Whisper Me a Love Song – 04 – The New Senpai

Himari is over the moon when Yori tells her she’s joining the band, because it means she’ll get to see her on stage. But when Himari asks why Yori did it, it reveals her blind spot. Yori tells her she joined because it might make Himari fall for her, and Himari checks herself, saying she “looks up to” her rather than “loves” her for doing something like that for her.

The band practices mean they won’t see each other on the rooftop after school as often, but when Yori suggests they have lunch together on those days instead, Himari eagerly agrees. Yori is a little out of synch with her new bandmates at the studio at first, but when she maintains eye contact with them—particularly Aki, who likes that—she starts to actually have a lot of fun playing.

Himari, suddenly faced with a couple days a week of Yori-less time, decides to check out a club. She settles on the cooking club, for which she only needs to come twice a week. The club also has just one other active member: the beautiful Satomiya Momoka, who immediately picks up on the fact Himari might want to cook something for someone special. That said, Momoka also takes an immediate shine to the adorable Himari.

When Himari informs Yori of her new club situation, and the fact she’s bascially hanging out alone with another senpai, it’s actually a dagger for Yori. Here she is, already feeling a distance between herself and Himari since she asked her out, and now there’s a new pretty senpai in the picture.

When her next practice goes poorly Aki gets her to talk about it, and does her best to comfort Yori, patting her on the head and assuring her she has nothing to worry about as no other girl could hold a candle to her. It helps a little, in the moment, but Aki can’t do anything about the little anxieties sure to pop up in Yori’s head in the middle of the night.

Aki is comforting and reassuring Yori because she doesn’t want the girl she loves to be gloomy or upset. But when Miki invites Himari over and has to take a club phone call, Aki suddenly finds herself one-on-one in her home with the source of Yori’s anxiety. Aki doesn’t mince any words, asking Himari if she’s fallen in love with Yori yet.

When Himari says not yet, Aki continues tobe direct: she’s in love—romantic love—with Yori. If Himari isn’t, maybe she could step aside let her have her? I feel bad for Himari, who genuinely does love Yori but not in the same way as Yori loves her, and is struggling to find the right answer, suddenly being placed on the back foot by someone far more confident in her love.

But honestly it’s also good to get everything out in the open here. Aki had been suffering in silence, and rooting for Yori all the way. But if the object of Yori’s love is, from her point view, stringing her along and “keeping her options open”, Aki’s actions here make sense. She’s looking after Yori, but also herself.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – 05 – Floating in the Shibuya Aquarium

JELEE’s first music video goes viral due to someone saying the song is cursed. This is due to the wrong file being uploaded; an earlier version in which the mic picked up Kano’s big sister lamenting in her sleep. Cursedness aside, the online feedback is still mostly positive, and JELEE gets unprecedented views and a spike in followers.

Yoru is jazzed by the positive buzz, and is excited to produce more ambitious art for the next video. She even imagines herself as a celebrity artist drawing on a tablet at the store and getting noticed.

Alas, it only takes one negative comment calling her drawings “subpar” to kill all that optimism. Add to that a famous-online illustrator named Kuroppu making some exquisite JELEE fan art, and Yoru ends up in a full-on crisis of confidence she hides behind a positive front.

Kano, attuned as she is to fronts from her idol past, notices something is off with Yoru, and surprises her (and Yoru’s little sister!) with a home visit. The first thing Kano does is change into Yoru’s school uniform, which clearly gives both of them a little thrill, but then Kano gets her to open up about what’s bothering her.

Yoru admits that she feels she might be “too ordinary” for the rest of them: a former idol, a popular VTuber and an elite musician. She worries she’s not contributing to JELEE and doesn’t belong. That’s when Kano squeezes Yoru’s cheeks with her palms, draws close, and tells her she loves her art.

That love is what started all this. If not for Yoru’s jellyfish art, Kano wouldn’t have started singing, and she wouldn’t have met Mei or Kiui. She has faith in Yoru’s art, and so tells her to have more faith in herself. But all the likes generated by Kuroppu’s fan art continues to bother her, like a tiny splinter of inadequacy in her brain.

During a live online Q & A that Kano aces thanks to her publicity experience, someone asks if they could use Kuroppu’s work instead of Yoru’s. Kano shuts down that notion, but on the train Yoru asks her whose art is better: the fan art, or hers, before the train stops and she pretends she didn’t ask anything.

Kano seemingly gets off, and Yoru retreats into her coat, but when she opens her eyes, Kano is back, having again sensed something wasn’t right. They then have a little date at the aquarium, where Kano describes Yoru to a T: acting worldly while actually being sensitive, looking mature when she’s really competitive.

In other words, Yoru is a “hassle”, but a hassle Kano doesn’t mind knowing. She also promises Yoru that one day she’ll open an aquarium in Shibuya (which doesn’t have one) for her. That night, Yoru sees another piece of beautiful fan art from Kuroppu, and keeps going back to that “subpar” comment about her art that started her downward spiral.

