Bitter Tears Maiden (紅涙乙女, Kourui Otome) is the eleventh episode of the Tasogare Otome × Amnesia anime series. It was released on June 18, 2012.
Synopsis[]
The film showing of Yuuko Kanoe's memories has been closed.
Teiichi wakes up with a worried Yuuko trying to shake him up, and he realizes that he is lying unconscious all this time. Thus, he has spent little time in his journey within Yuuko's past. He then asks where Shadow Yuuko is, but as soon as he remembers how Yuuko can throw away her memories in a whim, he decides to not wait for Yuuko's response.
Yuuko decides to help Teiichi get up, and when their fingertips meet... like a spark of electricity... Yuuko realizes that Teiichi already knew about her past.
Then, as Teiichi is about to explain what he saw to Yuuko...
...he becomes invisible and intangible to Yuuko.
Yuuko waits for Teiichi helplessly at Seikyou Academy's school gate.
The next day did not change things.
Although Teiichi could see Yuuko, Yuuko couldn't. She helplessly waits for Teiichi to come, although they are merely inches away from each other. And as the day goes by, she waits for Teiichi on his desk, oblivious to the fact that the one she is looking for is just right there.
Later that day, Teiichi meets up with Kirie and they talk about what just happened between him and Yuuko. Kirie suspects that his knowledge of Yuuko's past has caused him to be disassociated from Yuuko's memories, and now, he shares a similar fate to Shadow Yuuko, who is there but is forgotten. Teiichi becomes too affected by what is going on, to the point of losing his appetite during lunch break, much to Momoe's concern.
That day, Yuuko realizes that she is alone once again. There is no one to look at her, no one to listen to her, and no one to feel her presence. However, Teiichi is there, looking at her, listening to her, and wanting to touch her.
However, his slightest touch triggers Yuuko's true memories to return to Yuuko.
Kirie is overshadowed by the clock tower's colorful backdrop.
Teiichi once again met with Kirie, and this time they discuss about Yuuko on the school's clock tower. Teiichi notices that he has become a ghost to Yuuko, and soon considers this to be a much better end to their relationship, now that their contact will only cause more pain, and that she might forget about him eventually.
However, Kirie is disgusted by his statement. She grabs Teiichi by his collar and tells him that she hates indecisive people more than people who are desperate for a person's presence. Teiichi thinks that Kirie might be overreacting, but he soon notices that tears are now flowing from her eyes as she insists that Teiichi should not let his relationship with Yuuko go to waste, before storming out of the clock tower.
Teiichi then visits the Paranormal Investigation Club room at sunset. There, in the middle of the table, is a notebook. Teiichi opens it and there, he sees the love umbrella that he saw in the same notebook earlier. However, there is something added to the page: the words "I miss you".
Teiichi then picks up his pen and writes "Me too" on the notebook.
It is there that their distant conversations over the next few days begin.
Teiichi and Yuuko write to each other like lovers separated by distance.
Soon, Yuuko and Teiichi were able to meet at the Paranormal Investigation Club room again. However, due to their current circumstances, they are unable to reach each other. It becomes unbearable that they could only talk to each other using pen and paper, and Yuuko runs out of the room as the pain of loneliness once again overwhelms her.
Teiichi is not left alone for long, though. Momoe abruptly comes in, and she hands Teiichi a can of sweets. It turns out that the Okonogi family has a long-running tradition of making sweets, and is now trying to return the products that they had made a long time ago, including their Okonogi Drops. Teiichi tries to eat one and finds the taste reminiscent of the one he tasted during his journey to Yuuko's past, and this surprises Momoe, as the Okonogis have stopped making Okonogi Drops for decades. Then suddenly, Teiichi remembers Asa, the girl who was taken care of by Yuuko.
Teiichi suddenly has an idea, and he needs Kirie's help once again.
Yukariko Kanoe. Yuuko's sister, Kirie's grandmother.
Kirie takes Teiichi to the Superintendent's Office, where her grandmother stays as the superintendent of the school. After telling Kirie to keep mum about her ability to see Yuuko and her relation to the superintendent, she knocks on the door and invites Teiichi in. There, they are welcomed by none other than Yukariko Kanoe, Yuuko's younger sister and Kirie's grandmother.
It appears that Kirie has told a lot about Teiichi, including his ability to see Yuuko. However, despite seeing Yuuko as a playful maiden with jet-black hair and crimson eyes, Yukariko sees a shadowy figure which appears to be made up of hate and spite. Yukariko later mentions that the men who buried Yuuko alive — the village elders — could see Yuuko as well, and so the mention of Yuuko's name became forbidden inside the village. Soon, after the death of the adults, Yukariko inherited the school, and during the decades that followed, she left the Old School Building intact, as she knows that her sister is buried somewhere there. However, as time passes by, Yuuko continues to haunt the halls of Seikyou Academy, and feels hopeless to help her.
