「日乃出橋」 (Hinodebashi)
“Hinode Bridge / Sunset Bridge”

Summer is the time for love — or so they say.

Forced Romance?

In a small group of friends that seem to care a lot about each other, something just doesn’t feel quite right about the way all of this romance stuff seems to be going down. At least, that’s what I thought until I tried to figure out under what circumstances could something like this actually work. While I still haven’t found the perfect way to describe this sense of awkwardness or why it exists, I think this episode highlighted some of the key misconceptions we’ve all possibly made.

Based off of everyone’s behavior, have we made a huge mistake assuming how close-knit everyone is with each other? Sure it’s obvious that everyone doesn’t hate each other but with some new problem appearing in every scene, maybe everyone isn’t as close as the first few episodes painted them to be? Even if that is an extreme oversimplification behind what’s going on, it would give us a decent explanation behind why everyone seems to be losing to their impulses instead of keeping a level head.

Then again, as I’ve said in the past few episodes, maybe we can chalk it all up to teens being teens? All I know for sure is I would love an answer soon before I start ripping my hair out.

Hopes and Dreams

Besides the slew of romantic issues that keep cropping up, I can’t help but get a little depressed thinking about how downhill things are going. Even if you don’t include Yuki’s failed confession to Touko, there are just so many other things that seem to be going sour. Hiro is probably pursuing a relationship that’s going nowhere, Yuki’s leg still isn’t good enough to get him back into track, Sachi has obvious health issues, and for all we know Yanagi might have alienated herself from the one person she desperately wants to be with.

Looking Up and Ahead

With things looking down both literally and figuratively, I’m keeping my head up in hopes that something amazing will come out of all of this. While he’s a little dense, Kakeru might be the odd man out that could right this slowly sinking ship. His keen sense of understanding the situation at hand might be all it takes to knock the crazy out of everyone. Luckily, with the halfway point right around the corner should anything amazing happen, it would be soon.

 

Preview

25 Comments

    1. I have to say I didn´t that confession coming, but I´m glad she did it, Yanagi is in a more complicated situation than the other chracters, Yukinari is her half-brother, they live toguether and they´re a family so her words change everything about her life.

      haseo0408
    2. Not sure why anyone would want to downvote your harmless post, unless said downvoter is a sad Yanagi hater.

      Why can’t RC be like Reddit, where we only see the total vote score, and not have to be bothered by how many insensitive people have downvoted a very good post?

      Anonymous
    3. Too bad she isn’t the main character. But no, for some incomprehensible reason everyone is focussed on her less goodlooking, less appealing, less interesting friend. We have Edward Kakeru the glittering mystery man, JacobYuki the instinct driven rival who always seems on the verge of ripping his shirt off and the generic silent loli with the equally generic and undoubtedly, deadly disease and all three can only see the dense main girl whose main appeal is her naivete.

      bearzerger
  1. Yay! Takaii kudos for fast post! 🙂

    As for the episode.. DAT FOREST. DAT SCENERY PORN! Just lovely, made me want to go out of my flat and take a trip into the forest myself.

    Still, it was Yanagi’s bitter confession what made my day. Brilliant. <3

    brajt
    1. I think his dad said at one point that it was until he could get Kakeru’s room ready as he’s only recently moved in with him. However, why he doesn’t just stay in the living room for a little while or something, I don’t know? Kakeru seems to really like the outdoors, maybe he just decided to stay outside until his room was finished?

      Irenesharda
  2. And with this ep, Im almost positive Sachi does not have romantic feelings for Touko; she just sees her as an important friend that she truly loves and cares for. One of the things i found interesting about this ep is how Sachi allows Hiro to sneak out from her house; she’s aware of the drama it would cause and just let’s it be, which tells me that although she may not see Hiro romantically (as of right now anyway), she is aware of the romantic contexrt of her quietly hanging out with Hiro in her room by themselves

    sonicsenryaku
  3. The music really shined in this episode, especially at the forest scene.

    Also, props to Yanagi. That was a good confession, said everything she wanted to say while still keeping her cool. I like that she held an umbrella over him, to really hammer in the intent of her feelings.

    The Truth is in the Axe
  4. Poor Hiro. Sacchan is actually very aware of his feelings, but she doesn’t show a thing for him. She was at least kind to let him escape before Touka sees him to save him from embarrassment. Maybe as the biggest Hiro x Sacchan shipper, Hiro’s sister could help, once Sacchan gets admitted to the hospital, she could pull some strings via her doctor boyfriend.

    LOL at Touka mistaking Kakeru’s dad for him. Dad looked quite delighted at her visiting, for obvious reasons. 🙂

    echykr
  5. Hmm, a statue. Yes, Yanagi, that is quite the perfect description for our stoic Kakeru. I couldn’t help but notice how deadpan he was during his conversation with Touko. Even when he was “scolded” for talking when Yanagi was telling him what to tell Touko, his reaction was so dull. I’m starting to wonder what makes him that way, and if it has anything to do with his relationship with his dead mother and his father. It seems like he’s used to being alone and not even needing a cell phone to be in touch with others, so maybe he hasn’t had a need for emotions (or decided he doesn’t need them?).

    As for the relationship dynamic, I can say what probably started this whole mess was Touko’s declaration that dating is allowed within the group. That seems to have been a subconscious, unspoken rule that, once repealed, has started to make the cast more aware of how they feel about each other, regardless of group dynamic. They also are going to graduate this year, so that probably adds in the whole drama of “if I don’t go for it now, I’ll regret it”.

    As far as characters go, I’m a little surprised how perceptive Sacchi is about what’s going on around her. I also noticed that she just seems to view Touko as a really close friend, rather than a love interest. Yanagi has also really impressed me. I am really starting to like her character, especially after how assertive she was this episode. Touko, on the other hand, seems to be noticing Kakeru in a different way than she sees Hiro or Yukiteru.

    Next episode doesn’t look too good for Yukiteru though. I’m hoping it’s not going to be the cliched punch the guy you think is taking the girl you like from you because hitting Kakeru would be a really big mistake and make him look even worse to Touko. I’m hoping maybe he defends Yanagi from some guys spreading rumors about the two of them. That conversation after the track meet could potentially be a Chekhov’s gun.

    Annyms
    1. I feel ya, seeing as how Yanagi is like Chisaki from NagiAsu. Also, seeing as how they have the same seiyuu, she also reminds me of Sawa Okita from PA Works’ TariTari.

      Red HeartGold ZX
  6. I don’t know why but this episode rubbed me the wrong way.
    Part of it I feel is because I was hoping to see a group of friends hanging out together and doing things together in their last year of school together and what is seemingly happening is that they are spending time in pairs and not doing anything fun while in that pairing.

    chad28
  7. This episode Yanagi was great. That confession came like a train.. Strong..Willful. Juust like the one they showed right after the confessionn! (What the asdasd am I talking about now D:) Anyway. Yanagi is a great character 🙂
    I think it’s kind of funny how Glass doesn’t really seem to have any relation to anything going on… I mean you could completely take out the fact that Touko’s family own a glass shop thingy and there would be no difference in the story.
    Hm.. Felt like interactions with Kakeru are still forced and really awkward.
    Uh. Yeah!

    Hawk2276

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