Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the bells are tolling in foreboding harmony with the shrill calls of sparrows beyond the glass, which can only mean it’s time for a return to Seiren Academy, and all the terrible turmoil that entails. There’s a time for subtlety and a time for restraint, but sometimes all you want is the glorious dramatic and aesthetic maximalism of a sordid tale like the delightful Dear Brother.
Our last episode saw Nanako in fine form, rallying alongside her allies in the wake of Kaoru’s ill-fated return to the basketball court. In spite of Kaoru’s injury, that event ultimately served as a rallying cry for the anti-Sorority faction, with Mariko affirming her love for Kaoru while Saint-Juste regained the confidence to return to school, and even laugh off Miya-sama’s attempts at controlling her. That in turn led to Nanako’s own rejection of Miya-sama’s demands, as she proudly mailed off the letter Miya-sama demanded she destroy. The more tightly Miya-sama grips, the more determined her victims become to escape her – and having suffered so many recent defeats, I imagine she’s cooking up some dramatic acts of retaliation. Let’s see how the chips fall as we return to the battlefield of love and youth!
Episode 18
As with many great OPs, the potential takeaways of this opening seem to alter as the drama unfolds. While it was initially her relationship with Dear Brother itself that seemed to be fresh and exciting, a chance to move beyond the sorrow of her personal life, the singer’s words could now be addressing the titans of Seiren – Miya-sama, who directly asked Nanako to “empty the bowls of her past,” or Saint-Juste, represented by the cleansing, transformative fire of the cigarette. For whom might Nanako be willing to annihilate her old self, the innocent girl who could never have gained such fluency in navigating Seiren’s hurdles?
We open on an apparent moment of crisis, as Nanako rushes to make the train. Every available tool is used to emphasize the panic of the moment – that blaring train signal sounding in time with Nanako’s panicked breaths, this aggressively close composition of her repeated strides, and then a sequence of dutch angle shots emphasizing the disorientation of her headlong sprint
As is often the case, the trains themselves present a powerful sensory threat, with compositions basically shoving our face against their rushing forms as their overwhelming horns sound their approach. Dear Brother so often uses its aesthetic flourishes to create this sense of profound physical danger surrounding our leads, as if like Saint-Juste they could at any moment be flung from a moving car or thrown in front of a roaring train. You don’t need an active narrative threat to create a powerful sense of danger
Apparently Tomoko actually went to school early for club activities; Nanako simply forgot, a shorthand for conveying her general mental disarray
She reflects on her discomportment since the basketball game in the form of another letter to Dear Brother. These letters are an excellent dramatic device, allowing Nanako to sort through her feelings in a way we can follow without presenting her as someone with a persistent reflective inner monologue or cloying sense of self-awareness. It feels much more natural than the frequent modern trend of essentially having the narrator doing inner monologue standup routines for the audience
Her fond reveries are again cut short by the violent pounding of the train along the tracks
With an aggressive swerve of the ensuing bus, Nanako realizes she shares her ride with Saint-Juste herself
More dutch angles and aggressive close shots as Nanako’s surprise at Saint-Juste’s presence makes her miss the Seiren stop
Clever trick using the bus steps to further emphasize the height difference between Nanako and Saint-Juste. In her modest blue dress, she looks like a young maiden being swept away by a gallant gentleman
“I’ll take care of your French. So come along with me.” Saint-Juste explicitly and not for the first time framed as a gallant seductor, the mysterious, mature figure introducing Nanako to a world beyond her understanding. “Into the Dream…” is clearly a purposefully chosen title for an episode about Nanako’s journey into Wonderland
“You don’t have to come,” says Saint-Juste, even as she locks Nanako’s school supplies in her private locker
The camera continues to focus on Saint-Juste idly swinging that key, the tether or even leash connecting them. And Nanako is simply overwhelmed by the scandalous idea of skipping class, imagining that everyone outside is staring at them
While Saint-Juste gets snacks, Nanako is challenged by a truant officer! Jeez, I didn’t think truant officers just wandered around public spaces hunting for rogue students
Of course, this just offers Saint-Juste a perfect opportunity to swoop in to the rescue
“She’s a country girl. From where all the wild pigs live.” Incredible explanation by Saint-Juste
Saint-Juste is mistaken for an adult man. A misunderstanding that reflects her larger role, as an ambiguous bridge between adolescence and adulthood. Sorta similar to what Revolutionary Girl Utena would take in a much darker direction through Akio’s characterization
Meanwhile, Shinobu’s moping about Nanako’s absence is interrupted by Kaoru’s appearance, underlining how these two are now close enough for Kaoru to note and inquire about Shinobu’s feelings
Kaoru invites Shinobu to basketball practice, creating an echo of Nanako’s date
Some nice economic panning shots of Nanako’s walk through the park. As ever, learning how to martial limited animation resources is actually a key aspect of anime artistry
Oh shit, Dear Brother’s here in the park!