She lies awake in bed staring at the ceiling, until she remembers Yoru expressing her faith in her, and she gets up, switches on the light and her tablet, and gets to drawing. She doesn’t want to resent Kuroppu, and she wants to like her own art without feeling like it’s lacking in some way.

To that end, she returns to her mural and adds her pen name Umitsuki Yoru below her real name she crossed out, then really gets deep into studying jellyfish and practicing drawing, taking her craft seriously for the first time in a while. The next drawing she sends to Kano inspires her all over again.

When Yoru hears Kano’s praise, the tears wells up due not to frustration, but joy and relief. She’s starting to understand she can’t please everyone, and can’t let that be the prerequisite to her happiness. If she can make Kano happy with her art, she’ll be happy.

After completing and uploading their next (and first “non-cursed” music video, the four girls celebrate New Years together, making a nighttime shrine visit. Kiui heads to the restaurant early while Mei runs back to get a more favorable fortune, leaving Yoru and Kano alone together yet again.

While Yoru initially felt too embarrassed to text everyone that she hopes she was able to shine a bit brighter after the first video, after this one she has no such qualms about being a little sappy and vulnerable with Kano. Hearing Yoru say she wants to get even better at drawing to build her confidence makes Kano blush.

After the two play around in the snow, Yoru turns to Kano and tells her she likes her singing and likes her too, then thanks her for giving her the chance to draw again. Kano is moved enough by Yoru’s sentiments to lean in close and kiss her on the cheek. Yoru jumps up in shock, and the two share a pregnant silence before Kano runs off to join Kiui.

There’s no mistaking what has been happening with these two ever since they met: there’s a clear romantic undercurrent driving both their friendship and artistic collaboration. Yoru inspired Kano to keep singing, and now Yoru acknowledges Kano who inspired her to keep drawing.

Will that stolen kiss result in future awkwardness? Is it Kano who is interpreting what they have as romantic while Yoru doesn’t, or did the kiss awaken Yoru to the possibility they feel the same thing about one another? We saw what one negative comment did to Yoru; what will one little kiss do? We shall see.

Until then, it’s good to see such well-established subtext finally be made explicit, with all the possibilities and messiness that entails. It culminates in my favorite Jellyfish episode yet, which closes with another lovely music video.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 03 – Different Kind of Love

Kino Himari learned back in middle school that others felt a different kind of love than she did: a romantic love that would cause them to pair off. This caught Himari by surprise, and even in the present doesn’t really get it. All she gets is that Asanagi Yori loves her in a different way that she loves her, and so isn’t sure how to respond.

When Himari opens up to her best bud Miki she gets some clarity: loving one another the exact same way is allowed! Not only that, sometimes things don’t work out with people who do love and date each other, as Miki did with a boy in middle school. She advises Himari not to overthink things, but simply ask herself what she wants out of a relationship with Yori.

While she now understands she has options, Himari still doesn’t want to choose an option that will hurt Yori or sour their relationship. After chatting with her mom about how she and her dad met and started going out, she finally determines a way to verbalize her feelings to Yori. Brass tacks: she doesn’t love her romantically, but she doesn’t not love her either. She wants to spend more time with her, and maybe those feelings will evolve.

Yori is already so in love with Himari that just getting her text explaining the delay in her response makes her happy beyond reason. So to get such an honest, earnest answer that clearly took a lot of thinking, the conversation ends with Yori liking Himari more than ever. Himari worries she’s being selfish, but Yori doesn’t share that concern. She’s simply happy Himari is giving her a chance, and she’s not going to squander it.

Yori now knows what she must do in order to date Himari for real: get her to fall for her. She believes the way to her heart is her eyes and ears, so she goes to Aki, Kaori, and Mari and asks if she can join their band. Since they’re vocalist quit and won’t be coming back, they’re in a bind and this solves that. But it doesn’t solve the fact that Aki is clearly still harboring feelings Yori—the same feelings Yori feels for Himari. I shall embrace the chaos.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 02 – Russian Blue

Yori and Himari have made a habit of sharing their time on the rooftop, and Himari is not shy about telling Yori how she loves her singing. Yori finds her thoughts of late are dominated by the painfully adorable Himari. When she pats her head, Himari blushes, but when she takes off, Yori blushes even more. She’s not sure what she’s doing, but she knows she likes Himari.

She encounters Himari waiting outside her class at lunch, and on Aki’s urging they exchange contact info. This is how Aki learns that Himari is the girl Yori is into (and we later learn that Aki is still into Yori herself). Since it’s raining, Himari meets Yori in her classroom after school, and asks her if she wants to go on a date to a cat-themed merch pop-up at the station on Sunday. Yori enthusiastically accepts, and it’s First Date Time.

Yori shows up effortlessly mature and stylish, while Himari is a tiny goddess of cuteness in her maroon dress and white blouse. Yori compliments her and Himari is glad she dressed up for the occasion. At lunch Himari feeds Yori, and the two end up holding hands to not get lost at the packed pop-up. Himari picks out matching phone straps for them to share, and Yori buys them as a gift for her.

