「out of love」

If you ever wondered how a daddy issues mindset could lead to a fruitful relationship (read: yuri goodness), well, need look no further than citrus this week. It may all be par the course for this show’s drive along the well-worn romance shore as Mei and Yuzu now find themselves legitimately in love, but as has been repeatedly said, it’s hard denying citrus knows how to make a spectacle of it all. Yes, that also includes Harumin’s best girl breasts.

Ignoring the cliché aspect of Mei’s making up with daddy (and making out with Yuzu), the situation involving her father is not that farfetched. Unlike a lot of romance drama generators this one is a double sided blade with blame resting with both parties. Mei’s father is responsible for walking out on his daughter in what was certainly a midlife crisis, and while he asked Mei to come along with him, he failed in the first duty of any parent: do what’s best for your child. Mei is happy and thriving at home? Stay there then! You have a stable career and a daughter who sees you as her entire world, any personal dream can wait until she’s old enough to look after herself. Whether unduly harsh or not (and it’s ultimately my opinion), daddy-kins must shoulder the blame for disappearing just when Mei arguably needed a father figure most. Without that stabilizing influence, Mei became the dominating caricature on full display this week.

Mei, however, is not without blame herself. The girl had wildly unreasonable expectations for her father, believing he was destined for one specific role and of course he would never disappoint, he simply needed time to realize his obligations. In effect Mei loved the academy and its atmosphere (i.e. social structure) more than daddy and projected such desires onto his shoulders. “Since I love this place he must too right?” It’s classic solipsism which ignores the personal feelings of others, and while a mindset Mei cannot be blamed for acquiring (fatherly presence and influence would have nipped it in the bud), it’s one she could have recognized the flaws in if she cared to look. Instead Mei conveniently ignored the emotionally sensitive issue as teens are wont to do and instead found her release in the likes of Yuzu. Covering up pain with the feeling of being wanted—being needed—sounds good in theory, but it can quickly lead to emotional and physical suffering as Mei so vividly showed. Running from problems only makes them worse in the long run, and Yuzu deserves heaps of credit for being able to make Mei face her demons and move on from long held beliefs. Little miss blondie may be a confirmed bottom hopelessly head over heels, but don’t mistake her submissiveness for easiness—that caring comes with boundaries and it’s exactly the sort of thing Mei has been craving for a while now. Need look no further than that honest kiss to see the change Yuzu has elicited.

As with all romance stories though, with positivity and happy “endings” must come conflict, and citrus won’t be making any exceptions. With Mei’s time of troubles now on the backburner it’s time for Yuzu to get a fair share of past drama as one childhood friend looks set to make an appearance. I’m not saying there’s going to be fireworks, but with pink hair and an opportunistic attitude, you better bet there’s going to be fireworks. Set those yuri goggles to full boys and girls, round two of this roller coaster ride is set to begin.

 

Preview

13 Comments

      1. Oh yes, Matsuri, right on cue in episode 7 to make sure that Citrus follows the 3 episode rule, which is that every yuri show must descend into melodrama at least once every 3 episodes.

        Angelus
  1. https://randomc.net/image/citrus/citrus%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/citrus/citrus%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/citrus/citrus%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/citrus/citrus%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/citrus/citrus%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2020.jpg

    Where would Yuzu be if she didn’t have best girl there by her side this whole time?

    Harumi only gets up to a few minutes per episode as a side character and she may not do much that is SO in-your-face impactful for the episode, but what she does do still has an effect. Her encouragement of Yuzu as well as being a friendly shoulder for Yuzu to lean on when things get tough for her have really helped Yuzu along. I’m also glad that they’re not trying to play up any teasing of Harumi being another potential love triangle (as far as I can tell anyway) with Yuzu for forced or manufactured drama, managing to keep her as that supportive friend (and really the ONLY friend Yuzu still has, making her supportive role even more important).

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  2. Harumin, always there to:
    give bike ride
    comfort the troubled Yuzu
    give an idea to call Mom
    borrow a bike for rescue mission
    carry the bags home

    not only best girl of season
    best wing(woman) ever!

    ewok40k

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