「宇宙人に初恋」 (Uchuubito ni Hatsukoi)
“Love for an Alien”

Don’t do it for anybody else. Just do what you really want to do. Sakurasou always strikes me the most when it mixes love and comedy with what it means to be an artist. That’s what we got here, with a romantic resolution (of sorts) to boot.

Jealous, Flirty Mashiro

Before I dive into the meat of the episode, jealous Mashiro sure was cute! Though I’m sure that’ll ignite a shipping flame war (seriously commenters, chill…they’re both good girls, it just comes down to who Sorata wants to be with, nothing else), I found Mashiro irresistibly cute this episode. Her pouting was great, but I nearly died from her covering her pantsu. Sorata, you’re finally manning up, well done! Ohandalso, her pushing against him and asking “Which one do you want?” *massive, crippling nosebleed* I…need…a doctor. Send…guh *dies*

Special props go to the J.C. Staff, uh, staff for this latest Plan C joke. When Mashiro cracked that one out, I jotted down a note saying that it was starting to get old…and then they immediately took it in another direction, with hilarity ensuing. Nice! If only Jin was as good of a scriptwriter as Okada Mari and co, there wouldn’t be all this drama. Speaking of…

Jin’s Promise – The Nanami Dilemma

I realized something this episode – Jin was in the same position as Nanami. For Nanami, she doesn’t want to settle things with Sorata until she finds out if she passed her audition, so she knows whether she’ll be around or not. Jin was the same. He knew that he had to clear the air between him and Misaki about his scripts (that she was never excited by them, and he always knew), but he didn’t want to do that until he felt he was on his way to becoming a better scriptwriter. It was only then that he could make his promise – that in four years, he’ll be good enough for her to be excited by his work. He got his way forward, and the promise was a sweet one. Awww!

Two things struck me deeper than this, though. The first was that Jin was still being childish about the whole thing. While Nanami is making things a bit awkward by not resolving them, Jin made everything full-on painful for Misaki and all of his friends. He could have just as easily told Misaki he needed time alone to prepare for the exam, and he would give her an answer afterwards. This was a textbook example of him holding the idiot ball (trope!) to amp up the drama, and he deserved to get slugged for it. That said, Sorata was also childish for giving it to him. It does prove a point I’ve made previously, though – Sorata rushing to Nanami’s aid last episode wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done for any of his nakama.

The other thing was the scene that grabbed me the most, and it’s not the one you would expect (Jin and Misaki’s reconciliation). No, it was the moment when the flashbacks came to a stop, and Misaki is just sitting there, staring at an old picture. There was this feeling of such sadness, of such intense loneliness, like I was watching this great tragedy when all they needed to do was reach out their hands and…there it was. The music started up, Nanami grabbed Misaki’s hand and she shouted “Jump into outer space!” as they leaped towards the future. Simply beautiful.

Life, Philosophy, & Anime

Perhaps even more than the romance and comedy, I love Sakurasou for speaking to what it means to be an artist. Listen closely, people – even if you don’t write or draw or design video games, the lessons here are directly relevant to you. The machines are replacing all the jobs us humans used to do, which means the only thing left for us is to become artists. Accountants, scientists, retail clerks, corporate middle managers, even grocery store baggers – there is artistry in it all, if you look for it. Listen up.

The first was when Jin said this:

“So, Misaki…don’t think you have to do it for me. Just do what you really want to do.”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen someone irrevocably change their lives in order to please someone else, I would already be a wealthy man indeed. I don’t care whether it’s the book you’re writing, the project you’re doing for work, or the university you’re deciding to go to, what does it really matter what others think? Your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your fiance, your parents, your friends, your teachers, your neighbors, your colleagues, your coworkers, your bosses, your customers, your children, your constituents, the ineffable “them” who are always out there judging you…

@#$& them all! If you’re not doing what you want to do, the work that makes you proud and gets your blood boiling and makes you pumped up to do it each and every day, then what’s the point? You can only make others happy when you’re happy yourself, and contentment can only come from within. I’m not sure if Sakurasou meant to delve so deep, but I got the echoes of lessons I’ve learned from their trials here. There is depth in that old building’s walls, let me tell you.

The second was when Sorata said this:

“We can go as far as we please.”

You can classify this one under “easy to say, hard to do,” but it’s no less true for that fact. I’m always appalled by those who stunt their potential by accepting “good enough”, when they ought to reach for “stellar” and “AMAZING!!” Take a lesson from the kids of Sakurasou – surround yourself with driven people who push you to even great heights, and you’ll be surprised where you end up. The only real requirement is that you never stop trying to become the best you that you can be, little by little, week by week, until your long days run dry. Holy hell, this episode made me introspective. Let’s wrap this up.