At a music store, Himari tells Yori she wants to see “both sides” of her: the gentle solo artist on the rooftop and the snazzy frontwoman in the band. Yori decides she’ll give the band thing a try after all. Throughout the date, she’s is on cloud nine. Just being beside Himari makes her happy, and all Himari has to do is smile or praise her for that happiness to soar even higher.

When she expresses as much to Himari before they part ways, Himari laughs it off, saying being her girlfriend would be great. But as she walks away, Yori takes hold of her arm and tells her, in no uncertain terms, that she wants to go out with her, for real for real, and asks if she’ll think about it.

When Himari does so in the bath that night, she worries that her love and Yori’s are different. But then again, she also asks herself what love even is. In any case, the cat’s out of the bag and there’s no putting it back: Himari knows that Yori-senpai has feelings for her. I wonder how she’ll choose to respond to them.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 01 (First Impressions) – A Happy Misreading

First-year high schooler Kino Himari joins her longtime friend and classmate Miki to watch her older sister play in a band composed of third-years to welcome the new students. The moment Himari sees the cool beauty of the band’s frontwoman was love at first sight. When Himari catches the older, taller girl by the shoe lockers, she uses those precise words: “I fell in love at first sight.”

Those words, combined with the enthusiasm and intensity with which Himari says them, make it possible to interpret it as a confession of love. The fact the singer, one Asanagi Yori, finds Himari incredibly cute and her smile surpassingly pretty, means the “love at first sight” was mutual.

Yori reports this enchanting encounter to her friends, who partly tease her for having finally found someone, and also encourage her to respond to the girl in however way she sees fit; the better to inspire her to write the love song they want her to compose. She doesn’t know Himari’s name, but thanks to Miki, Himari knows Yori’s, along with her birthday, blood type, and tendency to sing songs on the roof.

So when Himari appears on the roof, Yori works up the courage to tell her she fell in love at first sight too, and learns that Yori wasn’t talking about falling into romantic love with Yori personally. Instead, she used the words “love at first sight” to describe how she became a fan of Yori and her music on the spot.

At first, Yori is crestfallen, and embarrassed for misinterpreting Himari’s words so totally. But she wasn’t really that far off. Words are imprecise in these matters, but she cannot deny she likes Himari and wants to keep seeing her and especially her smile. So when Himari agrees to watch her perform on the roof every day, Yori takes that as an opportunity to her Himari to fall for her even harder.

Himari may not be aware of Yori’s feelings for her, but only because she’s in a different mindset. Perhaps in time, Yori’s feelings will come through loud and clear. In the meantime, the two have such good chemistry together that they spend their first rooftop session simply chatting, and Yori ain’t mad about that at all.

Misunderstanding or not, Yori’s feelings aren’t going away, so she might as well keep playing and singing for Himari in this effortlessly sweet, gentle, and charming story about different kinds of love coming together and resulting in a new, unique, and beautiful sound.

A Condition Called Love – 01 (First Impressions) – No Normal Person

All romance series this season will have to compete with the all-timer that was Dangers in My Heart, along with the pretty solid Sign of Affection from Winter. Like Sign, a girl who has never fallen in love has the attention of a hottie. Like Dangers, there’s the visual mismatch in terms of height and looks, only with the sexes reversed.

While Kyoutarou is a lot more emo about it, this show’s lead Hinase Hotaru is similar in that she’s content with a life without romance, because like Kyou deep down, she doesn’t think there’s any chance she’ll ever experience it. It’s less a matter of her thinking she’s deficient, just different. Not made for love.

I’ve heard some rumblings about Hananoi Saki being problematic and more than a little pushy when it comes to pursuing Hotaru. That’s fair; after all, Hotaru politely declines and he begins doing everything he can to make her like him, things she never asked for.

But he does, eventually, apologize say he’ll stop bothering her. At that point, he’s cut his hair for her, bought her a delicious pork bun, nearly caught his death of cold looking for her missing hairpin. While in Hananoi’s orbit, Hotaru can’t deny she’s thinking about him more, and feeling new feelings. Heck, she even yells at him out in the snow, and she is not a yeller!

When Hananoi is ready to walk away, Hotaru grabs his sleeve, and says she never thought she didn’t like him, and asks if it’s possible for “someone like her” to learn what it means to love someone special. Hananoi, clearly the bigger romantic of the two, assures her she will, so she takes him up on his offer to go out with each other.

One could say Hananoi “wore down” Hotaru, but I see it more as him piquing her interest in something she doesn’t know anything about but wants to learn. Similarly, Hananoi has a lot to learn too, like about how far is too far for someone else’s sake. His idea of love and hers are very different, but I think the ideal place for both of them is somewhere in the middle.

