So, despite the fact that the episode was almost totally about Mari, instead of naming this post “Mother Mari” (as someone else has done, I will know who did after I get to the end of this post when I check Anime Nano again), I decided to go with the episode’s actual title. After all, Mari does make an abandoned choice at the end, which becomes evident for the whole episode’s theme when we get to it.

A very feminine shot of Mari that we are exposed to at the start of this episode. I must admit she looks better with long hair than short (which we are shown later in the episode). You hardly get a shot of Mari as good-looking as this throughout the series too, MILF goodness. Oh, and we now know how Balsa looks like when she lets her hair down.

Oh, and it is quite obvious that Mari has a fever or is feeling unwell already, by the time they exit the school.
 

This friendly banter between the two siblings is actually a result of them growing closer together since the disaster. I mean, now Mirai can engage in friendly exchanges with Yuuki like a normal sister, instead of being all indifferent and closed-up. The loss of her phone, her security, and their experiences together have changed both, Mirai for much better of course. It is no exaggeration to say that they are now closer to each other than ever before, an expected result of the quake and its circumstances.
 

Yuuki brings up an important point – the quake did not have to happen for them to have possibly met and become friends. Yet in this sense, would they have indeed become friends if the disaster never occured? Mirai would have remained in her indifferent shell, Yuuki would not have managed to break into it, and Mari and the two kids might not have grown as close to one another as they are if they met through different (and what we deem normal) circumstances. So in itself, the sentence is true, but the implications that Yuuki elaborates on after that, are not.

Also there is something wrong with Yuuki’s arms here in the animation.
 

Your physical well-being is part of the equation that adds to your worries when you are worried about something major, like Mari when she learned of the fires in Sangenjaya. Thus, it is understandable that she continually gets worse emotionally, since her body is unable to even feel well. Of course, we are shown her very motherly side here, for her child Hina is the only thing she has left to her other than her own mother.
 

This shot of the goddamned dog walking behind seems so totally unrelated, I cannot help but feel the dog is signifying something. Please prove me right or wrong as you please, but WTF?
 

Right around this time, and at the start of the aftershock or so, I was having trouble with a fruit tart (yes, it felt like splitting on me and dropped parts onto my shirt instead of into the damned plate) and had an attention split, and paused at the aftershock so I could clean up somewhat. So it was only the second time round that I noticed that Mari was looking at these, and it implied that someone was still there (and using the place). This of course sets up the entrance for our next side character.
 

Mari’s subtle rejection of the kid’s offer is not unkind; rather she realizes that the kids cannot do anything of real help to her in her state of worry. Well it is quite obvious that the kids would feel bad about this and decide to do something to help her, which we will see only near the end of the episode.
 

Meet Aya, our next side character. She works in the same place as Mari and is probably the “coordinator” of sorts for the delivery folks, or just an errand girl. Whatever it is, she has remained at the office and thus provides the welcome help that Mari needs in terms of getting better. Aya’s voice remained a tad familiar, so I had to extrapolate a bit while listening to her before I finally realized who it was that she reminded me of. Once I did so it was pretty obvious who her seiyuu was – Nonaka Ai voiced Shishidou Imoko in the recent Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, though she is slightly more mature in her voice as Aya.
 

There is no clue in the conversation from Aya’s side as to what the kids were going to do, and my initial guesses that they were out looking for food and such were eliminated by the fact that Aya already had food and drinks available, as well as medication.
 

I first thought Mari’s sad expression was because of this line. Aya after all hardly finds it bothersome to remain in the office and wait for the others, since it is, as she says, a pain to get back home, and the block in which the office is in is probably safer than her own “rickety apartment”. But it turns out that Mari is actually more worried about Hina at that point in time (evidenced by her asking Aya so fast in the conversation about Sangenjaya). Still, Aya’s efforts are commendable, despite the fact that none of the other delivery people might return anytime soon.
 

Mari pulling this cabinet back into a normal standing position will later save her life, and Aya’s, as we shall see.
 

Aya believes that Mari should not be throwing all the burdens, in this case the burdens of Mirai and Yuuki, and then that of her own worry about her daughter Hina’s safety, on herself. Yet Mari is a mother, and she understands, even through such exchanges, that there is little, as I have mentioned, that she can do for Hina. Sure, she can return faster on a bike, but how could she leave the two kids, which she had taken on as her own responsibility, her own choice to do so in the first place, behind?

This is where we see that Mari has to make a choice – to hurry back home to her own daughter and risk not seeing the two kids through to their destination, despite the fact that Hina might already be dead or beyond her help even if she was still alive, or to continue with the two kids and worry about her daughter at the same time.
 

This little act of bringing the phone to Mari will soon save Aya’s life. It is a wonder how such small acts can have such large consequences…or avoid them, as it were.
 

There is a shock, but not an aftershock. It still rattles the whole building and the cabinet suddenly falls onto Mari, hurting her in the process. However it is this same cabinet that protects her from the falling lights that smash into pieces on the cabinet first, before swinging itself into the wall right in front of Mari. Coincidence? Then again the light could have smacked into the wall all the same had the cabinet not been there, but Mari had the additional protection of having the bulbs be smashed first, before the whole thing probably got diverted slightly by the cabinet (so it misses Mari).

