Takumi-kun Series: Ano, Hareta Aozora (manga version, images included) -- Part 1
The arc opens with Takumi in his room, seeming to study (are those empty notebooks I see?), but in reality he is thinking that there's something he really wants to tell Gii. He looks out the window and remakrs that the rain is already falling since June has now come in.
He picks up his desk calendar and stares at it, thinking "Only one week left... June 15. Next Sunday..." His train of thought segues to how busy Gii has been lately, and how he probably already has plans for that particular Sunday. (This is where I stop to wonder how Takumi could even consider that Gii will ever make plans that don't include/involve him.) Anyway, we get a couple more speech bubbles of Takumi debating with himself about whether or not he should invite Gii to come along with him. To where? That will be made clear a few pages later.
Takumi thinks about how they're in different classes and dorm rooms this year (GEEZ, Takumi, get over it -- it's been two months since the school year started!), and how days go by without them being able to talk. I vote Takumi permanently migrate to Gii's room. Misu's the only one who'll know anyway, and we all know he ships them. Haha.
As Takumi is busy being a tragic little hero in private, the PA system comes on to tell the whole dorm that there's a phone call for him. "So it's finally come", he thinks.
It's good ol' mumsykins on the other end of the call. She asks if he's doing okay and if he's studying properly. Takumi replies that he's fine and everything's normal, because really, what else is he supposed to say, right? ^^; So then his mother asks if he's going to be busy on his rest day. The 15th. "Here it is. That day's no good, Mom."
"Does it still bother you, Takumi?"
Takumi's grip on the phone tightens. "That's not it. It's just going to be impossible for me to go on that day."
"Why? It's a Sunday, right? You can rest on that day, right? So --"
Takumi cuts her off. "Sorry, Mom."
She falls silent then remembers that the previous year, Takumi had gone to that place by himself. (Wait, I'm getting to that part.) Takumi clarifies that the reason he's not going isn't because he doesn't want to go. (So many "not"'s in that sentence.) His mother says that she understands, and hopes that even if Takumi can't go on the 15th, he would go while it's still June. Takumi assures her that he plans to do that, and with another apology from him, they end the call.
Oh geez. We're getting another movie full of Takumi voiceovers, aren't we. =/ He thinks that even though he'd gone by himself last year, he's never visited with his mother and everyone else (I am left wondering who "everyone else" entails, other than his father).
Next panel, Takumi repeats the date and we get a drawing of a stone marker with the name "Naoto Hayama". The 15th of June is the death anniversary of Takumi's older brother. The reason he can't visit the grave with his parents is because there's still something between him and them, that there are even bigger, different reasons. I'm sure he's referring to the fact that he was pretty much sent away when his mother found the brothers in bed together (see: first movie, [Soshite Harukaze Ni Sasayaite]) and initially blamed Takumi for poisoning his older brother (remember that that was how Naoto made it out to be, that Takumi had tempted him or some bullshit like that). Of course Takumi still feels resentment about that, even if it happened years ago.
This leads to another Gii-centric train of thought, how Gii had given him the gentle push and the strength he needed to visit his brother's grave the previous year. We're treated to this cute little flashback scene of Gii meeting Takumi as he's disembarking from the train.
He thinks that it's all thanks to Gii that he was able to go to the place he'd so wanted to avoid, and because of that he needed to learn to forgive his brother, his father, his mother. And that he wants to go visit "that place, where my brother lies" together with "Gii, who accepted my past" and no one else. Seriously, Takumi is the very personification of WAFF (warm and fuzzy feelings).
Change scene to the dining area, where Takumi and Akaike are eating together. We all know this can't lead to anything good, but whatever. Takumi clearly has no cognitive learning skills, so he keeps running to Akaike for advice and help, never mind that Akaike never has anything Useful and Not Foreboding to contribute to Takumi's love life XDDDDDDDDD PLEASE DON'T HURT ME, TAKIGUCHI, YOU KNOW ILU AND AKAIKE IS THE MOSTEST AWESOMEST CHARACTER IN THIS SERIES AND I MOCK YOU AND YOUR CHARACTER PURELY OUT OF LOVE.
