Sora no Manimani Episode 02 – Red Dwarfs and Other Celestial Objects
July 30th, 2009
(Posts are coming in kind of rapid succession, but once I’m caught up to the current episode I promise to stop monopolizing the front page. Ep 03 post sometime late today or tomorrow.) We find the members of the Astronomy Club in despair as their prospects of finding the fifth member necessary to be officially considered a club are bleak, not helped by President Roma coughing up blood as he tries to recruit others. But the presence of the second years in Saku’s classroom has drawn the attention of others.
Their darkest hour.
Edogawa, meanwhle, must follow his dreams with the Photography Club.
You’re not really sorry.
Enter: Hime Makita, Saku’s classmate who has a crush on him and a complex about her curly hair due to being teased about it as a child. A moment of kindness on the train when her hair got caught on Saku’s button has ignited her burning desire to get closer to Saku. Only Mihoshi is in her way. Confronting the upperclassman for being in the First Years’ room, she begins her war for the heart of Saku.
Confidence is good, but don’t underestimate your opponent.
Returning to the same room later in the day for school duty with Saku, Hime thinks she will have access to him since they are classmates. Only to find the Astronomy Club occupying the room, frightened off by Fumie’s plotting of their demise outside the club room. She pushes them out for some alone time with the object of her infatuation.
I love the glaring cat eyes Mihoshi has here.
No rest for the wicked.
However discouraged Hime may have been when she first learns from Saku that he’s known Mihoshi for seven years, she returns from her dejection with renewed resolve. Again we see the possibly developing theme of memory, as Hime is determined to have Saku remember her, even if just from their incident on the train.
That’s one way to be remembered.
Today, at 05:35 Ep. 02 playback time, Hime Makita formally declared war on Mihoshi Akeno. We are now at war. We are now at war.
Perhaps being remembered isn’t as important as which person remembers.
Confession intercepted!
Breaking Hime out of her moment of bliss, Mihoshi brings Hime and Saku up to the school roof to look at the first star of the evening, Venus in this instance. Repeating information about the planet and when it’s visible, Saku causes Mihoshi to go all rabu-rabu in admiration while plunging Hime once again into another short lived bout of despair. But Hime’s hopes rise again as Mihoshi tells her that her and Saku aren’t going out. Seeing her chance to get closer to Saku, Hime immediately volunteers to join the Astronomy Club.
Talking about astronomy turns Mihoshi adorably chibi, reminiscent of a cell phone charm.
These eyes glow with an awesome power!
In celebration, the club gets together for snacks and plans an outing to look at the stars that night. Hime and Mihoshi engage in their first battle, waged with refreshments. Student Council President and deliciously evil adversary Fumie appears to remind her enemies that she still lords over them, tempting Saku once more by mentioning that the Literature Club meets regardless of the weather. Perhaps she used her dark magicks to command the skies, because the planned outing ends up rained out. Luckily for the club and not so much for Saku, Mihoshi obtained his phone number and calls to get permission to head to Saku’s house.
Saku is perhaps feeling a little like Poland.
Much as with various forms of international solidarity, the fellowship of first year students is cast aside at the convenience of great powers.
President Fumie: beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! We shall love her and despair!
At Saku’s, Mihoshi is received warmly by Saku’s Mom. His many admirers try to get a look at his room, but he manages to outrun them. After drying off and Saku’s Mom trying to ruin his cool image, the club members leave. Here we have another drama element, as Mihoshi is silent and stares blankly for a long moment after Saku’s Mom tell her to say hello to her parents for her.
A warm welcome.
The next day another outing is planned, and plans of another nature are also afoot. Daydreaming about being able to wear her best clothes in front of Saku and riding on his bike to the observation area, Hime is ultimately thwarted by Mihoshi’s precautions against mosquitoes and Roma’s bike being the only one with a back seat. Unfortunately for her, he goes into one of his fainting/bleeding spells while driving on a downhill that would fit well into an episode of Initial D. We end the episode with some real astronomy knowledge, Edogawa referencing Fist of the North Star and Ultraman, and Sayo and Saku having a chat.
No plan survives first contact with the Astronomy Club. Also the sign says ‘White Horse’, but you get the point (and I’m just nitpicking.)
No! It’s an electrically assisted bicycle driven by a fainting student!
More potential drama setup.
Your weekly astronomy lesson.
Final Thoughts: – Some more setup/foreshadowing of possible dramatic plot threads.
- Hime was a rather different character than I expected to be the fifth member.
- I don’t think it’s going to be any surprise that Mihoshi’s parents probably died (no spoilers from the manga reader please!), but I’m hoping that whatever her long pause was caused by will make for good character development.
- This show makes me want to buy a telescope. This and other shows are obviously a conspiracy between anime companies and manufacturers!
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