Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu – 11

「僕らは少し似ている」 (“Bokura wa Sukoshi Niteiru)
“We’re a Bit Alike”

Holidays inevitably mean visits to relatives, which for Kyo, means traveling to see grandma in Akita. Papa Ichikawa even makes a cameo for the first time. I find it interesting how the women play a large role in BokuYaba while the fathers remain in the background. We’ve met Anna’s mother, but not her father as of yet and Kyo’s mother and sister appear very involved in his life while one season in, we’ve only just caught a glimpse of dad. I find the closeness between Kyo and Kana compelling, the way she warmheartedly teases him, treats him to lunch in an earlier episode, tries to give girl advice. Even though Kyo gets annoyed by her presence (there’s honestly probably not much that can get my goat as much as teasing from a sibling), he still has the maturity to recognize that they’re both alike in trying to convince themselves they don’t want what they want. While I’m the eldest in my family, I never really had that sort of close relationship with my younger brothers and seeing Kyo and Kana make me almost jealous.

Kyo has come far in his relationship with Anna and it almost catches him unawares. Before Kyo realizes it, he and Anna start LINE messaging every day and he promises to send her a snow picture, which he promptly goes on the hunt for the perfect shot. A huge deal for him, judging from those adorable blushes and facial expressions every time he gets a message from her. It was kind of awkwardly cute that Kyo was so consumed by getting a good shot for Anna that he doesn’t look where he’s going- such a Kyo way to break his arm. But mainly- ouch! Breaking your arm by tumbling through the snow on a family vacation is probably not the coolest way to go back to school.

Poor Kyo has to share a room with his sister at Grandma’s house- doubly uncomfortable when he gets a surprise video call from Anna after sending her a broken arm selfie. He’s got guts to take the call when his sister’s right within earshot – even after checking that she’s sound asleep, I sure wouldn’t have risked it, precisely because of what happens next. Anna in her glasses and loungewear practically almost puts Kyo over the edge, you can see him desperately try to hold it in- a number one embarrassing situation with your sister as your roommate. Unfortunately for Kyo, his sister is not a heavy sleeper. Though I feel like he should’ve foreseen that- most people would get woken up by a conversation in close quarters. To make matters worse, he easily admits that he knows her when he could’ve just passed it off as watching a live-streamer.

I was impressed that Kana let the matter slide for the rest of that evening- it’s almost second nature for family members to be nosy when friends of the opposite sex are involved. Of course, she just saves it up for later on the car ride home when there’s even more of an audience (luckily, Mom is asleep and Dad says nothing). Kana is really a supportive sister, rather than outright discouraging him from going for Anna, she reassures him that “he’s got a chance”- the truth Kyo needs to hear from someone else.

This was such a pivotal episode in so many ways for Kyo. He is starting to step over his denial hurdle that’s been tripping him up from the start. “We’re friends for now”- that’s significant and Anna doesn’t miss the beat on that one either. I seriously feel so proud of Kyo with this little victory moment of finally being able to accept that they are friends and that it’s not just in his head. It takes owning up to what you want and no small amount of courage, almost like a leap of faith to get beyond that point- such a huge moment for Kyo, for whom this denial had been a huge shadow on his self-talk.

I did a double take seeing Anna in glasses, a total prop for Kyo’s benefit since she doesn’t ever wear glasses or mention contacts. We all know Anna knew what she was doing- the shoujo manga sprawled next to her obviously the inspiration behind her whole exchange with Kyo.

After 5 days apart, Kyo and Anna meet up once more under the guise of “returning some books”. They say that owners look like their dogs, and Anna’s boundless enthusiasm certainly reminded me a lot of a dog when she hangs with Kyo in the park (though Wantaro seems none too ecstatic about Kyo). Kyo previously mused that he felt like Anna was remote controlling him through their phone conversation and now the roles get flipped when Anna instructs him to give Wantaro commands- hilariously, only for Anna, not Wantaro to spin, sit, and shake.

I love how comfortable Anna is around Kyo, that she’s able to be vulnerable with him in a way that most of her classmates do not get to see. It points to a level of trust in him as well as Anna’s general openness in nature. While Kyo was freaking out over whether he should give Anna the Akita keychain or if she would be creeped out by that, it turns out Anna shared the same sentiments. That scarf she “lent” him, she admits, was actually supposed to be a Christmas gift, but chickened out, afraid that he wouldn’t like it. I love how again and again, Anna shows that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Anna and Kyo seriously have such a good dynamic, like how Anna’s comfortable enough with Kyo to get vulnerable with him, which then opens him up. Anna admitting about the scarf gave Kyo the push to give her the keychain, which she (unsurprisingly) loves.

Kyo levels up again in that whole last scene with Nanpai. Seriously, what a shithead to corner Kyo and try to coerce Anna’s contact info from him. Moe does what good besties are wont to do and screens Anna’s person of interest, watching Kyo’s reaction to prime asshole of the year and is not disappointed by what she sees. Kyo’s on fire- standing up to Nanpai like that, asserting himself for the first time. Good on him for standing his ground like that- what a gem.

Moe truly is a great wing woman. Thank you Moe for pointing out the obvious to Kyo- he needs that outside voice telling him his gut impression isn’t wrong. There’s no “wrong idea” about Kyo and Ichi- as Moe points out, it’s obvious to everyone what the two think about each other. Kyo can finally admit as much about his own feelings, actually telling someone else that he likes her. And then taking the initiative to call her because he wants to her voice-Awww- another huge step- it’s taken time, but now he’s growing so fast.