Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu – 04

「僕は心の病」 (Boku wa Kokoro no Yamai)
“I Have a Problem”

The chemistry steadily builds between Anna and Kyoutarou. They end up in the Chemistry lab, in search of an appropriate receptacle for Anna’s Pruiche. Pain in the ass snacks to prepare comprise Anna’s idea of cooking- that’s a hoot. Kyou’s panic over Anna haphazardly dumping the fruit flavoring straight into the milk carton was chuckleworthy. Though, I personally don’t see anything wrong with Anna’s way of doing it-it’ll turn out the same either way. I was in total disbelief that Kyou thought it was a good idea to make and have Anna drink, the Pruiche from a beaker that could have held hydrochloric acid or who knows what other stuff earlier in the day. “This is Pruiche!” I laughed, imagining what the teacher’s reaction must have been.

These two have opposite ways of doing things. Kyou is very neat and precise, to the point of carefully measuring out the Pruiche. Anna takes things as they come- no bowl, no problem. I think that’s part of their attraction towards each other, how they show each other a different world.

Anna totally pulls Kyou’s leg through the whole ordeal-first jokingly asking him to fetch her a bowl, then dipping his finger in the dessert for a taste (that scene actually reminded me a bit of Nazo no Kanojo X). She knows what she’s doing and I can’t really blame her-it is adorable to see a blushing Kyou and most importantly, she’s not doing it to be mean-spirited or forcing him into uncomfortable situations in front of a huge crowd of people, something that would be a big no for Kyou (if it were either case, then it’d be a different story and totally not OK, but thankfully, it’s not that).

Anna’s aware of her attraction for Kyou, and as a teen girl who is still maturing into social cues and managing one’s feelings and reactions, she’s going to be more pushy, she hasn’t (yet) learned other ways how to get her feelings across.

It’s not like Kyou’s opposed to it either-he’s just as attracted to her but processes it differently. In fact, he worries that Anna getting busted by the teacher would put an end to their library meetings. Anna’s response was technically correct, as Kyou points out- she didn’t throw the wrappers away (she’d stash them in her pocket or make Kyou toss it out for her). That was a good move on Anna’s part to bring him along to the teacher- he’s very intelligent and easily able to think up a logical argument to put Anna in the clear. It’s truly beautiful to see how Kyou is opening up around Anna, to the point of even speaking paragraphs for her defense in front of the teacher, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by the floored sensei.

Kanaoya still hasn’t apologized for hitting Anna with the basketball and Serina gets into protective mode (such friends are truly a gem). I get it, it wasn’t on purpose, but still, even if you do something by accident, it’s still nice to offer a “sorry”. In Kanaoya’s case the problem lies with her preconceptions of Anna. She judges Anna as the stereotypical pretty, popular girl and looks down on Serina for becoming what Kanaoya thinks is a lemming, running after the popular girl. Pride and jealousy get in the way. The thing is, Anna isn’t like other girls-she’s more quirky and kind, but as Kyou observes, Kanaoya wouldn’t know that if she doesn’t know Anna. The situation reminds me of last week’s Skip to Loafer episode, where Kurume rejects Yuzuki on her misconception of Yuzuki as the typical pretty, popular girl, until she actually talks to her.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen Anna use her cell phone in the library. At first, I thought that maybe Anna picked up on why Kanaoya was in the library and feeling awkward about it, used Kyou and the cell phone as buffers. Her natural reaction “Hmm. Why? Sorry for what?” actually hints that she probably was indeed just oblivious to why Kanaoya was there. Most likely, she had the phone out as an excuse to talk with Kyou and get another selfie with him.

Poor Kyou-I totally feel for him, getting caught in the awkward situation where he wants to talk with Anna and not risk giving her the wrong idea by running off, but also wants to respect the mood of the situation and give Kana a chance to apologize. Kyou is a decent guy and chooses the latter. That Anna can act so friendly and positively with Kana shows her that she had a lot of misconceptions around Anna-that photo was such a simple, yet profound “It’s ok, we can be friends” type of move. It was also hilarious when everyone riffed on Anna’s “Hmm. Why?” tagline.

Another first- meeting Kyou’s sister. Up until now, everything’s been centered around Kyo, Anna, and their friends, and now his sister is introduced in the mix. Being a kind older sister, she treats him to McDonald’s. This episode spoke volumes about Kyou’s sensitivity towards others. His sister points out that he’s like a girl on a diet with his salad-I wonder if he only ordered a few things out of consideration of his sister’s budget, especially because when he goes to order more food, he pays with his own money. What follows next practically screams “I’m interested!” when Anna makes a special trip down to the ordering area specifically to talk to Kyou, which he realizes when she arrives to order, wallet-less (I wonder if she left her wallet on purpose or accidentally left it in her rush to catch him. Hmm…). Kyou, again, shows his thoughtfulness and purchases an ice cream for Anna, but misses the chance to give it to her, though it does make him super aware of her scent-another telltale sign that his “like” isn’t purely “I don’t hate her” feeling.

I can so relate Kyou’s immediate jump to worst case scenario when it comes to breaking the rules (in his case, the double riding on the bike). That riding in front of the police station would lead to social ostracization and a failed modeling career for Anna is so over the top, but for a nervous overthinker, it makes complete sense (even though such a result is unlikely). You prepare for the worst and thus think of the worst.

The most pivotal moment was when Anna commented on his Papiko preference “You’re afraid of change”. That hit home to Kyou and got him out of his comfort zone, where he actually rode in the face of his fears, past the police station (and guess what- nothing happened!). As someone who can be a nervous rule follower, especially when I was younger, I know how hard it is to break out of that comfort zone, to get beyond your fears of worst case scenario, the “what-ifs”. And, it’s incredibly freeing once you do (not that I advocate breaking all the rules all the time). I also loved that this all took place at a stop light-so beautifully fitting and even the detail of showing Kyou’s reactions without seeing his face, only by his bright red ears.

It was incredibly sweet when Kyou reverses the situation, giving Anna the Papiko garbage cap like she did to him at the beginning. His anxiety over whether he made the right decision was relatable, the feeling of “crap, I got caught up in the moment, but maybe they think I’m weird. Was I ok?”. The answer to that, is in the green-Ichi totally scored one and he and Anna move up a level, beyond honorifics-from Yamada-san to “Yamada”- a big deal.

There were so many little funny, awkward moments, like Anna dropping the cloth through the window because she thought the glass was there or Kyou accidentally calling over a cab when he tries to wave goodbye. I am so happy to see them get adapted and to continue to be blown away by the care put into this anime (a care which this series well deserves).