Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu – episode 3 summary…

Episode 2 ended with the mention of Valentine’s Day, and its approach, and the custom of girls giving guys chocolates. Rui Xi daydreams about giving chocolates to Quan, but quickly realises she can’t do this while she remains disguised as a ‘he’, to her dismay. Xiu Yi then interrupts her thoughts and asks her to support him at his next soccer match, both very nervous and excited, and then overjoyed when she accepts. Later that day, Rui Xi, taking Quan’s dog for a walk, finds herself unconsciously/subconsciously taking the route that passes by Quan’s training area. She leaves a ‘jia you’ note, water and a towel for Quan and moves on. Quan finds the note and towel, smiles, and later buys the canned fruit juice that Rui Xi likes so much, for her. When he gives it to her, without any explanation, Rui Xi assumes it is in return for her ‘present’. Quan muses silently that he cannot treat Rui Xi as a girl, and is too embarrassed to say ‘thank you’ for the gifts. Rui Xi then realises how girly her action was, and the two of them suffer an awkward moment. They eventually suggest getting dinner and say no more about the subject, Rui Xi comforting herself that Quan likely knows nothing about her real gender, and Quan thinking Rui Xi is too thickheaded to realise he knows.

On Xiu Yi’s match day, Xiu Yi dreams Rui Xi comes clad in cheerleader outfit and calls him ‘babe’. Unfortunately, in real life, Rui Xi brings along the other guys to support him, to his dismay and chagrin. The other guys profess hurt feelings at not being invited, and then go off to flirt with the girls that have come to support the opposing team, from a co-ed school. Xiu Yi’s team wins the match. On the way back, an unfamiliar face shows up, taunting Quan’s return to the high jump scene. Rui Xi, not knowing who he is, stands up for a Quan who is unresponsive save for a few ineffectual scowls, and yells at the stranger, whose name is Shen Le, and is the current record holder for high jump. Later the other guys explain that the only threat Shen Le experienced in high jump was Quan. Meanwhile, Rui Xi calls Shen Le a ‘chou nan ren’, or Stinky Male, an insult used commonly by girls. Shen Le consequently thinks Rui Xi is a girl. Quan seems more discomfited by this than Shen Le’s challenge. Back in her and Quan’s room, Rui Xi worries that she still acts too girlishly. Quan thanks her for standing up for him, and Rui Xi replies that it is her duty as his number 1 fan.

On Valentine’s Day, a girl offers chocolates to Rui Xi, admitting admiration for her courage in defying Shen Le. Rui Xi hesitates to accept, feeling uneasy considering her real gender. She sees Quan being offered chocolates by the girl’s friend, and overhears her profess love for him. Rui Xi is torn between jealousy of her, and jealousy of her courage. Quan refuses the offer, apologising. The spurned girl runs off crying, followed by her friend. Rui Xi tells Mei Tian, the school doctor, about these events, and Mei Tian suggests revealing her identity as a girl and her love to Quan now, though he knows she cannot do this. He challenges her ability to stay this way, just as ‘friends’ with Quan, forever.

*Crunchyroll.com ends its episode here, for strange and unexplained reasons. Fear not, we shall continue via YouTube, from the 5/8 part.*

