Nobuta wo Produce Episode Three Overview & Picspam
Ep01 | Ep02
I think everyone must love episode three of Nobuta wo Produce, and with good reason. For me, it's one of the rare drama episodes that I can turn on any time and I'm charmed every single time. To say I love it is a bit of an understatement. It's also so loaded that I'm not sure I'll be able to point out everything. Let's see how this goes.
Episode three opens once again with a domestic scene of Shuji at home. This time, he's looking after his younger brother, Koji, (very tenderly, might I add) and for a change, we hear Koji providing the voiceover.Koji: My brother is a high school student. At home he is a mess but at school he really shows off. Even his personality at school and at home is totally different. When he's with his friends he's really at ease. [there is a scene where someone accidentally knocks Shuji's drink box onto the ground, but he's very magnanimous and makes a show out of throwing it in the trash, while at home, he harasses his brother for drinking his tea] My brother just wants others to feel good about him. That's all he thinks about. But acting like that...[Shuji reads what his brother has written before he fell asleep over his homework: Will my brother become a good adult? and then he very gently puts the sleeping Koji into bed]
We then move to the school and learn that their class has not yet decided on a theme for the school festival (which Shuji had mentioned at the end of episode 2), and of course Bando (the festival leader) nominates Nobuta to orchestrate a haunted house by herself, and when Akira protests, Bando tells him that he's responsible for everything else.
I find it interesting that later Akira sees the haunted house as an opportunity for Nobuta to make her worth known to their classmates and improve her popularity while Shuji pessimistically doubts that it can work: "...but of all things, it's a haunted house. It's not gonna succeed with only two people." Akira flatly reminds him: "It's not two people, it's three." And Nobuta speaks up, and amazingly also sounds optimistic by saying that she wants to enjoy the experience. But Shuji can't see past the obstacles that stand before them, and he thinks they're being naive - he knows that if Nobuta fails, things will be even worse than before. The burden of producing Nobuta weighs heavily with this new development.
Bringing us back to the family theme that runs throughout this episode, we see Shuji at home with his brother who he forbids from attending the festival - probably because Shuji feels that his younger brother's presence will make him less cool. And we also see Nobuta at home with her father and she ignores him when he tries to talk to her about the festival. She's busy drawing pictures of a scary businessman.
While Akira and Nobuta are trying to get started with their haunted house preparations, Shuji tries to use his popularity to get the others to pitch in, but instead, his popularity backfires - as the episode continues we see how Shuji tries to make everyone happy: Mariko who wants to attend the festival with him (bribing him with the promise of wearing a kimono), the president of the acting club wants him to help finish the costumes, the fashion show girls need a photographer, his teachers need help with their musical performance, and he even gets suckered into performing in a play. All this on top of helping Akira and Nobuta with building the haunted house.
It's no wonder that he's overwhelmed when he discovers that in three days, so little has been accomplished and that their classmates have abandoned Akira and Nobuta to do all the work alone.
The three of them work very hard to prepare the haunted house for the festival.
The scene with Nobuta and Akira in the golden field is one of the most beautiful in the entire drama, and I also love their conversation.
Akira: No matter what I'm doing, I've never felt that it's fun.
Nobuta: I think that it's more fun reflecting back later.
Akira: What's that?
Nobuta: Like TV games...when I'm playing it, it's not fun but when I remember back when I'm studying, it's fun. [Things] that are fun you probably don't know until later.
Akira: Years later, do you think we're gonna remember?
Nobuta: About what?
Akira: Early in the morning, making dolls amongst the three of us. At sunset picking up flowers. Years later, do you think we're gonna think back...those years were fun?
When Shuji finally sees the hanging mannequin, he admits that it's "kinda scary," but then Nobuta says that it looks like her dad, or step-dad, as Akira clarifies. I love how Akira sees clearly to the heart of things: he knows that Nobuta has an uncomfortable relationship with her step-father, but he asks her if in her heart she considers him her father anyway.
"Delphine" appears in this episode unexpectedly when the three discover the bookseller in their classroom, on the floor staring at something written on the wall - a bit of youthful stupidity that the bookseller decides not to change, but leaves it as a memory of the past. I love how the camera lingers on Shuji's face at the end of this scene.