*cough* Anyway. Takumi asks for help in meeting Gii, just the two of them. Akaike wants to know why Takumi feels the need to enlist his help. Takumi bashfully admits that he can't muster up the courage to visit Gii's room. (HMMMMMMMMMMM.) After a split second of contemplation:
Akaike swipes a piece of gyouza from Takumi's tray as payment. Cue sparkly-eyed Takumi, who doesn't care that Akaike just totes duped him and profusely thanks Akaike-kun XD Akaike asks where Takumi would like for them to meet, and Takumi says anywhere's fine. Akaike decides on the greenhouse and says he'll make Gii go there after school. Takumi starts to protest that Gii must already have plans for after school hours (stuff involving student council or something similar, I'm sure), but Akaike reassures him of otherwise.
Next scene is set in the classroom of 3-C, where we get our first glimpse of a new character in the series, class president Minoiwa Reiji. The very first words out of his mouth is a string of 14 kanji that took me a good three minutes to look up, damn him. Um, okay. He's making announcements about the yearly tradition of welcoming the new students of the school, sponsored by the Student Council, and how this year's festivities will be a schoolwide Othello tournament (otherwise known to us as Reversi or Opposites -- y'know, that game where you have to turn as many pieces on the board as possible into your color by trapping those of the other color between two of your own). Each class is to elect two students to represent them in the tournament, and that there are awesome prizes for the winner in addition to bragging rights ^^; Akaike leans over and whispers to Takumi that Misu (who is, apparently, on the student council) picked such an ordinary competition.
Some of the other guys turn to Misu with wide eyes, going "Awesome prizes, Misu? Seriously!? What, what??" and they're all so eager for information. Misu says it will be announced at the courtyard after school. So they all start whining and begging him to tell them beforehand. Heh. Minoiwa calls their attention back to him, and announces that the tournament will be held at 10:00 Sunday morning in the auditorium. Yep, June 15th. Representatives of each class have until the 12th to register. In case the registrants cannot participate on the day itself, they'll miss out on the tourney and everything that goes with it (kanji literally translates to "miss treatment", eh??), so he advises his classmates to choose their contestants carefully.
Smirking Akaike remarks that Misu wouldn't be caught dead joining in something as simple as an Othello tournament. Takumi naturally goes "Eh? What do you mean by that?" Akaike just chuckles and answers with "I wonder." CLAIRVOYANT BASTARD.
We move now to Takumi sitting on a bench in the greenhouse, where he is thinking (AGAIN) about how Shouzou (SHOUZOU, not AKAIKE O___o) reassured him but then wonders if Gii really will show up, since he's really busy... He then turns emo and goes "It's no good, I expected too much." His poor little heart is shattered and he starts to cry. Because he's Takumi and he would not be Takumi if he didn't cry over something as little as this. Geez.
But then, where would the story be if Gii didn't show up, right? So he comes in, all gorgeous and sexy and shounen sparkles -- okay, no shounen sparkles, but definitely gorgeous and sexy -- and our woeful hero stands up and throws his arms around his beloved boyfriend's neck, weeping bitterly into his shoulder and denying it the entire time. Gii apologizes for making him wait.
Then it goes to this:
And then this:
"In the end, we didn't get to talk in the greenhouse..." GEE I WONDER WHY. Oh wait, he explains in the next panel XD Oohashi-sensei showed up (AFTER the kiss, thankfully), he was looking for Gii and so Gii had to go.
Right, so. Dorms. Takumi gets his game face on and decides that he should go visit Gii, because hey, there's nothing wrong with friends visiting each other's rooms, right? Right. But because Takumi is Takumi and really, that boy has no backbone, he arrives outside Room 300 and just stares at the door. :/ A freshman suddenly pops up behind him and says "If you're looking for Saki-sempai, he's inside. I saw him go in just now." Takumi stutters his thanks. Um, yeah. The freshman thinks Takumi's also a freshman. WIN. Freshman Kid says that Takumi shouldn't be nervous because Gii's not as scary as he looks. LOL. "Here, see --" Freshman Kid then proceeds to knock on the door. Takumi's not ready to see Gii yet. (Literally: "My heart's not prepared yet." HAHA OH JAPANESE.)
