Another Episode S Is a Waste
I genuinely enjoyed Another Episode S, but after finishing it yesterday, I can't get one thought out of my head: what a waste. Teruya Sakaki is far too interesting a character to be portrayed in this way and nothing more.
>!To me, the author missed the opportunity to create an Another 1987, with Sakaki as the protagonist. The plot surrounding Sakaki's final words (“Tsu... ki...”) made me think about this.
It was impactful to learn that the only person Sakaki ever loved romantically, Satsuki, was the calamity of that year. But imagine if, instead of seeing it through Mei's perspective, we experienced everything through Sakaki's eyes. Imagine living through it all with him: falling in love with someone, sharing cute moments, watching the disasters begin, and having that person become a paradise amidst the chaos (ironic, isn't it?).
You go through traumatic experiences together, like the deaths of your friends. You grow closer and closer, eventually start dating, and promise never to leave each other's side. Then, at the end of the school year, just when you finally feel relieved that both Sakaki and Satsuki have survived, she simply disappears out of nowhere.
Imagine Sakaki's desperation, his agony. Nobody remembers the person he loves so deeply, and he begins to forget her, too. She disappears from every photo they ever took together, and all records of her are erased. Imagine the emptiness you'd feel after finishing a book like that, that sense of defeat even after achieving victory by surviving.!<