go off with Hiroto's mother the way she did which left us with the delicious tension of Nao and Hiroto looking at each other until Hiroto follows Nao in and closes the door. It's the first time he's ever been in her home.
Which brings us to the big drama moment of the episode (well, other than the Hiroto!running! drama at the end) in which Ayuta gets drunk and reminds everyone of how Nao wanted that orange toy at the festival and how Hiroto went back and won it for her. When Hiroto claims not to remember, Nao gets very upset. "why do you forget such an important thing?" she demands, and when he says, "Huh?" she just mutters "Don't worry about me, just talking to myself," and Hiroto replies with "You're not talking to yourself, we can all hear you," which I thought was HILARIOUS. The way Kame delivers that line: I love it when he throws out lines like these. So matter-of-fact, and so cutting.
In any case, Nao flies off the handle because Hiroto seems to have forgotten (but of course, we know he hasn't forgotten even a tiny bit) - and he scoffs at her for remembering that festival for being the first time they held hands ("holding hands is like middle school") and Nao proceeds to go ALL MIDDLE SCHOOL ALL OVER HIM: "Give me back my memories! They were really important." Their fight is really immature, but I love it. I love how Nao just goes right back to being a pouting girl who wants what she wants and is PISSED LIKE HELL that what was important to her is flicked like cigarette ashes to the floor.
But then it gets worse: it's not just that Nao is upset that he's purportedly forgotten their shared moments, but that she really wants him to tell her not to go, to ask her to stay, and this brings back what he said to her in the first scene of the episode when he told her she was being unfair. He feels like she has NO RIGHT to ask him these things, no right to go around trying to get a reaction out of him, not right to stir up feelings in him that he would rather forget because they hurt so much. WHY? Because she has obviously moved on in her life - she's working, she had plans to marry, and now she has a new job waiting for her, and even though he is not in the same place, I think Hiroto feels like Nao has moved so far beyond him that there is no catching up, and he doesnt' want to go through that hurt, he wants to keep himself safe from that because he can't do it, he can't open himself up to disappointment again.
So Hiroto says something unkind to Nao - essentially he tells her that he hasn't given a thought to asking her to stay and he indicates that he doesn't care what she does. And Nao fires right back with the unkindest cut of all: she accuses him of building walls and not letting his guard down, and she tells him something like he doesn't know how to love anyone. Which brought back to me rather painfully Hiroto's voiceover from episode 9 in which he asks, "back then...did I love you well?" There was so much self-doubt in that voiceover, and after Hiroto leaves the party, her words echo in his head and he just mutters to himself for awhile as he sits and smokes near the waterside where we saw him in episode 9.
(ETA: I FORGOT TO MENTION how much I love Kou (and Koki's performance) in the going away party scene. I can't exactly explain why, but he was so, so awesome in this scene, despite his orange hair. ;) )
Hiroto thinking she is being unfair to him is demonstrated by how he is completely stuck on the fact that she didn't shine the light on that third Christmas (after which his heart became dark, as he said in episode 9, as well as his hair color). We get a really, really sad flashback that just makes me cringe with how sad it is, of Hiroto on that third Christmas Eve, waiting for the right time, and then going to his window with his flashlight which he shines hopefully, but then we see him completely deflated some time later. I want to hug him so much right there.
Later, we see Nao explaining her departure to her class, and also a short conversation with her brother who seems depressed that she's leaving. But I squeed a little bit when I saw the room where Nao was taking a photo out the window - Yuko wants to know why Nao is taking a photo and she replies "it's a memorable spot." Because it looks exactly like the room where she and Hiroto had that awesome dinner that Yuko and Ayuta set up for them, the night of their first kiss. Nao wants to know if they have time and asks Yuko to join her to visit one last place before she leaves on the bus for the airport.
They go back to the old factory. Yuko makes me fall in love with her again (after being mad at her at the end of episode 8) when she asks "Is it okay to leave behind your important thing?" And Nao responds with a laugh by saying that it's too big to bring, so she'll just take the memories. Awwwww! They find the beautiful whale that Ren & Hiroto made for Nao along with a card that wished her a happy birthday and a happy Christmas.
So the Super!Friends spring into action one last time, although thus far, Ayuta's best efforts to bring Hiroto and Nao together have so far failed. Yuko calls Kou and tells him that he has to find a way to get Hiroto to come to the factory right now. Kou is skeptical, but he puts on a hilarious and ridiculous show by calling Hiroto and telling him that he and his wife stopped in to the factory for old times' sake to poke around and that a machine fell on his wife and she was hurt. In a panic, Hiroto runs off to the factory, but he realizes pretty soon after he arrives that he was tricked, and I wonder he must have been thinking...at last he notices the whale with Nao's white scarf lying over it, which he picks up and a letter falls out. The letter is beautiful, and we hear Nao's voiceover over gorgeous shots of Hiroto racing across Yokohama to find her again:Nao: Hiroto, you shone your light from here. Did you see it the 3rd year too? I was in the hospital so I couldn't, and I had no way of telling you, but I waited another year. The 4th year I shined the light, but there was no response. I always hoped that you would watch me, even though that's impossible, but that's why it was shocking.
I'm so all over the place. I'm always depending on others, and to say bye to myself who is so weak, I've decided to work hard by myself. I'm going to Hokkaido. Work hard, too. Even if I don't see you again, I'll never forget you.
