First Impressions / Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

「彼女達の憂鬱な日々」 (Kanojo-tachi no Yūutsuna Hibi)
“Girls’ Melancholy Days”

The title definitely doesn’t lie–Shizuku, Chizuru, and Natsume all experience some degree of sadness this week, with each handling the situation uniquely. While Chizuru stands up for others and Natsume reaches out to Mitty, Shizuku takes a step back and…closes herself off. It’s definitely been an interesting episode to mull about, and one I hope we can all talk about deeply in the comments. How much pain is Shizuku hiding behind that apparent veil of truth? Do you agree with Yuuzan when he says truth isn’t always a virtue? So many questions to ask, and so much material to cover…

While there still are moments in the show that have made me grin (prime example being the ‘balls’ scene), those moments have given way to a new tone in the series. I don’t know if it was due to the ridiculous pace this episode, or if it’s just me, but the interactions between the characters…something uncanny could be felt. Something…awkward has been seeped into the group of friends. Even in the Omake do the vibes feel negative…as the tone of Mitty’s voice betrays her words. While Haru and Mitty are still being honest to each other…they are hiding their true selves back behind the “honesty” they feel comfortable revealing. The two have reached that point of the relationship where the raw emotion has started to subside, and reality is starting to kick in. The two have reached that point where the validity of their feelings will be challenged–was it merely uncontrollable emotions like Mitty said, or will there finally be that final push to finally give in to one another…to be 100% honest rather than be a strategic 90%, to brace through the struggles together rather than blaming themselves.

Mitty, for awhile, has been patiently waiting for Haru to return her feelings back not in a blunt yet non-serious way as he usually does, but one where you can stare him in the eyes and say, “he’s serious”. Time has passed though, and unfortunately, the changes in Mitty’s life have impacted the one thing she could rely on before: her grades. From the flashbacks we can infer that grades to Mitty mean a whole lot more than she currently lets on. Perhaps her aspiration is to ensure that her own future family is financially secure, to follow the footsteps of her mother. Thus, we have Shizuku “reeling back” so that she can find a balance between her future financial happiness and her current emotional happiness. However, the fatal flaw that Mitty exercises in this case (at least, in my honest opinion) is that she’s trying too hard to compartmentalize her work and personal life, all while trying to figure it out alone.

Why would Mitty invite Haru to the library if he is a distraction towards her studies? Why would Shizuku say that the problem is herself and not Haru? It’s all because Mitty wishes to be in control of her situation again…but is struggling with that control. Mitty, while honestly desiring more time to study, also desires to be with Yoshida more, and not just as a friend. Although the two polars don’t necessarily conflict with one another, Mitty is treating the situation as if it were, which places a huge strain on both. Mitty can’t study and the both of them are acting at an awkward level of 9001. While Haru needs to hurry up and give Mitty a clear answer (or at least explain more in detail why he can’t give a clear answer), Mitty now has some stuff to work on as well. It’s understandable how the passage of time may have dulled her attraction to Haru, but her actions aren’t lying–she’s not revealing her entire story to Haru, and she has to do that with the willingness of letting Haru help solve those problems. That is what Yuuzan meant when he said that “honesty isn’t always a virtue”–you can be honest, that’s for sure, but honesty for the sake of dishonestly hiding other things…that is a questionable act we need to examine. Without the willingness of Haru and Mitty to fall, trusting the other person will catch them, their relationship will be strained by their current refusal to open up to one another. I truly pity the two–they’re hurting so much more than they let on–but it’s a challenge they must overcome to find a happy balance.

I could rant on and on about this, but there are two other girls who also have their share of melancholy! Haru definitely isn’t the only one who can help Mitty. Natsume, now feeling the distance from Mitty as well, desires to impart her knowledge of romance and relationships onto the inexperienced Mitty. While her pushy nature may conflict directly with Shizuku’s reserved persona, as a friend, she is justified in looking out for Mitty. Her advice might be clouded in a bunch of silliness, such as pointing out Chizuru and her status as a rival, but she definitely means well. Yuuzan, once again, in his infinite wisdom, notes to Natsume that Haru and Mitty will need the advice eventually. Mi-chan, in a more humbling and humane way, states that love isn’t a one-person deal, hinting that Natsume will definitely be playing a bigger role in these next few episodes–a much needed development for, currently, an under-appreciated character. Go Natsume! Use your infinite knowledge from the internet to solve this awkward situation! Heck, if you need to use another voodoo charm, do so! Make sure Mitty doesn’t revert back to who she was!

