Unless I'm completely mistaken, this was the "calm before the storm" episode. Despite the big declarations and implication that Hazuki was finally going to see the truth behind the sketchbook world, he gets set back to square one in an initially dissatisfying way. I've really been enjoying the significance of the two fairy tales that have been brought up so far, but Snow White was either rehashing what we already knew or had no point whatsoever; I have no idea what was up with the dwarves that talk like children. It's an interesting concept, but I have no clue how it fits in with the show other than it being the easiest way to identify which story it was covering. Much more successful is Rokka's flashback to when she told a story her mother made up to Shimao. I couldn't help but think of The Giving Tree, except for the very different ending where the woman tries to save the tree by eating the roots but dies instead. Now we have context for Shimao's last wish, as well as the surprising statement that Rokka didn't go through with it. Now it looks like she used his bones (ashes?) for the plant that he took instead. At least, that's what the show seems to be implying... My theory before was that fairy-tale-Rokka was the result of her carrying out his wish, but since that's been debunked, now I don't know what to think. It is telling that the most relevant fairy tale is the one that was made up. As much as I've enjoyed the sketchbook fairy tales, they're starting to overstay their welcome in their relevance to the plot. I feel like one of the major themes in this series has been showing the ways live does and does not conform to the idealism of fairy tales. For the most part, real life and real relationships are much too complicated for the black-and-white "prince saves the princess" motif to apply, but that doesn't mean that the world is devoid of miracles. As cheesy as it sounds, Rokka realizing that it was Shimao she was talking to, not Hazuki, was a kind of miracle of love. But on the other side of things, we get a cliffhanger showing that not-Rokka's warning to Hazuki not to lose himself has turned out to be true in a literal sense; he's turning into Shimao. This show has made a big point out of the future belonging to the living, but now I can't help but wonder if Shimao was intending for Hazuki to take his place all along, or if we're going to end up with some kind of Shimao/Hazuki hybrid in the end. I don't like either of those possibilities, since it puts a huge damper on Rokka's ongoing struggle with moving on and finding love again and something like that would feel like a cop-out. However, this show has never taken the easy road, and I expect a few more surprises as it goes into the finale. Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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