Sasameki Koto

Pre-Edit Edit: It occurred to me that I kept telling you guys to go and read Sasameki Koto but I didn't include a link to do so. Orz I'm sorry. But yeah, go here for the greatness that is Sasameki Koto!. And if you can't get there for some reason, go here instead and then click on the project page to find the previous chapters~

With the end of the year 2009 also comes the end of the winter anime season. And one of the things I'm saddest to see go is Sasameki Koto. I'll also miss Kobato, but it hasn't ended yet, so it's not applicable. XD I was going to try and release this post before the new year, but I ended up getting sidetracked and not finishing before midnight. Orz I was going to try to release this post sometime during the very start of the new year, but ended up getting sidetracked. *headdesk* BUT ANYWAY. THE SASAMEKI KOTO POST IS FINALLY HERE.

This post will be very image heavy. There might also be some NSFW images. Please proceed with caution.

Sasameki Koto has a very typical plot. You know, the "I'm in love with you, but you're dense/have a problem and can't love me back, and because I love you, I'm going to ignore my love so that you will be happy but I'm still gunning for you even at the expense of my happiness" ones. What makes up for its plot, for me at least, is the characters and the humor. Because, really, there's some great stuff in here. And since some jokes you just have to read the entire thing to get, we're mainly going to talk about characters. Again. I promise I will someday write a post that is mostly about the plot rather than the characters. But that day is not today. And this post is about the characters, not the plot. Oh, and the images used in this post will be from the manga, since the anime follows pretty faithfully (with the exception of episode 12, I think), and the manga has funny little asides. :D

Characters
Please note that all names will be written in the Asian style, i.e., Surname Firstname, unless otherwise specified. Also, click on images to magnify them. Thank you.

Murasame Sumika
One of the protagonists, she's the one who has unrequited love. She's also the straight man character, though amusingly, she goes off into her own fantasy world sometimes. Anything else I could say is neatly summed up in this picture:
It's nice when the manga does your work for you. 8D


Kazama Ushio
The other main protagonist after Sumika, she's the one that Sumika likes. Unfortunately, Ushio only likes cute girls, a fact that is repeatedly rammed down the readers' throats. Also, she's unexpectedly a bookworm. ...Oh? Why is that unexpected? Must be an anime thing where good looking girls are automatically not bookworms. Or something. Ushio's reluctant to actually fall in love, because she was rejected by an apparently close friend when she was younger. So it seems that as long as a girl is cute and Ushio's not friends with her than it's a hit for Ushio. Too bad Sumika doesn't fit those criteria. Do your best, Sumika! Ushio will fall to your awesomeness sooner or later!


The We're-together-all-the-time-so-I'm-going-to-put-both-your-character-descriptions-in-one pair, Hachisuka Tomoe and Taema Miyako!
Tomoe is the taller one and Miyako is the blonde. These two are, so far, the only official yuri couple unfortunately. They make friends with Sumika and Ushio early on in the series after the latter two catch the former two kissing. Their role, besides being the instigator of a plot arc or two, I'm pretty sure, is pretty much to be a yuri couple in a yuri manga. XD Miyako, despite her cute looks, is "the type that will crush a fly without flinching," or so Tomoe describes her. Tomoe, in contrast, is actually two years older than everyone else, since she took off two years in order to bring back the family fortune. Or something like that. Perhaps because she knows that high school won't last forever, Tomoe is very gung-ho about participating in school activities, particularly about joining a club. But not just any club. It's a club with "club activities by girls, for girls, and about girls! A Girl's Club for girl-loving girls who had no choice but to enter a co-ed school! We won't speak of males or give them a single glance! After school, it'll be just us girls! Only girls! We'll spend our time delightfully, beautifully!!!" or so Tomoe describes it to Sumika. But because it's a ludicrous idea, it gets shot down. Later, the group forms a girls' karate club that is sort of like Tomoe's description, but not really. Here's an example of what they do:
The explosion in the background is the car that they rode in.

There's also the straight friend who eats a lot and reminds me of Hayate from Nanoha (but not because she eats a lot), but I couldn't find a good picture of her, no pictures. DX These five people form the core group in Sasameki Koto.

Along the way, they are joined by more people who each make up a mini story arc:


THE FUCKING TRAP
And because he's a trap, we won't talk about him.


Aoi Azusa
A classmate of the group's, she's initially protrayed as snobby. But this is because she likes yuri of a gentler nature, like from Marimite (which is, incidentally, also a very good series that I should review but might end up not because it's pretty extensive. She turns out to be a huge fangirl of Ushio's older brother, who writes yuri light novels. And because Ushio and Sumika don't want to tell her that her beloved author is a man, Ushio tries to distance herself from Azusa, and because Azusa's only friend in the group is Sumika, it ends up like this:


So Azusa ends up being an obstacle. But it's OK, because she figures out that Sumika is madly in love with Ushio and doesn't try to get between them any further. Yay!


Charlotte Munchausen (written in western style)
A transfer student from Germany, her father and her belong to the German branch of Sumika's family's karate style. Because of that connection, she's currently staying with the Murasame family in order to get a little more acquainted with the Japanese lifestyle (and to more easily go to practices). However, because Ushio likes cute girls and because Charlotte can look like this:
Ushio really, really likes her. Or at least always wants to dress her up in cute things. Sumika, on the other hand, wants Ushio to stop fawning over Charlotte, so she puts into operation a plan to buff up Charlotte and make Ushio not like her anymore. This leads into Charlotte saying how she really admires Sumika and wants to be just like her (big, strong, and kind, or something like that). This causes Sumika to overdo things, which causes Charlotte to get sick and collapse at school, which causes Sumika to feel guilty, so when Ushio confrotns Sumika about making Charlotte go too far, well... That's what sets off the current arc. People are getting sick left and right (and by people, I mean Sumika and Ushio) and people are avoiding each other or at least pretending to be just like always (and by people, I mean Sumika and Ushio) and people are remembering the good old days (and by people, I mean Sumika and Ushio once again).

Pairings
I'm only going to talk about Sumika x Ushio because I'm a sucker for that pairing. XD And by talk, I mean I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of them because anything I could say is pretty much said in the manga. XDDD



.........................I had so many other things I wanted to say, but I can't remember them anymore. I also have a bunch of pictures left but I'm tired of having to insert pictures and then scrolling all the way to the top just to paste them at the bottom, so I will leave you with these last few pictures. Later then!




Edit:...I am so glad the manga is continuing. SO. GLAD. THAT LAST CHAPTER WAS JUST... GAH!!! NEXT CHAPTER PLEEEEEAAAAAASE!!!

Edit Edit: I'm also including this picture because my reaction is much like Sumika's. XD
XD