One Who Has a Perfect Heart

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Mahoromatic
23rd November 2001 24 mins Season 1 Episode 8

As SAINT combat android Tou Ryuga enters the lives of Suguru and his friends, disguised as a substitute teacher, Suguru becomes aware that some sort of connection exists between Ryuga and Mahoro. To further understand their relationship, Suguru invites all of his friends, as well as both Ryuga and Saori to a party at his house. At the same time, Mahoro is becoming more and more aware that her view of herself - as well as her relationship to Suguru - is changing the more she time she spends living with him. Originally, she saw herself as merely atoning for causing Commander Misato's death, but as the days go by, she comes to realize that what she is truly looking for is a place to belong, a home to be able to take care of and come back to, and people to care for. In contrast, Ryuga's self-examination shows that he sees his entire raison d'etre as fighting - and defeating - Mahoro. His entire identity is of a warrior who was defeated once but is desperate for a second chance, because without it, he is nothing. The party at Suguru's house, where Ryuga comes to realize that Suguru, despite suspecting the depth of Mahoro's past is still unaware of his role in it, sets the stage for the final confrontation between the two combat androids. However, Suguru's intervention means that the actual duel will take place two days later, in a mutually agreed-upon location. With the time and place of the duel now determined, Mahoro again faces the fact that Suguru still has no knowledge of her impending death. She has already caused him immeasurable pain once, and is left to wonder - it is worth living just a few more months with him if the end will still be same pain.

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Season 1 · Episode 9

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With the time and place of the final duel with Tou Ryuga now set, Mahoro really has nothing left to lose, and uses the opportunity to ask Suguru out on a "date" to Yokohama. The effect is predictable: both him and Saori are prompted to imagine all the romantic implications of such a situation, and of course, when Mahoro and Suguru finally depart, Saori is right there, pursuing them on her Vespa. It's an uneven match, but the woman certainly gets points for persistence... The "date" itself is absolutely idyllic, as per Mahoro's expectation of "fun, tea, fun, lunch...and then more fun!" - an amusement park trip, shopping, lunch, then the warm early fall evening at a park. And when she reveals Ryuga's true identity to Suguru, he is not particularly surprised. Later on still, as Sugur and Mahoro are gazing over the nighttime city, she tells him that since beginning to work at the house, she has been able to find happiness. But when in Suguru's reply, it is clear that he knows there is much more about her - and about her relationship to him - that she is not telling, Mahoro can't help but face the full weight of reality: her past, her loneliness, and the fact that she is very much living on borrowed time. Suguru then plays his hand and asks Mahoro to explain her past as a combat android when she feels she is able to do so. After they return home, Suguru, tired, goes off to bed, though despite being exhausted, he is unable to fall asleep and lies there, thinking. As soon as he heads out, though, Mahoro changes into her battle outfit and sets out for the duel with Ryuga, determined, however, to defeat him - and to come back alive...

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