While visually not as impressive as Danger or Sign, it gets the job done just fine. The OP is a legit bop, the ED is also a nice vibe, and most importantly, the immortal Hanazawa Kana brings her A-game to the effortlessly charming Hotaru’s voice. Even in this Spring of Restraint (we’re trying to focus on no more than 10-11 shows and more concise writeups) this one has a good chance of staying on my list.

The Dangers in My Heart – 25 (Fin) – Their Everything

Kyoutarou most definitely ended up in quite the fix last week, but even as girl and love talk ensues, the other girls don’t suspect he’s beneath Anna’s blankets. When the lights go out, they almost kiss, but Kyou wants to talk to her about something first. This makes her leap up in bed and attract the others’ attention all over again, but thankfully one of the guys hanging outside from a sheet rope provides the perfect diversion for Kyou to escape.

The next day becomes all about finding the right time and place to actually talk to Anna, but it occurs to him: what does he want to actually say to her? He figures it out when the two end up in the middle of  tunnel made of gate arches, through which a couple will be together forever if they emerge hand-in-hand.

Anna bursts into tears, owning up to wanting to do the audition but feeling awful for not having fun on the trip. Kyou is finally able to lift his mask, revealing he’s also crying, when he confesses that he likes her out loud for the first time.

Not only that, but he wants her to keep being Anna, which means working as hard as she possibly can at what she loves, which is performing. He’s even prepared a bunch of snacks that will hold her over on the bullet train home.

They run to the station hand-in-hand, evading Kankan’s  congratulations flashmob (Hara is not so lucky, alas). Chihiro remains as oblivious as ever, showing up just when Anna is about to confess back to Kyou, but time is of the essence, so the two of them see Anna off.

When Kyou is back from Kyoto, he heed’s Anna’s invite to meet “at the usual place,” and after checking out a couple of possible locations that fit the bill, he ends up back where their romance began: in the library, with her munching on illicit snacks. She’s still in her audition clothes, looking like a picture of spring with a red top and pink skirt.

When he confessed to her, Kyou told her that he was able to figure out who he was and like himself and the world around him, all thanks to Anna. Now it’s Anna’s turn to tell him that she was able to learn the same, and learn to like herself, thanks to him. And while Kyou is willing to subordinate himself to her career, and only be “the tiniest part of her life,” that’s not enough for her. He’s the most important thing to her.

He’s the most special; her everything. She doesn’t like him, she loves him, and makes it plain as the gleaming afternoon light hits their faces just right. She takes his hands in hers and asks if he’ll go out with her. Both of his eyes visible and looking right at her, he answers in the affirmative with a sheepish nod. THEY DID IT, FOLKS. THEY’RE OFFICIALLY A COUPLE. Thank goodness! Not that I had any doubts…

While the stirring piano-and-strings theme that has ended so many episodes tended to be subdued and almost wistful, here it takes on a triumphant, even epic bombast. And when the two try to kiss on the lips and just can’t quite find the right angle, even bumping heads, they don’t fret.

They’ll figure out how to do it with practice. After giggling, Anna manages to sneak a peck on the cheek that proves a critical hit for Kyou, and then she proceeds to frolic about, feeling lighter than air, and shouts “Yippee!!” into the hall before heading out.

Kyou gathers himself and chases after her, and takes her hands in his with the jaw-droppingly gorgeous sunset as a backdrop. The dangers in both their hearts have been well and truly reckoned with, and they have chosen to love and be with one another.

It’s as perfect an ending to a romantic show as you could ask for, and even if we never see these two lovebirds again, you just know they’re going to be fine, not just because of who they are, but the friends and family they have. They love them, they love each other, and most importantly, they love themselves.

Shows this wonderful and perfect and moving just don’t come around that often. This might just be my favorite romantic series of all time. It’s been a hell of a ride, and if the creators wish to continue it and show us what new dangers come with being boyfriend and girlfriend, I won’t mind at all!

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST +
CERTIFIED GODDAMN TEARJERKEr

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun 2nd Stage – 13 (Fin) – Stage Clear

Most of this finale is given over to Fuuka’s play, which serves as a proxy for how Fuuka has wrestled with who she is, who she wants or thinks she should be, and what she wants. Tama plays the isolated, pure Kris; Misuzawa plays the awkward yet curious Libra, and Aoi plays the clever but empty Alucia.

The play is a big hit with the audience, but Tomozaki himself is thrown for a loop when the ending on the stage turns out to be different than the one Fuuka showed him. In this ending, Kris doesn’t return to the garden to hang out with Libra and Alucia. Instead, she writes to them reporting that she’s well on her own, and congratulating them on their impending nuptials.

When the play ends, Tomozaki doesn’t go to Fuuka. He simply leaves the school, feeling that he gave things his best shot but lost, while convinced once and for all that life, while cruel, is no “garbage game.” He’s convinced Fuuka’s new ending was a rejection of him, and he’s not alone. Mimimi chases after him and tells him it’s not right how things ended, and that he shouldn’t merely take the play as the last word.

