Tonikaku Kawaii S2 – 09

「夏の日」 (Natsu no Hi)
“A Summer Day”

While Tsukasa and Nasa are a match made in Heaven, Tsukasa and technology are not. I’m kind of surprised that Tsukasa has a hard time with things like controllers (seriously, it was just a dead battery) or phone passwords- those are such a part of everyday life in today’s technology-obsessed society. Maybe some of that has to do with her being far older than she actually appears, but more on that later. That she isn’t perfect and has those little weaknesses endears her all the more to Nasa, who believes she’s far too good for him. Her strengths on the other hand are nerves of steel in standing up to the toughest tattooed customers (“You can’t come in unless you put tape on those tattoos”- LOL How is that even supposed to stay on in the water?). The whole “password management is household chore sharing” was funny. And yes, cake makes everything better- wise choice on Nasa’s end.

Nasa and Tsukasa are always welcoming to the most unexpected drop-ins (unless it’s Tokiko, in which case Tsukasa gets pricklier than a cactus). This time, it’s Yanagi-sensei who stops by, for some pre-marital advice. That didn’t go in the direction I was expecting. I thought Yanagi was going to stress about Taniguchi-sensei’s proclivity for pickled ginger with a side of beef bowl as a deal breaker in the relationship, but it turns out she’s caught the pickled ginger plague from him and is worried that he won’t love her anymore because of it. All in all, a pretty nonsensical situation which neither I nor the Yuzakis seem to know what to make of it other than that things are going pretty well between the sensei pair for that to be what she’s worried about. There are a whole lot worse things to be worried about in a relationship.

I have heard before that people gain weight the first few years of marriage- I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it is for Nasa and it freaks him out big time. I don’t think he needs to get all worked up about it, he’s fine just the way he is- so long as he eats right, exercises, and otherwise takes care of his physical health, which it looks like he’s starting to get back in the habit of doing. There’s a deeper issue beneath the weight gain panic- Nasa’s worried that he won’t be strong enough to protect Tsukasa. Which is a non-issue because Tsukasa is strong enough to protect them both, as she points out. So what if Nasa isn’t buff and strong- he doesn’t have to be. His brains are pretty brawny and he protects Tsukasa in other ways through managing her tech crises. I think that’s an essential element of any good couple, to look out and care for one another in different, complementary ways and one of the many ways in which Tsukasa and Nasa work so well together.

Yanagi was just the tip of the unexpected visit iceberg, Tokiko popping in unannounced for some cold somen with the Yuzakis. The real purpose of Tokiko’s visit being to invite (or coerce) Tsukasa and Nasa into a family camping trip. While the idea of the gang going camp presents a lot of fodder for amusement, the really big news of that segment was the flashback of Tokiko with Tsukasa. It was interesting how they framed it in black and white initially- that was sort of misleading. I assumed at first that Tsukasa was the crying child because Tokiko is a grandmotherly figure towards her and found it really strange that the Tokiko figure had Tsukasa’s voice. I knew that Tsukasa was older than she appeared, but thought that maybe if she was related to Tokiko, then Tokiko was even older than she appeared too. When they put it into full color, it all made sense- Tsukasa was the one comforting the young, crying Tokiko. Which 100% confirms that Tsukasa is far older than she appears and gives insight into their relationship. It maybe explains some of why she’s terse towards Tokiko, being older than Tokiko but Tokiko acting like her grandmother.

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