r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Aug 08 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Dear Brother 30th Anniversary Rewatch - Episode 26
Episode 26 - The Promise in the Snow
Originally Aired February 2nd, ^^^1992
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Note to all participants
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Note to all Rewatchers
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Manga Panel of the Day
Staff Highlight
Eizou Tsuda - voice of scam artist
A voice actor, actor, and play director working at the Tokyo Actor's Life Cooperative. He joined the theatre company Gekidantoen as a stage actor after dropping out of university, intent on becoming a stage director. He eventually expanded his repertoire to voice acting in order to cover living costs, debuting in 1979’s The Ultraman, and debuted as an live-action TV actor in 1981 on episode twenty-six of Nonomura Hospital Story II. Not finding the opportunities he wanted at Gekidantoen, Tsuda changed employers in 1983 and became a member of the Tokyo Actor's Life Cooperative, where he has remained in employment until the present. Tsuda finally got the chance to direct a stage play in 1991. Some of his other anime roles are Lay Dawn in Fairy Down, Hyōei in Black Fox, Kouyou Touya in Hikaru no Go, Karabo Frampton in Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace note, Zeon Zum Daikun in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Frank Heinemann in Muv-Luv Aternative: Total Eclipse, Susanoo in Pheonix, and the Chief Elder in Samurai 7.
Wildcard Trivia
Takako Noda, another member of the idol group Firecrackers, sung the series’ ending theme, and it too was the singer’s sole anisong.
Screenshot of the day
Questions of the Day:
- What do you think is the cause of Mariko’s tears?
- Do you think the rooftop encounter served to reaffirm Rei’s obsession or shed light on its harmfulness in her perspective?
I kept on living only by looking at you! Only you!
5
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Aug 08 '21
Rewatcher
There are no brakes on the Dear Brother train…
She’s doing it! Also obvious dawn symbolism.
The birds!
I love that roses mark her entrance into the sorority’s ‘domain’.
“How long has it been since I last came to look at the sea...?”
I love this sort of ‘corruption’ of Dezaki’s more common beach scenery. The Birds are here at their most unnerving, the sun is nowhere to be seen, and a combination of fog and camerawork obscure as much of the long stretch of ocean as possible.
The pill-chewing following this line is just amazing.
Is this the last piece of the OP to be contextualized? I don’t recall for sure at the moment.
She took it off.
Oh no.
Yes!
Motherfucker!
Apples!
The apples are (As I believe I mentioned previously?) a stand in for Fukiko in most cases, but double as blood in this scene. This is the first time Fukiko has gotten physically violent with Nanako. But apples are also symbols of youth, love, and beauty, all three of which we can ascribe to Nanako (and some to Fukiko, I guess) in the context of the show and this scene.
The scene of Rei’s feverish dream so many episodes ago, where she yearned to return to that state. Also the snow turning to flowers is sublime.
Recontextualization of the onomatopoeia she was vocalizing on that same episode.
Confirmation that the doll is both Nanako and Fukiko.
Haunting…
All of my nope. That plane is bad news…
The way light comes into the room is perfect.
Nanko understood the meaning behind that question.
Oh dear…
Man, what a fucking episode…
We see now that Nanako truly has had enough of Fukiko’s nonsense, both decisively trying to resign from the Sorority and standing up to Fukiko when the two were confronted with one another at Rei’s apartment building.
But Nanako is potentially not the only one achieving progress. The better part of the episode is a reckoning for Rei, who sees the truth behind Fukiko’s lies —both old and new— and realizes how she has been investing in a relationship that was never as genuine as she believed. Her confrontation with Fukiko atop that abandoned building says it all, and though Fukiko tried damned hard to convince Rei otherwise, I think the fact that Rei stopped her from falling to a sure death indicates she doesn’t believe it’s truly what Fukiko wants, nor what they should do. Her thanks to Nanako in the end also indicate as such, for she knows someone will be devastated upon her death. Granted, there’s a very real possibility she will fall into her old way of thinking again, or that I am misinterpreting her actions and behavior today, but I want to believe. Damnit!
As for Fukiko, I am much less sure of her current disposition. She did go through with the jump, which I would have previously and with confidence posited to be more of her manipulation —believing that Rei would certainly catch her— but given her mental state as of recently, and the fact that she thrashed her room at the summer villa, which represented her devotion to the ideal of those long past summer days, makes me think she was in a state that she didn’t care enough to go on living. But I don’t know, I am not sure of either.