But alas, the last, yet definitely not least happens to be HanaKana and Chizuru. Her monologues definitely hit the spot on why some people in her situation act like they do, and to an extent, I can identify with those issues. Some of us just wish that things would fix themselves and beg us to join them…but at the same time, we feel that we’re not worthy to join them in their merriment. There’s this complex that hangs over our heads that fears that if we hang out with people, they’ll think badly of us if we make a mistake, and then leave us to be lonely once more. This fear of disappointing people, but having a desire to still be with people, closely mirrors the description of the hedgehog dilemma as a minor variant. Thus, as a consequence, without the inertia to break those preconceived notions, Chizuru watches from far away and doesn’t seek conflict with anyone, in order to somehow appease people and their hidden fangs. That build-up then made Chizuru’s “balls” outbreak all the more satisfying, as it completely broke new ground for her character. While we have seen similar outbreaks of this nature in other anime (b-b-b-baka), for me, it still doesn’t get old. Chizuru, while she doesn’t seem destined to be with Haru, definitely got some balls rolling (fu fu fu) for herself and for Haru. Her situation wasn’t the most unique or surprising for me, but her character is solid in execution and reacts humorously to Haru’s bluntness. Now, if we could just figure out who this Yuu-chan is…

Again, there’s so much I’d like to talk about, but those are the main points I wished to bring up. The pacing in this episode definitely picked up a LOT, so it was quite a bit to digest the first time around. I actually am considering re-watching this episode to make sure I didn’t miss any nuances, since it tackled so many people’s problems in such a short time period. Mity’s past, Chizuru’s “Yuu-chan”, and Natsume’s desire to fit with the group are all still unsolved mysteries–hopefully next episode provides the answers to the many questions brought up this week.

Full-length images: 21, 25, 26, 32, 35.

 

Preview

Omake

34 Comments

  4. Think of what she said to Chizuru when they were talking about what it’s like to be friendless. Natsume doesn’t need to share her “romantic knowledge” as much as she needs to have someone to share feelings with. She would “think” that it’s about providing her expert opinion, but it’s really about being close enough to someone that they can trust you to share. She’s opened up to Mitty but Mitty won’t reciprocate. The funny thing is that she should really “friend” Chizuru.

    bear
    Reply

  6. Lol dat “balls” scene xD
    If only going to the nurse’s office for a hurting heart was that easy~

    In all seriousness, I miss the happy, go-lucky Tonari, but hopefully these trials will bring our main couple closer together. What really hurt for me, though, was when Haru noted that Shizuku was acting normal again, and she commented that something was wrong with her before 🙁

    Shiawase
    Reply

  7. well give bit like hmm yea class rep glasses girl slowing falling for haru but give bit shy, no friends, & see shizuku as a challenge for haru.

    then even all doing ask if haru got balls everyone go white bit shy overload kana-hana.

    look at bit shizuku’s past oh library with shizuku & haru give saying she more into her study than date & etc with add in wonder how did laptop comp girl even got into high school?

    uyp
    Reply

  8. Great episode. Zanibas, excellent analysis of this episode, IMHO.

    Mitty is playing her strength, nothing more. She’s in unfamiliar territory, so she’s playing it safe, keeping with
    things that are familiar to her. To me, this was underscored by the fireworks flashback. She was disappointed
    and sad that her mom couldn’t make it. But what she did was very interesting. She did nothing; get it?

    She didn’t cry, become angry at the circumstances, with her father, Takaya for being asleep, a clear night, or
    anything that she could take the pain out on (her dad should have known that her reaction wasn’t normal).

    This is the start or to show her being on the path of introversion. That’s why she loved to study – when you can
    control the questions, you control the answers. But in a relationship, you don’t get to pick and choose the questions –
    they’re unfairly hurled at you – and you better be ready as each one is always do or die (or so it seems at the time)!

