osen 3--with subtitles
osen 3 made me cry. ETA did an outstanding job translating this episode. when i first saw this in the raw, i just thought it was a dull episode that would lose all the momentum episode 2 built, but today i found it moving and nostalgic. i was even willing to forgive the extremely unflattering hairdo they chose for osen during the 'show ryu-san the flavors of today's ishouan' segment.

wow. been a while since a tv story moved me.

i thought ep. 2 was fun, super cute. i thought ep 4 was truly excellent--what a cutie, she even had a cute skip, could convey emotions without over-acting, and there were smooth transitions between the cute and the serious portions of the show. i love the scene where she is taking the ribbon out of her hair, inwardly reproaching herself for acting like a giddy school girl when she had the grown-up task of ensuring isshouan's survival right in front of her...

i sound like a sap. but it's nice to be pleasantly surprised.

still, ep. 2 and ep. 4 had much better hair styling (let's not forget what's important here). even counting the part of ep. 4 where she had the towel over her head and was watering the vegetables, the adorable 'ii desu kedo' moment...

so thankful i found this series.