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Myself; Yourself is a sweet little harem/comedy show for the season. Personally I am getting good vibes from this show, it’s nice when the storyline is linear and straightforward. The art style is pleasing on the eye and the storyline seems to be enough to keep viewers gripped for the full 13 episodes. The opening song is “Tears Infection” by KAORI very catchy and the opening animation is also extremely good.

The season opens with Sana’s leaving party 5 years previous. All of the cast are children and saying goodbye to Sana in their own way ( the presents they give become more important later in the series). Aoi bakes Sana a cake, the Wakatsuki twins Shuusuke and Shuri give him a lure and a single glove. Nanaka giving him the most poignant present of a half finished song which she plays on her violin, she promises that she’ll play him the rest of the song when they meet again.

We then enter present day and Sana is travelling back to his home town, everything seems to have changed and he seems very unsettled. He heads to the shrine to find something familiar remembering the festival where he gave a bracelet to Nanaka all those years ago, then he see’s a beautiful and mysterious shrine maiden. While thinking about the mysterious girl he stops to buy a omikuji, which informs him he will have great misfortune and problems with girls.

Sana returns to his new abode and is greeted by a squealing (and I mean squealing) girl with glasses, who he then realises is his old friend Aoi, there we have the first of many zoom in shots of Aoi‘s bust. She shows him to where he will be staying. Sana goes out to get some fresh air and ends up in the book store where he bumps into Aoi again a rather comical scene follows with Aoi’s overly exuberant explanation of how amazing the book is. I am already sensing Aoi is the light relief in this series even if her voice is overly annoying. Aoi and Sana then have dinner with her family and discuss how everything has changed. There is the first of many mysterious phone calls he receives from his mother, we are still not informed as to why he came back.

The next morning Sana is awoken by a very clumsy Aoi who offers to make him breakfast and walk with him to school. When they both eventually make it to school Aoi asks Sana to promise not to tell anyone about the embarrassing events of the morning. While introducing himself to his new class Sana is instantly recognised by Shuusuke and Shuri, becoming wrapped up with his old friends, Sana then notice’s the girl from the Shrine approaching. He then begins to introduce himself like they’ve never met, much to the girls fury she slaps him around the face. The camera shoots to her wrist and there’s the bracelet. The girl is none other than Nanaka.

The Ending song “Kimi to Yozora to Sakamichi” to by Kanako Itō, is just as catchy as the opening song filled with shots of the girls and I am sure more will be revealed later as to their relevance.

Episode 2 opens with Sana dreaming of Nanaka or should I say his dream version of her. He is then awoken and makes his way to school on the way literally bumping into Aoi, and Aoi in turn bumping into a lamp post. At school the gang are all together with the exception of Nanaka who see’s Sana and walks off head down ignoring him. It is also revelled the Aoi is in fact a year older than the others she just happens to be extremely petite.

In class Sana is distracted wondering why Nanaka is blanking him, she catches him glancing at her and gives him an evil glare. We cut to lunch and what appears to be the daily scramble for something decent to eat begins, Sana it appears by the end of it getting the short straw with 3 crab buns.

After Lunch their teacher asks who wishes to be Class Representative as usual no one volunteers, the teacher takes it upon herself to volunteer Nanaka as she was Representative last year. Then she address’s Shuu who volunteers Sana hoping having him work with Nanaka may help break the ice. As she is still ignoring him. On the way to the committee meeting Sana follows Nanaka to the library there bumping into Aoi who is the librarian and meeting Asami who offers to take him to the meeting after he is abandoned by Nanaka in the library. Nanaka seems shocked that Sana found his way to the meeting, her plan foiled she’s still happy to give him the cold shoulder for the rest of the meeting. That evening Sana receives another mysterious call from his mother asking if he’s attending school and how he his.

The following day Aoi comes to school with a bento box for Sana so he doesn’t have to worry about the scrum to obtain food within the cafeteria. The Twins also reveal that making Sana the Class Representative was part of their cunning plan to push himself and Nanaka closer together. In class Nanaka is given a book of notes by Asami to give to Sana, to help him with his rep duties. Nanaka hands him the book and only remarks on how well he’s getting on with Asami, the whole time her eyes not leaving her book.

By the end of the episode it appears there might be a breakthrough in Nanaka’s and Sana’s relationship. After bumping into a teacher in the corridor she’s asked to retrieve the questionnaires from their last class. While in the back room she hears a familiar tune being played on the piano. In the vacant classroom Sana is playing the song that Nanaka played to him the day he left all those years ago, it appears he does remember her. The song is also overheard by Asami, she questions him about the melody and Sana claims the song is very special to him as it as played at his farewell party and even though it is half-finished and he has only heard it once he remembers it completely. The next day Nanaka’s attitude towards Sana seems to have changed as she actually acknowledges him and says “good morning”. Sana is left stunned and smiling.

This series is definitely performing above expectations in my book, well besides Aoi’s annoying voice. I know it is at the moment very much in the usual “boy likes girl, girl ignores boy but secretly likes boy” vein, but the series at least to me still has a lot of charm.

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