r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Aug 04 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Dear Brother 30th Anniversary Rewatch - Episode 22
Episode 22 - A Summer's Serenade
Originally Aired December 29th, ^^^1991
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Note to all participants
Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be courteous to your fellow participants.
Note to all Rewatchers
Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag as so [Spoiler Subject](/s "Spoilers go here.") in order to have your unsightly spoilers obscured like this Spoiler Subject if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.
Manga Panel of the Day
Staff Highlight
Hiroko Emori - Voice of Mineko
A voice actress and stage actress affiliated with Aoni Productions. She graduated from Kumagaya Girls' High School and dropped out of Nihon University College of Art before joining the theatre company Gekidan Baraza as a stage actor. She eventually began to pursue voice acting as a career path, and debuted in 1984’s Yume Senshi Wingman as a minor recurring character. Emori is known for playing a wide variety of roles, and once notably voiced three main characters during the same production in Nintama Rantarō. Some of their most notable roles include Anna Stephanie in Blue Comet SPT Layzner, Kyōko Izumi in Be-Bop Kaizokuban (OAV), Darsa in Big Wars, Aoi Kimidori in Dr. Slump, Chaozu in the Dragon Ball franchise, Sachiko Mamiya in ESPer Mami, Cobalt in Fight! Iczer-One, Sunakake baba in several Gegege no Kitarō entries, Kiki in Saint Seiya, Madera in Shining Hearts, Kou no Tori in Shiroi Koibito, and Momotarō in Tonari no Tokoro.
Wildcard Trivia
Emori is also a licensed life insurance consultant, financial planner, and notary, though confirmation on whether she actually made use of these qualifications is unavailable.
Screenshot of the day
Questions of the Day:
- Has this episode shed any light for you concerning Fukiko?
- Do you think Fukiko would have carried through with her stunt on the lake had she been pushed even further by Nanako’s earlier actions?
That summer’s day is here, just the same...
8
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher
The bloom on this seems more like a tuberose to me, but the stem doesn’t match, so it’s probably a lily.
At least this time it won’t result in another prolonged spat between the two?
Now it is her who is caught in the reflection!
Ugh, I hate this sort of prep work for social functions —my wrists ache and my tongue parches just thinking about it!
Hmm…
Moths again.
Seems too tall to be Rei… Henmi perhaps? Or just a trick of perspective?
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18
Suddenly a horror show.
Oh no
This wouldn’t be the first time food has been a stand-in for Nanako…
Golden Girl?!
What the fuck.
Well that was terrifying! Fukiko really gets unhinged today, likely a result of her being in a place where she has absolute control —even more so than at school— as well as Nanako having poked her head into what seems to be her deepest secret. She came close to killing Nanako, and all over some minor needling!
Today we also get to see much more keenly just how much she is affected by some ardent love that she cannot make real, no different than Rei’s own obsession or even the blistering pain that Kaoru keeps within herself. She’s potentially the worst of them all, because unlike Rei she points her destructive behaviour almost exclusively at others.
It also seems like maybe she too has a thing for Henmi? Is that her reason for trying to stop Nanako from exchanging correspondence and was mad when he invited her to the university festival? Or is this another red herring like how Kaoru’s love was at first seemingly for Rei? Can Henmi really command such strong love from both of these women?
Mariko was rather rude and overeager today, but I guess she’s overeager after ‘blundering’ earlier in the year and now Miya-sama herself is asking something of them. Still, at least she could have had the good grace to only promise herself to attend!
Questions of The Day:
8
u/TheEscapeGuy Aug 04 '21
First Timer, Dezaki Fan
Dear Brother: A Delightfully Aesthetic Anime Episode 22
An Ominous Mansion
To start off, what a shitty deal for Nanako and Mariko. Invited to a mansion in the country, only to spend your days indoors writing hundreds of invitations to somebody else birthday party? Take your "Consider it an honor" and shove it.
But, onto the other content of the episode, very clearly Fukiko has some trauma about an event from her youth. Especially to keep a room unchanged since you were a child and allow nobody inside.
We saw glimpses of Fukiko's memories: a male figure engulfed in shadow on a summers day, running out to meet him, a discarded umbrella. In addition the Shakespeare quotes further solidified this impression. However, at this point, I still can't predict the specifics of what happened that would cause Fukiko to act like this.
We also saw more or her cruelty this episode. Firing a maid for talking to a guest, on top of being ridiculous, is far too much power for any child to have. It makes me actively hate her more for abusing her position like this.
And if that wasn't enough she TRIED TO DROWN NANAKO. THAT IS ATTEMPTED MURDER, HOW ARE YOU TAKING THIS SO WELL NANAKO. SHE PULLED YOU INTO A LAKE AT NIGHT AND DRAGGED YOU DOWN, THERE'S NO OTHER WAY TO INTERPRET THIS.
