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「はじめてのケンカ」 (Hajimete no Kenka)
“My First Fight”
Not really, but this is the first time the anime original material has frustrated me on such a profound scale. This episode plays out so many of the tropes packed into your standard Misunderstandings 101 section of a romcom, where the couple is so terrible at communication, it causes a deep rift in their relationship until outside powers that be can mend their wounds. Junichi should know that he keeps misunderstanding Yame’s feelings when he automatically uses the opportunity to ask Yame about who Dai is to instead go on a rager about how she’s was just playing around with his feelings until Dai came along to whisk her away. He had two chances to clear the air on everything or at least clarify calmly why it made him feel upset that she started getting chummier with Dai, or why it looks that type of way when he keeps coming up to her to try and get them to hang out together. His complex about being an unpopular virgin does continue to follow him, but at this point, he should have been confident enough to at least be able to express his thoughts in a more diplomatic level with his girlfriend. It shouldn’t have taken every girl he’s made friends with chewing him apart to get him to get his crap together, and stop acting like a complete prat throughout the episode.
Yame’s not off the hook either because apparently, she felt like she never had to clarified anything. I’d think she would understand his complex by now about being an unpopular kid going out with a gyaru, but she spent so much of the episode being nonchalant around Dai while Junichi is left watching the two talk and enjoy their time with each other without him. She’s entirely oblivious on why Junichi feels this way or why he’s feeling upset about Dai butting into everything. She’s probably riding off the idea that he’d be mature enough to let her do her thing because she knows better than to jeopardize the great relationship she’s in, but a relationship is always going to have those skeptical growing pains, and she should’ve tried to reassure him more clearly. Instead, she plays the silent game with Junichi on the same day she’s going to meet with Dai. How does that not feel like a slap in the face? And Junichi sure felt it. The episode’s events are a good lesson for Junichi to place more trust in Yame, but it’s hard to gain that trust if she’s not being open about who this guy is, what he was doing, and why he keeps wanting to hang out with her.
What ruins this aesop too is that Dai is the human form of the Chris Brown song “Loyal”. It’s clear as crystal that the dude was sketchy, and trying to find any way he can to hang out with her. It came as no surprise that he is borderline obsessed with cuckholding anyone he comes across. They go out of their way for the guy to be the worst by making him that one guy from that one doujin you’ve read who passes someone’s girlfriend around to his friends. With Dai being the antithesis for this show’s main message of not judging a gyaru because of what stereotypes are associated to them, why is Junichi supposed to trust that Dai just wants to be regular ol’ friends with Yame? Do stereotypes exist for a reason if the homewrecking Host turned out to be a homewrecking Host? If Junichi should trust Yame more, and Yame’s intuition is to continue to hang out with this sketch ass dude because she’s oblivious to his motives, wouldn’t he have every right to distrust her? Or at least, distrust everyone she surrounds herself with? I guess it is the issue with trying to mind-read on both ends; Yame wanted Junichi to just know she only loves him, but Junichi wanted Yame to just know that it hurt him when she hung out with a some guy other than him. Sadly, because they’re both new to the relationship game, and don’t know how to handle one another when conflict arises, it all ended up dragging out this episode where our hunch against Dai is confirmed, and it ends up justifying Junichi’s skepticism; his only mistake was placing it in the wrong direction!
On a more positive note, the side characters really picked up the slack this time around. For all the misinformation and bad influence they give to Junichi, his friends really wanted to cheer him up and show him a good time while he was in a negative state of mind. The girls in Junichi’s new friend group also stepped up their game by chewing Junichi out for still judging Yame’s actions and playing the loser virgin card even after all this time with Yame. It took Yui’s throwdown and her Boa alias’ pep talk to help Junichi find some motivation to get his shit together, but it wasn’t until Ranko played the role of Junichi’s Life by screaming in his face and pulling him by the collar to get him to nut up. Even Nene had some advice to send his way. My only solace in this episode is the promise that maybe Junichi will knock Dai’s lights out and redeem himself by making up with Yame. The latter is guaranteed, but I can only hope the former will happen to give Junichi a chance to at least defend Yame’s honor in this final episode without stammering or awkwardly turning away. That, and to see this Utena villain reject get a facelift.