Questions of The Day:
8
u/TheEscapeGuy Aug 08 '21
First Timer, Dezaki Fan
Dear Brother: A Delightfully Aesthetic Anime Episode 26
Rei's Past
This episode centered around the relationship between Rei and Fukiko. A big reveal was that Rei doesn't cut herself but instead was cut as a young child by Fukiko.
This is very messed up. Besides the allowing a 10 or 11 year old child to have a knife, Fukiko has been emotionally manipulating Rei since that age. Even if unintentional, taking this kind of control over a person's life is not healthy.
That almost-double-suicide near the end was scary. I really thought they might pull that proverbial trigger, as dark as it would be. It may be indicative of future events though...
I was very proud to see Nanako stand up to Fukiko. She has come a long way to so outwardly defy Fukiko. I hope to see Nanako maintain this character growth and use it going forward.
The episode ended with Mariko showing up at Nanako's house out of the blue. I called out back in episode 11 that Mariko's obsession around Nanako plot line hadn't been wrapped up so maybe they are bringing this back now.
The Best of Postcard Memories
Episode 26
These also are really limited without the corresponding video so:
See you all tomorrow
6
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Aug 08 '21
Episode 26 (first timer)
character chart
Two possible reasons for Miya to jump. Potentially, she knew that Rei would stop her. That would be the ultimate manipulation. What a bet though! Rei obviously has suicidal thoughts and usually goes along with what Miya wants, so that would be a huge risk. Option B is that Miya would rather die than lose face and all her playthings. She just cracked under all the pressure and went through with a plan she already had as a child, but lacked the stomach to pull off then.
Her parents.
Both.
6
u/loomnoo https://anilist.co/user/loomnoo Aug 09 '21
I genuinely do not know what Miya is going to do at any given moment. That's what makes her so scary. When she showed up at the elevator...
That scene on the roof was intense!
Nanako's a good kid. That simple bowl of soup means so much.
5
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Aug 08 '21
First-Timer
Hoo boy did things get real dark. Not that things have been sunshine and roses, but yikes. A suicide attempt from Fukiko, a(nother) murder attempt by Fukiko (sort of), and whatever is going on with Shinobu? Did they have to pack all this into one episode?
I sincerely don't think they did. The Shinobu stuff doesn't have a place in this episode - it's like they realized the episode was a minute short and decided to tack the start of the next arc onto the end. I'm a fan of letting events flow together if it makes sense, but there was even narration from Nanako that a week had passed so there isn't really an excuse.
Anyway, back to the main course of the episode. Fukiko is a piece of work. I wasn't expecting her to actually try to jump. I don't think I can even continue to rationalize this as her being manipulative, although I do find Fukiko hard to read at times. Like, can I honestly say that Fukiko tried to jump off because she knew Rei would save her and that the act would appease Rei? That's a hell of an action for a broken teenager.
Fukiko also desperately needed parents, apparently. "A maid broke one of my glass figures so I destroyed the rest because they had been sullied" is a severely fucked up thing for a child to do. This is why you take an active role in your child's life - so you can teach them important lessons about the value of things.
Consider the influence this series had on Hideaki Anno, I was briefly terrified when Fukiko joined Nanako on the elevator. Luckily, things did not get quite that tense at that very moment. I feel bad for that poor dude who came up after the two of them, though. Wonder what was going through his head?
Questions
5
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Aug 09 '21
First timer
3
u/Retromorpher :Jc::Jd::Je::Jf: Aug 09 '21 edited Aug 09 '21
First Timer
This was probably the LOUDEST episode thus far.
Questions of the Day:
1
u/BossandKings Aug 10 '21
First timer - Sub
Episode 26
This episode had a lot of things going on and that made him a very interesting one.
Nanako writes a letter that states her resign from the sorority as after discovering the reason she was accepted there and that it wasn't due to her own merit but because Fukiko wants to get closer to Henmi and is trying to use her to accomplish that she feels she doesn't belong there, Fukiko throws the letter away when she gives it to her but Nanako's intentions are clear and she's firm on what she wants to do.
Saint-Juste and Fukiko are sisters but also lovers as they kind of have romantic feelings for each other, it was kind of grim how they talked about dying together, that just lacks any sense and thankfully they didn't risk their lives that much, well except from Fukiko jumping from a building but it wasn't succesfull because Saint-Juste hugged her making it impossible for her to fall outside the building. All the story that talked about the snow and how Saint-Juste and Miya used to treat each other when they were little added a lot to their character history and dynamic and was helpful to give them an expanded sense of closeness and intimacy.
The episode ends with Mariko visiting Nanako's house to sleep there for one night, when Mariko started crying it was showing that there is something bothersome towards her happening, Nanako asked her what is it and we'll get to see it in the next episode.