「好き、なのに」 (Suki, Nanoni)
“Even Though I Love You”

While Yamato has slowly learned that pleasing others isn’t something he has to do, he still has a long way to go. Nowadays he listens to his girlfriend’s opinions first, which could be seen when he took on the modelling job. It’s natural for Mei to agree with it. Why wouldn’t she? Anyone would want what’s good for the person you love, even at the expense of your own happiness. Mei is definitely too kind. She doesn’t question Yamato even though she wants to. She supports him no matter what. Seeing her hurting all alone is really painful and it makes me wish that someone would punch Yamato. While he did have Mei’s consent when it comes to the job, he is truly oblivious to her feelings. The two of them love each other, that’s clear, but their love isn’t strong enough for them to overcome their old habits. Mei is still stuck in her insecurity, and Yamato still tries to please others who are completely fine without his help.

It is easy to call Megumi a villain because of how she wormed her way in Mei’s social circle, but in the end, what she did might be rude but not wrong. Her position in Yamato’s life has been given to her because of Mei and Yamato themselves. Megumi is simply utilizing every opportunity she has been given to keep Yamato within her grasp. She’s still annoying to me though. It was very weird of her to invite Yamato for dinner late at night after work. While the two of them are simply classmates and colleagues, everyone knows that Megumi has romantic interests in Yamato. He who knows this should have been smart enough to avoid the invite she gave him, but perhaps he had that urge to please others again? While it was heartbreaking to watch Yamato dine with her, that scene gave us an opportunity to see what kind of person Megumi is. Aside from being a sly girl, she is a hard-working person who has struggled to reach her current position, so she has definitely earned my respect there, but that’s about it. There is nothing more for me to like about her.

Yamato was unquestionably disappointing in this episode, at least to me, but at the same time it made me really happy that his ignorance made way for Mei’s other two friends to shine. Asami is the kind of person who is nice to everyone, but that doesn’t mean that she ignores her true friends. It was slowly becoming irritating to see everyone admiring Megumi all the time so it was really nice that someone finally turned around to look at Mei. But even if Asami did show Mei some kindness, my main praise will go to Aiko. Asami is soft and kind-hearted. She is the kind of friend that will comfort someone to ease the pain but that’s not always going to help. Comfort can be soothing but it won’t remove the problems. Encouragement however, will do so, and encouraging people is something Aiko is really good at, and for that, she has my respect. Friendship is such an amazing thing. It makes me happy to see that even though this is a romance series, the importance of friends is still displayed. Watching Mei finally gaining some courage from her friends and walking up to Yamato for a kiss was truly a fantastic scene. It was heart-warming and inspiring, but the kiss won’t stop Megumi from being persuasive. Perhaps the new guy will? It was really exciting to see the new character at the end because he happens to be my second favourite one of this series. The wait for the next episode will be the end of me. Why can’t it be next Saturday already?

Full-length shots: 1, 2, 26

Eyecatch: B-part

 

Preview

27 Comments

  1. Next week is KAI TIME!

    Easily the best character in the series.

    But man, I guess they’re really just going to leave Kakeru as some asshole rather than have his storyline come to a close. It’s a shame. They really should have left him out completely, it’s not like he played much of a role in the Aiko storyline in the manga anyway.

    EmD
  2. In this episode of “As Mai’s World Turns”, Mai finds out that she has a brain. She needs to use it & become a little possessive too – like someone else in this series will develop a pretty bad case of.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Megas
  3. Yamato’s emotional investment in Mei is small at this point, and Mei’s trying to balance that out, but is at a loss of how to.
    He appears to include her in his work activities, but really, is he asking her a question he knows she’ll never answer no?
    He can pretty much have and has had any girl. Has he really given her comfort that her uniqueness is what he wants?

    I want to trust him, but I can’t. — Mei

    That’s an emotion unique to girls. — Asami

    Mei considers all of these things, formulates her contributions in this relationship, shared responsibilities, and so on and
    charges off to have a heart-to-heart level-headed discussion with Yamato…

    No! No! No!

