STORY: Episode 1: "Her Case" It is Spring, and Miyazawa Hanano has entered Hokuei Prefectural High School. With her looks, good grades, excellent athletic ability, and winning personality, she soon becomes the darling of her class. The truth, though, is that this is all a facade. Yukino is deathly concerned about how other people see her. Arima Souichiroo, a boy in her class, threatens her very existence as a result. A handsome boy who entered the school at the top of the entrance exams, he steals Yukino's place as class representative, and steadily encroaches on her popularity in class. She feels an intense rivalry toward him. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Ando Ken, Imaishi Hiroyuki, Sahaku Shoji. Director: Ando Ken. Animation Director: Hiramatsu Tadashi. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 2: "Their Secret" Due to her own serious foul-up, Yukino finds herself in a heap of trouble. She spends days terrified of Arima's reaction. When days have passed as if nothing has happened, and Yukino lets down her guard, Arima's unthinkable retaliation begins. In exchange for not revealing the truth about her, Yukino must help Arima with all the different committee work he gets, in effect reducing her to his slave. After-school sessions go on and on, with the two of them wading through a mountain of work. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Otsuka Masahiko, Ogura Nobutoshi. Director: Otsuka Masahiko. Animation Director: Ogura Nobutoshi. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 3: "His Case" Yukino and Arima rapidly get closer now that they share one another's secrets, even to the point that they study together at one another's houses. One day, however, Arima's attitude toward Yukino undergoes a sudden and drastic change. He turns so cold toward her that she actually feels like he is rejecting her, and with no experience in these matters, she can't tell what's really going on with him. Bewildered, Yukino nonetheless closes in. At which point, Arima... Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Imaishi Hiroyuki. Director: Ando Ken. Animation Director: Imaishi Hiroyuki. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 4: "Her Problem" The more Yukino learns about Arima, the more attracted she is to him. When he comes on to her again, though, she suddenly becomes so tense that she cannot respond. Thus, they are once again more than friends, but less than lovers. Upset at her own failure, Yukino decides that she will make the next move herself. She creates a number of plots and schemes, and tries to make an opportunity to use them... Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Tsurumaki Kazuya, Sahaku Shoji. Director: Sato Ikuo. Animation Director: Nakayama Yumi. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 5: "His Ambition" Arima and Yukino finally become "boyfriend and girlfriend". But preparations are underway for the school Field Day. resulting in a state of controlled chaos. As both of them have the trust of students and faculty alike, they are given positions of leadership, which cause them to pass one another by in school for days on end. This situation causes them serious agitation. And when the Field Day is over, another boy starts to cramp Arima's style in a big way: Asaba Hideaki, the handsome, popular young man from Class F. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Yokota Kazu. Director: Kasai Kenichi. Animation Director: Hiraoka Masayuki. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 6: "That Voice of Yours Which Changes Me" With Summer Vacation close at hand, Arima and Yukino date one another constantly, to make up for all the time they've lost due to the troubles they've had. But the more he dates her, and learns what she is really like, the greater Arima's complex about Yukino's nature becomes. His worries build, until one evening, they meet under a blazing sunset. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Tsurumaki Kazuya, Takamura Kazuhiro. Director: Ando Ken. Animation Director: Ogura Nobutoshi. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 7: "Their Estrangement" The relationship between Yukino, Arima, and new friend Asaba gets deeper and deeper. Yukino and Arima don't care in the slightest that their final exam results were not very good. The school authorities, however, present these scores to them as being a serious problem. In the face of this teacher response, Yukino persists in putting forth her intent to be her real self, but events progress to the point that their parents are called in. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Itoo Naozumi. Director: Norioki Makoto. Animation Director: Nakayama Yumi. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 8: "A Big Day for Miyazawa Yukino (Working Title)" One day not long before Summer Vacation, Yukino goes to play at Arima's house. It's the first time they've been alone there. As a test of the distance between them, they have their second kiss, and Yukino feels even more strongly for him than she did before. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards: Imaishi Hiroyuki, Sahaku Shoji. Director: Ando Ken. Animation Director: Hiramatsu Tadashi. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 9: "Atonement for a Moratorium (Working Title)" Yukino makes the decision to be her real self, but her classmates still treat her as a visitor from outside. The other girls mistrust her and spread rumors in the wake of her parents being called in on account of her falling grades, as well as her getting close not only with Arima, but also with Asaba. In the midst of all this, Izawa Masahide, who had detected a change in Yukino some time back, takes advantage of the girls' antagonism toward Yukino to take control of them. And what will Yukino do when these moves finally lead to action? Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards and Direction: Sasai Kenichi. Animation Director: Usutani Naoyuki. Art Director: Sato Masaru. Episode 10: "It All Begins Now" What with the girls in her class despising her, and yet another old friend of Arima's, Shibaki Tsubasa, giving her the evil eye as well, Yukino is hemmed in on all sides. With no intention of giving into these assaults, however, she instead spends carefree days with Arima and Asaba. She even turns aside Shibaki's escalating attacks as if they were mere jokes. Hearing all of this, Azusa, a friend of Shibaki's, joins Aya and Rika in declaring their friendship for Yukino, thus abruptly drawing her into their group. Screenplay: Anno Hideaki. Storyboards and Direction: Okamoto Hideki. Animation Director: Itoo Nobutaka. Art Director: Sato Masaru. [HOME][BACK]