I dare you to find a more heart-wrenching love triangle than this one. It looks like we're finally reaching the heart of the problem, literally in Hazuki's case with the fairy tale metaphors piling on top of each other. There's not a lot going on with the Little Mermaid side of things, but the idea of diving down to the deepest part of the "ocean" close to where Shimao wrote his finally words and then tore them out speaks for itself and will probably play a role in how Hazuki manages to leave. But even more interesting than that was the statement not-Rokka made: "The main character has to be happy at the end of the story. But who's the main character?" That seems to be the million-dollar question for this show, since a solid argument could be made for any of the three characters. Rokka is falling in love again and starting to move on, although whether she can forgive herself for loving someone other than Shimao is still up in the air. Hazuki is clearly head over heels, but he needs to realize that relationships are not black and white. Shimao has the short end of the stick, since there's nothing he can do to stop the march of time, which is the focus of this episode. I like all three characters for differing reasons, but Shimao has always gotten the most of my sympathy. I haven't agreed with all of his actions, but I can't judge him harshly for them either. When you think about how long he must have gone without even being able to talk to the love of his life, I think deserves to use that as an excuse. It's not quite a get out of jail free card, but it's valid nevertheless. Of course, the problem with all this is that he's borrowing Hazuki's body for selfish ends. No matter what he does, he's helping Hazuki and Rokka's relationship. With the mention of the final words that he didn't want anyone to read (but Rokka clearly did), Shimao clearly has something that he needs to resolve before moving on to the next life. This episode reminded me of Hazuki's declaration earlier in the series that he should just step aside and let someone younger take over. While the message wasn't nearly as harsh and naive as that, there's an increasing feeling of valuing the living over the dead. The dead are static and part of the past, while the future belongs to the living, and as Rokka says, anything can happen. I'm not sure I entirely agree with this sentiment yet. I think that a person needs a healthy balance of both--the past to learn from and the future to look forward to--but I do agree that Rokka has way too many reminders of Shimao around if she's seriously decided on Hazuki. And if being with Rokka didn't cover whatever unfinished business Shimao left behind, what could it really be? Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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