..I also love Akira's story of the mole who lives alone and then by "amazing chance" discovers a mate while burrowing underground.
The night before the festival, the three of them are feeling pretty good - they've managed to arrange things nicely for the haunted house, but then the worst happens.
The students discover that the haunted house has been wrecked by an unknown person (who we can easily guess is the malevolent girl revealed at the end of episode 2). But Nobuta insists on going on with the haunted house despite the wreckage. Not unexpectedly, her fellow classmates selfishly abandon Nobuta. One can only imagine what is going through Shuji's mind as he looks around at the destruction of all their hard work.
Shuji of course is responsible to too many people, so he can't stay and help them repair the damage until later, but he promises to return as soon as he can, and he tries to lift their spirits. But he ends up doing the best thing: he recruits three students in brown uniforms to help Nobuta and Akira with the haunted house - he tells them that it will be a great festival experience, and the three (2 boys and a girl, exactly like Nobuta, Akira and Shuji are three) decide to pitch in.
Nobuta receives a shock when her step-father appears at the festival to have lunch with her. When she unkindly turns him down, he leaves the lunch he'd brought with Akira and has to go back to work. I love it when Akira points out her father's good qualities to her. This is one of those things about children and parents that can be so difficult - her father made a mistake when she was very young (by telling her that he was not her biological father in a way that made her feel bad) and she has never gotten over it, and obviously she is still hurt and traumatised by it - and by extension, she has become so stunted and damaged in every other way. I love how Akira is able to make her see her father's kindness for what it is, and how he very gently encourages her to be a better person. She then chases after her departing father to give him an onigiri. I thought this was very touching, because it was an important step for her.
[incidentally, poor Shuji gets asked to do so much - not only does he sing and play guitar for his teachers' musical act, but he also plays percussion and harmonica???]
When Shuji finally gets back to the haunted house, he's amazed at how much they were able to do. He hits on the genius idea to limit the haunted house only to couples as a way of attracting attention (Nobuta asks if she can change the ending because of this and of course a harried Shuji agrees) - and then he runs off once more. This episode really highlights how Shuji is dragged in far too many different directions by his inability to say "no."
Just as he's returned to Mariko to keep his promise to attend the festival with her, he spies his brother contentedly eating in a room and so he chases after Koji to scold him for coming when Shuji had already forbidden him (he so doesn't see the hero worship his brother has for him) - and then of course, he gets grabbed by the drama group for their play. *sigh* And then just when he's done with that, Mariko (who has been waiting patiently) suggests they go to the haunted house because "I hear you feel really moved at the end," to which Shuji skeptically replies, "Moved? At a haunted house?" And then the fashion show girls nab him for the photographer job for which they'd enlisted him earlier.
[And it's a very small thing, but I liked how the tofu guy very seriously explains to Bando (who had complained at his loud appreciation over the haunted house) that even older people have times when they want to be loud and excited - this nicely echoes the theme of memories that last into adulthood and that just because people grow past youth, they don't lose the good feelings that youth provides]
The supernatural element in this episode manifests not long after Shuji returns to find the haunted house finished, and they take a photograph - Nobuta, Akira and Shuji and the three students who helped them. But when they finally see the photograph, there are only the three of them in the picture, and the costumes the other three had been wearing lie empty on the floor. Catherine senses them in the hall and turns to see them, and they wave at her, and then she and the principal run to find Nobuta, Akira & Shuji to ask them about meeting the students from the past. Catherine explains that the three they met were students in their school twenty years ago - and they're not ghosts, just very busy people who had such a wonderful time during their own high school festival that they became "raw spirits." Every year, during the festival, they can't come in person, so their feelings return to the school to experience the festival in some way, and this time Nobuta, Akira & Shuji are the lucky ones who got to enjoy their company.
I have to confess, I thought this story was really moving, and after my umpteenth time watching this episode, it made me cry. ;_____; I find it very moving that the writer included such a thing in the drama, and I love how this, too, is added to Shuji's collection of experiences that make this festival so important and meaningful for him.