Looking Ahead – Demolition Time

Sakurasou is to be demolished!? I don’t know if that’s the lead-in to an anime original ending or what, but I certainly can’t see our merry band of misfits letting it pass. Whatever happens, that announcement certainly gave me a start – and just when everything was going great for once, too. Dammit!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A tortured adolescence of never truly seeing eye-to-eye comes to an end…in the best of ways. Misaki, Jin! \o/ #sakurasou

Random thoughts:

  • Even in failure, Yuuko is super cute!
  • Jin insinuates that Sorata is bi. Mashiro does not like that. Clearly, Mashiro is Sorata-sexual.
  • That old man is a great teacher. Where other people see a problem, he sees potential that he can help flourish. The world needs more teachers like him, who understand the art of being a great teacher. See what I did there? Nishishi~ ^^
  • Speaking of teachers, those teachers on the roof reeeeally should have seen that coming. Or maybe not. I wouldn’t have expected a bunch of kids to have the balls for that…unless they were the “problem children” of Sakurasou. The world would be a better place if we had more problems like them…

Full-length images: 01, 13, 26.

 

Preview

82 Comments

    1. Meh, not really. She hasn’t gotten a lot of screen time, and isn’t a very developed character. Can’t even consider her as a favorite until more of that happens.

      I do enjoy the drinking, though!

      Stilts
  1. Am I the only person who’s not really that interested (in comparison) in the Jin x Misaki storyline? I feel like I should be more into it but that love triangle with Mashiro, Sorata and Nanami is much more interesting to me. But I haven’t even seen this episode but I will say this, not one episode has gotten me bored! 🙂

    ctscloud
    1. I haven’t had any interest in Jin x Misaki because their union was pretty much set in stone since episode one. Fuuka was an outlier in the whole equation, so the question became “when?” instead of “will they?”

      Noctis
  2. Can someone care to explain the “plan C”/ “plan B” jokes? I know mashiro has said something similar in previous eps but I’m never too sure what she means. Not like she’s talking about the contraceptive for B haha…

    Denscafon
    1. Plan A / B / CShow Spoiler ▼

  3. Yeah, I still agree that Jin didn’t have to be such a jerk about it for the last two months plus. At least it seems like he’ll finally quit it. I was actually pretty surprised at his promise ring for Misaki.

    And lampshading the old Plan C joke was great, including Sorata remembering what Plan B was.

    Another interesting part was Mashiro’s super fast acceptance of helping Sorata with his Game Design Brief. Maybe he’ll get that she’s doing it for him one of these times.

    1. I wasn’t surprised by that [Mashiro’s super fast acceptance]. I just hope that Sorata doesn’t make the mistake of thinking he’s only progressing so much because of Mashiro’s art. She may be putting a shine on the diamond, but the diamond is all his.

      Stilts
      1. I hope so as well…but it seems like he may run into that roadblock down the road. With your boss saying that it would help them get into the final rounds doesn’t help his confidence either.

        ctscloud
      2. Wouldn’t hurt mine. Like I said, she’s just polishing – the diamond is all his. Also, he’d be stupid not to bring every (ethical) resource he can to bear at working towards his dream. Getting hung up on whether he “deserves” it is a child’s concern…though of course, Sorata is still a child, so at least it fits.

        Stilts
      3. @Stilts

        I dont think so; Sorata didnt have a problem asking Mashiro for her drawing, but he was taken back by how fast she responded.

        Plus Fujisawa had already commented him on his excellent work with the game design so he knows he isnt lacking.

        If you ask me, I think it has to do with the theme of Jin and Misaki’s relationship which is to do something you want to do and not what you feel compelled to do.

        Chaos2Frozen
  4. This show is just so . . . how do you put it? Just a joy to watch. It’s all over the place with it’s characters, yet it goes all philosophical whenever they need to get a point across. You can always count on it. I don’t even mind how corny all of it sounds, & that’s a rarity in my case.

    . . . & now the dump is about to be torn down. It’s just like this show to deliver that proverbial lightning bolt after every high point – & it’s still not boring. Go figure.

