Kimi no Iru Machi – 10

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Haruto sees off Asuka, then decides to give Yuzuki the necklace he bought her two years ago, as a birthday present from a ‘friend’. Haruto takes the bus to his hometown. Kaga, Takashi, and Nanami are wating at the stop, and they go to a hot spring. The next day while biking around, he runs into Yuzuki. They go to their old high school where Rin is visiting. That night everyone gathers for a dinner party, with Yuzuki helping Haruto in the kitchen, and then biking to the market to buy snacks. When they return from fireworks, Yuzuki pulls Haruto aside, telling him there’s something she needs to say.

Haruto and Asuka are at a crucial point in their relationship, and they both seem ready to take it to the next level; Asuka dispenses any doubt of this when she coyly promises they’ll “pick up where they left off” when she returns from taking care of her mom. And Haruto wants to move past Yuzuki as an object of romance and start thinking of her as a good – but platonic – friend. He does this in a funny way: by giving Yuzuki a very expensive necklace he was going to give her when they were still dating. While giving it to Asuka instead would have been worse, we still don’t think this was a good idea. Another bad idea? Spending the time you’d planned to spend with your girlfriend with your ex and her flirty devil-spawn sister.

We know, we know, it was just a coincidence. But smaller coincidences have ended up torpedoing stronger relationships. In the OVA we were firmly rooting for Haruto and Yuzuki, but here we find ourselves hoping against hope that Haruto and Asuka can make it. Yuzuki is the past; Asuka is the future. Yet this week Haruto returns to the past in the form of the town where he and Yuzuki lived some of the happier – and definitely simpler – days of their lifetimes. If Yuzuki is pulling Haruto aside to say she still loves him, we wouldn’t be surprised, and at this point, we wouldn’t be surprised if Haruto does something stupid and/or unfaithful.

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Rating: 8 (Great)

Stray Observations:

  • Haruto gets picked up in a badass van by his high school mates, and all he does is complain? Jackass.
  • This felt like an even more lush and beautifully-drawn episode than usual, likely owing to the change of scenery from urban to rural.
  • Our advice for Takashi vis-a-vis Rin: STAY AWAY, MAN. That girl likes head games.