Gii opens the door, and Freshman Kid happily informs him that he has a visitor, gesturing to Takumi.
Gii: "... :|" Takumi: "Um... （//･_･//)" Freshman Kid: "^___^" Me: "LOL TAKUMI FOR SHAME FRESHMAN >>>> YOU (≧▽≦)"
Gii apparently feels the same way I do, but for a different reason, because his line is "Tsk, Takumi -- don't let freshmen flirt with you!" Takumi tries to explain himself, but then Gii grabs him by the wrist and pulls him into the room.
Oh look, Gii has another visitor:
Say hello (finally) to Minoiwa. Because his classroom shots were all covered by his ginormous speech bubbles, so it's only now that you get to see him. XD Takumi goes into another round of "I knew it, Gii's really busy"-ing, but then Minoiwa excuses himself, remembering that he has urgent business to attend to, much to the surprise of both Gii and Takumi.
The two of them finally alone, Gii invites Takumi to sit down. While Gii busies himself with the coffeepot, Takumi launches into another bout of introspection. One day all his saliva is going to dry up from disuse, I swear. "How many days... no, weeks has it been since we've been alone together like this?"
"Is it alright that I'm here, Gii?"
Gii takes off his glasses and sits next to Takumi on the sofa. "You came. Up until now, I've been regretting that kiss at the greenhouse."
So of course this confuses the heck out of Takumi (and me -- stupid しなけりゃ, had to ask other people if I understood the context right), because if Gii regrets having kissed Takumi, then wouldn't that imply that Gii hadn't been looking forward to seeing Takumi?
Gii corrects this mistaken impression, telling Takumi to not look at him so worriedly like that. "I was thinking that it'd be bad if you cried, because my self-restraint is weak."
ANYWAY. So Gii goes on to say that he can't go visiting Takumi at night because Misu's in the room (I took a moment to LOL, because the word he used is 夜這い, which some clever translators have taken to mean "booty call" in the case of Grell's nighttime gallivanting throughout the Phantomhive manor in the second Kuroshitsuji myu *insert Uehara-Takuya-in-very-feminine-lingerie here*), but now Takumi is here so he's happyyyyyy~~~~~~ Well okay not like that but you get what I mean.
They start making out on the sofa and miraculously Takumi still has the presence of mind to think (YES, AGAIN) about how anyone could walk in on them at any time because the door isn't locked. He pulls away to try and tell Gii about this, but all he manages to do is say Gii's name before Gii is leaning him back onto the cushions, telling him to stop being so inviting or something like that XD There is a "だけど…" by Takumi somewhere in this panel, and I think this means he doesn't give a damn if anyone opens the door XD
This time it's Gii who pulls away. "Oh btw, Takumi. I'm going, so I'll have to turn off the light." Takumi takes this the wrong way and starts getting up, apologizing and saying that he'll leave. Gii pushes him back down by the shoulder, making him stay put where he is. He goes to lock the door and switch the lights off. He walks back toward Takumi, leaning in close.
Gii: "Sofa or bed, which would you rather?" Takumi: "Whichever... is fine... My voice is cracking..."
Gii then proceeds to carry Takumi away from the sofa.
Next page, they are naked together in bed and Gii is saying that he doesn't want to let Takumi go until the morning. "I'm gonna owe Misu one again, but whatevs. Heh."
Now, do I want to show you the next couple of pages...? NAH, I'LL LEAVE IT FOR THE TRAILER/ACTUAL MOVIE. Let's just say Mao had better make this scene look as earth-shattering as manga!Takumi is making it out to be XDDDDDDDD The director for this movie is Yokoi Takeshi, same guy who directed the last three movies (which explains in part why we still have Mao and Daisuke here, yay) and the camera crew are still the same folks, so I'm hoping that Mao and Daisuke are more than comfortable enough with each other and with the crew to do what the manga tells them they are supposed to do. :D
The two are so cheesy that they're making me squirm. And it takes a lot to make me squirm when it comes to Gii/Takumi, really! O_o WHAT IS THIS, HONESTLY... I don't know if it's just the late hour messing with my head, or if it's really legit for me to translate this part to stuff along the lines of:
"Just like that... I'll take you from there..."