Apparently Dear Brother’s companion is actually Saint-Juste’s brother. He chastises her for dragging Nanako into her unconscionable tomfoolery
The music’s really working overtime this episode, with an array of yearning, almost mournful horns creating a sense of fleeting catharsis to accompany Saint-Juste’s dream world
Apparently the other man’s name is Ichinomiya Takashi. Nanako reflects on their previous meeting outside Saint-Juste’s apartment, where he said he was simply “visiting a friend.” Though he doesn’t seem to possess the same cruel perspective as Miya-sama, he still seems embarrassed to acknowledge Saint-Juste
A lovely portrait of all three siblings emphasizes the darkness of Saint-Juste’s usual attire, forcefully framing her as the black sheep of the family
“Stop that. Eat your sandwich.” Saint-Juste calls for Nanako to ignore these dark clouds and live in the moment, once again embodying a fleeting, oblivious escape from the worries of the world. Saint-Juste is imposing and ostensibly mature, but also unwilling to engage with the ugly truths and responsibilities of adulthood
“The value of a human life is no more than that of an ant.” Saint-Juste enjoys a certain kind of freedom, but it’s a bitter flavor – the freedom of essentially having departed from the normal life track, and thus floating carelessly while steadily decaying, with no expectations to live up to
We get a brief lunch interlude over at Seiren, which serves as a welcome affirmation of Tomoko and Shinobu now being friends in their own right, and not simply fellow friends of Nanako
Some underclassmen tell Kaoru that Saint-Juste has “been set free.” Once again, dancing around this idea of what Saint-Juste’s style of freedom actually means
Nanako knows she cannot enter Saint-Juste’s world, but treasures her ability to at least peer into it
“A doll to be loved on a whim, then forgotten on a whim? But I am not a doll!” Already, Nanako is beginning to suspect there can be no true partnership between them, whether in terms of the world they inhabit or the manner in which they regard each other
Thus like Saint-Juste, she decides to simply embrace this particular moment for the fleeting joy it brings
Saint-Juste reveals that another freshman has asked to smoke her cigarette butts, meaning even Nanako’s private, guarded act of intimacy doesn’t make her unique
Oof, what a charged scene. Nanako asks to smoke Saint-Juste’s cigarette, but Saint-Juste would of course prefer her to remain “unspoiled,” as her sweet unblemished doll. Still, Nanako’s requests eventually drive her to force Nanako to inhale, in a scene clearly presented as an act of physical invasion, complete with a phallic poison
In her dreams, Saint-Juste doubles as a terrifying oni, while Nanako herself spins like a windup doll. Can she embrace even this aspect of the fantasy?
The doll is itself trapped within the gears of a music box – time spins onward, but these figures never progress, forever trapped in one melody, one reverie
Nanako’s waking continues to frame this exchange as if it were a first sexual encounter, with Saint-Juste caressing her cheek while she emerges from the dream
“I want you staying just as you are… until the end of time.” Saint-Juste makes her desire as explicit as possible. She doesn’t necessarily want to protect Nanako in the same way Kaoru might – she wants an icon of purity, forever innocent
“My heart trusts in her, this woman of tenderness and gentle words.” God damnit Nanako
And Done
Thus Nanako tearfully announces her love for Saint-Juste, as a mournful reprise of the opening song is set to the ironic image of a bird taking flight. Jeez, what a dramatic first date, and what a mess Nanako has found herself in! While her rebellion against the Sorority demonstrates a growing, welcome confidence in her own feelings, her passionate feelings towards Saint-Juste only demonstrate all the ways she is still a child. Everything about Saint-Juste’s behavior towards her implies a possessive yet deeply limiting sort of affection, a love not for Nanako herself, but for the innocence she allegedly represents. And yet Nanako herself is clearly infatuated with all the ways Saint-Juste has “abandoned” innocence, carving her own path even if it means stagnating in a fleeting daydream. The two are perfectly wrong for each other, which is of course precisely how Dear Brother likes its relationships. Violent disenchantment surely awaits!
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