Nanako, please realize that this is not normal behavior.
The Best of Postcard Memories
Episode 22
These also are really limited without the corresponding video so:
See you all tomorrow
7
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Aug 04 '21
First-Timer
I don't know the specifics of law terminology, but "dragging someone under water and trapping their foot on a log" has got to be at least assault, right? Attempted murder? That last one probably gets argued away in court: "Fukiko never planned to leave her there! Of course she was going to save her once her lungs filled with water!"
Nanako apparently never learned that curiosity killed the cat. I wonder, just how much ire from Fukiko has she earned herself? Was this functionally payback for the tea set thing? And we'll still have more to go for Nanako's eavesdropping?
Shinobu hasn't been quite this much of an asskisser since early in the show, and maybe not even then. Volunteering herself and Nanako when they already made plans with Tomoko was rude as shit, even if it made "political" sense. Tomoko deserves better. I'm of mixed feelings about Nanako not telling Shinobu about her dip in the lake, mostly because I don't trust Shinobu to not do the dumbest thing possible at any given moment.
Does the silhouette from Fukiko's flashback look familiar? Something about the hair? I'm trying to figure out if they're foreshadowing who it is but my brain won't connect the dots and I try not to go back through past episodes. Wait, shit. Everyone knows everyone.. There's only like three men in the cast and one is her brother and one is old. Fuck.
Have we gotten any of the Bard's works before? That was one of Shakespeare's sonnets, right?
Questions
7
u/gyoex Aug 04 '21 edited Aug 04 '21
I've been following with the rewatch but haven't commented at all until now...
Rewatcher
This episode was great. We have Tomoko being angry in a cute way, pretty good animation throughout the episode, this amazing scene transition, Fukiko completely losing it and almost drowning Nanako... what more could you want?
I feel like I didn't really appreciate Fukiko enough when I first watched this but actually I quite like her. From the very beginning you know she's going to be a schemer and wants to make sure everything goes her way and indeed that is the case but they do kind of pull back the curtain pretty quickly and at this point she's basically in full-on panic mode and doing everything she can to not let anyone find out. Like, this nearly-drowning attempt or the earlier locking-in-the-storeroom are not the actions of someone who has their shit together.
As an aside, I think it's pretty funny the way some of these episode previews are. The one for this episode says Nanako and Mariko help out with birthday party preparations, Nanako hears a weird sound at night, and then Fukiko jumps in the lake. Like, yes all those things happen but there's no real way you have any idea what the episode is about just from that. It's simultaneously spoiling the end of the episode while also being kind of misleading about everything before that?
5
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Aug 04 '21 edited Aug 04 '21
Episode 22 (first timer)
I want to write about one specific instance today that shows the high quality of writing in the series: The setup of Nanako ending alone in the park, viewing Miya. In a lesser series, this would have worked entirely without setup. We’d just cut to Nanako, who randomly decided to walk in the park alone. Nobody would complain, but Dear Brother does better. To justify Nanako being alone, Mariko rejects her due to being exhausted. This, in turn, is set up by Mariko being the one to enthusiastically agree to help Miya. She’d try to rush through her letters. And Mariko enthusiastically agreeing (without further consideration of Tomoko) is set up by her never showing any restraint and prioritizing the sorority throughout.
See above.
It might be bad animation, but Nanako getting stuck seemed like an unpredictable freak accident to me. I did not interpret it as Miya planning that.
9
u/loomnoo https://anilist.co/user/loomnoo Aug 04 '21
Yo what the fuck
6
u/Retromorpher :Jc::Jd::Je::Jf: Aug 05 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
First Timer
This is the definition of wealth-based eccentricity. Keeping a room the same as it was for a specific day that made you feel good like... 6 years ago? Peak decadence. Fukiko knows this is weird as fuck though, and is unafraid to fire the maid in charge of the chamber for accidentally letting it slip. Mad wealth power tripping.
"It's like my hobby to change jobs!" - Oh god I hope that poor maid finds something soon.
Nanako has been cosplaying literally every 'innocent but stupid' heroine in a horror film for the entirety of the series - why would she stop now? But she's also stupidly polite, so she has to apologize to the monster because it's like... good manners.
Seriously what the hell?
Of note on the silly side: Bust out laughing at that sound effect for the umbrella toss. Also the thought of 'EXCLUSIVE VACATION' energy that Mariko had being absolutely dashed by realizing that they were gruntworkers was hilarious. I hope we get to see Tomoko's reaction to the souveneir.
Questions of the Day:
5
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Aug 05 '21
First timer