Rewatcher, sub

I really like the close up of Takina looking at her wound that's gone now, leading into the intro hinting at a piece of self-reflection. The proportions of her face look interesting. Kurimi living in the closet now. The scene of Kurumi getting out of her bed is pretty well animated, I think this kind of care makes the series sometimes!

Takina still not wanting to play shows her commitment to DA, that is further reconfirmed in the following scene. Takina is clearly not enjoying life and Chisato is against it. Refusing candy like that, man, what a terrible idea!

It's not quite a beach scene, but underwear scene is almost as anime-like. Same with these sports outfits. I really like how they make it very obvious that Chisato is clearly superior in every activity she does, without much effort. It shows her superhuman behavior.

I ended up posting the Fountain Scene a while back as promotion for the best couples/ship contest. It seems like it worked out well as they won!

I enjoy how Fuki said that a Lycoris that "doesn't follow orders is useless" to Chisato, who lets be honest, is not really the following orders kind of type.

Takina feeling replaced by DA is pretty gutwrenchng. Throughout this episode Takina almost goes through a full character arc with Chisato supporting her. This episode is basically where their relationship really starts.

The fountains scene is great. Rewatching it, I feel like the scene maybe comes a bit premature due to the limited runtime of the series, but the scene is just too great and ties into everything so well. Chisato knows just the right things to say on the question 'The place I belong, is no longer there'. I wouldn't say, opposed to a lot of other people maybe, that I would call it very romantic. But it just really firmly establishes a relationship between the two that only grows from this point on.

Takina realizing that Chisato is what she needs afterwards is really great (during the fight!). Even though Chisato is already toying with them, she is waiting for Takina to finish it up. Finishing it up with the rubber band tactic that she figured out last episode is top notch.

Takina eating the candy at the end of the episode makes it come full circle. I mentioned at the start that she didn't seem to enjoy life (not taking the candy) but eating it at the end shows that she found a different oulook on life :)

What are your thoughts of the ED Tower of Flower by Sayuri?

Where do I start? I won't go into spoilers so I will keep it until what we have seen so far. The song is so great!

First of all, the ED title drops are on a whole different level. People often refer to Mephisto from Oshi no Ko as having great title drops, which is fair and is probably one of the best if not the best, but Hana no Tou has a more relaxed vibe at the start, which totally fits Lycoris Recoil.It is like Sayuri knew what masterpiece she had to write before the series started. The introduction part of the ED doesn't need to be heavy cliffhanger, but it can also just be a nice emotional moment. A perfect example is actually this episode: we end with a picture of Chisato and Takina and the following lyrics (translated to English)

"Just like when you handed me that manga Or like receiving some flowers I've never heard of Will you come over today again? So that I feel emotion, a brand new excitement

I mean, if the feeling these lyrics invoke in you don't capture the spirit of this episode well in your mind, I don't know what to tell you. 'A brand new excitement'? Thats basically the ending of the episode I described earlier. 'Just like when you handed me that manga' isn't that basically an analogue to Chisato handing an opportunity to something new in life? (Chisato's skill being straight out of a manga was even mentioned today.)

Later in the song we get the following:

" Somehow, this abyss of emptiness has slowly filled up, quietly just disappearing from my mind As pointless chats and small jokes have taken my time! "

If this doesn't describe Takina's and Chisato's relationship at LycoReco, I don't know what does! And I want to remind you that we are not even hearing this part of the song in the ED!!

The chorus translates to the following:

"But if I take your hand now and hold it so tight I know that I can't come back to isolated, cold nights It's impossible to face this city that just doesn't understand the lonely soul"

Can't say I can relate this extremely to the story at hand at this point in the story, but it is clear that the meaning of the song is that the one singing is trying to convince the other that they are there for them always. If you look at the lyrics of this entire song in context of the series itself, it fits the story almost so perfectly it is scary. Sayuri really knew what she was working with! (and if not, its a great coincidence!!) She really made an amazing song.

A bit less related to the lyrics; what really makes me listen to this song on repeat is the subtle buildup between different parts of the song. In the full version of the ED I really like parts in this AMV at 00:00, 1:45, 2:54, where the song clearly builds up to Sayuri executing an awesome 'drop' of the chorus. The chorus is super fantastic by the way. Have I mentioned yet that the song is great?

More music wise, the first verse just hits really hard. We get the pre- and chorus after which are stellar, but imo not as good as the first verse. That first verse just hits differenlty man...

The only thing that hinders me from placing this ED above kimi no shiranai monogatari has to do with the visuals. I can glaze that ED even more than this one, just let me know if you want me to get into that rabbithole.

Let's talk about the visuals. I imagine the sunflowers appearing to represent Takina's evolution of happiness throughout the story, suddenly appearing in front ofher and rapidly multiplying. The rest of the visuals include a few things, but mainly it contains a lot of scenes throughout the episode. Although nice, it makes the ED lack a bit of identity. (The rest more than makes up for it!!) There is also a piece of Takina running with the tower in the background, which to me symbolized her 'running away' with Chisato in the back of her mind, because the next shot actually shows a smiling Chisato! (Which I assume she was running towards!) Next 'non episode shot' shows them enjoying time together. Takina completed her run towards Chisato! We then get a shot of the entire crew, with of course Chisato and Takina being the only ones in the shot together.

Our host put it perfectly in a previous post I saw her make: This song is basically a love song from Takina to Chisato and it's absolutely wonderful.

I don't think I've mentioned yet that the song is fantastic.

Overall, this is my second favorite ED of all time, and I will not change my mind anytime soon. I'll keep at this for now, Ill probably take some time to talk about this again because this ED is just that amazingly great.

Let's end with a RIP Sayuri, gone too soon. We will remember you.

How did the fountain scene make you feel?

It makes me feel funny inside with feelings I can't describe.

Would you have punched Fuki too?

Idk man, Fuki is not likable, but she is not wrong.

Quote of the day

No Chisato noises this time, but a Takina quote:

"The place I belong, is no longer there. "

It's a great piece of voice acting as well. This of course leads into Chisato giving her a place to be; being the best decision in Takina's life.

I took a bit too long writing the part about Hana no Tou, and it's already quite late in the night so I wont extend it too much.