Hiroto...I loved you and now too. I love you but don't worry. I have treasures you left me which is your time and memories. I am so weak and cry easily, but those treasures will help me. I really, really, from the bottom of my heart, loved you. I wanted to talk on, but goodbye. Sometimes in my heart, I want to shine that orange light. I think you will understand, and if you feel that please shine back. Nao
I love how Hiroto runs right up to the bus depot, brushes past Ayuta and says "Yo," and just keeps going - the Three Shipper Friends almost don't know what happened, so it takes them a few seconds to realize that Hiroto had just breezed by them, so they chase after him.
As Hiroto begins to close in on the bus, he begins yelling at the bus to stop, but then he yells, "Nao!" and somehow she hears this (ha, yeah, right!) and goes to the back of the bus to see him chasing after her. She stops the bus, and gets out as Hiroto runs up. This final scene is so cute, because Hiroto just starts off scolding her for not telling him sooner that she had been in the hospital that third Christmas Eve - because that's the whole reason why he turned back into dark!Hiroto! - He scolds her for leaving a letter like that, for not telling him about being in the hospital, and he says "don't go." AND THEN he ask her if they can try again! Squeee!Hiroto: Can we try again? Can we try again from now? We couldn't before but now can we overcome the wall.
The bus driver wants to go, so Nao tells him she's getting off, which surprises Hiroto.Hiroto: What about your bus?
Nao: It's fine. Planes always fly, and you're only here now.
AND THEN SHE TOTALLY GLOMPS HIM!Nao: I'll work hard and overcome everything, and do it all again!
Hiroto: [who is ever the realist and bring her back to reality] But you'll actually work hard as a teacher.
Nao: Yeah.
Hiroto: I'll cheer you
Nao: Yeah.
Hiroto: But we'll go out...
Nao: Yeah. Distance love?
Hiroto: But we'll always be together
Nao: Yeah.
Hiroto: And...and...we can be together.
Nao: [VERY HAPPY] Yeah.
Hiroto: [laughing] Your answers are so quick - it was a proposal.
Nao: It's fine. I agree.
And there are glorious big smiles of elation and more glomping while the Shippery Friends look on. :D
But of course, then Nao realizes she left her suitcase and handbag on the bus. I love how Hiroto ruffles her hair fondly and mouths, "baka" before they both start running after the bus. Of course the Shippery Friends call after them to ask why they are running, and chase after them.
Hiroto: I am always looking for things when I'm with you.
It's so nice to bookend the drama with Hiroto's final comment!
Huge thanks to dancestar24 for the subtitles!
Just a few additional comments: I love how Nao and Hiroto are in the opening scene, together in the factory again, as I said yesterday, as though within the wreckage of their old love, with all their memories around them, but now, instead of there being a chasm between them of space and time and so much else as there was between his bedroom and hers, they've grown into their futures and now there is only a thin rope between them. I love how the director kept framing the shot and positioning them to show that rope between them - it seemed such a small thing separating them, and yet it was still a hurdle to be overcome.
I definitely had a vague sense of feeling let-down by the end of the episode, despite all the wonderful glee over the joyful happy ending. Honestly, if there had been one more episode between nine and this one, it would have been easier to go from the rollercoaster emo!angst!fest of episode nine to the finale. I wish really hard that we would have gotten at least an hour long episode so that we could see a bit more of them in the future, or at least something akin to the end of Long Vacation whose adorable ending made me VERY happy.
I thought the ending we got was fairly realistic, though, and in keeping with the life lessons that run throughout the drama, of growing up, of doing the right thing, of being practical, and yet, through it all, of keeping a youthful spirit. Hiroto doesn't ask Nao to stay, he asks her not to go like that, which is more important. He realizes that they both need to grow more, and he wants her to fulfill her dream in Hokkaido. They will be like whales again, who despite their distance, will still keep the fire of their love burning bright. Their big smiles and glompy hugs are just gorgeous, and I was really elated to see Hiroto finally, finally smiling like that again.
However, as I said yesterday at the end of the picspam, I absolutely adore the final image of five friends running forward together, laughing and smiling: these five friends have changed and grown, but here they are, still together, and running forward bravely and gladly, running forward into the shining future that awaits them. Much as I love the romance, I love these five friends even more - especially after everything the Shippery Trio did to get Hiroto and Nao together and then BACK together!
The change in tone was pretty dramatic, though: I've been rewatching snippets of the early episodes in the drama and frankly it's really strange to hear Hiroto's angsty doomed voiceovers from the first few episodes evaporate into...this, five twenty-somethings chasing after a bus. I felt like maybe we were supposed to get something else, something different. OR, maybe this was the point: that youth can often be over-dramatic and self-important and that part of growing up is getting past that. I don't know. The tonal shift was too stark, too much, and I just don't know how we can go from the wracking pain of episode nine to the bus-chasing at the end of ten without feeling a bit off.
That being said, it was a lovely episode that tied most everything up nicely, and I did enjoy it. And seeing Kamenashi smile like that always does me good! :D I have no regrets over getting a happy ending at all, and in some ways it was a relief after the unbearable tension of the last few episodes.
My only real regrets are getting just ten episodes and that there will be no more Hiroto to look forward to next week.
*applauds all heroic readers who read this far* :D