The Dangers in My Heart – 12 (Fin) – Showing It All

Ichikawa thought he was pretty clever, booking his first shrine visit with Yamada a half-hour after his family’s. Master planner, this guy! Except he forgot that Yamada is always super early for everything where he’s concerned. His mom is the first to spot her, and then Kana gets a look at her, looking like a girl waiting for someone she likes. Oh, she is.

There’s no way for him to weasel out of this: his family and Yamada shrine visits are now merged. Also, Kana is totally and inescapably crushing on Yamada right from the get-go, and I not only can I not blame her, I salute her. She is a gal of refined taste. That said, Kana is plenty cute herself! I love how closely her outfit resembles her brother’s here. Oh, and he’s gone full Mikasa with that scarf.

After polite introductions —I love Ichikawa’s nearly-invisible pops asking “who is this?”—Yamada hangs back to give Ichikawa a playful shove, calling him out for the double-book. Thankfully, the other Ichikawas give the couple some space to pray. When Ichikawa can’t put his hands together, she puts her hand on his and they pray together. So damn cute.

When Ichikawa’s folks head off for lunch, Kana decides to stay with her bro and track down Yamada, wanting to make better first impression. Instead, she gets a new impression of Yamada, as she’s already stuffing her face with fried food. I love this. First she got the stunning model side, then her messy glutton side. Both sides rule.

Kana is no idiot, and when she heard Yamada say (with her mouth full) that she got some food for Ichikawa, and also saw her looking in her mirror, checking her makeup and smile, it clicks for her: her brother is not on a romantic suicide mission. He’s really got a chance!

Kana invites Yamada to their house, but as soon as Yamada takes off her coat he sees she tied the dog keychain to her belt loop. To keep Kana from seeing it, he ends up making a gesture that looks like he’s slapping her hip, embarrassing everyone.

Kana serves Yamada some leftover new years soup which she loves. Ichikawa thinks how cute she looks, and then Kana vocalizes it. She also gets a hit of Yamada’s endearingly guileless ego when she says a lot of people call her cute, and Yamada is just like “Yup, they do!”

When talk turns to how Kana should address Yamada, thinking last names seem too distant, puts Ichikawa on the spot. Both she and Kana want to hear him squirm, but Yamada also really wants to hear her first name in his mouth. When he gets it out, she flashes a warm, appreciative smile.

Kana then breaks out the albums, showing Yamada a even tinier, cuter versions of her and her bro. Ichikawa thinks he looks the same in his grade school pic, but Yamada thinks he’s completely different. I tend to agree. Then Yamada accidentally treads on a sore subject when asking about the class excursion, which Ichikawa never went on.

Reading the room, Kana elegantly excuses herself, but before she leaves, she earnestly thanks Yamada in the entryway. She can tell her brother is happier, and she knows why. She’s happy for him is all.

I’m not surprised Yamada asks if she can call her onee-san, because she’s an awesome onee-san! Kana even leaves her keychain behind for her brother, having spotted the matching one on Yamada. Now he and Yamada match, and Yamada’s never gonna be mad about that.

Yamada is eager to learn more about Ichikawa, and ends up following him to his room. She finds another photo of him in the yearbook, noting that he friend Chii went to his school, “not like she was looking for him in her yearbook (she was)”.

While he’s worried about any lingering evidence of jackin’ it, she insists on sitting as close beside him on the bed as possible. When she sees what look like Ichikawa’s two friends in that photo, he says they drifted away when they went to private school.

Yamada gets up an admires various trophies won in what he calls his “glory days”, and then Yamada finds his armor: the book about murders he carries to keep others away. For a beat, he waits for her to react, but of course she reacts how you’d expect: excited, a little impressed, and eager to learn more.

Heck, she even jokes about having a double life as a murderer; how would he know? As she does so, she lies back on his bed, making herself comfortable, and spots the corner of a girly mag under his sheet. Ichikawa panics and gos for the mag, but ends up right on top of Yamada. Every second they linger in this position, the tension rises, until Yamada slowly gets back up and off the bed. Too soon for … for That!

Ichikawa is scandalized, and feels like her spotting his mag turned her off him completely, but that’s not the reason for her haste. Whatever her goals were today, she achieved them, and doesn’t want too go too far too fast. Ichikawa feels the same way.

