Nobuta wo Produce, ep. 06-10

[oyceter]

Wooooe! They got the ending wrong! Just... they can't leave Nobuta alone!

I am somewhat mollified by the very cute Nobuta and Mariko fic I read in Yuletide, but I do not care! It is wrong!

Anyway. The series ended up making a few missteps, but I still like it a lot. The parts I didn't like largely concerned Aoi; some day I would like to not have a manipulative girl, please. I didn't get annoyed as I might have, just because of that scene where Mariko comes in and sees Aoi making Nobuta cry. I really, really, really like Mariko.

I did like how they resolved Akira liking Nobuta; part of me still wishes Akira and Nobuta had gotten together, but oh well. I'm just glad they didn't go with Nobuta/Shuuji, because that feels wrong and expected and boring. And I am sad that we didn't get more of Nobuta and that the story ended up being about Shuuji. Sigh. It was a good story about Shuuji, but the meta part of my brain is tired of shoujo that is all about the guys.

I also liked Shuuji's fall from grace, and when he got up in front of the class to ask them to make a film for Nobuta, I could not have loved him more. I also nearly cried when they played the video for Nobuta. Oh Nobuta! I love you so much! And Shuuji sometimes made me want to smack him on the head -- don't doubt Akira and Nobuta! They're the kind of people who will stand by someone no matter what, Mariko too, and I love them for it.

That said, a lot of what I loved about the show was tainted a bit by the ending. I didn't mind Shuuji going off, and I think him entering a new school by himself would have been bittersweet and sad, but also perfect, but I just hate that they left Nobuta by herself! Woe!

Comments

[jain]

This comment expresses almost exactly how I feel about the ending of the series. I was less horrified by it being Aoi, mostly because I'd been suspecting Mariko and I adored Mariko; I was so relieved that she really was as awesome as she'd seemed in the previous episodes that I was less distressed over the Aoi angle. But, yeah, I also have my doubts that Shuuji would have been all right without one of them to ground him. And, like you say, the fact that it was Nobuta's idea goes pretty far towards reconciling me to the idea of Nobuta being left behind.

[oyceter]

I do like that it was Nobuta's idea, but the part that bugs me most is ... I dunno. It's the focus on Shuuji. A lot of it is also because I wanted to know more about Nobuta and her family and her life, and we never got any of that -- we get views into Shuuji and Akira's personal lives outside of school, but never into the girls'. YMMV though.