Episode 18: “Best Birthday in History”
Summary: Koizumi is sleeping in school assembly again. She is dreaming about Otani telling her he’s just no good without her but she is woken up. She notes it is the last summer of her high school life. Since she slept through Otani’s confession last episode, she thinks to herself she still doesn’t know how Otani feels about her but she is going to enjoy her summer vacation anyway. Apparently, she later learns that she would have to stay for summer study session in school. However, she is informed by Nobu that she and Nakao will also be taking summer classes and that Chiharu and Suzuki will take it too as well as Otani.
On the way home, Koizumi is complaining that it’s just too hot and appears to be melting. Nobu asks if they want to go somewhere cool for a while. They all agree. Koizumi is back to her energetic self in the air-conditioned restaurant. While waiting for their orders, Nobu notices that Chiharu has a cute ring and asks when she bought it. Chiharu can’t answer right away. Koizumi cuts in and asks if Suzuki gave it to Chiharu since it was her birthday not too long ago. Chiharu confirms this as she and Suzuki both turn red in the face. Otani and Koizumi commend Suzuki for it. Chiharu then turns to Nobu and asks Nobu what she got from Nakao on her birthday. Nobu says it was a handbag. Nakao says it was nothing fancy and was relatively cheap. Nobu says she doesn’t mind because it was given with love and then she and Nakao cheerfully tell each other “I love you” repeatedly. Nobu then remembers that it’s Koizumi’s birthday is coming real soon. Nobu, Nakao, Chiharu and Suzuki are all staring at Otani with a knowing smirk on their faces. Otani is suddenly put on the spot as Nobu asks if Otani will be giving Koizumi a present. Nakao agrees to this and sarcastically adds “He just can’t live without Koizumi, right?” Nobu adds fuel to the fire by teasing him asking, “What was that anyway? A proposal?” Otani is surprised about them knowing this and asks if they were eavesdropping when he said this to Koizumi after the basketball match (see previous episode). Nakao and Nobu confirm this suspicion with an evil grin. Koizumi, who slept through the “confession” last episode, asks what they are talking about. Otani angrily replies that it’s none of her business. Otani’s order finally comes just in time to save him from further interrogation.
Next day at summer school, Otani runs into Koizumi and says hello. Koizumi gives him a don’t-talk-to-me look which prompts Otani to say he gives up and asks her what she wants for her birthday present. She replies she doesn’t want anything. Otani asks if she’s refusing his good intentions. Koizumi replies what’s more important she wants to know what they the gang and Otani are talking about yesterday at the restaurant. Otani tells her to forget about it. She says she wants to know since she seems to be the only one who doesn’t know about it and that irritates her. She insists that she doesn’t want any present from Otani. Nobu then suddenly appears and corners Koizumi and angrily asks her “why do you always make things worse?” Koizumi says it’s true she doesn’t want any material present from Otani instead all she wants is for Otani to tell her he loves her. This annoys Nobu even more.
Back at home, Koizumi stands on her veranda and reminisces that it was during her birthday last year when she confessed to Otani and brushed this off since he thought it was a joke. It’s followed by a few flashbacks regarding her relationship with Otani. Meanwhile, Otani, Nakao and Suzuki are in a girls accessory shop as Otani is staring at a cute necklace with a rabbit pendant. Nakao asks him to hurry up and decide since they are a bit out of place in the shop being the only guys there. Suzuki tells Otani that he thinks Koizumi will be happy with whatever Otani gives her. Otani then says he’s not going to buy Koizumi anything. Back in Koizumi’s veranda, she is hoping that something good happens on her birthday this year.
Next day at school, Haruka and Seiko greets Koizumi and gives her an invitation to “Koizumi Risa’s Birthday Party.” They tell her that they both decided to throw Koizumi a party and asks her to invite her friends. Koizumi is very touched by their kindness. Haruka replies “Really? Feel free to fall for me.” Koizumi says “Not gonna happen.” Haruka responds by saying he’ll just win her over by showing off his great party hosting skills and delicious cooking. Otani then arrives. Seiko sees him and gives him an invitation. Haruka tells Otani he’s only inviting him since he doesn’t want Otani to have Koizumi all to himself on her birthday. As they are walking home after school, Otani asks if Nakao and Nobu are coming to the party. Koizumi confirms this adding that Maity-sensei is coming as well. She then asks if Otani is coming. Otani responds by saying he thought she didn’t want him to do anything for her on her birthday and that she said she didn’t want a present from him. Koizumi says she didn’t mean it like that. Otani asks what she meant then. Koizumi replies by asking “Then what does ‘Can’t live without you’ mean?” Otani responds by saying he never said anything like that. Koizumi asked if this has anything to do while she fell asleep last time. Otani angrily replies their friends got it all wrong and walks on mumbling that he’s gonna get those guys and says he’s not coming to the party.
