Snow Rondo

OP - Idling for You, lyrics by Masami Yuhki, sung by Norihiko Tanimoto

A white, snowy sky..... a red umbrella drifts and tumbles its way down through the air. A young woman carrying the red umbrella stands against the backdrop of a snow-covered forest. Asuma is standing behind and to the left of the woman who's back is turned to him. The woman turns around to face him, and the umbrella is blown away by a sudden gust of wind. Asuma watches the umbrella being swept away, turns to look at the girl, then turns back to watch the umbrella being swept higher into the winter air.

An alarm clock goes off at 10:30 am. Asuma is buried under a comforter and reaches out a hand to tap at the alarm clock, searching for the off button. He manages to find it, looks blearily around and sighs. In the main station room, Noa is watching Shinshi type some things into a portable computer. Asuma walks in and they exchange 'good mornings.' Noa asks Asuma how the night shift was and Asuma just yawns. He makes his way to his desk where he picks up a postcard and looks at it for a little bit before asking Noa if the card has just come in that day. Noa looks at him and tells him it's been sitting there for a while now and tries to remember how long it's been. Kumagami answers for her, telling Asuma that the card had been sitting there for 4 days. Noa agrees, Asuma sounds dubious and looks at the card again. The card is an invitation to his high school class reunion scheduled to be on December 20.

[Title screen inserted here]

A shot of the restaurant/bar that the reunion is being held at. Inside, a projector is showing an old movie on the screen. One of Asuma's friends asks him if it was true that he had become a police officer and he answers yes. Another of his friends expresses disbelief since she thought that Asuma would be the first in line to succeed to the head of Shinohara Industries and Asuma says, 'I can't believe it myself.' Another friend then refers to Asuma's family problems as the reason. The female friend sounds disappointed which makes Asuma look peeved. The first friend defuses the situation by pointing out the their class 'Madonna' had just arrived. Asuma turns to look at the slim, pretty, brown-haired woman who had just walked in. He stares at her until she suddenly glances in his direction. The woman, Kashima, is called over to another table behind the one Asuma and his friends are at. Asuma's friend comments that she has gotten prettier since their high school days. Asuma says, 'You think so? It doesn't matter to me.'

After the reunion is over, everyone is outside the restaurant and snow is drifting down from the night sky. Apparently Asuma's friends aren't done partying yet and are heading off somewhere. Asuma pardons himself, saying that he has to work early in the morning the next day. They exchange goodbyes and Asuma watches them go. He looks up for a while at the snow drifting down when suddenly his vision is obscured by a red umbrella that suddenly covers him. He turns around to find Kashima holding the umbrella. They look at each other wordlessly for a second.

Later on, the two are walking down the deserted street and Kashima comments that they never talked much to each other in school. Asuma says, 'Really?' and Kashima asks him if he remembers when they had walked together like this one time back then. Asuma says that he remembers and Kashima asks him if he had wanted to talk to her back then. Looking away, Asuma says that he had just happened to meet her at the gate and had happened to be headed in the same direction. He then says that he remembers that they didn't really talk, that they had just walked together. Kashima is looking at him with a small smile on her lips and says, 'That's right.' They reach the entrance to the subway where Kashima says goodbye and turns to go down the steps but Asuma suddenly asks her to wait. She turns around surprised and Asuma seems surprised that he just said that as well and looks a bit flustered before saying, 'Never mind. See you.' Kashima just smiles and faces him. They stare at each other as the snow continues to drift down around them.

The next day, everyone is at work and Hiromi places a cup of steaming hot tea in front of Asuma. Asuma takes a sip and seems very content with life so he starts to praise the quality of the tea which embarrasses Hiromi and causes Ohta to call him a twit cause it's just the same tea that they've been having every day. Noa asks Asuma if something good had happened and he says, 'Not really.' Kumagami then notes that he has a paid holiday tomorrow. Shinshi walks in and seems to be prepared to head home. Ohta sneers that Asuma would probably just spend the day catching up on sleep anyway. Asuma retorts that he doesn't take days off without purpose like Ohta does which gets Ohta all riled up. Shinshi breaks in, saying that he's about to head home. They exchange goodbyes and Asuma asks Shinshi if he can catch a ride with him. Shinshi agrees and says he's going out first to pull the car around. Asuma packs up, walks out the door, and runs into Goto. They look at each other for a while until Asuma salutes and says, 'Chief, let's all be happy together,' grins, and walks away. Goto just looks after him.