She could have just as easily said “then pick me”, but that’s not who Mimimi is. Instead, she gives him the push he needs to return to the library to ask Fuuka why she made the choice she did. And it all comes down to her not feeling right about letting her emotions overwhelm her ideals. She believes Libra could only be with Alucia, and only her selfishness would artificially keep them apart.

Tomozaki digs deep in his defense of him and Fuuka, telling her that while she came from a place of ideals and discovered emotions, he went in the opposite direction, starting without any ideals and only emotion and thanks to Aoi, finding a balance between the two.

And even when Fuuka the Writer still isn’t able to twist the ending of the play, Tomozaki presents her with the reality: he likes her, and wants them to be a couple. Libra was a locksmith in the play, and Tomozaki is able to unlock the solution for Fuuka.

And there you have it! I’ve gone on record being okay with Tomozaki ending up with Mimimi or Fuuka, but if I’m honest, he and Fuuka have already been an item for some time now. They just work, and that comfort and coziness continues even after they start dating, with Fuuka becoming just a little more demanding of him, which he doesn’t mind one bit.

Aoi couldn’t be happier with Tomozaki’s progress, because it proves that she was right to push him to change, and right about the offline game of life being worth playing. She still has a lot to teach him, and Tomozaki is looking forward to the challenges. But for now, he accepts her congratulations and reads Fuuka’s new ending to her novel that she wrote just for her.

It’s an ending in which Libra and Kris live happily ever after, having found their sky together. The only way I’d have been pissed is if Tomozaki chose no one, so I’m perfectly fine with this ending! It also featured some top-notch acting from both Kayano Ai (Fuuka) and Hasegawa Ikumi (Mimimi).

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! – 12 (Fin) – Cool Like You

This finale starts, somewhat surprisingly, with Tsubasa and Minami sharing a hotel room together. Turned out they missed the last bus home because they read the weekday schedule on a weekend (I’ve done that too many times to count). But when Tsubasa calls his dad, he tells him a friend has a hotel he’s welcome to stay at to spend more time with his friend.

Whether his dad knows this friend is a girl or not, it’s clear his dad is looking out for him. His and Minami’s date essentially continues with a sumptuous dinner. Then Minami takes her shower first, and Tsubasa fantasizes about her coming out in a towel and kissing him. Instead, she comes out fully dressed, and he’s already fallen asleep.

Minami leaves him a note and leaves, presumably having been picked up by her mom. The next we see her, she’s dropping in on Sayuri, who was hanging with her kohai friend and her friend. Minami has her carry-on, so she must be on her way to the airport. She thanks Sayuri for the advice she gave, and is determined to come back from studying abroad “just as cool” as she and Tsubasa and Rena are.

Tsubasa, meanwhile, has spend much of break holed up in his room, believing from the note that Minami didn’t like him anymore. But when a little pink hairpin falls out of his backpack, Tsubasa takes it as it was intended: a little push he needs. Sayuri texts Tsubasa like the good friend she is, and fortunately for Tsubasa his dad’s able to reschedule a meeting and drive him to the airport.

Minami’s mom can tell her daughter is nervous about her impending trip abroad, but that’s not all. Minami is also watching her phone and waiting for Tsubasa to say goodbye. She’s walking into the departure lounge when he finally makes it, taking her by the arm before she leaves. He tells her he came to return her hairpin (just as she’d planned), but that’s not all.

He had to see her again before she left, because he wanted her to know just how happy he was to move to Hokkaido and meet her, and that whenever she comes home—six months, a year—he’ll be waiting for her. That’s when Minami tells him she’s be gone for—wait for it—two weeks. That’s it! Tsubasa totally misunderstood, but now that he knows she won’t be gone long. The relief washes over him, and he can wish her good luck with a genuine smile on his face.

He no doubt counts the days when Minami will be back, and on the day of her return, she’s late for class, arriving as the teacher is takng attendance. Tsubasa doesn’t wait until lunch, but hands her the gift of her favorite konbini chicken, which she starts munching on and even feeds him. I love how they’re just in their own little world. Not even the teacher making them stay after class can harsh their vibes. Minami’s back; that’s what matters!

While initially I wanted a confession to come out of this finale, the urgency of that was based on the fear she’d be gone a long time. Since she’s back after two weeks, there’s no rush there. It was actually a wonderfully stress-relieving revelation. All I ever asked of this show was to make me smile and experience some nice feels, and it never disappointed.

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! – 11 – Symphony in Pink

This week opens with the first of many rare sights: Minami without any makeup. Of course, she’s still stunning. Watching her gaze into her mirror and wordlessly go about her beauty routine, putting extra care and thought into her appearance for her upcoming day with Tsubasa, it just felt so real and intimate.

Both that routine, and the day she’s planned for Tsubasa, are done with the amount of care someone would put in only because they care about the person they’re doing it for, and there hasn’t been any doubt about that for some time. As they hop on a train for the first leg of a three-hour journey north, they look every bit like a couple in love, finally going on a first date.

