Shuffle! Memories Ep 8 & 9
I found episode 8 more light-hearted than the previous one. I suppose that its because Rin finally chose his “girl” and this is just a recap episode, it isn’t out of place to have that decision made in the middle of the series. Even during the more serious moments with Asa in the hospital., the mood wasn’t that depressing. Actually, it wasn’t that romantic either as it wasn’t unexpected to find Rin waiting there by the bed during the night. But then, that was pretty much explained in episode 7. It was just…’about damn time’ sort of a mood. What was unexpected was that Ama was part of an experiment.
Well, not unexpected either, I just forgot her details. While I found Asa’s story of being able to use magic, but not being part demon was interesting, there wasn’t really much to draw me into it. But that’s not really the fault of the storyline since this is just a recap. However cringe-inducing Rin’s solution to saving Asa’s life was, it was a pretty bold step. Just one question, can we just have at least one anime where a box cutter is used to open boxes?
The first half of episode 9 felt like it was more of a Primula story than a Nerine story (not that I’m complaining). I suppose that I’ll get the same feeling when we see Primula’s story, given that the stories for the two of them seem to be closely tied in. I think out of all of the episodes so far, the second half of this showed the most character growth where Nerine finally gets to know that her feelings for Rin aren’t just Lycoris’ feelings. She gets to have her own clear identity. What strikes me the most about Nerine, more than any of the other characters (so far) is that she comes across as the most mature. She understands that there is the possibility of Rin having feelings for other girls, as she observed with Asa, and that even she is new to having her own feelings.
I guess I’ll have to wait until the DVDs are released. There seems to be a lot to like about this show, but its hard to get into it when its just a recap. But I have to say, that out of all of the episodes shown so far, this one is by far my favorite* largely because of the Nereine’s growth as she’s separated from Lycoris.
* Not counting Primula’s story because she’s so damn uber-kawaii that it blows the bell-curve out of proportion