Teiichi then assures the superintendent that Yuuko is fine. Unlike how Yukariko sees her sister's ghost, Yuuko is seen by Teiichi as a kind and playful spirit and he also mentions that she acts just like when Yuuko was taking care of Asa when she was still alive.
There, Teiichi declares that he wants to see Yuuko's smile once again.
Yukariko appears relieved to have heard what he said, as it reminded her of a particular person, and she heads to her collection of books. There, as she picks up an old photo album, she flips the pages to her portrait with Yuuko, and another picture... a picture that sends Teiichi back into his past discoveries. After retrieving a cat-bell necklace under the rock etched with Yuuko's name atop Kaede Hill, he runs to the Paranormal Investigation Club room.
There, he picks up an aluminum bat and destroys everything inside.
After an unimaginable onslaught by Teiichi, Yuuko was able to see Teiichi, who now holds his notebook, now partially torn during his rampage. He discovers that the only way for Yuuko to see him again is to destroy her treasured memories, and that includes many of the things inside the Paranormal Investigation Club room. Also, Teiichi expects Yuuko to meet up with her shadow at this moment.
And his hunch was right. Standing behind Yuuko is Shadow Yuuko herself.
Yuuko once again continues to reject Shadow Yuuko's existence, and Shadow Yuuko points out that she and Yuuko are one.
Then, Teiichi shocks both Yuukos as he declares that he wants to meet Shadow Yuuko as well.
In the middle of Yuuko Kanoe's two sides, Teiichi tells Shadow Yuuko that he has seen Yuuko's memories and has learned a lot from it. Shadow Yuuko refuses to believe that he has already learned everything from his experience and tells him that one does not simply learn a person's painful memories, and that her pain far exceeds that of Yuuko herself, as she was forced to carry a burden that she does not deserve.
Teiichi admits that he doesn't know what she truly felt.
But he understood the pain that she had to endure. He was a mere spectator as Yuuko's life waned on each passing moment, and this helplessness was also painful in its own right.
Light and shadow finally merge into one.
Shadow Yuuko soon notices that Teiichi was able to hold on to him as he weeps for what Yuuko has to experience. His response: "Because you're Yuuko too!"
For the first time, Shadow Yuuko became surprised. This is soon followed by an unstoppable urge to shed tears. At that moment, Shadow Yuuko and Yuuko's minds become parallel, thinking of Teiichi and their mistakes in the past. But now, it doesn't matter anymore, because Teiichi has finally accepted Yuuko... both her playful and shadowy sides.
And finally, Yuuko has finally embraced her shadow...
...and the only one left standing in front of Teiichi, is Yuuko. Yuuko in her entirety.
Yuuko and Teiichi visit Kaede Hill once again, and he tells Yuuko that the men who were responsible in her death were included in the original names in the Rock of Curses. Yuuko decides to put that aside as what's important is that everything is now in her heart and mind.
Soon, Teiichi shows Yuuko some pictures he received from Yukariko. Among the pictures were Asa's pictures as she grew up. Meanwhile, Teiichi tells Yuuko that his grandmother's name was Asagi, which was Asa's true name.
There, Yuuko realizes that the boy who helped her in regaining her memories is none other than Asagi's grandson. Yuuko is overjoyed to discover that Asagi has lived on and has reached out her helping hand in the form of Teiichi himself, and she claims Teiichi in a tight embrace out of sheer bliss.
After their short visit to the tree on Kaede Hill, Teiichi and Yuuko, now wearing the cat-bell bracelets she had 60 years ago, head back to Seikyou Academy.
However, Yuuko suddenly drops her bracelet.
And as she tries to pick it up again, her hand continues to slip, as if her hand was made of air.
Soon, Yuuko manages to pick her bracelet up before Teiichi could notice, and she hurries to catch up to Teiichi.
Characters[]
By order of appearance
Trivia[]
- The closing theme song for this episode is sung by Yuuko Kanoe herself, voiced by Yumi Hara.
Cultural References[]
- The phrase "BAKA UMA" appears during Momoe's display of her family's line of confectionery products. "BAKA UMA" has appeared in the omake pages of the Tasogare Otome × Amnesia manga series as well.
- The Okonogi Drops is based on Sakuma drops, which was featured on the previous episode.