Sora no Manimani Episode 10 – Death Letter
September 21st, 2009
After a little slowdown in the subs we have episode 10, a very character and drama centric episode. The students are busy with exams after a field trip (which I’m guessing was in the manga but left out of the anime), and once back in school Mihoshi and Souma-sensei are arranging what Hime and Edogawa think is a suspicious meeting. Following them around they meet up with Saku, possibly on his way back from buying a book, possibly there to stalk as well. With only two or three episodes left the drama and character background necessarily moves quickly this episode.
That’s an odd souvenir.
Arrr, I be Souni Scruffbeard, terror of the Carolinas, scourge of the Caribbean!
Edogawa has Ferrangi hearing. I wonder if he has the lobes for business?
Continuing their stalking around the city, Saku, Hime, and Edogawa follow Mihoshi and Souma on their suspicious outing. Along the way they notice Roma, who Hime had previously dismissed when he was about to tell them his plans, walking together with Oumi. While they are staring at and admiring the lovely couple, Sayo walks up to them. While seeming disapproving of their stalking, she nonetheless joins them, her curiosity evidently getting the better of her.
On their ‘date’.
Man, if I were any good at carving I’d make a stalker Saku or Hime jack-o-lantern for Halloween using those silhouettes.
Be careful, it could be that flower shop run by bishonen with crappy backstories who go on lame adventures.
My other OTP. But Roma, what are you doing with that bolo tie?
She acts like she’s above stalking, but really she can’t resist.
Continuing to follow the pair, the other members of the Astronomy Club track them across a park, taking some drastic measures to avoid detection. After following them up a set of stairs they find Mihoshi and Souma at the Akeno family grave. Though they feel really awkward for intruding, a well-time loss of balance reveals their presence. At this point we get confirmation that Mihoshi’s dad is dead, having died years ago from a car accident. Mihoshi didn’t tell Saku because she was happy that he was keeping his memory alive by mentioning him. Everyone pays their respects, but on the way home everyone is clearly unsettled, even the usually unflappable Sayo.
Where did he get that wig so quickly?
Not what her clubmates expected.
As I suspected.
Poor guy.
This revelation seems to put everyone in a funk, even if it may have happened some time ago.
Days later at school we find out from Roma that he and Oumi were attending a practice exam at a school in the area together, while Roma was murderously stared down by Oumi’s fanclub. Feeling some kind of pressure Roma has been tired out. Mihoshi meanwhile is seemingly back to normal, but things are definitely not status quo for Saku and Hime in regards to her. Hime begins to interrupt her hugging Saku like normal, then suddenly stops and runs away. Saku himself is not sure what to do now that he knows about her dad’s death.
The lovely couple after taking the practice exam. Roma’s jealous competitors have no chance.
It’s a sign of how things are different when Mihoshi glomping Saku isn’t just shrugged off.
Hime is not immune either.
Mihoshi’s situation is even making one of her rivals hesitate.
A rather confusing time for everyone.
In the Student Council room Fumie is ending another day of hard work as Queen of the school when she remembers that she has a souvenir from the trip that she meant to give to Saku. But since it’s not immediately after the break she’s starting to feel awkward about giving it to him late. This worry is compounded by her two underlings drawing her attention to how Saku is acting differently in regards to Mihoshi.
Our Queen keeps a full schedule, but some things slip through the cracks.
Giving Saku the gift a day earlier likely would have just complicated the situation with Mihoshi the next, and to no avail since Mihoshi is clearly the author’s favorite.
It really is all of a sudden. Not bitter or anything.
Seems pretty status quo from here.
They joined the literature club to write doujinshi, didn’t they?
I’m not really comfortable with pity/guilt playing such a role in Saku falling for Mihoshi, making it harder for Fumie (not to mention for Hime.)