No, after snapping his yearbook pics and heading down the stairs, she tells him she looks forward to showing him her yearbooks next time. Ichikawa takes that for what it is: a enthusiastic future invitation to her house.

The morning of his first day back after winter break, Ichikawa wakes up from unpleasant dreams of his past loneliness and isolation, and finds a shirtless Cool Ichikawa standing in his room. He’s shirtless because he represents Ichikawa’s heart, which he wants to bear. Ichikawa wants to show everything he is to Yamada.

Due to his arm injury, Ichikawa’s mom drives him to school, and Kana tags along to wish his little bro well—and probably to catch a glimpse of Yamada. She gets that wish as Yamada leaps out from behind a car to greet him, then says good morning to his mom and sister.

Yamada inspects him and notices he’s missing his dog keychain. When he produces it, she attaches it to his button. The bell is about to ring and everyone else is inside, so Ichikawa deems it the perfect time to show more of himself to Yamada.

He tells her how he used to hate middle school, but that’s changed, thanks to her. While clearly very happy to hear this, Yamada tells him he should be thanking himself first and foremost. He kept coming to school, even when it was painful, and that led to him eventually talking to her.

Yamada hands him back his books, with the murder one that he used to keep people away at the top of the pile. He says “thank you,” but it’s more than just thanking her for helping with the books. It’s the words he’s wanted to tell her all along, more than “I like you.” Those words aren’t necessary here, because his feelings are clear. Yamada lets the books fall to their feet again, gathers him into a warm hug, and pats his head.

Ichikawa pulls Yamada closer and thanks her again, and they stay like that for a few more precious seconds before heading to class. On the way, Sekine greets them, and they pull away from each other so quickly, she assumes they’re bashful after having “done it.” They most certainly haven’t, but they did do a lot during the winter break to clarify both who they are and what they mean to each other.

Before joining Sekine in the classroom, Yamada hands Ichikawa a bag of shrimp crackers—an empty bag, like she did in one of their first close interactions many moons ago. Then she says “just joking”, takes the bag back, and produces a candy for him. As always, the strongest sign that Yamada Anna likes you is that she’ll share her precious snacks with you without hesitation.

I know episode 11 me wanted an actual confession in words from someone, but the series subverted my expectations to the point I still walked away satisfied with where we leave Yamada and Ichikawa. They remain on that road together, walking hand-in-hand more often than not, and far more locked in to each other’s emotions.

From family and “dark past” to his murder book and nudie mag, Yamada has seen a lot more of who Ichikawa is in very short order, and it has only endeared him to her more. It is Thanksgiving day as I write this, so I am mindful of what I am grateful for, and it’s anime like this!

I’m anticipating the second season more than any other Spring 2023 show, as while Ichikawa is the lead and POV character of the show, hopefully it will also delve deeper into who this girl Yamada Anna is, beyond what we’ve seen and heard. Also including their first kiss couldn’t hurt … just sayin’!

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 07 – Masamune brulée

During her family’s big formal New Year’s celebration, Neko is off to fetch more sake when the little son of one of her relatives bumps into her. She neither spills the bottles on her tray nor vomits blood, which I’ll call a win. But seeing her relative for the first time since her wedding, when she was as small as this kid (only rounder).

Meanwhile, it’s been ten days since Christmas Eve, and Masamune and Aki haven’t spoken. Not a great way to start the year! As I said, it sucks for these two to run into problems so soon after becoming an official couple, but I suppose we do still have six episodes for that to be resolved.

Neko is reminiscing about the day she met Masamune when they were both kids. She was desperately shy, but he offered her a giant chicken wing from his pocket (a habit he’s since kicked). She then gets a text from Tae inviting her to join her, Kojuurou, and Masamune for the first shrine visit of the year.

While I know Masamune is freaking out about this hives thing, which his doctor suspects is due to stress, it’s still pretty mean to not only ghost Aki, but lie about her and Yoshino being busy so as to exclude them and spare him the awkwardness. Fortunately, he’s terrible at hiding the fact he’s troubled, and Neko notices something’s not right.

He notes that he still manages to laugh and have fun, and while he and Neko get a brief moment alone together, it’s not long enough for her to broach the topic of what’s troubling Masamune. Her suspicions are reinforced when she watches Yoshino breeze right past Masamune in the hallway without a peep.

When coincidence conspires to put both Neko and Masamune at the same hospital one day, she offers him a ride and some tea at her house. Her attendant Shidou-san is not pleased with his presence, but there’s nothing she can do about with whom her mistress spends her time.