    Megas
    1. Ahaha, well if you mean in my interpersonal relationships (that is, the ones where everybody’s clothing stays on), I switch between teasing others and offering myself up as the brunt of jokes, depending on the crowd. I definitely tend to tease my girlfriends pretty often (S), but I also spend 10+ hours writing here every week (M), so that’s probably still a draw.

      As for the ones where clothing is more optional, I’ll let you extrapolate from what I said above / before, and you can imagine from there… ; )

      Stilts
  5. Ever since starring as Suzaku in Code Geass, Sakurai Takahiro has been receiving all the curbstomping roles lately, first as Makishima in Psycho-Pass, and now Jin demonstrates his martial arts prowess as well.

    Anonymous
      1. I think Landlady would be the first to be against the tearing down of her own property.

        She sure lives a good life, owning a house collecting rent from the Hidamari Apartment tenants (40K x 6 yen per month), allowing her to take on less restrictive freelance jobs without having to worry about paying the bills. Why would she want to tear it down?

        Anyway, apologies for going off-topic.

        Anonymous
  6. OH MY GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
    Show Spoiler ▼

    uhhh…. it’s still not clear for me if jin proposed (guess im an airhead lol) i mean, he just gave a ring on misaki saying “this ring should shup their traps”. also, It’s quite adorable to see them make up. and do you guys know what’s more adorable than that? yes! Shiina being a wingman for sorata and nanamin LOL that’s cute! I just realized…. nanami doesn’t know about plan B up until now.. JCstaff did well on that part.

    >> Jin vs Sorata = Taiga vs Kaichou ( toradora ) >:D

    note to self: write according to the episode plot. ^this is reversed. yeah, sorry Orz

    Ichijou Raku
    1. I think its more like an engagement ring for dating like promising that he will date her when he comes back. It seems to be more about Jin’s commitment to Misaki rather than her own. He says she can throw it away if she wants.

      Shin
  7. I didn’t expect Yuuko to fail but maybe that’s a given since Sorata didn’t expect her to pass either (keep stating that her normal grades aren’t good enough). But yeah, even in failure, she’s cute.

    PS. No Rita this week make me sad. :/

    Serapita
  8. Well, this episode was mainly devoted to resolving Jin X Misaki problem – and it shows there is no obstacle in love that can’t be solved with a bit of jewelry. Seriously, though, it took that ring to get to Misaki’s confused alied brain (Jin acting his way didn’t help at all, to be sure) that Jin loves her and wants to be with her for the rest of their lives – even if they will be separated at times.
    On the Mashiro X Sorata X Nanami shipping war front, I think we see some strong salvos from Mashiro, from acting jealous to the push at the doors. Mind you, there is no shortage of firepower from Nanami, too, with her acting so in synch with Sorata, down to simultaneous blushes.
    Yuuko failing might be a bit of surprise, but not necessarily, considering how lackluster were her preparations…
    But if she would succeed there might not be a Sakurasou for her next year! I think, though, that even if they do demolish it, the spirit of the place will be still with the people who lived there, wherever they will go.

    ewok40k
  9. I just want to know if this demolishing Sakurasou part is in the novels or we’re already in the anime original part of the series. I know at least that for the most part this is around the 6th novel.

    euler271
    1. This is from Wikipedia about the LN so consider the source: If you comment please spoiler tag it.

      House demo:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Yuuko:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Nanami:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      JinxMisaki
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Bear
      1. This is still Volume 5, where Jin gives the ring, Show Spoiler ▼

        Based on what I could read on the cover of volume 6, it also tells the story of Sakurasou being demolished Show Spoiler ▼

        So the only thing left out is volume 5.5, which is a side-story, otherwise they’re following the novels, I think.

        Fudou
  10. Yeah, the second half of this show really does have some characters suffer from the idiot ball – personally I felt this could have been solved sooner as long as they just opened their mouths (where’s Ryuunosuke when you need him?). I figured it would end up as something like this, so the resolution wasn’t surprising. I did like the flashback though; it really showed both the talent Misaki already had as a child, as well as the alienation she got from everyone else, up and to including her sister (lonely at the top syndrome). Jin and Misaki’s relationship isn’t as simple as mere childhood friends; underneath there are also issues like the fact that Jin has always just been tagging along with Misaki (which is thus also how he ended up Sakurasou – it had nothing to do with any talent on his part – maybe that’s why he was good at advising Sorata, because he had been in the same boat), and Misaki, having led quite a lonely life, was willing to compromise just to make Jin, the only person who always stuck with her, happy and content. Thus the source of their conflict was born.

