If you have enough time to follow people around and spy on them when they’re on dates, you four really need to look in to finding hobbies.

——

Things take a much more serious turn this week, and although I was hesitant at first, this has been hands down my favorite episode so far this season.  There’s no flashbacks, which I’m always thankful for, and we get to focus on a character we haven’t really gotten to know much about; Yuta.

Things kick off with a confession, and I was expecting Takahashi (the confessor) to be rejected immediately.  That’s just the kind of guy Yuta seems to be, and in slice of life shows like Kimi to Boku or K-ON!! it’s rare that any of the characters actually become involved with someone outside the main cast.  But Yuta doesn’t outright reject her, and these two have the sweetest whirlwind romance in any anime I’ve seen so far this season.

The two of them are fairly awkward individuals when they’re not together, and when they’re alone, it seems to be a struggle at times to find out what to do or say at all.  But Yuta obviously cares about her, in his own lethargic way, and Takahashi appears to have harbored feelings for him for a while.

I like Takahashi a lot more than Masaki, the other main female cast member, probably because I can relate to Takahashi on so many levels.  She has sort of the tragic outcast girl story going on, but it never stops hitting home with me.  I’ve experienced the friends who can take you or leave you, talk about you behind your back, don’t really seem to genuinely care about you, and still trying so hard to fit in with them irregardless.  Takahashi doesn’t seem mopey, and she doesn’t immediately dump her friends like most girls would in her situation when she has her “revelation” and overhears them gossiping about her, and that just seems so much more realistic.  Despite how they treat her, she likes them, and really does have fun when they hang out.

Takahashi is the most emotionally complex character we’ve been presented with so far, and I’m a little saddened by the fact that she and Yuta broke up at the end of the episode.  I understand why; she has no self confidence, and it’s really, really hard to be with someone when you don’t think you’re good enough.  I just enjoy her and her bookishness and constant apologies and sincerity so much that I don’t want her to be a throw-away character.  It also helps that she’s just so gosh darn cute!

Of course, the other boys aren’t completely absent from this weeks drama, but they are removed from it.  There’s so much about this episode that I love, and the rest of the cast is a good chunk of it.  The other four provide the comic relief in that they follow Yuta and Takahashi around incessantly, and are in no way subtle.  Usually the characters being followed are blissfully unaware of their stalkers, but Chizuru and company are just so loud that it’s impossible for them to be ignored completely.

They’re curious about what’s going on with their friend, and I have a feeling that they wouldn’t have followed them around if Yuta had just been up front with them about his relationship with Takahashi.  It’s a funny anime trope, but it doesn’t undermine the story going on with Takahashi and Yuta, which I’m extremely grateful for.

Also during this episode, there was a song played during the serious scenes with Takahashi and Yuta at the end, and it was absolutely beautiful.  I’ve not been a huge fan of the music in this series so far, but in this episode they really hit the nail on the head.

I could probably go on about this episode for several more paragraphs, but you’re probably tired of my rambling, so I’ll just leave you all with this reference to another show I’m reviewing this season (Ika Musume; you can see her in the bottom photo of the magazine) and the not-surprising-at-all rating after that.

GO Rating: 5/5