Discussion topic for Episode 4 of the Rewrite anime, which premiered on the 23rd of July, 2016. All references to outside works and to future episodes must be tagged with a [spoiler] tag.
You can view the series on:
Crunchyroll in North America and Australia
Daisuki in Most of Europe
Akibapass in Germany
What would you rate this episode?
0 voters
This episode really benefited from just choosing one thing and sticking to it by taking care of Shizuruās backstory, but that ending bit with Lucia was oddly tacked on. I didnāt notice as many weird animation moments or dumb between frames as other episodes, so Iām hoping thatās a good sign of things to come.
As @Arete said, Iām glad they stuck to one thing this episode. They portrayed her past quite well, to my memory at least. The introduction of Imamiya also felt quite natural and well done compared to the other introductions that had to be changed around.
The two main issues I had with this episode were the song placement, and that oddly thrown-in bit with Lucia at the end. As for the song placement, I heard Radiance, Scattered Flowers, and Scene Shifts There all within, what, a 10 minute span? It felt so odd and jumbled. Their use of Koibumi wasnāt bad though, considering they probably wouldnāt have had another place to use it.
The bit with Lucia definitely seems to point at her getting this treatment next. Although, slapping it at the end of the episode like that was plain awkward, and ruined the tone and feel they had build up, in my eyes.
In any case, outside of those two things, I really enjoyed the episode. We got Esakaās classic line, more Shizuru, Imamiya, and even Yoshinoās Wolf pack.
Any episode with best girl Shizuru is a best episode me to.
Also about this, it looks like we arenāt going to get anything about the the Monthly Terra, as thatās when Kotarou meets Imamiya.. Not that it was ever really important in the VN.
This is one disadvantage any anime is going to have. It can be jarring trying to cover the entire range of emotions in Shizuruās backstory quickly.[quote=āPurple, post:4, topic:2998, full:trueā]
Any episode with best girl Shizuru is a best episode me to.
[/quote]
^^^
sigh
I donāt wanna complain, but that last Lucia part didnāt do the episode any good.
As for the rest of the episode, I quite enjoyed it. It wasnāt perfect, but itās a solid job.
random thoughts:
Oh, and go to hell, Imamiya!
I truly loved this episode and I think it captured Shizuru if only to shorten the length of her backstory. I think I mentioned about her route back then when playing the VN if it would be animated and my dream came true, because I was looking forward to seeing if it was going to happen. The songs āScene Shifts Thereā and āScattered Flowersā when they were playing invoked really heartfelt emotions, especially with her tragic backstory and made me teary-eyed a bit. I loved when they started playing āKoibumiā at the end of the credits and it still reminded me of how beautiful and lovely the song really was. To this day, I still love Shizuru as one of my favorite characters. 
Other than that, of course, Imamiya showing up soon was inevitable and later weāll see how he becomes important in the series. The Wolf Pack was very memorable too and how the gang had started out with Yoshino being their leader. Did anyone notice Esakaās business card? I thought that was funny and of course his signature line always make me jump out of my seat. I was also surprised seeing Kagari in the school in broad daylight since thatās never happened before, just not so sure about that, but was her being there necessary in the scene?
I was also concerned about Lucia at the ending as well, and that would be the beginning where we find out about the origin why she wears those gloves and her real identity to be revealed later on the next episode. Overall, I enjoyed this episode though I wondering how much time theyāll need to get to the real core of the story.
I think the Kagari scene served to show that others couldnāt see her, plus hint more at a connection with Kotori.
Also is it just me or was the Lucia bit the next episodeās preview? It happened post-credits.
Very good episode, except for that last bit. Just why?
(Rewrite Spoilers) That scene where Kagari walks into the classroom was pretty nice. Not only did it establish that other people cannot see her, it also hinted at Kotori having a connection to her (and only pretending not to see her). There are a few details like that in the earlier episodes as well, I always appreciate when the writers take the time to put them in.
wow i didnāt expect an episode like this but it was really good compared to the others 
imo the only problem i had with this episode is the last lucia scene that ruined the mood but maybe just maybe we could get that amazing and lovely date scene just maybe ā¦i know i know it wonāt happen
Beautiful beautiful beautiful. I agree that the Lucia end-part kinda ruined the feel that the episode had. I mean, if they wanted to do some "continuationā to the next episode, they could have shown Lucia staring at the sunflowers or something.
But the episode itself was quite beautiful. Plus, 8-Bit put Koibumi in Too bad they added some comedic moments for Koibumi. I would have been perfectly fine if they just had Kotarou narrating about Shizuru when Koibumi was playing.
The feels got to me ;-; Lets all cry a river.