Aya is also “saved” in the sense that she had Mari and the cabinet to protect her and she crouched right after. Had she been in a more open position she might not have gotten off without any injuries.
 

The reason for the shock becomes apparent – the building next to theirs has finally lost its stability and collapses across the street. I suppose they got off lightly compared to others who might have been in or near the other building; we certainly saw a severely injured man in the street. That of course made Mari resolve to look for Mirai and Yuuki.
 

Despite a bleeding gash in the side of her head, and Aya’s words, Mari has finally made her choice even while looking at the picture of her once complete family – her husband, herself, and their newborn Hina. She realizes that there is little she can do for Hina, but there certainly is a lot she can do for the kids, whom she now goes in search of. It must be a painful choice to make, but leaving emotions out of this, the logical part of it easily makes sense. Still, Mari is a mother, she must care way more for her own child than Yuuki and Mirai. I can only applaud the courage and resolution she takes in deciding to go with the kids rather than go back to her own daughter just that little bit faster.
 

This shot is only notable for the fact that the blood has mysteriously disappeared from Mari’s head. What? Even if she wiped it off in that short interlude, she would have at least exuded some sound of pain. There was no obvious clue as to how the blood disappeared. More lack of effort by BONES in the animation department?
 

The whole flashback is actually pretty relevant, as Mari almost immediately realizes after she says “Why am I thinking of that now?” After all, her husband did invite her to join their group once. And as he said, since he was the person who invited her, he could not have been going too fast. This part is relevant because Mari did the same to both Yuuki and Mirai – she “invited” them to go back home with her, and now of course, she could not go “too fast” and leave them behind, not after they had come so far. Any doubts she might have as to her decision would now have been cleared. Hina might be an abandoned choice, but certainly, Mari chose to believe that Hina was alright, and so was her mother, and that all she could do now was believe and do the things that she can do, like help Yuuki and Mirai get back home safe and sound.
 

Now we know what the two were up to – they were looking for a motorcycle to let Mari get back home quicker. Quite a nice gesture by the both of them. Also in the scene they drop the bike, and it should be made known that a motorcycle even small as this is pretty heavy, certainly more than enough for the two of them.
 

And of course, Mari lets them know, through such an answer, that she is committed to seeing all of them go back home together safe and sound. Even when Mirai asks her later if she is ok with it, Mari confirms that she has that resolution now and will not turn back. No more doubts indeed.
 

General Impressions

At the end, Mari, despite her commitment to going back together with Mirai and Yuuki, takes off the picture of her once complete family and brings it with her, showing that she has not forgotten about Hina. This is also a hint that no matter what, Mari no longer wants anyone who is close or has grown close to her to be lost to her once more, like her late husband.

This whole episode showed us the motherly side to Mari and her worries, and also the two kids’ developing relationship with Mari. Further, it tells us just how much a good woman Mari is, yet too that she is normal, and just trying her best. Her commitment to the two kids’ safety and their promise to go back home together also shows her integrity, determination, and above all, very much human side.
 

Further Reading

Gene instantly recognized Nonaka Ai as Aya, something I did not manage to do, and also has the same suspicion (though I did not mention it, it was evident in the opening scenes) that Mari’s being unwell was “due to yesterday’s cold winter night”.

ghostlightning talks instead about the philosophical aspects of the episode, which of course is in direct relation to the meaning of human life. As much as I would like to take part in that debate, I must say that his analogies are fairly accurate where philosophy is concerned, but that I must also disagree because there is no meaning to life and thus no meaning for existence. This is one of the biggest reasons why I still believe death to be the release for life – for there can be no suffering where there is no existence. That Camus called it “revolting” against the will of the Gods is a silly act to me – why try if there is to be no meaningful end? If there are indeed gods and immortals looking down upon us as we roll the boulder up the hill, surely they will still have the last laugh for we remain mortal and must cease to exist at some point.

Mike is the one that named his post “Mother Mari”, and also states that “So far this show has consistently shown that the closer the characters come to their homes, the greater the anxiety and emotional burden,” and concludes that “It’s so refreshing to see a show that is about terrible things, and yet chooses not to dwell exclusively on its misery and its pain”.
 

Hanners also starts off his post mentioning that “at the end of the day she’s still human” (Mari, that is). It was initially difficult to see how Mari could get through the disaster while worrying little about her daughter, but at this episode we now see what she really is going through.

Miken  “was kind of jarred to see Mari choose to send the kids home first”. I would say he (or she) does not understand the underlying logic as to why Mari chose to send the kids home, something which I hope to have presented at least clearly in my own post.

Finally, Rednights finds the two kids in this episode continually annoying. Well I must say that indeed, I picked up on the part where they did not tell Aya where they were going, but then again, their promise was to Mari, not to Aya. They had little obligation to tell Aya, and even if it was to not worry Mari (that is, if they told Aya), they still wanted to keep where they were going a secret in order to surprise Mari. I suspected Yuuki and Mirai too did not know if they were going to be successful and thus did not want to get Mari’s hopes up.

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