"Gii's velvet-like voice... Haaa-- Gii...! Something's different."
"Let me hear you more, Takumi..."
"Somehow, it's become..."
PFFFFFFFT. (I totally messed up that first line. Whatevs.)
Takumi wakes up, wondering just when they'd fallen asleep. He spends a moment and a half contemplating Gii's sleep-face, which he hadn't seen since Spring break (a few arcs prior to this, occuring just before [Pure]). And then proceeds to feel really embarrassed about it.
Gii wakes up just then and Takumi says he's going to go back to his own room. Gii sits up and asks why. Takumi says "Because..." and then Gii retorts "Saying things like that ruins an amazing night, you know." Takumi explains that he's embarrassed about something and how his face is heatedly flushed just from a memory... Something like that. Gii baps him on the head and tells him off for being a perv. I think. Something about dampening the happiness. Heh.
"At least for tonight, be mine alone. Okay?" And then Gii holds Takumi close because they are CHEEEEEESY like that. ♥ "Takumi, there's something I need to tell you."
"Actually, there's something I have to tell you too."
"Takumi. Is it about your brother?"
"Eh? How did you... He knew?"
"I heard there was a call for you. Was it your mother?"
"Um... Yeah."
"It's your brother's death annivesary this Sunday, isn't it?"
"Gii... You remembered."
"Takumi... When you go visit this year, will you let me go with you?"
"Gii..."
-- TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2 --
Now, I don't think I still need to introduce Takumi, Gii, Akaike, and Misu (because after three movies -- fourth one out in a couple of months -- you all better know who the heck these people are) but I do need to introduce to you the new kid on the [Takumi-kun Series] block. Meet Takasaki Shouta, who will play the role of Minoiwa in the upcoming movie adaptation. Shoutakins is no stranger to BL, having performed in a BL-themed play entitled [Hard to Hold] (it had two runs). Neither is he a stranger to the cast, seeing as he was in TeniMyu like the rest of them, particularly as 5thCast Kikumaru (follow-up to Mao, castmate to Babaryo). This is, however, the first time we will be seeing him interact with Daisuke on video, and the first time that he and Mao have encountered each other outside of TeniMyu. YOU CAN TELL I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING HIM IN THIS MOVIE, AYUP. I do, however, admit to being disappointed that he's FINALLY joining this movie series but isn't partnered with Babaryo, like I wished it would be (scroll down).
Click to viewMOVIE CAST: All-TeniMyu cast! 'Cept for the Oohashi-sensei, but who cares about him :P
Hayama Takumi: Hamao Kyousuke -- 4th Seigaku Kikumaru Eiji, Dec '07 - May '09
Saki Giichi: Watanabe Daisuke -- 4th Seigaku Tezuka Kunimitsu, Dec '07 - May '09
Akaike Shouzou: Takiguchi Yukihiro -- 3rd Seigaku Oishi Syuuichirou, Aug '06 - Sept '07
Misu Arata: Baba Ryouma -- 5th Seigaku Tezuka Kunimitsu, July '08 - May '10
Shingyouji Kanemitsu: Naitou Taiki -- Hyoutei B-Team Akutagawa Jirou, July '08 - May '09
Minoiwa Reiji: Takasaki Shouta -- 5th Seigaku Kikumaru Eiji, July '08 - May '10
Oohashi-sensei: Ishibashi Tamotsu
RANDOMLY!! The Freshman Kid who knocks on Gii's door? Was played by Takahashi Rio, 5th Generation Mizuno Katsuo (one of the Ichinen Trio -- the bald-ish one). DIDN'T RECOGNIZE HIM WITH THE HAIR, DID YOU?