The next day, Rui Xi stumbles into Shen Le on campus. Shen Le is there to spy on the high jumpers training – more precisely, on Quan’s training. Rui Xi insists she is a guy, which Shen Le doubtfully accepts. He literally heaves Rui Xi over his shoulder and seeks out Quan. He taunts Quan again, this time making reference to how light Rui Xi is, and patting her bottom. Quan is furious and demands Shen Le put her down. The moment he does that however, Rui Xi slaps Shen Le, and Quan catches Shen Le’s arm in time before it hits her back. Shen Le then suspects, smirking, a boy’s love relationship between the two, leaving with a reiteration of his challenge. Quan returns to his training, despite his knee still appearing to cause him pain. He considers himself not worthy enough to even have a rival. After Quan leaves to go back to their dorm room, Rui Xi lingers to tell her story to Quan’s dog, a catharsis for her. She reminisces about being fat and a couch potato, until she sees Quan high jumping on TV and is inspired to do something other than eating. She loses weight dramatically. Unbeknownst to her, Quan overhears her story. He is still listening when she reflects that her admiration for Quan is a kind of love. When she begins to sneeze, Quan comes up and gives her his coat, saying he heard nothing and Rui Xi believes him. Quan then considers how Rui Xi has been a source of motivation herself. The next morning, Quan gathers his courage and asks Rui Xi to see him jump. He fails to jump over the bar, again and again, and Rui Xi begins to cry, embracing him and telling him ‘That’s enough’. Quan is upset about not making such a basic height, but tells her he won’t give up, and that she was the reason he found the spirit to jump again. He reminds her she is his ‘number 1 fan’.

Mei Tian tells Rui Xi it is Quan’s fearing the pain of the old accident and the possible pain of a new one: that his body has all healed, but his mind remembers the accident, that he cannot jump at the moment. He encourages Rui Xi’s support of Quan as his ’strength to go on’. Rui Xi is delighted at her importance, and Mei Tian manages to scare her away with his joke about showing her ‘nude pictures’ – which actually aren’t nude. In class, Rui Xi ruminates on how to support Quan without seeming too feminine or in love; and bursts out in the middle of the lesson with ‘Hey man, what’s up?!’ – her take on male bonding. Xiu Yi promises to help her that night. However, Quan makes for bed early, so Rui Xi tries to delay him sleeping. She ends up giving him an innocent back massage, which in turn ends up with them accidentally falling in a suggestive pose on the floor, faces inches from each other, neither moving to get up. Xiu Yi and the other guys come in, look at the scene, and demand to know what they were doing. Xiu Yi ironically gives a solution that ties both their differing answers together and makes it all a joke. The guys then break in, producing alcohol, to celebrate Quan’s taking up high jump again. Quan is given water instead of alcohol though, on account of his ‘pervert’ or ‘kissing monster’ tendencies when drunk. He is also very sensitive to alcohol, being easily intoxicated, as it appears. Rui Xi seems to have a liver of steel on the other hand.

After some time, the other guys (apologies for the constant incongruity, ‘other guys’ – I just can’t be bothered to find out what your names are for small roles such as yours *cackle* ) sprawl out on the floor in drink-sodden slumber. Rui Xi, awake, begins to cover the guys up with blankets, while Quan cleans up. He mistakes a glass of alcohol for water, and drinks a gulp. He winds up drunk and kisses Rui Xi.

End of Episode.

So…Hmm…

A static episode, with nothing particularly new developing between Quan and Rui Xi – with the exception of Shen Le’s arrival. Shen Le is based on Kagurazaka in the manga, with the same presumptuous, overbearing attitude and bangless hairstyle to boot. He currently figures as the ‘villain’ character, but that should change a little as the story rolls on. A recap on the other characters in the manga: Rui Xi is Ashiya Mizuki, Yi Quan is Sano Izumi, Xiu Yi is Nakatsu Shuichi, Mei Tian is Umeda Hokuto, and Si Nan is Minami Nanba. The adorable pillows-and-cushions fluffy white dog is Quan’s, called Yujiro in the manga, while I’m not quite sure about the pinyin for the Chinese version. So far the storylines have been fairly accurate, with minor cuts and minor add-ins. The only cuts I really rue were absolutely necessary *giggle* because they involved Umeda-sensei/Mei Tian and his various passing flings, and a scene involving bikini and maracas. I can’t imagine how they would have converted that scene into film. You probably wouldn’t be able to take the show seriously after seeing something like that. Mm, I was also a disappointed with casting, but I’ve ranted enough about that earlier on, and will shut up about it now.

I do so like Xiu Yi’s nervousness around Rui Xi though. He plays his ‘habitual twitch’ scene so well I nearly hit my forehead on the table cracking myself up. Jiro is just so cute *insert girlish squeal here*.