Comment on [Episode] Journal with Witch • Ikoku Nikki - Episode 9 discussion
wietach@ani.social 1 week ago
Scenes transition was so seamless it felt like the past, the present, and the future were talking to one another. Some concerns are generational.
Is this the first popular band club in anime, with an actual competition among its many members? You better write those lyrics, Asa.
It’s annoying how often Asa bothers Emiri with the boyfriend talk. I guess the only way for her to stop is for Emiri to open up to Asa, but she doesn’t seem to be ready yet.
Asa looked so smug when she gave Makio her first lyrics. She clearly expected praise, but was taught the feeling of embarrassment instead. It’s not cringe, Makio-chan, it’s you who cringes.
I am personally wondering if it’s Asa loving to push Emiri’s buttons, or she is genuinely asking in order to attempt finding one herself. Does Asa want a boyfriend, or the estrangement that will follow if Emiri finds her girlfriend?
But I did find sad Asa is refusing to open up. Hopefully something happens that she does, esp. to the counselor.
wondering if it’s Asa loving to push Emiri’s buttons, or she is genuinely asking in order to attempt finding one herself
Isn’t this just your average teasing between friends? Just look at the convo of Makio’s gang during their new year get-together.
I’d lean heavily towards the former.
But last episode Emily clearly told Asa to cease this type of “teasing” altogether, because she doesn’t see herself tied to males. It no longer feels like teasing, and more like trying to push boundaries. My question is why Asa feels the desire to push a subject already sentenced “won’t be discussed.”
She probably just forgot; no need to read too much into it.
I daresay it could be the same situation as Makio and Minori.
But now that you brought this up, this can be a source of conflict to further develop the plot. So now I’m betting that Asa and Emily are going to have a fight in a future episode.
At first I thought that the production is finally starting to show sings that the anime has to squish a little bit too much source material into one season, but after finishing the episode I think these rapid transitions worked really well in the context of what is happening in Asa’s mind and how she feels like everyone around her is moving on and having something special about them when at the same time she doesn’t know what to do with her life. Whether the director has a problem with time constraints or not, it was a really clever measure that fits the narrative well, so hats off to them.
Given how it came together at the end, I think it was very much on purpose.
Rottcodd@ani.social 1 week ago
Exactly and well said. It was another bit of brilliance from this series.
Yeah - that’s an awkward situation, and the more Asa pesters her, the less likely she is to open up. And it’s likely that when she finally does, it’s going to be out of frustration and it’s going to be messy. Though at least that would be something of a smack upside the head to Asa, which might be good for her in the long run.
On another note, it’s disconcerting how much like her mother Asa sometimes is. I assume she isn’t even aware of it, and would be mortified if she found out (or maybe more accurately, will be mortified when she does find out).
Endmaker@ani.social 1 week ago
I remember Kasamachi pointing out that he said a line that his father once said. I believed Minori also mentioned something along the lines of behaving like her mother.
It’s all these small little things that make this anime so realistic.
I imagine Asa’s enlightenment would be the season finale. Makio’s enlightenment would be the series finale.
Rottcodd@ani.social 1 week ago
Probably. One way or another, we need to get to that affectionate, bantering tone she had in the opening of the first episode.