I will say they did a pretty good job here combining the ski trip and the mystery of the missing memories. It was an interesting idea to approach it like this. Having the cast slowly realize that they were missing something and then having the struggle for Yu to recover his memory of Marie. It’s been an interesting break with Marie being gone and just focusing on the main group again.

There was a lot of laughs to be had here and I appreciated an event where the guys really didn’t have to suffer for the comedy. Not that there wasn’t any suffering at all, but it wasn’t the main part of the episode and they had a lot of ways to keep things entertaining out there. Plus I always enjoyed skiing so I think it’s a fun way for the group to celebrate their last big fun event together.

The big thing of course in the episode was the group just realizing that they were missing something. The core of it came to Yu who just realized something was wrong with that dream of his and having those weird feelings about things. What did help him figure that out though was the others starting to bring things up and him realizing that something didn’t make sense. Everyone else might have been able to just shrug off anything that didn’t make sense, but he just couldn’t.

There was just too much that didn’t make sense there. How they didn’t have a ruined musical performance without Marie, who bought those clothes, etc. They really went above and beyond to integrate Marie with the main group in this anime and it really all paid off here. They could do this great memory challenge because they had all those events that didn’t work without her, those pictures she was in, etc. She was a key part of this group and her presence wasn’t one that couldn’t be missed. Of course they couldn’t figure out who was missing, but they knew someone was missing.

It all came together there with Yu’s fall and struggle to remember. I’m still unsure about all the factors involved in him remembering Marie, but clearly something was going on there. That storm that no one else experienced was definitely for his benefit. He could pick up on Marie’s presence and slowly she started to reintegrate into his memories. Finally that comb of hers returned to him and it was all clear. So much of Marie is mystery so not surprising that comb that vanished in the TV world could make its way to him now.

The rest of the episode had some really fun moments in it that’s for sure. The Teddie and Yukiko race down the mountain was pretty entertaining especially in how it all worked out. A good move by Teddie to avoid taking out Yu and Rise, but unfortunately Yosuke had to end up as the comedic sufferer for that scene XD. At least his snowboarding actually went pretty well. Poor Naoto definitely lacks in the skiing skills department. I’m a bit surprised that she is that bad at it considering she seems pretty overall talented. But I guess it’s not something she’d go to do by herself and thus never would have picked up.

Teddie sure figured out how to step on a landmine himself there with how he scared the life out of Rise, Naoto, and Chie. Sure a bit cliche that those three were scared of ghosts, but Yukiko was the one having the most fun so I think it balances out. Plus there was nothing more fun than watching those girls plan out the annihilation of Teddie XD. They were out for blood there.

There isn’t that much to say other than it was an episode that advanced the mystery a little and set things up for their next rescue. This time it being one that wasn’t covered in the original show, so we should actually get to see the full picture this time. I will say they kind of ended it a bit awkwardly since they probably should have had more time spent being surprised that they remembered Marie instead of looking resolute about the rescue. But I guess they wanted the focus to be on the atmosphere being one of having a big battle ahead.
Score: B+