Masamune expresses how the lack of anything wrong with him seems wrong in and of itself, even as he realizes the irony of coming to someone with such fraught medical history with his problems. He wonders if the thing stressing him out is holding something back, like not telling Aki about Yoshino’s role in separating them.

But Neko has a different theory: he’s burnt out and in a state of shock after his life’s goal of revenge was suddenly ended. His mind, body, and energies had been concentrated on that goal for so long, it’s only natural there’s a physical as well as psychological strain from its rapid termination.

She also wonders whether Masamune is hewing too close to his pretenses and preconceptions. He may have loved Aki, back then, before his heart was broken…but does he still love her now? Meanwhile, she owns up to having met him once before Aki did.

When she made advances on Masamune earlier, she was clinging to the meager memories of the past, but now she makes clear she loves the Masamune of today, here and now. She draws in for another kiss, this time one that is free of the past…but Shidou breaks it up.

Neko tells her attendant she doesn’t need to worry, as she sees the hives develop on Masamune’s hand. Her smile and trembling hands betray her heartbreak all over again as she declares “no mistakes will be happening today”. She then considers if she truly has cast off her pretenses and preconceptions.

I truly felt for Neko, being a good friend to Masamune, and testing the waters only to be burnt herself, not by his words this time, but by his very skin. But in this she’s not alone; that’s now two girls who have given Masamune hives since he learned the truth.

As he views Aki’s text asking if he’s okay after visiting the hospital, Masamune vents his frustration over not knowing what truth there is to find that might cure him of his stress hives by shouting on a bridge. This startles someone on street level and causes them to fall.

He apologetically rushes to their aid to find it’s his ex-master Yoshino who fell. Despite her efforts to ignore and avoid him, circumstances have brought them back together, and I think it would do them both a power of good to talk about things a little more.

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack – 06 – On the Same Wavelength

If like me you can’t get enough of watching Hayase and Naoto fumble their way through what is clear as day to everyone around them—that for all intents and purposes, they already are a couple—this was another episode for you (and me).

Christmas Eve is coming, and both are on the same wavelength: Hayase asks her sister what would make a good gift, while Naoto not only already has one bought and wrapped, but dreams of a perfect scenario in which he gives it to her under a Christmas tree.

Both bring their gifts for each other to the last day of school before the break, but they’re both pulled into a meeting of Hayase’s friends, who are split between those with guys and those who aren’t. Deny it all they want; the simple fact is Hayase does have a guy.

Naoto awkwardly excuses himself to get something from the art club room, giving Hayase cover to flee from having to admit she’d rather spend time with Senpai than go to singles karaoke night. Before they can exchange gifts, they’re interrupted by a buck-naked Sana “letting the room soak into her skin” as it’s the last time she’ll see it for a while. Such a delightful weirdo!

While running around the school hand-in-hand, avoiding necking classmates and strict faculty, Hayase and Naoto end up having what they usually have when hanging out together: a lot of fun. And even if their ultimate location of the rooftop is also populated by couples making out, when a cold wind sends a chill through Hayase, Naoto decides to give her her gift.

That’s because it’s a scarf! A tartan scarf, no less, that is indeed adorable on Hayase, in addition to being warm. So what’s her gift to him? Also a scarf! Of course these two crazy kids decided on the exact same gift for each other. It’s more than just a consumable like candy or soaps, because they wanted something that would last longer.

The day before New Years, Hayase calls Naoto and asks what he’s doing for tomorrow, then creating an elaborate mental picture of Naoto as a hairy caterpillar sleeping in. Instead, he says he might be making a shrine visit, and she recommends the Ishido Shrine. They don’t agree to meet there, but Naoto takes a leap of faith.

Not only is he not disappointed, as Hayase is there, but she’s also working there, and as such is dress like a dang shrine maiden. Since even passersby remark how cute she looks, Naoto has no choice but to concur. She shows him how to wash his hands and cleanse his mouth, then they get fortunes: hers is great; his is simply “bad”.

But there’s one aspect of his fortune Hayase doesn’t spot that concerns him: under “Romantic Matters”, it says “won’t happen unless you take action.” So after saying “later” to her awkwardly and shuffling off, which genuinely disappoints her, he surprises her by appearing in line to buy a good luck charm.