    Great Mashiro moments this time too, I knew I wasn’t mistaken when she started getting a sense of modesty around him, because she was clearly embarrassed this time. Loved her deadpan comments and jokes as well. And then there was Bad Luck Yuuko, she couldn’t even pop the party ball without it crashing on her head…hahaha.

    So the dorm’s going to be destroyed, huh? Rather than saving it, I think it’ll put a boost in the romantic entanglements, because they’re running out of time. Or both. I dunno. While this kind of plot has been done a gazillion times before, I’m hoping Sakurasou will be able to surprise me and build a good resolution out of it.

    Dvalinn
    1. possible explanation would be Nanami and Sorata have the high-ground technically. The teachers were basically pushing from below from the stairs. Not exactly much room for footholds on a staircase.

      Euzio
  11. There were far too many amazing things to talk about, this episode, but I still can’t believe how well they managed to maintain the humor. Plan C will never get old for me, it’s my favorite reoccurring joke, and possibly the only one. I couldn’t help thinking it was just so like Sorata to be commenting on Mashiro’s panties right after getting the snot beaten out of him. But the best humor moment for me was the holding the door closed. I thought: This is the most dire point in the episode and I am laughing way too hard! (Sorata, Mashiro, and Nanami’s goofy conversations in the background of Jin and Misaki’s serious one was too good).
    No wonder Chihiro didn’t want to go to that meeting! ;A;

    Kiria
    1. I feel sorry for her mostly because she has lived in Misaki’s shadow. Neither her parents nor Jin have been fair to her. Probably, everyone who has had contact with her and her sister have treated her the same.

      Bear
    2. Well to be fair, most of that sister-inferior complex is brought on by herself. While I sympathize with her despair/pain, to me, she’s playing a victim card and if she felt unable to free herself from that for whatever reason, she should’ve moved out and broke the chain a long ago. If she’s lived in her sister’s shadow, that’s her choice, especially if you consider this Misaki character is in no way a perfect girl -she was only good at studying and art skills. If she gets insecure and obsessed by this terrible social inept sister character with many faults so much that she went after the boy she knew was in love with her sister and got hurt and felt used, well, frankly that’s her own doing. What was the use of envying on what her sister’s got instead of looking at what you have for years and years, if you’d end up being unhappy anyway? I don’t get it, but hey I try not to judge~.

      Deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
      1. And how pray tell is a child supposed to “move out”? She stated that her parents have doted over Misaki since she was a toddler. She falls in love with Jin and figures out he’s only doing it to stay near Misaki. She did move on, but had to endure the indifference of family and lover during her entire childhood. Where’s the choice? You’re stuck until you can get out from under. All you can do is endure.

        Bear
  12. This episode is so psedo-saccharine, self indulgent, full-on emotionally manipulative, disgustingly cheese-ball tornado of crap that I seriously questioned why I bothered to keep watching this show. Especially this Jin+Misaki cheesy puerile formulaic crappy plot-lines! And the dialogs! Not just between them, but almost during the entire episode – self eye-gouging/eardrum-pulling out inducing dreadful dialogs through and through, GEEZ! A freaking ring, wait for me for 4 years, fighting while spewing out shounen-style BS lines with straight-faced earnestness…I can go on. I’m sure they cut out some scenes from LN for this episode. TOO BAD they didn’t cut out more scenes, like EVERY scene. This is new low, Sakurasou. New low!!!

    I swear, if it wasn’t for Mashiro (Rei Ayanami Expy no. 59), I’d have dropped this a long ago. A long ago! Even after furiously skipping for about half of this “tornado of crap”, it still left me with bad taste in my mouth and permanent damage in my brain.

    I must stay strong; I will probably skip 3-4 episodes before coming back to see Mashiro’s resolution in the end. Her character is the only thing I cared about in this show to begin with. I just can’t take this other stuff anymore.

    Deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
    1. BTW, I don’t question others who watches and/or enjoys this -it’s none of my business whether you do or don’t. I only questioned myself for keep watching, LOL! I only write what it did for me and it’s my opinion alone and nothing else. Don’t get confused trashing an episode equals trashing its fans; it’s not.