And honestly, Minami couldn’t pick a prettier place for their date than Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park, just as it’s in full bloom, resplendent in pink. It’s another instance of her wanting to show off how special Hokkaido is, while also enjoying it all the more by watching how hard it “hits him in the feels”. It means so much to her that Tsubasa is there with her, and having fun.

When stopping by the gift shop, Tsubasa buys something for Minami, but misses a chance to give it to her, as she sees go-karts, watch a concert of the opening theme played live, enjoy festival food, and ice cream, dip their feet in pools, having their photo taken together by an elderly couple while also thinking about coming back here together years from now, and praying at a shrine whose deity Minami jokingly says is for fertility … but isn’t necessarily lying.

When the sun is low and the color palette becomes even more vivid and intense, Tsubasa finally gets his chance to give Minami her gift: a promise bracelet. Extra care is put into the animation of him taking her hand in his and putting it on. If the purpose of bringing Tsubasa here was to confess to him and/or ask him to be her boyfriend, you couldn’t ask for a more perfect time or place.

Instead, Minami says what Tsubasa has been thinking a lot during their time at the park: what do other people think when they see them together. Tsubasa wants to say what first comes to mind, but is too scared, so he says they look like “two very close friends.” 

After hearing Minami’s half-hearted agreement and watching her smile become sadder, he realizes he said something horribly wrong. Even worse, it could be that his response to her may have been the clinching factor in how she’d broach the matter she wanted to talk to him about all along: she tells him she’s leaving Hokkaido to study beauty abroad.

Now Tsubasa has two problems: thinking he’s a coward unworthy of someone like Minami by saying they were just friends, and not feeling like he has any right to tell her not to leave, but stay in Hokkaido with him. After all, she tells him meeting him and watching him work so hard to adjust to life there inspired her to better herself.

Telling her not to go for his sake would trample on that inspiration, no? But again, maybe a part of Minami wants to stay, and him friendzoning them in that moment made her think he didn’t see her as anything more than a good friend. But even if that’s the impression she got, his reaction to her announcement gives her another one.

After she thanks and praises him, he suddenly gathers her into a hug, which she doesn’t resist, and blushes as bright as the nearby flowerbeds in his arms. When they do pull apart, she sees tears streaming down his shell-shocked face.

Can Tsubasa say what needs to be said to keep Minami there, or is this pretty much it for them, and her going away is a done deal? We’ll find out in the can’t-miss conclusion of a show that’s suddenly become a lot more serious and dramatic than its playful title would suggest … and I’m not complaining!

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun 2nd Stage – 08 – The One Who Gets to Choose

Mizusawa takes Tomozaki to Gumi’s all-girl’s school festival to observe, to absorb, and if possible, to flirt. He gets things started by effortlessly acquiring the contact info of one of the first cute girls he sees. By being a little goofy, a little charming, and 100% confident, he tells Tomozaki that attractive people can make themselves even more attractive: a “hotness spiral”, if you will.

They check in with Gumi, who is as apathetic about school festivals as she is about work. She can guess why two guys came to an all-girl’s school festival, and when she learns Tomozaki doesn’t have a girlfriend, he wishes him good luck with the girls in her class. Tomozaki doesn’t feel ready for this kind of thing yet, though he does manage to get a selfie with Mizusawa in “glasses.”

His last selfie is almost as easy as Tama’s. After having so many (earned) kind words about her story, Fuuka agrees to be in a selfie with Tomozaki. When they bump shoulders they both blush and Tomozaki apologizes, but it’s fine for Fuuka. I’m sure she’s nervous and shy (and indeed would prefer if he didn’t post their photo), but it’s clear she’s excited by this sudden development in their friendship. A selfie with Tomozaki is as big a deal as a selfie with her is to him.

Hinami congratulates Tomozaki on completing his photo checklist, but asks if he really has been giving the dating goal any thought. If he’s honest, he hasn’t. But we’ve known for a while now (since the first season, in fact) the two girls he wants to get closer to most. That’s Fuuka and Mimimi. Mimimi even foreshadows a later declaration by telling Tomozaki he’s “the only straight man for me,” albeit first in the context of him being in a comedy routine with her for the festival.

As Fuuka begins the task of adapting her short story to a script, she’s still struggling with the ending, which has a direct parallel to Tomozaki’s situation. She’s not sure who among two characters will end up with the hero, and what will happen to the other one. He asks who she’d choose if it were her, but she doesn’t want her personal feelings to affect her story.

Then Fuuka asks him: if there were two special people in his life, how would he choose one from among them? His answer—that he’s not in a position to make such a choice—clearly disappoints Fuuka, and probably for more reasons than one. If she’s trying to find out if he likes her, this line of questioning didn’t work.

Perhaps she’s simply talking hypothetically, but her faces and reactions suggest otherwise. But I also don’t know if she’d have any more success if she simply asked him, “Me, or Mimimi?” All I know is, it’s the rare meeting with Fuuka that ends with both of them feeling down. Mimimi spots him after school, and can tell even from the slump of his back that something’s bothering him.