The next day, Asuma and Kashima are visiting a museum and Asuma is explaining to Kashima about how the dinosaurs had been the most successful life form to date since they had been around for 130 billions years as opposed to the humans 130 thousand years of existence. Kashima comments that he hasn't changed a bit and Asuma looks surprised. Kashima then says that he always talked feverishly about things that he loved. She starts to walk off before turning around and saying that she envied him. Asuma doesn't know what to say and she giggles and says, 'Let's go.' They head off and suddenly a red balloon floats by the balcony that they were just standing at. Outside, Asuma notes that they still have some time left and asks Kashima what she wants to do. Kashima looks at him, reaches over and wraps his scarf around his neck, and then says that she wants to go see stars.

They go to a planetarium and are watching the stars when Kashima comments that they're so beautiful. She then says that she hasn't seen stars in a long time because it's been snowing all the time. Asuma is staring at her instead of the stars throughout all this. He comments that she wouldn't be able to see so many stars normally anyway and she agrees but says that it's so pretty anyway. Later, Asuma has gone to the bathroom but when he comes back, Kashima is nowhere to be seen. In her seat though is a postcard. Asuma picks it up, looks at it, and runs outside to look around but can't spot her. He looks up at the sky where there's an unusually large amount of stars twinkling. The view pans away from him to a walkway where Kashima is standing, looking at him.

The next day, the unit is going over a formation plan that Kumagami had formulated but Asuma is spacing out. Goto asks him his opinion on Kumagami's plan but Asuma has to apologize and say that he hadn't been paying attention. Noa, looks at him worriedly. Later during the day, Noa climbs up to the roof of the hangar to find Asuma lying there staring intently at the postcard from the night before. The postcard is a picture of a path through a snow-covered woods titled 'A Mysterious Snow'. He notices Noa approaching and puts the card into his pocket. Noa offers him a snack and sits down next to him. She asks him what's wrong since he had seemed so cheerful just a few days ago. Asuma says nothing is wrong and Noa lets it go. Asuma asks her if he was acting strange and she says just a bit. Noa finishes her snack and stands up to leave. Asuma watches her go before turning his attention to the nearby bay. Noa calls him and throws the remaining snack to him and tells him that there's one left. She then starts to head back down the stairs but stops when Asuma thanks her. She smiles and tells him to cheer up and then goes down the stairs. Asuma watches her leave, takes out the other snack, and takes the postcard out of his pocket to look at it again.

[Mid-episode break]

Asuma is walking through an art gallery appearing to look for someone when he finally spots Kashima standing in front of the picture that's the exact same one as the one on the postcard she had left with him. He walks up behind her and apparently she knows it's him because she says, 'I love this photo. Whenever I look at this, I get this strange feeling. That this is the place I was looking for.' She then turns around to face him and Asuma tells her that he was worried about her suddenly disappearing before. She apologizes and Asuma steps up to take a closer look at the painting. She says, 'Don't you feel like being absorbed into this scenery?' Directly down the hall behind them, a little girl carrying a red balloon who looks almost exactly like what Kashima would look like during her childhood years stops to look at another picture. Asuma starts forward suddenly when the snow in the picture he's looking at looks like they're actually moving while a bell tolls briefly. He's snapped back to reality when Kashima asks him if anything was wrong. He turns to look at Kashima who is looking at him askance. He says nothing's wrong and turns back to look at the picture. Suddenly a voice asks them if they like that picture a lot. They turn around to find themselves facing a slim, bearded man about Asuma's height. Kashima answers that she likes the piece alot and the man answers that he loves it as well. He then asks them to sign the guestbook. After they sign the book, the man offers a red balloon to Kashima in gratitude for her liking that picture.