At the end of the day Fumie runs into Saku outside at the vending machines near the baseball field. As they start to talk a foul ball heads right for them, and Saku quickly takes the hit for his Queen, knocking both of them over in the process. I guess this is the ‘flag’ for the upcoming Fumie sequences. After getting up they find that Saku’s knee broke her glasses during the fall. While she tries to head home herself, without her glasses she’s having a hard time.
For Queen and High School!
I believe this is what the erogamers call a ‘flag’ or ‘trigger’.
Unfortunately Saku had no time to shield Fumie and plan his landing.
Fumie has rather poor vision with her glasses though.
Fumie accepts Saku’s help in walking home and they head to the neighborhood where she and Mihoshi live. It turns out Saku used to live in the same area, and he’s really surprised by how it has changed, and stayed the same, since he lived there. Getting a little overenthusiastic he starts goofing off at a park along the way, while Fumie considers his attachment to the past and thus his link to Mihoshi. While she makes a generous offer to Saku to help him or listen to him as the Student Council President, internally she has a Yamada (from Honey and Clover) internal dialogue, saying that she’s glad her glasses are broken so that she can’t see the look on Saku’s face as he acts nostalgic. While there is a moment of comic relief where she tries to hand the gift to a statue, it’s a rather heavy scene for her internally.
Or the right idea.
I’m wondering why he’s so overjoyed at the kids playground too Fumie.
I guess he really does have something in common with Mihoshi.
The first point of her internal monologue.
Gracious in defeat. Not that we didn’t know Mihoshi would win out from episode 01.
His falling for the childhood friend just because she’s the childhood friend disgusts me too my Queen.
So that’s where Edogawa got the idea for the ‘strategically placed’ stars on his festival t-shirt.
Shortly thereafter Fumie’s underlings run into them, apparently on the way back from buying snacks. After accompanying them a short while longer, they agree to take Fumie back home. Giving Saku his gift, Fumie departs for home. Saku then opens the envelope and finds a bookmark, an appropriate gift demonstrating her thorough understanding of Saku and why she should have won out over Mihoshi (I WILL NOT BE BITTER I WILL NOT BE BITTER I WILL NOT BE BITTER.) Then, seeing what I’m guessing is Jupiter’s light glinting off the bookmark, Saku runs after Fumie to ask her for a favor.
See they want Saku X Fumie too!
A very suitable gift, and cute too.
Depending on when this is this is either Jupiter (visible now and very bright) or perhaps a bright red star like Betelgeuse or Aldebaran (also visible now and later in the year.)
Her generosity is infinite, even now.
After a few days of Saku being absent from Astronomy Club Mihoshi starts to get depressed, and while Sayo tries to tell her to cheer up, she’s obviously worried about her. Meanwhile Fumie and Saku are preparing a plan to cheer her up, Fumie getting the necessary approvals for him. They have a chat about the idea, coming from a time when Saku and Mihoshi watched a meteor shower while on the phone, another event I’m guessing is in the manga but left out of the anime except in this mention.
It’s almost as bad as the rainy season when the skies were cloudy.
OVER 9000!
But Sayo can see through her attempt to appear upbeat.
Fumie in her spare pair of glasses, once again coming through with the paperwork.
Scene between Fumie and Saku are often set with windows as a background, and especially with yellow light.
Compare that scene with this one from episode 04.
Hime and Edogawa are once again spying, and burst in at an opportune moment, quickly subduing Fumie’s clubmates and confronting Saku about all the secrecy. But then they are let in on the plan. That night Mihoshi is still feeling down, and looking at a picture of her father when Saku arrives and tells her to come with him.
Hime: The fault, dear Fumie, lies not in our stars but in our writers. That we are rival characters. Fumie and Mihoshi growing up together: what should be in that ‘Mii-chan’? Why should that name be sounded more that yours?
Saku no baka! You’ve got two much better love interests. (I WILL NOT BE BITTER I WILL NOT BE BITTER I WILL NOT BE BITTER.)
I wonder if it was the anniversary or the letting everyone know that has put Mihoshi in such a rut.
