Piece Ep. 3 first impressions

Figured I should at least try to keep this on schedule. And thankfully there are subs out for at least the first episode which has helped fill in blanks I had for that episode and helped expand my understanding of what is probably going on.

We start off again in the present day with Mizuho talking with Haruka's mother. Mizuho tells her that they were not really friends and that it was probably just something Haruka believed on her own. Haruka's mother then leaves her and shortly after Narumi comes up to speak with Mizuho. They talk about Haruka considering Mizuho and she recalls the scene from last episode where she gave her a handkerchief and believes that might have been why.

We then go back to the second year of high school, with Narumi and Mizuho laying in his bed. After a cell phone begins to go off Mizuho leaves the room to search for a bathroom. She finds a locked door during her search. She ends up talking with Nanao and learns that the locked door is to Narumi's mother's room. Mizuho then begins asking her about Narumi. Nanao points out that Mizuho probably likes Narumi which seems to unsettle Mizuho.

Yasui Kentaro finally gets to show up in the drama for a short scene that is also Matsumura Hokuto and Suzuki Airi's only appearance for this episode. Kinda annoying that they were featured in the preview for this episode to only have such a small amount of screen time. Oh well, Yasui and Airi are pretty cute in their roles here and Hokuto does get to speak at least.

Mizuho ends up calling off meeting with Narumi for a while. During this time she ends up having a talk with her friend that has a boyfriend. Her friend tells her what being in love feels like then points out that Mizuho seems like there is someone that she likes.

Afterwards Mizuho finally decides to stop doing what she believes is expected of her and just do something because she simply wants to. She goes to Narumi's house and when no one answers let herself in as the door was unlocked and waits for Narumi in his room.

She hears someone moving in the house and goes looking for them, believing it to be either Narumi or Nanao. She ends up finding the door for Narumi's mother's room unlocked. Curiosity gets the best of her and she goes in. She finds a room that looks like an office with a desk and lots of shelves with books and videotapes. She accidentally discovers that the binders are logs all about Narumi. She then sees the videos are the same and watching one learns that his mother seems to have made him into research material.

Mizuho is caught watching the tape by Narumi and we end the episode there. And though it does look nice and dramatic there is also something that just comes off as odd to have Narumi just sitting there when he does catch her. I mean did he sit down and watch her for a bit before speaking or something? I hope this might be a bit more apparent with the next episode.

From the preview I may have to spend some time ranting against a certain trope in shoujo manga that I despise. I am disappointed with this as the series was doing so good so far. But we shall see how that scene actually plays out as there is still a chance that if handled well it will avoid my complete hatred.

Setting the preview aside this is not a bad episode. It does not seem as strong as the first two but I think it is because it is doing more foundation laying in this episode than story telling. That and as much as I have liked Mizuho and Narumi together I would like to see more of the supporting cast, especially the ones that have been highlighted in the opening theme as I would assume that would mean that they have a large role to play in the story eventually.

At least is looks like we have a reason behind why Narumi is a bit twisted as a person, as I doubt anyone raised like that would come out without being affected. And it helps clear who Nanao is as she is seen taking care of Narumi in the video and being concerned about his well being from being treated the way his mother is treating him for her research.

Hopefully there is a bit more movement with the mystery solving part of this series as the present day scenes seem to indicate that they are finally move towards something. Also it does not look like Mizuho and Narumi's relationship will be lasting much longer to judge by the previews.