Not only that, he’s there to try to tell her in a normal way that he’ll wait up for her to be done so they can go to the shrine and pray together. He imagines himself too cool for school (a rare moment for Yamashita Daiki to do his suave voice) but what comes out (I’ll be waiting) just sounds creepy and stalkerish.

He realizes this after he leaves the line, and Hayase is totally in sync as she texts him that he sounded creepy and stalkerish. Even so, she says she’ll see him in twenty minutes. They meet at the sake barrels, and when he suggests go to the shrine and pray, Hayase grins and blushes profusely.

Naoto remembers too late that this is a matchmaking shrine, which means he and Hayase are in line with a bunch of lovey-dovey couples. Hayase uses this situation to mess with Naoto as usual, getting a rise out of him by asking if he’s going to wish for them to go out together.

To this, Naoto actually comes up with a cool-as-hell comeback that makes Hayase swoon: in a “hypothetical scenario” in which they’re going out, he doesn’t want to rely on the gods, but make it happen himself. When he later says he merely prayed for family health, Hayase tells him she wished to one day become his bride.

She says she’s kidding, and maybe it wasn’t that specifically, but I’ve no doubt her actual prayer was some form of “may Senpai and I continue to grow closer this year—and may it be full of more opportunities to toy with him!”

Komi Can’t Communicate S2 – 06 – Tadano’s Dizzy Fever Day

While Komi spent New Year’s Eve with her extended family, Tadano spends it at home playing video games until midnight with Najimi. The next morning Najimi is still there, and suggests they call as many friends as they can to go on their first shrine visit. But between Komi not picking up, Ren in Hawaii, Agari almost choking on mochi, Inaka not in cell range, Nakanaka playing a crucial mobile game, Yadano playing battledore, and Katai doing pushups, it seems like it might be a bust.

However, they still manage to organize a huge group, including Komi, who calls Najimi back after the initial missed call. Najimi leads the charge up the steps to the shrine, leaving her and Tadano in the dust. As we know, this is Komi’s second shrine visit of the day, but it doesn’t matter, because she’s happy to be invited and to spend time with her friends…and Tadano. She also flashes a cheeky streak by withholding her fortune from him (which is excellent).

In the middle segment Katai continues his elaborate plan to make Tadano his best friend (or possibly boyfriend?) by inviting him ice skating. Tadano asks if he can invite someone else, and to my delight Najimi wasn’t his first call and isn’t around to suck up all the oxygen. Instead, Katai sees Komi’s presence as a sign she’s worried about her “student”; in reality, Komi is still weary of Kati, but also isn’t opposed to trying to bond as friends some more.

Turns out Tadano is the only one of the trio who know how to ice skate, which means he gets to teach them both, starting with Komi. Before you know it the two are skating together hand in hand, but because Komi over-corrects on her braking step, she spins around to face Tadano, and they both realize how this must look. Katai also eventually lets go of the fence and, with Tadano taking his hand and eventually letting go, the big guy is able to get the hang of it as well.

Possibly due to being out in the cold, Tadano comes down with a fever. He stays home alone, promising his little sis he won’t die, but in an extended scene, this cold gets worse and worse and he starts to get delirious and worry about actually dying. It doesn’t help that his bottle of sports drink is empty and he doesn’t have the strength to get out of bed. What he does have is a charged phone, which he uses to call Najimi…or at least he thought he called them, but ends up calling Komi instead.

The doorbell rings, and who should be at the door but Nurse Komi to the rescue. She bears hot ginger tea and ingredients for rice porridge, which she expertly and lovingly prepares in the Tadano kitchen. While I’m sure she’s upset that Tadano isn’t feeling so swell, you can tell she’s absolutely reveling in the opportunity to take care of the boy she cares for, especially after all that he’s done for her. That said, her enthusiasm for the job of nursing him to health results in her trying to feed him, perhaps out of habit from doing the same for, say, her brother.

When Komi comes back from washing the dishes, Tadano is out like a light, and she can’t help but draw near to him, watch his sleeping face, tuck him in so he doesn’t get a chill, and in perhaps one of the most touching moments of the entire series, slides her hand into his. Unfortunately Najimi mucks up the moment by bursting in unannounced, but it was still a beautiful moment. Her increasing number of colorful friends are fun, but her quiet little interactions with Tadano—ones she’d never have with anyone else—will always be my favorite part of this series.