The next day, Koizumi’s birthday party! She is greeted by Nobu, Nakao, Suzuki, Chiharu, Seiko and Haruka. Nobu asks Koizumi where Otani is. Koizumi says she doesn’t know. Maity-sensei then arrives with a bouquet for Koizumi. Nobu is still wondering where Otani is, Nakao says he can’t contact Otani’s cellphone. Koizumi thinks to herself that it’s fine even if Otani is not around since everyone is here celebrating with her. Chiharu then hears a faint sound of explosion. Suzuki notes it’s probably fireworks. Haruka remembers that there’s a fireworks festival that day. Everybody then agrees to go up the school rooftop to watch the fireworks.
As they are watching the fireworks, Koizumi remembers the time when she confessed to Otani they were both watching fireworks too. She then thinks to herself that if Otani’s not with her, she can’t find the fireworks are pretty. She then receives a mail from Otani in her cellphone that says “Behind you.” Koizumi turns around and sees Otani staying by the shadows beside the rooftop door. Otani signals her to come over. Koizumi quietly moves away from their friends and goes to him. Otani then hands her a present which was the rabbit necklace he was staring at earlier.
Koizumi is happy about it and says that it’s cute. Otani tells her to keep it down or their friends will hear and see them. Koizumi then asks about the plastic bag Otani is holding. He says it’s fireworks he bought from the convenience store. Koizumi tells him she should tell the others and invite them to fire it and starts to walk away. Otani grabs her hand and tells her she can do that later and to put away the present in the meantime. He timidly tells Koizumi that if their friends see that he bought her the necklace, they won’t let him forget about it and tease him. Koizumi thanks him for the present and says she’s really happy. She tells Otani she thought he wasn’t going to come and that she was just thinking “I guess I’m just no good with Otani.” Otani then admits that he said the same thing after the basketball match although someone fell asleep and didn’t hear him say it. Koizumi is embarrassed about it then realizes the dream she’s been having was real after all. Otani calls out Koizumi’s name and as she turns to face Otani, he gives her a kiss. Koizumi is taken aback by this sudden kiss and has a surprised look on her face to which Otani asks if she can pull a better reaction than that. Koizumi is still a bit in shock and asks Otani if he has a fever again.
Otani says it’s not like that. Koizumi is a bit embarrassed about it and tries to laugh it off. Otani then grabs her wrist and looks into her eyes and then they kiss.
~ end of episode
My Impression: A really cute episode and an interesting development between Otani and Koizumi! ^_^
The part when Nobu and the gang are teasing Otani about his confession after the basketball match and Otani’s reaction to their taunts and denial of this is funny. I guess Otani now gets a bit of an idea now on how Koizumi felt when he couldn’t remember the “kiss” when he had a fever a few episodes back when he confessed to her after the basketball match but she fell asleep while he was saying it and therefore was unaware of how he felt about her this time. Haha. That must have been torture for Otani since it takes a lot of guts to admit how you really feel.
That bit with Haruka telling Koizumi “Feel free to fall for me.” and Koizumi replying “Not gonna happen” was one of the funniest moments for me in this episode.
It was really sweet of Otani to finally decide to confess again and even more so during Koizumi’s birthday. I wonder how things will be now that they’re a couple. I’m sure there’s be interesting hurdles up ahead in their relationship and more hilarious moments. I’m looking forward to the next episode!
Next episode: Otani and Koizumi are going out on their first date!
hey do u now when lovely complex 19 coming out because on wikipedia say that i should have came out on the 11/08/07 and it has not came out yet i’m getting very angry.
I think it has already been shown in Japan and the raw for episode 19 can be found in torrent sites. However, the english subbed version isn’t released by the sub group yet. Have a bit more patience, I’m sure they’re doing their best to finish subbing it soon! Thanks for visiting! 🙂
oh goodness~! i love this episode very much~! Otani is so sweet!! awww! can’t wait for the sub version of episode 19! hhihi .. ^_^ i wanna have those screenshotsss!! >_>
English subbed version of ep 19 is now out and I’ve also just finished doing the summary and screencaps for it. ^_^ Thanks for dropping by!