      BTW2, I just noticed that Japanese anime TV shows seem to have “only” 1 for each time-slot schedule and nothing more, if RC’s schedule is correct. So that means no competing between two anime TV shows for say, Friday 9pm or whatever the prime time? Do they only compete in after market (e.g. DVD and other merchandises sales), but not for TV rating? I suppose that’s how Japan rolls, huh? I’d think perhaps injecting some free market competition with multiple anime TV shows competing the prime time could help improve overall quality (it could also backfire by killing shows like SSY, which is awesome, but I don’t think it can compete against formulaic, moe-ridden shows). Perhaps the size of Japan, it being smaller than Texas, and therefore smaller market and less TV channels has to with this lack of same-slot competition, who knows? I’d think the anime TV industry and the number of shows each season is big/numerous enough for the same slot competition to happen… Just a random thought.

      Deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
    2. the show is about the pet girl. mashiro is the girl. for the girl to have character growth they need interactions between peoples. without these crappy side-plots her plot wont be all the sweeter when it does progress 😛 as she pick up things in between them. example she tried to learn if sorata preferred to be tickled or fondled haahhaah even if the show is entitled pet girl shes sill part of a community and they must carryout their purpose! facilitate her progress like from not caring about panties to believing in them (bummer) but thats way it goesss haha ok not really but thanks to misaki cat creation she was able to partake in the festival and had fun

      GoodStuffs
  13. I was honestly a little disgusted by the resolution between Jin and Misaki.

    He’s treating her life a doll he can put on a shelf until he’s ready for her. The sheer arrogance is stomach-turning. She’s an adult woman. Maybe she doesn’t want to wait four years (or however long he ends up taking) to be held and kissed and have a lover who supports her.

    I wanted so much for her to tell him that she was giving up on him and going to try forming a relationship as an adult with some new guy rather than pining indefinitely after her childhood friend.

    Matthew
    1. Likewise Jin could have just left Misaki instead of trying to deal with the problems of being close to her – that would have been a far easier solution for him.And Misaki could have simply tried to talk to him without all her antics.IMO Misaki wasn’t any better than Jin when it comes to their relationship.
      It’s safe to say both parties had their own faults but also could have done a lot worse.

      anonymous
  14. If this was original material, I wasn’t very impressed by its execution. It was not very good. There were particularly two points that disappointed me in how it was handled. Coincidentally, they both occur in the same scene. They were frustrating occurrences of fridge logic…

    -Jin the Victim
    Wait a minute. Just wait one darn minute! Jin is the victim in this relationship? He’s the one that’s been trying to contact Misaki and not get an answer?! She’s the one avoiding him? What the heck? This came right out of the rear end of the writers. You could tell this was meant to be a shocking revelation meant to get all the viewers to love Jin again. All of Jin avoiding Misaki on Valentine’s day and not answering her was supposed to be this big red herring. Bull. Crap. Perhaps if Jin wasn’t so obsessed with “becoming the perfect man” for Misaki; perhaps if he didn’t spend most of his adolescence sleeping with a bunch of other girls (particularly Misaki’s sister); perhaps if he just manned up and just do what Sorata does and just be there for the person you love, you know, who has alone at the top syndrome? He doesn’t need time. That’s pathetic. He needs to just man up and explain his thoughts instead of pushing the issue aside and not tell anyone. Geeze, you wonder why Jin thinks he’s the victim. Probably because he dug his own 6 foot hole to begin with. No wonder why Misaki gave up contacting Jin and was to afraid to speak to him. He gives her all this crap about “I’m not ready yet” and some other half-assed responses, one ought not to be shocked at this learned helplessness. She’s tried and tried (no matter how eccentric, wild, or just plane wrong ways she approached this problem). Finally, she just gave up. Jin is no victim, and I really hated this apparent revelation that he’s innocent all of a sudden

    -Sorata the helpless martyr
    Finally, Sorata does what we’ve all been wanting to do ourselves: knock Jin on his rear end and into next week. Instead, Jin the hapless innocent victim beats the tar out of Sorata in a ill advised use of curb-stomping. If there was a curb stomp in order, it should have been against Jin. I actually thought a curb stomping was unnecessary. Sorata should at least have beat some sense into Jin and got the last decisive hit in. It would have actually resonated well with Jin’s flashbacks of how he beat up a group of thugs badmouthing Misaki. Gee, I once stood up for Misaki, and now Sorata has done the same in the exact same way. Maybe I’m in the wrong? It would have definitely would have made more sense

    -Foul!
    Perhaps this is just ignorance on my part, but the foul language was very uncharacteristic of this show. Yes, there was a fight and two males ready to kill each other… But you can’t name another episode in Sakurasou where cursing and general crude language was employed this liberally. I honestly couldn’t care less for it, and it felt out of place.

    Oh well… I vehemently disagree how this plot was handled in the end… But it ended well anyways.