Komi Can’t Communicate S2 – 05 – Hanafuda Komi-Komi

Our cold open is also a silent one, as the first 3+ minutes of the episode progress with neary a line of dialogue, only the cozy soundtrack and a number of the series’ trademark signs. Najimi has gotten both Tadano and Komi up at the break of dawn because it snowed overnight. After admiring the pristine unblemished whiteness, the thre build a gigantic snowman, while Komi makes a tiny one to match with Tadano’s.

After that, Ren, Yadano, and Agari join Tadano and Najimi on one team in a grand snowball fight. The elementary school team is short one person, so Komi joins them. There’s a great sight gag of her four teammates looking as tall as her, but she’s actually standing far behind them. A furious and dramatic battle ensues, eventually leaving Komi the only one on her team left standing. Ren, who has her best (and least problematic) appearance thus far this season, takes Yadano and Najimi out, leaving Komi to take her out and claim victory…as it should be.

When Komi visits her extended family over the New Year’s holiday, she reunites with her initially timid Akira, who slowly warms up to her older cousin and invites her to join her in a game of Hanafuda Koi-Koi. Komi sits out the first game where her granny eviscerates Akira, but Komi ends up getting one of the best combos in the game to erase her cousin’s debt.

No doubt impressed and proud of her granddaughter’s performance, Komi’s Gran lends her an absolutely stunning kimono for their first shrine visit of the year. Gran notes how “convenient” Komi is to have around as she literally parts the waves of people, and after making her offering and New Year’s wish, the amassed crowds feel like a goddess is in their midst.

The last segment throws Komi into the frying pan, as she’s put to work as a substitute shrine maiden making transactions for visitors. While initially overwhelmed, her colleague Inaka helps calm her down and reminds her that instead of talking she need only write everything down. Komi does a bang-up job, and then reveals she knew Inaka was Inaka all along in a sweet note hoping they’ll have a fun new year together. Needless to say, Komi doesn’t mind in the least that Inaka is a country girl!

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 3 – 10 – A Better Snowman

Dang photo bombers…your ruining the shot!

Knowing it would be hard-pressed to top last week’s full-length Takagi x Nishikata wonder-date, this week’s episode doesn’t bother; instead it returns to the warm, cozy, less dramatic flow of the couple’s interactions. Last week wasn’t an official acknowledgment that they’re dating now, but such a formality isn’t needed with these two. They’re fine just existing beside one another, fitting like, well, gloves!

To whit: the two didn’t plan to meet at the shrine visit; their families just happened to come at the same time. It sure looks like those two married couples were their parents, doesn’t it? I feel like at some point they’ll have to meet each other’s parents, but that they don’t mean we get more time with these two. hen Takagi is called back to her folks, Nishikata says they should do it again next year…which she says happened to be her shrine wish. Who’s to say it wasn’t?

Yes, that’s right…make that ball bigger…

The next segment is classic Master Teaser, with Takagi up to her old tricks in cornering Nishikata into a snowman-building contest knowing full well that he’ll get to ambitious. While he’s sweatily rolling dirty lumpen mounds trying to build a Snow Titan, Takagi puts a lot of time and care and quite effortlessly builds the cutest lil’ snowman in all the land…so cute Nishikata doubts he’d have won. even if he’d finished…which Takagi helps him do.

NGL, from a distance this looks like a confession…

After Nishikata’s friends and the three girls have their little mini-scenes talking about the new year, we come to “Advice”, when Houjou takes Nishikata aside and asks him what he thinks Hamaguchi might like for his birthday. Yuuki Aoi is masterful at sounding both mature and incredibly hot-and-cold. For his part, Nishikata is both thoughtful and helpful. Then Houjou asks him to keep their chat a secret.

Little did Nishikata know that Takagi spotted him talking with Houjou, and asks him what about. When Nishikata demurs, she guesses correctly on the first guess, and pretty much knows, but Nishikata still won’t break his secret. Takagi’s facial expressions are so subtle here, but you can tell she’s a little mad Nishikata is keeping something from her…even if she knows what it is with 99.99% certainty!

Takagi expresses her jealousy by trying to stoke Nishikata’s, saying she wants to know what to get a “15-year-old boy”—not a Chihuahua, but a third-year middle schooler. This does affect Nishikata, who doesn’t want to give advice for some other guy…even though these two spend so much time together he would know of such a guy!

