Empress : Kaiserin: Tactics 19

Montag, Dezember 26, 2005

Tactics 19

Awww... What a little romance this episode turned out to be! I love the opening scene where Youko plays with the autumn leaves... Despite her money-minded ways, she is such a sweet girl. And Yoshio is really the perfect man for her - appearance-wise. It's a sad thing Yoshio is shallow enough to stereotype all demons as evil and domineering; his love for Youko is really passionate, but rigid... Yoshio turns out to be more capable than what meets the eye. He's striving to be independent, and surprisingly, not just the head of the Fushimiya kimono shop, but a designer as well! That means he was supposedly open-minded (oops, I'm stereotyping as well), but it seems like Yoshio jumped to his conclusion much too early for his (and Youko's) own good. Sigh... Ill-fated and not meant to be are they. The opening scene is Love. So speechlessly beautiful...! And this is the only time I didn't appreciate the Secret World OP - because the opening of the song spoils the picturesque atmosphere (which was accompanied by the lovely music).

Aaah, speaking about the music, it's really a cut above the rest! The tracks played in tonight's episode were all fresh and new. Episode-premiere, lol! And it's lovely. Because of the romance between Youko and Yoshio, more slow-paced music (also never-heard-before tracks) were used. And the critical battle between Kantarou & Co. and Yoshio's "mother" was heightened by a new dramatic track! Unlike those typical battle scenes, this brand-new track helps build up excitement/tension, as well as emotions. Yes, plentiful of emotions were at play tonight. If there was a stereotype about demons not knowing what love is, Youko beat the belief. She is like a human in love. Aha, there is a subtle hint about demons crossing the boundaries of the human. Demons can generate emotions like the humans. In other words (which I reckon Kantarou will agree), demons ain't bad after all. ^^

Human emotions. Kantarou and Haruka were all out of the picture because the episode focused on the small romance between Youko and Yoshio. Oooh, even their names match real nicely. ^^ I find it so sweet when Yoshio helped Youko out with the laundry. It was a classic scene, but it works everytime to bring warmth to both the couple involved, and the viewers. There was also this moment where Yoshio hugged Youko to thank her (I think it's more than that, lol). And the unexpected thing - Youko accepted the hug and embraced him as well. Well, I guess love really changes a person (or in this case, a demon) eh? Since before Yoshio's visit to the Ichinomiya lodge Youko was bullying Kan-chan by serving the household colourless (and tasteless) tea, lol! It's Kantarou's fault anyway, for bringing in too little money, whahahahaa. And the cutest thing happened - instead of becoming angry at Youko (I believe he can just do that by calling her by her name - lol, I'm so affected by the manga version now XD), Kantarou whined...! XDDDD Sooooo cuuuuute! Yeesh dears, I've fallen for Kantarou, duh... =.=

Kantarou whining in chibi-form = Love.

Plus much fangirl squealing.

Lol.

=== Wokay, now onto more trival observations ===
= I believe Youko likes to feel important or needed. It's not just in this episode, but also the one where Kan-chan and Haruka "teamed up" to lunch on Youko's red bean waffle.
= Yoshio's youkai "mother" has really scary eyes! (reminded of Monster again... =_____=)
= When did Rosalie finally get along well with Suzu? That was a surprise, since I remember Rosalie throwing insults at Suzu one episode back.
= Realised that Kantarou is a tea-addict! XD Looks like he really can't live without ~~concentrated~~ tea
= In addition, Kantarou get to wear a new costume! Wow, I like Kantarou with a straw hat. A fresh look, yet cool!
= We have a less-than-30-seconds guest appearance of Sugino and his Mu... again...

And the story once again resolves around the theme of demon and human. However, the romance may seemed sweet, and Youko brilliantly and successfully resolved her own "relationship" issue, but it is so obvious that the episode is showing the downside of the human-demon bond. That if either of the sides can't overcome the barrier of indifferences or hatred, the bridge between the two is not going to work. We saw a human willing to befriend and embrace a demon (Kantarou), and now we have a demon who is willing to love a human. Anyway, even though the majority of both sides still didn't manage to work out a treaty, there will always be the harmony between human and demons among Kantarou & Co. I love it when Kantarou served a "healing" Youko tea ("I put lots of tea leaves into this time's"), and Youko just had to spoil it by commenting that "it's bitter".

Sssssuspicioussssss crossssssoverssssss:
1. white snakes - Inuyasha
2. the Fushimiya shop - Ai Yori Aoshi
3. Youko and broomstick - Kyoko from Maison Ikkoku
4. Youko cleaning up the shop/house - Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi

P.S. The Japanese word "tempura" translated into spoken Chinese broke my brain. It's a no-no. Nonononononononononononononononono. o_O