    Why would Mitty invite Haru to the library if he is a distraction towards her studies?

    To prove to herself that she can control the pain – out of sight out of mind, right? If Haru’s not there, he can’t
    distract her. If she can prove to herself that his being there wont distract her, well… …you see it now, right?

    I bet many people don’t know the word romance/romantic and its variants have gender specific meanings.
    Look it up. Did I mention that it’s physiologically impossible for a girl to read its meaning as a boy would read it
    and vice versa? Yup, this here is one of those facts-of-life. It does change as the actors grow (older/wiser),
    but at that age a girl has a completely different understanding of romance than a boy does. Matter of fact,
    a boy will say “what’s that?” or “aren’t we doing that already?” when pressed on the issue.

    I think this is the point where Haru is – I can relate to his cluelessness, oh can I relate! Mitty wants a romantic
    commitment from Haru (I’ll wait for him to fall in love with me…) on terms she can understand. Haru thinks it’s
    already a done deal to the point of basically ignoring her rejection of him at the library. I still think that’s how
    the writers are portraying this. Haru’s faithful to his word, he had an opportunity to go elsewhere – and I think
    he knew it, but didn’t. But he hasn’t given up trying, in his mind, what Mitty wants and what he can do for her.

    I think this is a “blink” contest now – let’s see who’s going to blink first in the next episode(s)…

    mac65
    Reply

    1. Hahaha, want me to answer that question for you?

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Extremist
      Reply

  12. And so we can safely say that the word of the episode is “awkward”. I am, amongst the mess of emotions inside me, most depressed now. Heck, I think I’m also feeling desperate enough to go read the manga to see what happens. I think I will.

    junglepenguin
    Reply

  16. The HanaKana syndrome strikes again, the HanaKana voiced likable character comes in late and causes jealousy from the main love interest. Though I wonder if that’s even true since Chizuru has been told from the start that Haru loves Shizuku while even if not in a healthy way Shizuku got over her jealousy.

    And in Shizuku’s case this seems to be her main way of dealing with things. Just like in the goldfish case she realized that there is a possibility that she might nor get what she wants and that things would be ‘easier’ for everyone including herself if she just studied which she could do alone and feel proud of. However, it’s obvious that she can’t actually forget considering that she still remembers the festival from years ago. I hope she’ll be able to get back to how she was since you can’t logically say what she’s doing is bad. After working for so many years her rankings are falling just because she decided on her own that she loved Haru, she can’t just risk her whole life when Haru doesn’t seem to be changing much so it’s easier for her to just return back to studying.

    I have great hopes for Natsume here as she seems to be the one who just wants a real friend like she could never get in the real world before. And even though we haven’t really seen her in that kind of situation she was in the same spot (except internet instead of middle school friend) as Chizuru so there’s one obvious friend there and while Mitty always tries to ignore her I’m sure she’ll warm up at some point. While she’s not particularly smart she cares about everyone in the group so she seems to be suited pretty well for solving these problems.

    HakumeiJin
    Reply

  21. So basically studying is an obsession for Shizuku to fill the void. Since she said “even now, the pot is still empty”, it might be referring to her loneliness she felt when her mom didn’t come home. She cares a lot for studying because it’s something you can work hard for and gain results, while her situation with her mom can’t be controlled like that. That’s probably why she’s having so much trouble balancing her studies and her love life.
    And I think Natsume wants to talk with Mitty more about her problems, so I hope that’s going to happen soon ^^
    btw I love HanaKana in this role ^^

    torami
    Reply

  23. I must admit I feel completely understanding Mitty,and, to certain extent , Chizuru. Studying was for me the ONLY reason to go to school each day, and on the other hand I’ve felt… unnecessary? unneeded? useless? on the social side of things. But, contrary to chizuru I just acepted the things as they were.
    One of this post’s notices is spot on, definiely:”If Mitty wants only to study hard, then why invite Haru?” Myself I never invited anyone to study with me…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  25. I really like thisaime ad kamisama hajememashita, great season 🙂 but I’m surprised that no oneon randomc is cvering kamisama hajemimashita :p brlliant anime (manga as well xd),,

    ColonelMiiM
    Reply

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