Go-Toubun no Hanayome S2 – 11

「シスターズウォー　前半戦」 (Shisutaazu Woo Zenhan Sen)
“Sisters War: Part 1”

In the first part of the Sisters War arc for Go-Toubon no Hanayome Ichika ruins the class trip for everyone by getting immediately caught in the act after trying to ambush Fuutarou in her Miku disguise to give her more favorable odds of going out with him. But as the other sisters try to make sense of where Ichika is coming from with all of this, Yotsuba and Itsuki have more on their minds by coming to terms with who Fuutarou used to be back when they were kids.

The big “OH SNAP” moment that happened during the Sisters War was easily when Miku and the other sisters saw Ichika gearing up to meet up with Fuutarou in her disguise to ruin her confession. Her unpopularity skyrocketed even further as she continued to jump the shark and became fully committed to her new villainous arc.

Miku is torn to shreds knowing her one confidant had been sabotaging her from behind-the-scenes, and Ichika’s main course of action is to justify what she’s been doing, reminding Nino that she would be walking all over Miku’s feelings just like she is if her plan is also to get with Fuutarou. From the same person who belittled Miku in front of everyone and promised to stomp out the other sisters, it would have to feel like a slap in the face for Nino to suddenly get all offended when she’d be just as willing to disrespect her sisters if they had any kind of intention on getting closer to him.

But whereas the story was rigged to get Ichika out of the picture, it was Nino’s time to shine as she solidified her commitment to her sisters by declaring that she still would’ve been happy for any of the other sisters if she ended up losing Fuutarou. Though this was mostly said out of anger for Ichika breaking Miku’s heart, she was the first sister who could come up with a way to get into Miku’s room.

It’s an excellent development on Nino’s end to go from someone who went out of her way to spite Miku to actively encouraging her to let her feelings come across to Fuutarou if she wants to dispel any of the confusion that might’ve been caused by Ichika’s disguise. Even if Nino still has a ways to go with getting on Fuutarou’s good side, she is taking some decent steps to get on better terms with Miku and repair their connection. Much of this could’ve been alleviated if Miku had already told everyone to back off ahead of time because she was the first one who wanted to go out with him, but her lack of confidence ended up ultimately giving Nino and Ichika express permission to screw her over.

In non-war-related news, Yotsuba is currently going through a rough arc as she is being tested for any of the kind gestures she’s done to support her sisters. The main catalyst is her plans to get Miku closer to Fuutarou backfiring because her advice to Ichika ended up compelling her to sabotage Miku. Yotsuba shoulders the blame for the dark cloud that hangs over the Kyoto trip, but only because of her skewed perspective on bringing happiness to others at the cost of her own.

Fuutarou is understanding of this notion as he directly questions Yotsuba on whether she is siphoning her own happiness away to offer it away to her sisters. She spends so much time being concerned with being a people-pleaser that she holds herself accountable for things that shouldn’t be her problem. She’s pleased when others rely on her to help them solve their problems, but in return, she has to give up her own desires. This leads into Itsuki’s main conflict in the episode where her knowledge of Rena and Kyoto makes her want to make it her personal goal to jog Fuutarou’s memory. Because she sees it as her mission to keep Rena alive in Fuutarou’s mind, knowing that one of her sisters is Rena, she is now entangled in a series of mind games to get Fuutarou to take the Kyoto trip seriously.