Horimiya: Piece – 07 – Weird Is Wonderful

This episode once again reinforces how deep a bench of lovable wierdos Horimiya has at its disposal. We get more Sakura, which is never a bad thing, and she loves to unwind from studying with a manga, and is specifically addicted to Skull Ninja Konoha.

She’s so excited for the next issue that she can’t help but sing a little Konoha song on her way to the bookstore, only to be crestfallen when it’s already sold out. Fortunately, Yanagi Akane is there, having bought the last copy, and like an angel (or Kaoru-san from the manga) is willing to give it to her.

While Tooru is her primary crush throughout the first season, it can be said that Yanagi is pretty much everyone’s secondary crush. He’s a friend to all, and extremely popular due to his delicate good looks, to the point that girls Yanagi and Sakura pass by think they look like a couple.

When Sakura increases the gap between them, Yanagi is hurt and asks why. Sakura says it’s because he’s big with the ladies since he’s so cool…but Yanagi recalls all the times Sakura has supported her friends and tells her, with brutal honesty, that he’s sure she’s way cooler.

When Yuki is reading a popular Your Name. style LN about body swapping, she imagines pairs of her friends swapping personalities, which makes for some fun little moments and opportunities for the voice actors to have fun as well.

Later, while alone in the library (or at least she thought she was), Yuki slams her hands on a desk, startling Yanagi and making him drop his books. As she helps him pick them up, the backs of their hands touch and she notices how cold her hands are.

She decides to check out Tooru’s hands too, and finds that while they’re also initially cold, once he’s with her, they warm up like hers. It’s just one more sign that she and Tooru have such an effortless rapport and closeness with one another—and Yuki both does and doesn’t want to get closer still.

Kyouko only has a couple of lines this week, but what Izumi we do get is him being both a good protective senpai and someone who understands what his kohai is going through. Two of Sawada Honoka’s classmates through her scarf out the window, he asks her if she’s being bullied, and she nonverbally confirms it. This leads Izumi to glare up at the two girls and mouth “Die, uggos”

Contrary to what Sawada thinks of Izumi, he does know what it’s like to not have friends and feel alone. And he didn’t go around begging his friends to be his friends; it happened naturally over time as he met Kyouko and found things to talk about and laugh about with the others. He believes she’ll be fine too. The friends will come, or they’ll be missing out.

Sawada gets further support from Remi and Yuki, who admit that Sawada is a little weird, but as Remi puts it, “weird is wonderful”, and both she and Yuki say in unison that the other is weirder than Sawada. Sawada also simply has a better rapport with third-years than her own year, but that changes when she overhears the art club members not getting enough recruits.

Sawada takes it upon herself to move the poster to a more visible and high-traffic area. Turns out her classmates were mistaken about this bulletin board being just for third years, as President Sengoku even gives her a ride on his shoulders so she can move it. The art club girls hear from another classmate what Sawada did, and they thank her for it. Thus, a conversation is started, and Sawada finally forms a connection with her classmates.

It’s all very warm and cozy and sweet, and the episode is given the perfect capper: the ED for the anime adaptation of the in-universe manga Skull Ninja Konoha. Even better, the catchy ending theme is sung by none other than Sakura and Yanagi’s seiyuu, Kondou Reina and Fukuyama Jun! That’s a really nice touch.

3-gatsu no Lion – 36

We start things off with Shimada and Yanagihara inspecting a conspicuously cool and high-quality poster prominently featuring Kiriyama and Souya’s upcoming commemorative match. Takanori says he spared no expense because he needs interested eyes and ears on the match, and because Shimada and Yanigahara’s “sickly” match involving hacking coughs and stomach pains simply wasn’t the most marketable shogi, so limited resources have to be allocated where they’ll be most effective.

Rei isn’t concerned with the poster composition or style, but on studying for his very first match against Souya Meijin. He’s so immersed in game notes he initially doesn’t realize Hayashida-sensei has joined him on the roof.

Rei takes the opportunity to relay to his teacher that Kawamoto Hinata’s troubles would thankfully seem to be resolved, before once again lamenting how he wasn’t able to do anything. Hayashida asks Rei if she said that to Hina (he did) and whether she responded by saying that wasn’t true (she did). Results don’t reach people, and the world doesn’t revolve around them.

With that, Rei and Souya depart for their journey to the site of the commemorative match in Morioka, Iwate, and Rei is overwhelmed by the fanciness of the hot springs hotel room and facilities in which he’ll have free reign.

One thing I love about 3GL is its geographic accuracy; it only took fifteen seconds on Google Maps to locate Lake Gosho, the Tsunagi Hot Spring, and the Hotel Taikan where he’s staying. While strange fantasy worlds are cool, so are places I can actually go and experience the highly alkaline waters of the Tsunagi springs, and their naturally moisturizing salicic acid, for myself.

But like I said, Rei is easily overwhelmed, and what should be a haven of peace and relaxation is more like a storm. Granted, were I to go, I wouldn’t have to deal with an evening reception with speeches, Q & A, flowers, signings, etc. This is the big leagues, and it’s a lot for someone as reserved and bashful as Rei to endure.

Rei observes Souya, who is much older despite his looks, navigating the same choppy waters with aplomb…until he doesn’t. Souya apparently reaches his limit of human interaction before the festivities have ended, resulting in him delivering the wrong rehearsed answers to questions, and not reacting at all when a hostess spills wine all over his white suit, the only one he brought to Iwate.

Souya has always been a bit of a cautionary future look at Rei if he devotes his life to shogi and shogi alone. If Souya ever had something like the Kawamotos (or Kyouko for that matter) in his life, he doesn’t seem to anymore, and as a result, he lives for shogi and shogi alone.

One attendee calls him a “demon of shogi” who can only hold his “human form” for so long. However far in the world of shogi Rei wishes to go, he doesn’t want to go so far he doesn’t even know when he looks like he was slashed with a chainsaw.

And yet, Rei cannot deny that Souya’s total dedication and complete lack of distractions has made him so formidable a shogi player that he’s nigh unbeatable. When the demon emerges the next day for the match, he’s switched from his irreparably stained suit to traditional Japanese dress; all silver and white as always.

And Rei forebodingly reports that the morning of their match, an unseasonable typhoon began creeping up to the Japanese archipelago, so for the next few days he’ll have to deal with storms both within and without the shogi venue.