She surprises him with a hearty slap on the back, hoping to cheer him up. She asks about Gumi, then why he went to an all-girls festival, and when he puts himself down, she tries to point out that he shouldn’t do that. She then proceeds to tell him all the things she likes about him, jokes about him thinking it means she likes him “that way”, and then admits that yes, she actually does like him that way. Not that I had any doubts!

The animators took special care to make Mimimi look more lovely than ever, while her seiyu Hasegawa Ikumi knocks it out of the park with her vulnerable earnestness. There’s no “psych!” or “just joking!” after she essentially confesses to Tomozaki. She simply says “See you later” and skips off, her ears burning from what just transpired. Here’s hoping Tomozaki interprets this for what it is and doesn’t misunderstand: He’s been given a choice, and he’s going to have to make one.

The Dangers in My Heart – 18 – Up to This

Just like that it’s the end of a term, and the teacher is asking Ichikawa to deliver a graduation speech for the departing students. Buoyed by Yamada’s approving looks he agrees to do a rehearsal, but he’s so nervous he speaks in a voice so small no one can hear. Now that he’s seen Yamada working hard with her modeling work, she wants to see him working hard.

He can do this, and she’ll support him all the way; she takes voice lessons, after all. Their moment is spoiled by the pickup artist walking into the gym and rejecting the confession of Mita, the girl he’s been stringing along. He tells her there’s someone else he really likes, and Mita knows he’s talking about Yamada.

Ichikawa decides right then and there that he’s going to stand proud and let Yamada see him make that speech in front of the whole school. He practices in front of his mom, and tries to recall his “old self” who was so confident (and arrogant) on the stage. He even gets a slick new haircut, though its full effect wears off after just one day without product added.

The day of graduation, Serina borrows gel from another boy and tries out some styles on Ichikawa, showing off her passion for hairstyling. I liked the bike gang look, personally!

While the other girls are focused on Ichikawa, Chihiro stares off into the distance, realizing that they may get split up in Year 3. Yamada sees the panic in Ichikawa’s eyes and leans over him, but he tells her they’ll be fine. He doesn’t know how yet, but it doesn’t hurt to believe.

Unfortunately, at some point during his morning routine Ichikawa switched out his speech script with his hair salon notes. He calls Kana, who is on the case. Even when she gets lost, she happens to encounter her co-worker who knows the way (and now I ship these two!)

Ichikawa doesn’t tell Yamada that he doesn’t have his speech, and doesn’t want to hear that he can do this, but that’s not what she softly, gently says into his ear. Instead, she simply says “It’ll be alright.” She then hands him her dog keychain for good luck.

As zero hour arrives and Kana still isn’t there, Ichikawa dreads going up on stage and suddenly acting like a chuunibyou with an arm outside his control. When his tearful teacher spots him, he shuffles him onto the stage early.

That’s when Cooltarou appears before him, assuring him Yamada and his teacher wouldn’t cheer him on if he wasn’t up to this. Not only that, but the person who trusts and likes him most of all isn’t his teacher, or his sister, or even Yamada, it’s him. This is to say, Ichikawa Kyoutarou likes himself. He just had to be reminded of that.

He proceeds to speak loudly, clearly, and confidently on the stage, as Yamada, Kana, Hara, Moeko and Serina watch in rapt awe and pride. Even when he runs out of the speech he memorized, he gives Yamada a nod and he keeps going, drawing from his extensive manga consumption to deliver one hell of an inspirational capper to the speech.

He tells those who are graduating that they must take those scary steps forward themselves, not run away, for they’ve already seen the light in their friends, family, and teachers. He tells them to try new things, learn to love themselves, and treasure all they have come to know. As Moeko says, it sounds as much like he’s graduating as the third years.

The energy he exerts also results in him passing out bakstage shortly after completing the speech, which gets thunderous applause. He comes to in the nurse’s office where Yamada is by his side. They’re interrupted by the pickup artist, who asks to talk to Yamada. Ichikawa tosses her back her dog keychain (which worked for him) and says he’s going to sleep some.

The pickup artist is fine just saying what he needs to say right there. As Mita and Moeko listen in from the hall, he says he likes Yamada. He prefaces this confession with some legitimate explanations that go beyond just thinking she’s cute; clearly he’s been watching her and knows more about her than most.

He’s happy she noticed he still likes soccer, and also happy to see her working so hard and finding success. But most importantly, he likes her, and wants her to have his graduation button. Obviously, she can’t accept it. As her eyes fill with tears, she declares she likes someone else, and clutching the keychain, says her “hands are full”, and she “can’t hold anything else.” A line from her acting job, or words from the heart?

Regardless, when Ichikawa hears Yamada say these words, he remembers other moments with her and comes to the realization that she likes him, leading to the reveal of the episode’s title, “Yamada Likes Me.” Firmly rejected, the pickup artist tries telling her that Ichikawa gave him her contact info, but Yamada doesn’t buy the last ditch chaos tactic for a second.