    Her (emotional) non-verbal response is to grab him, pull his face to hers, and meet his lips with hers in a passionate kiss!
    She’ll bring up the talking points later, after giving him 110% girl power with a memory of her warm lips pressed against his —
    after all, business is business and romance is the most serious business around.

    She put herself squarely on his radar, showing him her investment in their relationship and wants to know his investment…

    I wonder how Yamato will respond next week…

    mac65
  4. When Mei was storming toward Yamato my first thought was: “God I hope she slaps him!” but then when she pulled him in for a kiss I was like: “Even better!!!” That’s a huge step for Mei and I really hope she can keep it up! And I was SO happy to finally see Asami pay more attention to Mei this week cause her gushing over Megumi was really getting on my nerves. And Aiko was brilliant in this episode. She came in guns blazing and really gave Mei the talk that she needed. Yamato was getting careless during this episode so I’m glad Mei stepped up her game. Here’s hoping that kiss will do the same for Yamato. I don’t want to wait a week to find out!

    Kira526
  5. Hm.. it’s interesting how things are going but I wonder what Yamato’s reaction is going to be next episode. I’m glad that Mei took that big leap at the end of the episode (which was really great :]). I giver her credit for supporting Yamato in what he wants to do even though it’s making her unhappy as a result. As for Megumi (Megu-Tan…eh) I didn’t really care for her too much but you can see that’s she’s really trying to worm her way into Yamato and Mei’s relationship. I just hope that Yamato comes to his senses… and sees the big picture soon.

    Props to Asami for realizing that she was becoming too absorbed with Megumi/modeling stuff and gave Mei the attention their friendship was needing. And Aiko! It was actually kinda cool to see her deliver that “tough-love” message to Mei; but she did get her point across really well. I think I’m starting to see her a little differently as compared to the stuck-up snob I thought she was a few episodes ago. I wonder how much this new character will bring to the table next week. Can’t wait!

    Kay
  6. Mei certainly is too kind but BOTH her & Yamato just go with the flow too much. But both ended up hopelessly stuck in the center of things because of it.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Megas
    1. If Mei wants to keep Yamato she needs to grow a set and stand up for the man she wants. Otherwise that Megumi is gonna snatch him away from her. Megumi is one of the most dangerous types of anime girls… the two faced type that smile and act nice while plotting behind your back to snatch your BF. The situation is very similar to Kimi ni Todoke with Ume acting all nice while the was working to snag Kazeyaha away from Sawako.

      Karmafan
  7. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

    I absolutely love how Mei didn’t just let her feelings run her down and stay quite. Instead, she stepped up to take care of what she wants :’)

    Nymphetamine2791
  8. so mei still bit hmm cause of yamato & megumi on magazine pics then til megumi tell her management want more of yamato on pics shooting.

    indeed mei still getting more bit sad give at yamato sneak in alone lunch time with mei & after pic shooting megumi take yamato to her home with dinner.

    more pics shooting mei looking more sad til asami & aiko check on mei & talk about it with mei got back up grab yamato’s tie for the kiss.

    & now a guy that know yamato is coming in.

    uo
  9. I found Asami really annoying. She said she did suspect Mei’s self-struggle and jealousy. But then and again, she and her boyfriend were the ones who persistently were telling Yamato to continue modeling

    banzemanga
  10. The wait for the next episode will be the end of me. Why can’t it be next Saturday already?

    this is what most viewers who finish Ep7 will feel like. i just hope they end the modeling arc next week so we can get to Kai soon. so many things to expect next week!!! XD

  11. srsly… Yamato… srsly. I wondered why no one kick him in the shins when he chose not to at least walk HIS girlfriend home first before going to karaoke. Moving from places to places didn’t seem to be a problem for him when he rescued Mei from the stalker in EP1 and 2…

    koranot
  12. I just realised something really random-Aiko is a lot like one of my school friends. Not background wise , but the way in this episode she was a bit scary but also really encouraging as a friend.

    Aki-Chan

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