Episode 5 will be Lucia-focused. 2-3 more episodes before āthat dayā.
in the end of the second episode where they are in the club room and kagari is wahtching them from outside the window kotori stares at the window for a long time so i think they were referring to that kagarixkotori connection
Iām so disappointed with this episodeā¦ In fact I knew something was going wrong since last weekās episode. And when they released the trailer I knew that what I didnāt want to happen is actually happened.
First of all, I remember saying something about starting with Gardian last week. But that was only an assumption. I guess that explains why they are rushing some scenes, but the whole idea of them dedicating a whole episode of rushed scenes is unacceptable. I was complaining about that when I finished ep3 but most of the scenes there were not related to the story (excluding Sakuyaās scene).
But here, I couldnāt even feel the charactersā emotions.
And what made me even sadderā¦ The way the Shizuru said her story lacked the emotions. Itās as if she is reading out of a book or something, especially the part when she says āććććØčØć£ćā (ā¦ to itta).
Second, has to be the songs placementsā¦ ESPECIALLY KOI BUMI!
Koi bumi by Yanagi Nagi is one of my favorite songs ever. And what made it so special to me is the placementā¦ But here, it had not impact whatsoever and it was just playing in the background as if it was any other normal ending .
Finallyā¦ They didn it again with another face revealā¦ I complained about the Sakuya scene last episodeā¦ And talked about the lack of mysteries in the animeā¦
Only to see that theyāve revealed Esakaāa role and connection to Shizuru after they were trying to keep it a secret at the end of ep3 and the beginning of ep4.
Iām so sad to see the Anime fall this hardā¦ I just hope that theyāll not decide to animate Terra in one episode or something.
Donāt misunderstand me, I know that this is ānot the Rewrite we knowā but I believe that the parts we āknowā should be handled in a better way somehow.
Iāll keep watching with lower expectations from now onā¦
Once again, I liked the episode as a VN reader, but this also just confirms that this has horrible storyboarding/pacing for an anime-only viewer. How much has the anime really shown about Shizuru before suddenly throwing in a super sad backstory in episode 4? If I was a first-time viewer, I would be wondering why I should even care about this character. Like, I think this is possibly the best episode yet as a standalone judgement, but I just donāt think it makes any sense in the context of strictly the anime itself and how little it has done to get viewers invested before dropping plot reveals.
Things just sort of happened and before you can process it, it moved onto the next scene. Now episode 4 happens, and this character you know very little about suddenly reveals a bunch of backstory including her superpowers and an entire organization. How many anime-only viewers could even remember Nishikujouās name? And suddenly sheās part of a major plot reveal? All of that in a single episode right before moving onto some drama with Lucia, another character you know very little about. I donāt think any individual scenes are even that bad (hence why Iāve said in previous threads how much Iām enjoying this despite the problems) but when they get stitched together like this with almost no transitioning or explanations, I donāt think anime-only viewers are going to respond very positively. Iād gladly be wrong though.
I felt the same way. I was much more invested in the characters when reading the VN. Shizuru and Lucia were two of my most favorite characters. Seeing them in the anime made me happy but at the same time the emotional impact was much less. I really hope Rewrite gets more than 1 cours.
Holy spoilers! Theyāre not holding much back are they.
I wonder if this is the full extent weāll see of Shizuruās route in the anime. Maybe theyāre planning to give one episode to each of the girls. I dunno if they plan to do it for all of them though.
If they do, we can expect 4 more eps, giving the ā6th routeā another 5 eps, and then thereās the club field trip with the Leaf Dragon.
To be fair, at least during the first three episodes they were able to develop a little bit of chemistry between Shizuru and Kotarou. Not enough for what this story requires, but their interactions were good. Itās just my point of view, but the ālinkā between them seemed more fluid than, for example, with Lucia or Chihaya, which means that the next episodes could feel even worse. But youāre right, at least this chapter, as a VN reader and as a standalone, was quite acceptable.
I was pretty shocked at the pacing and the decision to do Shizuru all in this episode. It wasnāt bad but, I didnāt expect it. Her route is my least favourite, but seeing it animated gave it more emotion somehow. I like that they added Imamiya to the early scene. I remember his early presence just got washed in the mix and I didnāt feel the foreshadowing, but here it stuck out.
I also felt the Lucia bit was just an on tack-on bit that really was out of place.
With everything being said as a non VN player, this feels so like a Iām watching a VN sped up rather than an adaptation for an anime. But it isnāt horrible, I still have hopes of where this will go.
I would feel happy if only they didnāt try to push every important details about Shizuruās past in a few minutes. This episode is like a fast forward version of the VN. Like how fast the conversation between Kotarou with Shizuru (and later with Nishikujou) look obviously awkward.
