Higehiro | Episode 13 Review

Episode Thirteen Thoughts

As much as I do not want to say it, I loved episode thirteen because it felt like a proper ending episode. I strongly believe that the final episode of any anime will determine my everlasting opinion on the show itself, and for me, episode thirteen was it.

There was an element to episode thirteen that I loved, I enjoyed the fact that the OST playing throughout the episode amplified the feelings of the characters and their respective monologues. It also made the feel good happy moments, as well as those more sad and bittersweet moments *that* much better. I’m a very simple man, any scene that pulls on my heartstrings is something I will always love regardless if the actual scene itself wasn’t all that great. Looking back on the episode, what bothers me the most about this episode and last for that matter, is that I didn’t think the whole confrontation between Sayu and her mother was all that good. It was just a grown mother acting like a child throughout the whole thing and we weren’t given too much context or information as to why she is who she is. We’re just given a very broad and vague reason. I also disliked how it only really lasted one episode (episode twelve) leaving episode thirteen with little to no content.

Anyway, despite the lack thereof content, something I did like was the fact that Sayu officially confesses her feelings towards Yoshida. Even then Yoshida, being the calm, cool and collected individual that he is, rejects Sayu’s feelings because she was still a high schooler. What I also liked about that scene in particular was that Yoshida left it open ended. He rejects her on the grounds that she is still a teenager, but is open to maybe accepting them once she becomes an adult. Furthermore, seeing Yoshida at home by himself felt empty, as to be expected. Since they spent half of year living together to come home to an empty place I’m sure would hit hard, which it did for Yoshida because you could tell how much Sayu meant to him and how much he needed her.

Another thing that I liked episode thirteen because it was what I call a ‘full circle’ anime. Yes, they do say goodbye to each other for now. But we also get to see what happens after they say their goodbyes. Sayu completes her schooling and as previously mentioned by her mother, she’s now free to do whatever the heck she wants. While Yoshida continues on with whatever he does. We do not know how much time had passed since Sayu’s and Yoshida’s last encounter, but I assume it has been two years. So to see the two of them meet once again, under that same lightpost, this time as two adults, not as one teenager and on adult was definitely a happy ending.