But the capper is of course, the end. Koji wanders into the classroom, and when Shuji scolds him for not going home, Koji explains that he really wanted to see the haunted house but he couldn't because it was only for couples. So Shuji and his little brother go through the haunted house together. At the end is a mirror and on it is written:
Right now, the person's hand that you hold - the chance of you meeting that person is like a miracle. Even when you go into the light, don't let go of that hand.
At the end of the episode, Nobuta, Akira & Shuji are sprawled on the ground in exhaustion while Koji swings a stick around, and I really love the last bit of dialogue in the episode:
Nobuta: I...was digging for a long time on my own, like a mole, underground. And then suddenly, you two came up.
Shuji: eh? Two...you mean us?
Nobuta: Yeah. In the future, am I gonna suddenly meet people like this? If so...it's not so bad digging by myself
Akira: You will be able to meet different people.
Shuji:...and then one day you'll never see them again.
Shuji: [to Koji] You, don't become like me.
Koji: What do you mean?
Shuji: Like...someone who only tries to look good to others and not actually being able to create anything.
Shuji: [voiceover] I was actually shocked that...Nobuta and Akira, who I thought were stupid could actually make such a good thing. I was really shocked
Koji: You're a good person
Shuji: Huh?
Koji: You don't break promises and...you show off a little bit, but I still think you're a good guy
*
Shuji: [voiceover] When tomorrow comes, the classroom will return to its usual. Nobuta will be picked on again. Akira will be annoying, and I'll be popular. That's not supposed to change. But I was worried. I was worried about myself...who had nothing.
Really, there's so much packed into this episode that it's almost mind-boggling. It's about youth and memories and building friendships and sharing experiences. It's also about family and teamwork and persevering despite overwhelming obstacles. And once more, we can see how although the drama is superficially about producing Nobuta to improve her popularity, it's really about the friendship that grows between the three students, and about Shuji learning what it really means to be a human - despite his popular facade, he, more than anyone else, is the most stunted and the one who needs to grow the most.
Huge thanks, as always, to dancestar24 at d-addicts for the subtitles.
I think everyone must love episode three of Nobuta wo Produce, and with good reason. For me, it's one of the rare drama episodes that I can turn on any time and I'm charmed every single time. To say I love it is a bit of an understatement. It's also so loaded that I'm not sure I'll be able to point out everything. Let's see how this goes.
Episode three opens once again with a domestic scene of Shuji at home. This time, he's looking after his younger brother, Koji, (very tenderly, might I add) and for a change, we hear Koji providing the voiceover.Koji: My brother is a high school student. At home he is a mess but at school he really shows off. Even his personality at school and at home is totally different. When he's with his friends he's really at ease. [there is a scene where someone accidentally knocks Shuji's drink box onto the ground, but he's very magnanimous and makes a show out of throwing it in the trash, while at home, he harasses his brother for drinking his tea] My brother just wants others to feel good about him. That's all he thinks about. But acting like that...[Shuji reads what his brother has written before he fell asleep over his homework: Will my brother become a good adult? and then he very gently puts the sleeping Koji into bed]
We then move to the school and learn that their class has not yet decided on a theme for the school festival (which Shuji had mentioned at the end of episode 2), and of course Bando (the festival leader) nominates Nobuta to orchestrate a haunted house by herself, and when Akira protests, Bando tells him that he's responsible for everything else.
I find it interesting that later Akira sees the haunted house as an opportunity for Nobuta to make her worth known to their classmates and improve her popularity while Shuji pessimistically doubts that it can work: "...but of all things, it's a haunted house. It's not gonna succeed with only two people." Akira flatly reminds him: "It's not two people, it's three." And Nobuta speaks up, and amazingly also sounds optimistic by saying that she wants to enjoy the experience. But Shuji can't see past the obstacles that stand before them, and he thinks they're being naive - he knows that if Nobuta fails, things will be even worse than before. The burden of producing Nobuta weighs heavily with this new development.