Outside, it is nighttime and the two are sitting in front of a sculpture when Kashima asks Asuma if he was surprised that she had disappeared so suddenly the other night. Asuma nods and Kashima giggles and says that she would have wanted to see what his face had looked like then. Asuma turns to look at her with a peeved look on his face and Kashima laughs and says that that's probably what he looked like. They get up and start walking when Asuma suddenly stops and asks if she still lives in the same place as she did when she was in high school. She looks away and doesn't answer so Asuma asks if he had asked something he wasn't supposed to. He starts walking away and down a flight of stairs while Kashima is still looking after him. He suddenly says that the time when they had walked together back in high school, it wasn't a coincidence that he just happened to be at the gate. Kashima, still standing near the top of the stairs suddenly says, 'It was snowing like today, wasn't it?' Asuma stops, starts to say that it's not snowing today but suddenly cuts off when he turns back around to look up the stairs and sees that it IS snowing. He runs back up the stairs and Kashima is nowhere in sight. And the snow mysteriously disappears with a bell tolling in the distance.

The following day, 2nd Unit is out on a dispatch and Asuma is sitting in the command car looking contemplative while they're waiting for the criminal labor to show up in their area. The enemy labor meanwhile had just trashed Ohta and finally shows up in their vicinity. Noa gives pursuit and has the enemy labor covered with her gun when Asuma suddenly spots a red balloon behind the enemy labor. When he takes a closer look, he sees Kashima standing there holding the balloon. Asuma yells at Noa to not shoot since there's a civilian in the area. Noa tries to find who Asuma is talking about but can't see anything. The enemy labor in the meantime takes the time to yank out a giant dagger and fling it at Noa's Ingram. Noa manages to dodge it but it hits the bridge right behind Noa where Asuma was standing and almost hits him. Noa gets pissed and fires a shot at the labor who deflects it into the building behind it. It then starts to head off away from Noa, stops, turns around, and suddenly it's head gets caved in by a stun baton as Ohta smashes into it from behind. Asuma meanwhile runs up to the place where Kashima had been standing and Noa runs up next to him and asks him if he's okay. Asuma says he's fine but he's staring up into the sky. Noa looks up to see what he's looking at and sees a red balloon drifting away.

Back at headquarters, 2nd unit is trying to explain to Goto what had happened. Asuma insists that he had seen someone in the area but Ohta says he must've been dreaming and Kumagami says that the Ingram's cameras did not record anyone where Asuma said the person was. Goto just blows it off and says as long as everyone's okay there's no problem. As the unit is filing out of the office, Goto gives Asuma a form to fill out for tomorrow. That evening, around 2 in the morning, Asuma is at his desk working on the form. He yawns, gets up, and heads out of the office towards the kitchen. He glances outside and notes that it's snowing again. In the kitchen, he's heating up some water and is about to make some coffee when he turns around to see Kashima standing at the kitchen doorway. He offers her a cup and they stand in the hangar looking at the Ingrams. Asuma asks Kashima why she's here and she apologizes for almost getting him hurt during the dispatch earlier. Asuma looks at her and says, 'Then you were there. You shouldn't do that.' Kashima apologizes again and says that she came here to say goodbye. Asuma asks her why she's leaving so suddenly and she says that she has to go somewhere far away. Asuma says that they can still meet again even if she is moving away. She looks down and says that it's very far away. Asuma says that that doesn't mean he can't ever see her again. She suddenly hands the cup back to Asuma and thanks him for the coffee. Asuma takes the cup and is about to say something to her when suddenly she admonishes him to, 'Take good care of her.'

She then turns and walks away leaving Asuma standing there with two coffee cups looking mystified. She stops at the top of the stairs leading to the hangar floor, turns to face Asuma and says, 'But I'm glad you found me. Good bye, Asuma.' She then heads off down the stairs. Asuma looks after her, puts the two coffee cups down on the landing, and runs after her. When he reaches the hangar door and looks outside, he is stunned to see the exact same setting as the picture in 'A Mysterious Snow' but with Kashima and her red umbrella walking down the path as the snow drifts down around them. He starts to run after but appears to be blown back by the wind. The red umbrella is blown up into the air by the wind. The screen pans back to the 2 coffee cups on the landing.

