Natsuiro Kiseki – Anthropomorphism of the Rock
As most of the current Spring anime is nearing the 10th episode mark, I decided that it’s time I start catching up, and one of the show I picked up is Natsuiro Kiseki.
Immersing through the perspectives of four childhood friends, you will come across a sacred rock, an omnipotent wish-granting Holy Grail rock. By wishing earnestly on the rock, it will bestow upon it’s wisher their desired wish, and magic will take care of the rest.
Most of the commenters on this post provided an interesting viewpoint, that “the rock has a personality on it’s own.” To take things further, isn’t it possible to state that the rock possesses a mind, spirit, soul and personality altogether? Just like how a human’s outer physical body houses the similar spiritual elements? If so, the rock may indeed bear some level of self-consciousness.
I would like to describe the rock best as a “guardian” of sort, or to take things deeper, perhaps “doting parent” would even works. The rock might had retained some level of self-consciousness aforementioned, and to prove my point, the successful rate of the wishes granted by the rock isn’t fixed. At times, it works, and at times it doesn’t, sadistically teasing the girls. Any patterns or rules thought up by the girls in regards to the wish-granting rock are completely thrown out of the roof. This is one reason which points to the fact that the rock isn’t granting wishes mechanically. It is as if the rock is choosing which wish to be granted, and which wish to be overruled. However, in both cases, it was clearly for the greater good of the four childhood friends.
Thinking back during the times when the rock was granting wishes, it may seem like it’s just doing a simple act of bestowing wishes upon the girls, however, through experiencing the magic, the girls learned more things about themselves, and those around them. Take a few earlier cases as examples, Yuka switched bodies with Saki at one point, due to the fact that she admired Saki’s maturity, and made a wish subconsciously to the rock. While this garnered her some benefits, she learned the cold, hard truth; no matter what kind of magic she used, Yuka is Yuka and there is no changing that. Even when she switched bodies with Saki, every outsiders only look at the outer shell which now appears as Saki, and not beneath the mask, Yuka.
There was also an episode where the rock created a “clone” for Natsumi. The clone acts and reacts on the same mindset and wavelength of the original, it is as if Natsumi is looking at herself in a mirror. Through this effective self-scrutiny, she was able to infer her own weaknesses and shortcomings and through fixing these flaws, she was able to become a better person.
As for the latter case, the rock sometimes may choose not to grant them their wishes, probably in order for them to exert an effort. We humans, mostly tend to rely on the most easiest way out when given the chance, and a wish-granting rock is all we need. The rock perhaps choose not to offer them some of their wish, and leave it to themselves to solve it. This again, would make them become stronger as a person and become more independent without relying on the most convenient routes. And indeed, one way or the other, they managed to solve their own problems without depending on the rock; Daiki and his friend reconciled with each other, and the girls even stopped the rain, by ordinarily wishing through the Teru Teru bozu!
Indeed, the rock had been staying in the background for the latter episodes, it is proof that the four childhood friends had been growing up as person. They know that just by purely wishing for the desired outcome won’t be as satisfactory compared to reaching the end-result through pure dedication and motivation.
deluscar 
The rock for me is like the 5th member. I don’t want to spoil you on what happened on the recent episode but the rock shows mobility. It seems like it can follow the girls and be there if they need it.
Ooh I watched that episode already, and that’s exactly my point, the rock supports them whenever they need it, even when they are far apart.
If we take it as a shinto-kami rock, the guardian with a mind of its own idea makes a lot of sense. Nice thought.
Indeed, that explain it’s freewill patterns.
I like this part of the series. As you said, I like that the rock chooses to grant only certain wishes, usually the ones that will benefit the girls in more ways than one. From an audience’s point of view, it doesn’t get too boring watching this series. Otherwise, the girls would’ve been idol already without any efforts or Saki would’ve stayed behind with her friends and life’s too predictable and dull.
The rock’s magic only serve to support the girls, it doesn’t become a deus ex machina, lol xD If they used the rock like the ways you mentioned, this anime wouldn’t had interested me just as much. The way the girls experienced new knowledges of themselves and their surroundings is the best part of the show.
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