Of course, this time, Takagi is referring to Nishikata on his next birthday. He’s quite relieved, and apologizes for not being able to break his promise. Takagi apologizes too, owning up to the fact she did do something a little mean. When Nishikata asks her why she doesn’t always think that, she says this and her usual gentle teasing are two different things!

When Nishikata flat-out asks Takagi why she teases him, her answer is as expected…“Who knows?” But she knows, and so does Nishikata, and it’s the same reason they’re already making plans for spending next year together.

My Senpai is Annoying – 11 – A Very Good Year

Like the Valentines, cherry blossom viewing, and Christmas festivities, the end-of-year office party at a cozy izakaya is another way to reap vicarious enjoyment of a work culture that doesn’t really currently exist for me, as I work remotely for an out-of-state company. While I still wish the dudes would bother Sakurai less, there’s something just really nice about watching Futaba and her co-workers and boss drinking together and talking about their holiday plans.

Takeda says he’s just going to “veg out” for New Years, Futaba isn’t quite able to summon the courage to ask to hang out. That’s not a problem for Sakurai, who takes Kazama aside and invites him to her and Yuuto’s home for some homemade udon and celebration. It ends up being just the two of them for New Years Eve when Yuuto suddenly remembered he had made plans with a friend for the night.

Whether this was his mentor Natsumi teaching him how to properly isolate a couple, or simple absent-mindedness on his part, Sakurai is so flustered by Kazama’s arrival the udon burns and they have to have instant ramen for dinner. It doesn’t matter to Kazama; he came to see her and is happy he did. When the two laugh at the same joke on the TV, they look and feel like a cozy old married couple.

While Futaba wasn’t able to spend New Years Eve with Takeda (she has a quiet evening with Natsumi, and gets a call from her gramps who is on a very manly fishing trip, she and Natsumi end up encountering Takeda at the shrine, and Natsumi soon makes herself scarce so the pink kimono-wearing Futaba is alone with Takeda. Her prayers for the new year don’t include anything related to getting closer to him, but it happens anyway as they share the same fortune: The one you’re looking for is right next to you.

The fact Kazama still “doesn’t know how she feels” about him truly stretches credulity by the week! After he and Sakurai are assumed to be a couple by a live TV camera crew, and he starts blabbing about having spotted Futaba and Takeda, even going so far as to show the reporter a picture of the two sleeping together, Futaba runs back to the shrine to beat Kazama with her kinchaku.

He wakes up lying in Sakurai’s lap, and when she asks if he was looking at her chest, she’s appreciative when he honestly said that he was. Clearly it’s fine if it’s him. As for the photo a passing little girl took on her toy digital camera of her stealing a kiss while he was still asleep? That’s the very evidence Kazama needs to be sure Sakurai feels the same way about him…only Sakurai is too bashful to let him see it. Oh well…there will be other opportunities.

Just Because! – 04

I’ve got some nice variety in my Fall watchlist. Food Wars is chugging along, with Souma scoring a big win thanks to his friends; MMO Junkie our elite NEET seems to be where she wants; and in ShoBitch we’ve had a steady, happy couple since the first episode, with all the comedy coming out of their mutual inexperience with being in a relationship.

That leaves Just Because!, the Fall show I’m watching in which people seem to suffer the most without much in the way of payoff. Just take Natsume’s interactions with Souma, trying to be a good friend by helping him get closer to Morikawa, despite the fact she still harbors feelings for him.

An experienced anime watcher it’s clear Natsume is in pain, but Souma’s your typical oblivious guy, and combined with Natsume’s silence on the matter and apparent interest in helping him with Morikawa, there’s really no way for him to question her smiles, even if she’s forcing them.

As a photog, Komiya knows all about smiles…and other expressions, like the one on Izumi’s face as he’s looking at Natsume in a candid photo Komiya took of them. Even after failing her last mission with Izumi (she brought a cat instead of a dog), she says she’ll delete the embarrassing shot if Izumi tells her something he likes about Natsume.

When she says “her awkwardness”, Komiya laughs, because it’s such an earnest, unflattering answer. It is itself an awkward answer, coming from someone just as awkward as Natsume (and, like her, unable to get his feelings to reach the one he likes).

Komiya then proposes another deal with Izumi: she’ll support him in trying to go out with the (former) president, and in exchange he’ll let her submit that photo she took of him, which she believes will win her a award and keep the photo club alive.