Bringing us back to the family theme that runs throughout this episode, we see Shuji at home with his brother who he forbids from attending the festival - probably because Shuji feels that his younger brother's presence will make him less cool. And we also see Nobuta at home with her father and she ignores him when he tries to talk to her about the festival. She's busy drawing pictures of a scary businessman.
While Akira and Nobuta are trying to get started with their haunted house preparations, Shuji tries to use his popularity to get the others to pitch in, but instead, his popularity backfires - as the episode continues we see how Shuji tries to make everyone happy: Mariko who wants to attend the festival with him (bribing him with the promise of wearing a kimono), the president of the acting club wants him to help finish the costumes, the fashion show girls need a photographer, his teachers need help with their musical performance, and he even gets suckered into performing in a play. All this on top of helping Akira and Nobuta with building the haunted house.
It's no wonder that he's overwhelmed when he discovers that in three days, so little has been accomplished and that their classmates have abandoned Akira and Nobuta to do all the work alone.
The three of them work very hard to prepare the haunted house for the festival.
The scene with Nobuta and Akira in the golden field is one of the most beautiful in the entire drama, and I also love their conversation.
Akira: No matter what I'm doing, I've never felt that it's fun.
Nobuta: I think that it's more fun reflecting back later.
Akira: What's that?
Nobuta: Like TV games...when I'm playing it, it's not fun but when I remember back when I'm studying, it's fun. [Things] that are fun you probably don't know until later.
Akira: Years later, do you think we're gonna remember?
Nobuta: About what?
Akira: Early in the morning, making dolls amongst the three of us. At sunset picking up flowers. Years later, do you think we're gonna think back...those years were fun?
When Shuji finally sees the hanging mannequin, he admits that it's "kinda scary," but then Nobuta says that it looks like her dad, or step-dad, as Akira clarifies. I love how Akira sees clearly to the heart of things: he knows that Nobuta has an uncomfortable relationship with her step-father, but he asks her if in her heart she considers him her father anyway.
"Delphine" appears in this episode unexpectedly when the three discover the bookseller in their classroom, on the floor staring at something written on the wall - a bit of youthful stupidity that the bookseller decides not to change, but leaves it as a memory of the past. I love how the camera lingers on Shuji's face at the end of this scene.
..I also love Akira's story of the mole who lives alone and then by "amazing chance" discovers a mate while burrowing underground.
The night before the festival, the three of them are feeling pretty good - they've managed to arrange things nicely for the haunted house, but then the worst happens.
The students discover that the haunted house has been wrecked by an unknown person (who we can easily guess is the malevolent girl revealed at the end of episode 2). But Nobuta insists on going on with the haunted house despite the wreckage. Not unexpectedly, her fellow classmates selfishly abandon Nobuta. One can only imagine what is going through Shuji's mind as he looks around at the destruction of all their hard work.
Shuji of course is responsible to too many people, so he can't stay and help them repair the damage until later, but he promises to return as soon as he can, and he tries to lift their spirits. But he ends up doing the best thing: he recruits three students in brown uniforms to help Nobuta and Akira with the haunted house - he tells them that it will be a great festival experience, and the three (2 boys and a girl, exactly like Nobuta, Akira and Shuji are three) decide to pitch in.
Nobuta receives a shock when her step-father appears at the festival to have lunch with her. When she unkindly turns him down, he leaves the lunch he'd brought with Akira and has to go back to work. I love it when Akira points out her father's good qualities to her. This is one of those things about children and parents that can be so difficult - her father made a mistake when she was very young (by telling her that he was not her biological father in a way that made her feel bad) and she has never gotten over it, and obviously she is still hurt and traumatised by it - and by extension, she has become so stunted and damaged in every other way. I love how Akira is able to make her see her father's kindness for what it is, and how he very gently encourages her to be a better person. She then chases after her departing father to give him an onigiri. I thought this was very touching, because it was an important step for her.
[incidentally, poor Shuji gets asked to do so much - not only does he sing and play guitar for his teachers' musical act, but he also plays percussion and harmonica???]
When Shuji finally gets back to the haunted house, he's amazed at how much they were able to do. He hits on the genius idea to limit the haunted house only to couples as a way of attracting attention (Nobuta asks if she can change the ending because of this and of course a harried Shuji agrees) - and then he runs off once more. This episode really highlights how Shuji is dragged in far too many different directions by his inability to say "no."
