Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi – 11

「めぐる季節」 (Meguru Kisetsu)
“The Seasons Come and Go”

Pretty good episode if you ask me, although Harumi’s inability to read between the lines when it comes to Futaba, might have been charming at first, but this episode certainly showed how quickly it became passé. If it weren’t for the other, can we say, couples, this show has going for it, the blushing, the glances, and passionate buried emotions and overall tsundere shy-ness Futaba has for Harumi would make Senpai ga Uzai a very intolerable watch.

Harumi is a simple man, he doesn’t like to complicate things, he lives life the best way he knows how, but that’s also his downfall, sometimes things are not simple, and you just have to face your own emotions or other’s head-on. Why is it that Touko gets to steal a kiss from Souta, but Harumi is still bickering with Futaba over what type of fortune has the best kind of felicity? Mona even brings out a crowd of people as she is pulling the best type of fortune. Why is it that when they pull a bad fortune, but it states the person next to you is waiting for you? Both of them are unable to express such feelings. It boggles my mind that the second romance option this show has going for, has more progress than the one it’s selling itself with. Its main selling point is seeing Harumi and Futaba try to date, both having feelings for each other but both are way too head-strong to actually confess to the other. Harumi is the type of guy who’s going to wait for the perfect opportunity, he needs to make sure he actually has feelings for the other person, and not just wishy-washy feelings like a crush, he needs to be in love with the other person to actually confess anything if he doesn’t see that opportunity present itself with elegance and grace, then he’s keeping quiet.

Meanwhile, Futaba has that tsundere thing going on for her, she relaxes a lot around Harumi, but she’s still explosive when things don’t go her way, I think she understands that things rarely go the way you anticipate them, but at the same time is also waiting for that golden chance when she gets to confess her feelings to Harumi, yet I think she’s holding back and is actually waiting for Harumi to confess to her, and that’s just never going to happen. Not with a guy like Harumi. It would be nice to see Futaba take the helm on this one, but I just don’t see that happening. A heated discussion on her part is bound to take place, right? Well, so far it’s only been but a mere tease. And that stings just a little bit, it’s been nice seeing their romance develop, their trust for each other deepen, and their appreciation for one another move closer.

Anyway, after a hard day of working towards meeting those new year’s deadlines, everyone in the office gets an obligatory new year celebration party, they go around the table asking who’s doing what for the new year, it’s not important. We learn that Futaba is not going home because her grandpa is doing a fishing trip, which by the way, how did he manage to get signal in the freaking middle of the sea, maybe he has a network tower on the ship, it’s a minor thing that I’m just realizing. It’s not really important as the call lasted less than 45 seconds and it introduced some of Ojii-chan’s friends. A small gag at best.

Anyway, Touko invites Souta to her house for new years, and he agrees wholeheartedly, he’s such a cutie, you would think he’s really mean because of his perpetual bored/mean glance, but he’s actually really cute if you try and get to know him, however, he’s only vulnerable with the people he deems worthy. Sort of like a cat. Of course, Touko the ever-popular office token gets invited by all of the guys to do something at New Year, but she declines them all, of course, most of them want her for her looks. By the way she reacts I’m guessing she herself already knows this.

She invites him with the excuse that Yuuto has been meaning to see him, come the actual day, and Yuuto all but leaves because he conveniently forgot that he was meant to see a friend. So Souta and Touko have the house all to themselves. When Souta arrives, she accidentally burns what she was cooking, so they end up with instant ramen instead. Souta makes it all better by saying just the right kind of stuff, he’s so wholesome, I’m certainly rooting a lot for him. He’s sort of the underdog of this series, Harumi doesn’t have to say any of that, even though it would be nice; Because he doesn’t have the emotional capacity to do so, he doesn’t read the room because he’s self-centered. Meanwhile, Souta does because he doesn’t have muscle or charisma so he needs something else to impress the girl he’s trying to form a relationship with. Both Touko and Sotua are actively doing so. While Harumi just goes with the flow and that might be appealing to some but frustrating if you’re trying to form a bond that extends beyond the workplace. I hope we do get some Harumi x Futaba time in the season finale. Something that gives us a reason to believe Harumi is actually interested in Futaba. And is more than just a muscle simpleton.

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