Of the five, Komiya is the hardest to read; she comes right out and says “I like you” to Izumi, throwing him off, before finishing with “…as a person”, inviting his ire. She’s clearly there to provide a yang counterbalance to Izumi’s yin main love interest and present multiple possible routes for the various characters.

When New Years comes around and it’s time for a shrine visit, Souma and Morikawa’s friends conspire to flake out on the visit, leaving the two alone. The two have a nice time, though Souma is often at a loss for words due to his stress over the task at hand.

That stress would seem to have been justified, for no sooner does he finally get the words “I like you” out and ask if Morikawa will go out with him, Morikawa…gravely declines. 

Ouch…that’s gotta be a fastball to the gut of Souma; all that preparation and anticipation, and at the end of the day, it wasn’t whether he could confess, but whether Morikawa would say yes, and she does not. Another sign Just Because! isn’t interested in doing things the easy way or taking the pressure off its characters.

After several instances of having someone—either Natsume’s plucky older sister or Yoriko—be a third wheel, Izumi and Natsume finally find themselves alone, and they continue to circle one another warily, putting on antagonistic airs to conceal the fact both of them have basically the same problem: their first choice likes someone else.

The fact that Souma was rejected is irrelevant here. Whether he wanted her to or not, Izumi is inspired enough by Komiya’s encouragement to at least broach the subject blocking any possible move in Natsume’s direction: her crush on Souma. She brings up exams again and again, which he calls nothing but an excuse.

That angers Natsume, who says the worst thing she can to Izumi in that moment: that it doesn’t involve him. That he doesn’t matter at all in this. Izumi sets the record straight: he’s always “cared about her”, so she can’t say it doesn’t involve him.

This may well be news to Natsume, and she’s definitely affected by the look on Izumi’s face as he passes her by to head home. Elsewhere, Souma also retreats following Morikawa’s rejection. Lots of emotions to sort through and pieces to pick up for everyone involved.

Re-Kan! – 07

Hibiki’s ridiculous generosity and utter inability to say no to a ghost is taking its toll and  burning her out, so her friends stage an intervention on the streets, insisting she needs a break from her supernatural drudgery. They head over to her house, which while not a Gothic haunted mansion, could certainly pass for that house in Kwaidan with a few minor tweaks.

Hibiki’s dad concurs, and produces a pair of sixth-sense-sealing glasses her mother used to wear when she needed a break from ghosts to, ya know, eat or sleep. I like how this story subverts the standard anime glasses girl trope. Sure, they make her look even more adorable (and more bookish), but they also fundamentally change how she interacts with the world. Simply put: all contact with that which most people cannot see or hear ceases. It really is like a vacation.

But the urge to take them off and sense of who’s floating around her—and more importantly, the urge help them—is strong. So Inoue makes a very childish threat: if she takes off the glasses, they won’t be friends any more, and it works; Hibiki keeps those puppies on like her life depends on it.

Her sidekicks Roll Call Samurai and Kogal don’t like it, but they’re big enough to realize Hibiki could use a break. But when the little sister of a boy Hibiki is playing with goes missing and it starts to get dark, Hibiki desperately needs more sets of eyes to search for her.

Hibiki makes a very difficult phone call to Inoue, who is studying and absolutely scared shitless by Hibiki’s foreboding ringtone. Hibiki seems ready to accept the end of their friendship, but Inoue assures her not to worry. If it’s an emergency, it’s fine to take the glasses off. Hibiki does, and show us yet again how handy it is to have an army of the dead at one’s disposal.

The balance of the episode is a New Year’s shrine visit by the whole gang. While I miss Glasses Hibiki, I loved how she lets spirits vote on what she wears, and the fact Inoue got drunk and loose-lipped on Amazake, and her friends decided to get her to open up.

To their disappointment, her response to almost every question is “Nana!”, so ingrained is her love for her late gran. Hibiki, not wanting to do anything untoward, simply asks Inoue if she’ll be friends with her in the next year, for which Inoue offers a more sober tsundere response of “I suppose.”

We finish things off with a fun little brawl between the incorrigible Ero-Neko versus Samurai and the Killer, who are sick of the cat’s sexual harrassment, as Kogal watches with enthusiasm.

P.S. Like Hannah with Food Wars, I’ve taken over Re-Kan reviews from Zane in order to even out our workloads. -Preston