Just as he's returned to Mariko to keep his promise to attend the festival with her, he spies his brother contentedly eating in a room and so he chases after Koji to scold him for coming when Shuji had already forbidden him (he so doesn't see the hero worship his brother has for him) - and then of course, he gets grabbed by the drama group for their play. *sigh* And then just when he's done with that, Mariko (who has been waiting patiently) suggests they go to the haunted house because "I hear you feel really moved at the end," to which Shuji skeptically replies, "Moved? At a haunted house?" And then the fashion show girls nab him for the photographer job for which they'd enlisted him earlier.
[And it's a very small thing, but I liked how the tofu guy very seriously explains to Bando (who had complained at his loud appreciation over the haunted house) that even older people have times when they want to be loud and excited - this nicely echoes the theme of memories that last into adulthood and that just because people grow past youth, they don't lose the good feelings that youth provides]
The supernatural element in this episode manifests not long after Shuji returns to find the haunted house finished, and they take a photograph - Nobuta, Akira and Shuji and the three students who helped them. But when they finally see the photograph, there are only the three of them in the picture, and the costumes the other three had been wearing lie empty on the floor. Catherine senses them in the hall and turns to see them, and they wave at her, and then she and the principal run to find Nobuta, Akira & Shuji to ask them about meeting the students from the past. Catherine explains that the three they met were students in their school twenty years ago - and they're not ghosts, just very busy people who had such a wonderful time during their own high school festival that they became "raw spirits." Every year, during the festival, they can't come in person, so their feelings return to the school to experience the festival in some way, and this time Nobuta, Akira & Shuji are the lucky ones who got to enjoy their company.
I have to confess, I thought this story was really moving, and after my umpteenth time watching this episode, it made me cry. ;_____; I find it very moving that the writer included such a thing in the drama, and I love how this, too, is added to Shuji's collection of experiences that make this festival so important and meaningful for him.
But the capper is of course, the end. Koji wanders into the classroom, and when Shuji scolds him for not going home, Koji explains that he really wanted to see the haunted house but he couldn't because it was only for couples. So Shuji and his little brother go through the haunted house together. At the end is a mirror and on it is written:
Right now, the person's hand that you hold - the chance of you meeting that person is like a miracle. Even when you go into the light, don't let go of that hand.
At the end of the episode, Nobuta, Akira & Shuji are sprawled on the ground in exhaustion while Koji swings a stick around, and I really love the last bit of dialogue in the episode:
Nobuta: I...was digging for a long time on my own, like a mole, underground. And then suddenly, you two came up.
Shuji: eh? Two...you mean us?
Nobuta: Yeah. In the future, am I gonna suddenly meet people like this? If so...it's not so bad digging by myself
Akira: You will be able to meet different people.
Shuji:...and then one day you'll never see them again.
Shuji: [to Koji] You, don't become like me.
Koji: What do you mean?
Shuji: Like...someone who only tries to look good to others and not actually being able to create anything.
Shuji: [voiceover] I was actually shocked that...Nobuta and Akira, who I thought were stupid could actually make such a good thing. I was really shocked
Koji: You're a good person
Shuji: Huh?
Koji: You don't break promises and...you show off a little bit, but I still think you're a good guy
*
Shuji: [voiceover] When tomorrow comes, the classroom will return to its usual. Nobuta will be picked on again. Akira will be annoying, and I'll be popular. That's not supposed to change. But I was worried. I was worried about myself...who had nothing.
Really, there's so much packed into this episode that it's almost mind-boggling. It's about youth and memories and building friendships and sharing experiences. It's also about family and teamwork and persevering despite overwhelming obstacles. And once more, we can see how although the drama is superficially about producing Nobuta to improve her popularity, it's really about the friendship that grows between the three students, and about Shuji learning what it really means to be a human - despite his popular facade, he, more than anyone else, is the most stunted and the one who needs to grow the most.
Huge thanks, as always, to dancestar24 at d-addicts for the subtitles.