In the next scene, Noa is shaking Asuma awake at his desk. He wakes up and sneezes so Noa asks him if he's okay. He says he's fine and looks at the form on his desk. He then gets up to take the form over to Goto's office and Noa follows him asking him if he's really okay. He waves her off and continues on to Goto's office. Noa meanwhile looks down and notices the two coffee cups on the landing. She picks them up and looks at them curiously. Asuma meanwhile has given the form to Goto. When he comes back to the main room, he finds Noa watching Shinshi type things into a portable computer. Getting back to his desk, he picks up a postcard and looks at it. It's a card announcing a high school class reunion for December 26.

Apparently he goes to this reunion and it's almost exactly the same as the reunion that just happened at the beginning of this episode. But this time he asks his friends about Kashima. A friend says that the coordinator of the reunion couldn't get in contact with her and no one seems to know her new address. Another friend pitched in that she had heard that Kashima had moved back to Hokkaido after graduation. Apparently Kashima had always been weak of health and they supposed she had moved back to a healthier climate. Asuma excuses himself and leaves the reunion early. He heads over to the art gallery and the next scene we see is him standing in front of the 'A Mysterious Snow' picture. He's staring at the picture intently and when the screen pans to show the picture, there's now a figure of a woman with long brown hair holding a red umbrella walking down the path. Later, he's looking through the guestbook to find her signature but doesn't seem to be able to find it. He asks the man with the beard if he remembered that they had signed the book a few days ago but the man just sounds confused. The man gives him a red balloon in appreciation for his liking the picture.

Back at the station, Asuma is hanging up his jacket when he digs out the postcard from his other jacket. He looks at the picture and the woman with the umbrella had shown up on this postcard as well. He says to himself, 'It wasn't a dream after all.' He takes the red balloon and walks outside into the deserted hangar. He walks around with the balloon looking contemplative until he comes to stand near the open hangar doors. It is snowing outside again. Suddenly he sees a figure carrying a blue umbrella walking down the path towards the hangar. It turns out to be Noa who had once again brought some snacks for Asuma since he was on night shift. Asuma makes fun of her for always getting the same snack and Noa notices the balloon and asks him what it's for. Asuma looks at the balloon, doesn't really answer, and lets the balloon go. As they watch the balloon drift into the air Noa asks him if he was sure he wanted to do that and Asuma says he's sure. They then head off into the hangar. Outside the camera slowly pans up into the snowy night sky where the red balloon can be barely seen still floating up into the air.

ED - Long Silence by Dynamite Shige

Some personal comments: This OAV episode is possibly my favorite episode of any anime I have ever seen. It probably won't affect most of you as it did for me but I was absolutely MOVED by this episode. And I can't explain why. It's a haunting story that doesn't make much chronological sense. At one point, you would think that everything up to the point where Asuma wakes up at his desk was a dream. But then again, the two coffee cups outside the room along with the picture postcard in his jacket say otherwise. There doesn't seem to be any satisfactory explanation to what went on throughout this episode. That Kashima was a spirit is probably undeniable. A restless spirit who had unfinished business to resolve before finally resting in peace. It can be said that her spirit was symbolized by both the red umbrella and balloon. In the very beginning, when the red umbrella was falling down from the sky, it foretold Kashima's appearance in the world. At the end, with both the red umbrella being swept away into the air and Asuma letting the red balloon go, that showed that Kashima's spirit was finally at rest. Also, Kashima with her red umbrella was always walking away from Asuma. But at the end, Noa with her blue umbrella was walking towards him. I suppose Noa was replacing Kashima in Asuma's life. Which would explain Kashima's abrupt command, 'Take good care of her,' before she left. Another thing that was pointed out was that the bell that you can hear tolling throughout the episode was the clock tower in the city of Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido. A picture of the clock tower can be seen behind the man with the beard in the gallery as he was giving the red balloon to Kashima. Also, the movie that they were showing during the class reunion was an old black & white American film called "A Portrait of Jenny" which I've been told has a plot kind of similar to this episode. I guess the reason I like this episode as much as I do is because watching it and even just listening to it, makes me feel at ease. The background music to this episode fits amazingly well and is rather calming. Hauntingly beautiful would be the perfect way to describe this OAV.

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