    J_the_Man
    1. They never really portrayed Jin as a victim.

      Fists were supposed to convey their feelings rather than saying the one who wins is righteous. It is the idea that understand people through conflict. They weren’t trying to kill each other.

      Shin
  15. Being an (soon-to-be) engineer, namely the type of person that designs all the stuff that artists use and the robots that are replacing the people. I take some objection to the claim “which means the only thing left for us is to become artists.” Artists create things that people consume for relaxation and escape from life. Now there can be artistry in engineering, but a lot of that “art” is created by closely following design methodologies designed to create good products. Or rather most of what most engineers work on is seen by no almost one directly and runs underfoot and unnoticed in the world around us to have a great impact on the world around.

    ergZay
    1. I should note, look up “the internet of everything” for how engineers designing embedded systems to be lower and lower power yet faster and faster is enabling _everything_ to become networked. Also that you need 4 years of schooling (at a good/expensive university) to even begin to appreciate how complex the “everyday” machines we use all the time are becoming.

      ergZay
      1. Then I guess that no one will appreciate your post due to the complexity involved.

        But seriously, you should re-think your prejudices around art. Art is more about communicating life than escaping it. Not trying to tell you what you should think, but rather I’m just pointing out that maybe you’ve missed something in coming to your conclusion. It’s up to you to figure it out, or not.

        Mockman
  16. Finally caught up with the show and have mixed feelings about it.

    RE Jin x Masaki: I can’t understand why people are so irritated by him “delaying” his relationship with Masaki. They are in HIGH SCHOOL. What’s Jin supposed to do? Should he just hang around at Misaki’s convenience rather that go to university and improve his writing skills to become an equal partner in her anime creation? Is it really that unusual to wait until one graduates college before getting married? There are students who maintain long distance relationships during college and even get married post graduation. Perhaps not typical, but not unheard of either.

    There are two parties in a relationship. Misaki voluntarily (and happily) accepts the situation. If it’s so intolerable, she is perfectly able to say “Jin, that’s not good enough.” From the flashbacks it’s not hard to conclude that until recently, Misaki simply took Jin’s friendship support for granted. For now the situation seems resolved, but both share the blame for their relationship troubles as far as I’m concerned. Where I do think Jin IS a total (insert expletive here), is his past dealings with Misaki’s sister. Screwing around with Fuuka as a “poor-man’s Misaki substitute” was not cool at all.

    RE Ryuunosuke x Rita: OK, EP 17 rather EP 18, but mentioning for comparison/thoroughness. He “respects” (Horrible subs) Rita enough to send a X-mas e-mail (LOL nothing more romantic than e-mail), yet doesn’t respect her enough to speak face to face and address the issue? At the least man up enough to tell her “Sorry, I’m not interested/gay/asexual/whatever” rather than lock yourself in the toilet. She flew thousands of miles, at no small cost, just to see him for a few hours, and that’s his response? There’s a difference between being shy and rude, and Ryuu flew past that line last EP IMO. If his actions are “better” than Jin’s, it’s not by much, and neither’s close to exemplary.

    RE: Sorata x Nanami/Mashiro: *sigh* FINALLY, Sorata seems to have a vague idea that both Nanami and Mashiro like him romantically. Congrats on dropping the idiot ball. Although struggling to accept/understand his newly discovered love triangle, he has little hesitation in asking Mashiro to help with his game design. Given the game designer’s comments about the presentation drawing, I wonder to what extent Sorata’s project was accepted based upon Mashiro’s artwork. In short, no drawing = failed presentation. Fortunately for him, Mashiro proves more than willing to help him in an attempt to gain his affection. To Sorata’s credit, I do get the impression that he realizes he could be unfairly taking advantage of Mashiro’s goodwill, and her help may adversely impact her own manga production.

    I have defended Jin’s response to Masaki because I simply don’t find him entirely to blame rather than any sort of relationship role model. Rather than care about the Jin x Masaki, I find myself an impartial observer. Ryuunosuke lost me last EP. Rita, time to move on. You can do better. So that leaves me with Sorata’s as my “preferred” male lead. At first, I was all for the Sorata x Mashiro pairing. However, despite being a decent guy, after what seems to be years rather than months of watching his almost unbelievable ignorance of Nanami’s and Mashiro’s affectionate overtures, I’m not sure if I care who “wins” the Sorata dating pool. And that’s my problem with the show now. After 18 episodes, I’m finding it hard to back any of the male leads with much, if any, enthusiasm.

    daikama

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