Perhaps I see Honey and Clover in everything, but this reminds me a bit of a scene with Nomiya and Yamada. The lights in the background also remind me of some effects in Welcome to the NHK.
More stylized in a simple shapes way in SoraMani.
Another similar concept.
Taking Mihoshi to the school, Saku leads her up to the roof for a surprise meteor shower viewing. As this is the Geminids meteor shower, it should be sometime in mid-December (the shower peaks on December 14.) Everyone from the Astronomy and Literature Clubs seems to be in attendance, and they have kotatsu set up to keep everyone warm. Mihoshi then starts crying because she was lonely while all this was being set up, before she calms down and starts watching for meteors.
Mihoshi at this point still has no idea where she’s being taken.
Everyone is waiting, even Literature Club members.
Hime asks the hard questions.
Starting to watch the meteors Mihoshi gets teary eyed remembering her father, then settles in next to Saku. She takes his hand, and they exchange a moment of looking at each other before Mihoshi yells out for everyone to hold hands. The Literature Club underlings keep talking about how its love, though Hime makes a last ditch protestation of the official couple.
The meteor watching trip may have been her father’s last.
You can practically hear the Mihoshi fans squeeing.
Roma, that thrice lucky bastard! Going out with Oumi, getting to hold hands with Fumie and Hime. Edogawa is also obviously enjoying his spot.
Go out in mid-December for the Geminids, they’re supposed to be the best of the year.
It’s over Hime, despite all our cheering from the sidelines. Fumie and Hime shippers, stay strong brothers/sisters.
Sakuya-chan no korono no soko ni…Akeno Mihoshi…
Final Thoughts: - Well the official couple has now inevitably won out. It’s been fun cheering on my favorite though.
- Besides, Fumie can find a much better literature tsundere in college. High school romances rarely to never work out in the long run anyway. Sorry to those readers who may be in high school, but let’s be real.
- Heavy and quick development all around this episode. Everyone got a share of the drama to some extent.
- As I mentioned, I don’t really think Saku feeling bad for Mihoshi is a great turning point or basis for a relationship.
- IRL SoraMani: Just got a set of Plossl eyepieces and filters, and they improve the capabilities of my scope by OVER 9000 percent! Images are much clearer and I have a lot more options for magnification levels and viewing field size. Also got a camera mount, so I should be able to take better pictures. Now I just need the weather to cooperate, rain is forecast for all of the upcoming week 
And now I present an ode to all the other Fumie fans.
Modified lyrics set to: Death Letter Blues by Son House
I got a letter this morning, how you reckon it read?
It said hurry, hurry the ship you love is dead.
I got a letter this morning, I say how you reckon it read?
It said hurry, hurry because the ship you love is dead.
You know I loaded up my bittorrent, started off the download,
When the torrent got there she saying it’s a gift and nothing more.
I loaded up my bittorrent and I say I started off the download.
I said when I got there, she was saying it’s a gift and nothing more.
You know she walked up close, she looked over at his face,
Said the good ole gal got to wait for a better tsundere.
I say she walked up close, I say she looked over at his face,
I said the good ole girl got to wait for a better tsundere.
You know it looked like 10,000 shippers were standing waiting for it to turn around,
We all know we love her, even when Saku let her down.
Looked like 10,000 standing waiting for it to turn around,
You know we all loved her, even when Saku let her down.
You know I didn’t feel so bad till the good ole sun went down
The writers long ago decided, there’s no way around.
I didn’t feel so bad till the good ole sun went down
I said the writers long ago decided, no way around.
You know it’s so hard to love someone don’t love you,
If you’re not the official couple he don’t care what you do.
It’s so hard to love someone that don’t love you,
You know if you’re not the writer’s couple, he don’t care what you do.
You know love’s a hard ol’ fall, make you do things you don’t want to do,
Love sometimes leaves you feelin sad and blue.
Love hard ol’ fall, make you do things you don’t want to do,
Love sometimes leaves you feelin sad and blue.
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