End Card
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https://randomc.net/image/Hajimete%20no%20Gal/Hajimete%20no%20Gal%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
What makes you so sure that they are guaranteed to make up?
It’d be a bleak romcom if it ended with the couple separating. It would also be a disservice to the manga since they’re still together and never had some weird fictional NTR guy show up out of nowhere. Preorders would be cancelled, DVD’s would snap, and there’d be no reason to even bother with the anime if they said “You know all that time you invested in watching this couple grow? It was worth nothing!” It could always go that KumaMiko route, but I’d imagine they’d at least try to play it safe.
if you can tell a example when that dont happen but 90% of kinda romance they patch up things
Sadly, as I read other comment sections on sites airing the episode, it seems most, not all, but most people are putting the blame entirely on Junichi and not seeing the errors Yukana also made herself in the episode, as if Junichi’s mistakes were all that mattered (the others either railing on Yukana, with only a handful faulting both of them).
Glad to see you examining each side of the situation. Relationships are a two-way street after all.
I noticed that on some sites that most of the blame went to Junichi, but if a relationship is a two-way street, then Yame also messed up on her end. Junichi is a flawed character who is self-deprecating and hot-tempered, but all he needed was reassurance and a deeper discussion of how he’s feeling.
Not only did she never bother to ask why he’s feeling this way, but punishes him while still adding fuel to the fire by getting closer to Dai without him. How is playing the silent game with him to teach him a lesson supposed to feel?
Yeah, I couldn’t stop head-desking when Yukana was giving him the silent treatment. All I could think was, “Do you think he’s some kind of telepath?!”
I think that she was upset because after all that time he thought so little of her. I have been on both ends of a relationship and it is a bit demeaning to the person you are with whey you think they feel that little about you. She also mentions hanging out with the old group but he is so caught in his feelings that he is not listening. both are dense but him assuming that just because two attractive people are talking they should be together. I like his friends cheering him up and the scheming one (I am so bad with names) was almost telling him that being a cuck wasn’t a bad thing if that is what he was into. Also Yame goes through the same thing with all those attractive characters literally throwing it at them but she gave people a chance and even became friends with them.
A. Junichi had every rigth to be mad. B. Yame keeps screwing around with him so she should apologize. C. Junichi will get his ass handed to him unless ranko steps in. D. This relationship is wasting Junichis life. E. He should be single by college if he wants to lose it hardcore and. F. There should be a season 2 to cover stuff they left out from the manga, movie, boob touch, kiss and the P. E stuff
One way this misunderstanding could have been avoided: Yukana should have been upfront about her previous relationship with Dai (even if they really were just friends in middle school) as soon as that first scene was done.
Instead, her decision not to explain her previous relationship with Dai (and whether she had feelings for him or not) wasn’t conducive to building trust between her and Junichi, not to mention that it makes her look rather…”thot-ish.” OK, I know there’s the “a woman has her secrets” line of thought, but if you want to build a relationship based on mutual trust, hiding something from the significant other isn’t exactly the way to go.
OTOH, Junichi… Dude, Yukana already spent a lot of time with you (karaoke, going shopping, even to the beach where you even held hands) so isn’t that proof enough that she likes you? I do get that you want constant affirmation that you two are in a genuine relationship, but there are times that romance requires a leap of faith.
Well, I guess we’ll see in the next episode if Junichi takes that “leap of faith.”
nstead, her decision not to explain her previous relationship with Dai (and whether she had feelings for him or not) wasn’t conducive to building trust between her and Junichi, not to mention that it makes her look rather…”thot-ish.” OK, I know there’s the “a woman has her secrets” line of thought, but if you want to build a relationship based on mutual trust, hiding something from the significant other isn’t exactly the way to go. cool math games run 3