Not ten seconds after pickup artist fucks off to lick his wounds, Ichikawa and Yamada also leave, mere seconds apart, and walk away…in opposite directions. Ichikawa is blushing heavily, while Yamada’s face is a strawberry with spiraled eyes. Clearly they need to process What Just Happened!

But what’s been said can’t be un-said, and now Ichikawa and Yamada find themselves in new territory. Things are about to heat up, so here’s hoping they can stay in the kitchen. They just need to remember their own advice: It will be alright.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Classroom of the Elite – S3 05 – Unbreakable Ichinose Honami

Ichinose’s Class B defenders nearly come to blows with Hashimoto, whom they accuse of spreading awful rumors. Even Ayanokouji admits he suspects him, but clearly isn’t looking for a fight. Shiina defuses he situation, but the same day Ichinose returns to class, Sakayanagi barges in flanked by Hashimoto and Kamuro to inform Class B that she has proof that the rumor about Ichinose being a criminal is true.

Rather than allow Sakayanagi to continue influencing the class, Ichinose takes her fate into her own hands. She stands before the class and admits she was a criminal. Four years ago, her sister badly wanted an expensive (~$200) hairpin worn by her favorite idol. When their mother worked too many shifts, collapsed, and was hospitalized, and no one would hire a middle schooler for part-time work, Ichinose stole the hairpin from the store.

While she knew it was wrong, her sister’s smiling face gave her comfort and cover to ignore the guilt eating away from within. But when her mother saw the pin and knew Ichinose stole it, the smiles turned to tears and her guilt became an open wound. She withdrew to her room for months, letting the wound fester, but her mom urged her in a note not to give up on her dream of high school. She worked up the strength to leave her room, got back to work, and started fresh.

Back in the present, Ichinose apologizes for being such a bad leader, but her classmates don’t believe she is. Having heard her full story, they can relate to the circumstances that led to her crime, and are happy she trusted them enough to share her secret with them. Then Sakayanagi raps her cane on the floor and says “shoplifting is shoplifting”, saying Ichinose doesn’t deserve their sympathy.

Ichinose then agrees with Sakayanagi, and admits that maybe all her hard work came from a “place of pretend virtue.” Even if all that is true, and her sin will never go away, Ichinose wants to graduate with her classmates and friends, and gives a tearful and moving appeal to come with her to the very end. Her classmates all agree that they will.

As Sakayanagi’s little gambit to destroy Ichinose grows weaker and weaker in the face of Class B’s stalwart unity and Ichinose’s genuine contrition, the last nail in the coffin is the arrival of President Nagumo flanked by two teachers. Leaving aside who reported what to them, they know about the rumors, and put forth a stern warning that anyone caught spreading them will be punished.

Now that the adults are involved, Sakayanagi gracefully withdraws, but not before casting her lovely gaze on Ayanokouji. Later she congratulates him on a game splendidly played, and he admits he got her to confess her past to her when he visited her in her room. When she asked him how she could leave that room, he told her she’d just have to face what she’s done head-on. Touyama Nao puts on a powerhouse vocal performance throughout the episode, and particularly powerful here.

Ayanokouji calmly tells Sakayanagi that he shattered Ichinose’s heart, the part of it that broke healed stronger than before, allowing her to survive Sakayanagi’s assault. As for Kamuro, he knew all along Sakayanagi sent her to him, because the beer she “stole” was the same one she gave Sakayanagi, something he could tell from the sell-by date.

Sakayanagi puts her cards on the table: she launched an attack on Ichinose and drew him into it with Kamuro just to get him “interested” in her, because she wants to have a proper competition with him. If he wins in the next exam, she’ll be expelled. But if she wins, she’ll tell everyone he’s the Mastermind of Class C.

That night, Ayanokouji has one more meeting with a pretty girl: Kushida, who provided him with all of the dirt on the students in exchange for a payment of half of all his points going forward. Ayanokouji then gave that information to Vice President Kiriyama for distribution on the message boards, warning him if he didn’t comply he’d tell Manabu that Kiriyama flipped his allegiance to Nagumo.

So while Kushida provided the dirt, Ayanokouji is the one who had it circulated among the classes … including the info about Ichinose, along with the rumor about him having a crush on Kei. He did it all for the primary purpose of determining the quality and quantity of Kushida’s information, as part of a larger effort to eventually compel her expulsion.

No doubt Ichinose’s heart would break all over again if she found out Ayanokouji was the source of the rumor. Or maybe not, as the next we see her she is significantly more cheerful and lighter of foot. It’s thanks to him she was able to gather herself enough to put her old demons to rest.

But like Ichinose’s theft, Ayanokouji did what he did, and it harmed her. Whether he tells her he’ll always offer an ear to listen should she need one to make up for the harm he caused her or to just maintain good relations with a valuable ally, his offer gives Ichinose the courage to do one more thing: give him a box of belated Valentine’s Day chocolates.