Amagami SS+ 12 – Mischievous Cousins and Spectacular Confessions

Haruka’s arc, yet again brought us some brilliant drama, wonderful romance, and all-round brilliance. Haruka has always been a great character, one that is beautiful, yet brings an immense enthusiasm (and kinkiness) to Amagami, along with subtle changes in her feelings and emotions along the way. We saw elements of Haruka’s more subtle and emotional side in the first arc, with a clear indication hat, although she may be a bit on the whacky side, she truly loves Junichi. With this in mind, it was fascinating to see Haruka as nervous as Junichi about their relationship, and where they should go with it.

Haruka is clearly wrestling with her emotions, and seeing her get all nervous and embarrassed while at Junichi’s house was fascinating to watch. She also showed us her vulnerable side, being more than happy to jump into the bath and wander around in a rather sexy negligee as if she hadn’t a care in the world. That this was hiding uncertainty about her and Junichi’s future shows how much her personality is used as armour, and she rarely lets other people see beneath.

Got to love Jessica in this arc, she is the blonde version of Haruka, only probably a little more mischievous. Her presence demonstrated how conflict does not need to be big; there can be subtle conflict, a conflict of emotions, or internal conflict within one particular character. Jessica presented Junichi with a problem, and for a moment it appeared to the big thing that would split them up forever. According to Jessica, Haruka would be going to England, and potentially not be coming back for a long time. Now, as is the case with Haruka lookalikes, it was clearly some sort of plan to get Junichi and Haruka closer. We do indeed find out that Haruka is going to England to visit her grandparents – for a week, not the longest period of time in the world, but a key detail that Jessica deliberately withheld from Junichi.

Haruka is famous for her kinkiness, but it is the constant surprises that make her presence and arc great to watch. We never really know what’s going to happen with Haruka in the equation, even less so now that Jessica, the slightly crazier of the two arrived. It was now up to Junichi to sort things out, and at least from his point of view, stop Haruka from moving to England. Now, what made this entire arc so fascinating is that we already know Haruka and Junichi end up married, therefore, Haruka could not have moved to England. This demonstrates the brilliance of the arc, and the ways in which it used very subtle changes in emotions and conflict to create a situation where you could almost believe that Haruka my move.

The confession, when it came, was easily the best of the entire series, and beat the conclusion of Haruka’s previous arc by a mile, and is easily one of the best scenes in AmagamiSS. Every other confession in Amagami has been very private, with Junichi and the respective heroine alone – there is a certain intimacy between them. In comparison, this final confession was anything by private – seeing the look of shock on Takahashi sensei’s face when Junichi is named, as the student representative was quite something. The tension when Junichi got up was tangible, and as he started reading the final speech it was fascinating to watch, only for him to deviate and give what is a brilliant and heartfelt confession of his love for Haruka in front of the entire school.

It was also a fitting end to this series, with every other heroine present seeing Junichi declare his undying love for Haruka and asking her to marry him.  It was a very touching conclusion and to follow that great kissing scene by the actual wedding simply finished things off in the only way possible. What made this so amazing however is that, yet again, we waited until the last four minutes of the episode to get this finale, it was dragged out, but in the end, worth the wait.

The end to Haruka’s arc in a way felt more like the conclusion of the entire Amagami SS series, rather than the conclusion of a single arc – it was the only arc where the entire cast was there to applaud Junichi’s audacity. It wasn’t the best arc in this series however, with a little too much time being wasted. I preferred Kaoru’s arc due to brilliance that she brought to both episodes, although the conclusion was less than satisfactory when compared to this week. But, both episodes were solid and well thought out, this arc lacked a little something and didn’t quite have the dramatic tension that Kaoru managed to bring. It was a great series nonetheless, and as a reward, next week we have an onsen episode with every heroine present.