[spoiler]A purposeless Shouma saved Himari and gave her a family, thus shared his apple with her; Himari was henceforth given a purpose, but keep in mind that Shouma received nothing in turn. Then Kanba gets accepted into the family and Himari gives him the bandaid to keep the pain away, thus Kanba decides he’ll do anything for her; here Himari was unknowingly sharing her apple with Kanba, because she gave him a purpose. Kanba was able to actually receive the apple because he wasn’t completely empty and devoid of purpose like Shouma himself was, as Kanba already had precious people he wanted to protect (Masako and Mario, his words on the cage are a reference to them) as such his “box†was able to connect to the outside world, if only for a moment and the apple reaches him. And when he shares it with Shouma, Shouma’s purpose becomes precisely that: Himari no Tame Ni + Kanba = Takakura Family’s wellbeing.
That’s the reason why Shouma is so single-minded about keeping the family united; because thats’ what gave meaning to his existence, as such was what he inherited that day Kanba shared his apple with him. He, however, still remains kind of empty and from that comes his apparent uncapability to love, but Ringo comes around to change all that. When Ringo (whose name speaks for itself) comes around, she effectively becomes an apple for Shouma, a “whole†one all to himself, and she fulfills the part of Shouma that had remained closed-off to the world. He isn’t able to accept it however until he lets his barries down. The key difference here is that Ringo’s metaphorical apple didn’t give him a purpose, as he already had one, but gave him the will to break the chains of fate and be assertive, which is what he lacked.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Oh god, Kanba is such a badass. I would totally go gay for him.
[Image: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwnhduCvvV1qga2cho1_500.gif]
“Shoma, I have obtained…true lightâ€
And his screams in this episode ;__;[/spoiler]