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「今は、もう、ない……」 (“Ima wa, mou, nai……)
“I Don’t Have One Now…”
Though I feel like this story could have benefited from going faster and doing more, I really like where it’s at right now. It turns out that the title has been correct, so far, but in a way that allows for pleasing wrinkles; Tada-kun may not fall in love, but that doesn’t stop anyone else from falling in love with him. And who can blame Teresa? Mitsuyoshi is kind, considerate, perceptive, hard-working, genuine, and friendly. Dude’s a catch! Not that Charles isn’t as well, natch, but the heart wants what it wants, and if I were Charles I would take real comfort in losing to such a good guy (well after the fact, once he’s had time to heal, and only if Teresa and Mitsuyoshi do end up together—which would be the best case for all, lest Charles marry a woman who does not really love him). I can say that honestly, because I’ve been there before. It’s far better to see the woman you love marry a good man (or all various options on woman, man, and other) than it is to see them choose some reprobate. And it’s far better for the person you loved, too. It really would be for the best.
But there’s work to be done before that future arrives, and it’s realization is deeply uncertain. And once again, Alec is the most enigmatic and fascinating character on hand. She cries in the opening scene, which we later find out if after Teresa said she would still become queen. At first (before the latter scene) I wondered if Alec was actually this series’ antagonist, but Teresa’s continued determination to become queen (and marry Charles) adds a different inflection. Is Alec instead crying for her friend’s sacrificed love? They’ve been friends for a long time. That’d be my guess. But we don’t know, and that makes me wonder.
The meat of the episode was all about the inexorable pull that Mitsuyoshi holds over Teresa, without him even knowing it. The attraction is real, in both the emotional and physical sense; she’s unable to help herself. I get it, I really do. Love is hard enough with just finding someone you want to smooch who wants to smooch you back, and who you get along decently well with and share most of the same values, goals, and sexy time preferences. That’s difficult enough! Adding on these extra hurdles is cruel, and I very much sympathize with Teresa. She feels like she can’t even really find out whether this boy is the one for her, because she isn’t allowed. That sucks.
The entire friend group continues to shine, just in how they interact. Jiichan-san even got some good moments this episode. But the secret star was once again Nyanko Big. We do not deserve a cat as stellar as Nyanko Big, though the Tada family does, so I’m glad he’s there. He comforts Teresa when she needs it. He’s truly great. But Teresa’s ominous words at the end…
Alec: “Teresa, are you finished?”
Teresa: “Yes.”
I don’t know about that, and I don’t know that she believes that, on any level aside from the most immediate and literal. I don’t think she can help her attraction, and I have a feeling next episode will expound on that.
Random thoughts:
- As a minor aviation nerd, I was enjoying how they were showing the various airlines. SkyFrance was good (for Air France), but LuftHandler (Lufthansa) really gave me a chortle.
- The entire caterpillar situation was pretty ridiculous, though. He just picked up a bug. Don’t clap .-.
My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for updates. At stephenwgee.com, the latest post: Risk Tolerance in the Creative Life.
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with how things go, it looks like it will be really a one sided titanic ship soon to hit an iceberg and sink. oh well. we still have hajime and hina ship
I was really disappointed with how many tropes this episode fell back on. The moment Mitsuyoshi fell sick, the rest of the episode was pretty obvious. The way anime portrays it, you’d think every Japanese person collapses when they are sick. Rain must be the leading cause of illness, too.
i think its a matter of how you feel your fever. japan is technically a cool country with average temp that plays around 15-25 degrees. a 37C can feel like convulsing 38 – 40C in a cool country, making you shiver and cause your body to produce more heat and make you feel more sick and when you feel more sick? = more weak. point is its realistic at least on that part. and of course they do it also for the story drama lol.
and rain wont cause any illness. only that being cold severely weakens the immune system.
For reference, I lived in Tokyo for two years, and not once did I ever see or hear of anyone collapsing from any sickness. My Japanese friends were sick plenty of times, and they continued going to work and coming out to drink with their little face masks on. This is an old and indefensible trope that is just used as lazy storytelling. Besides, he was in a room at school at the time, not out in the heat. From the moment he was shown to be sick it was obvious that he would collapse and that Teresa would end up kissing him.
Yeah, I was gonna comment on the rain/cold/fever/collapse thing, but that trope just tires me at this point. I’d expect the Europeans to be confused about this “I got cold” = got a cold thing, but this series hasn’t been focused almost at all on the cultural differences, so that was no surprise.
https://randomc.net/image/Tada-kun%20wa%20Koi%20wo%20Shinai/Tada-kun%20wa%20Koi%20wo%20Shinai%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Too……cute….!!!!
If you read the subs of the lyrics of op
it contradicts the Anime Title
as the song in the end says “i wanna say you that i have fallen in love with you” from Tada’s points
and besides i dont think an original anime adaption have been released and none of them had a sad ending
but the next episode will givve feels as teresa gonna tell tada everything
I bet Teresa is planning on going back to her country early, and that’s why it looks like the next episode is a date with Mitsuyoshi. She wants to get it out of her system as a final goodbye and then leave so it doesn’t progress further and interfere with her duties. Then, Mitsuyoshi will somehow realize his feelings for her and either try to stop her before she leaves or go chasing after her. That’s my guess.
https://randomc.net/image/Tada-kun%20wa%20Koi%20wo%20Shinai/Tada-kun%20wa%20Koi%20wo%20Shinai%20-%2009%20-%2013.jpg
Starting to suspect that guy behind Nyanko Big is Rainbow Shogun. Or at least somehow related to that show.
Hoping we’ll avoid a bad end.
https://randomc.net/image/Tada-kun%20wa%20Koi%20wo%20Shinai/Tada-kun%20wa%20Koi%20wo%20Shinai%20-%2009%20-%2020.jpg
Currently, these two are in a better situation than Theresa and Charles. At least they don’t seem so tragic.
I found this episode incredibly fake because a Westerner would never worry about somebody catching a cold from getting rained on a little bit. :-p
The continuous exposure to characters collapsing from a cold has somehow made me used to it. Not that on the back of my mind I don’t know it’s stupid, but it’s just something so old as anime that gets put in the same folder as “everyone girl is so pretty/cute”, “there’s a crazy chef with a killer cuisine”, etcetera… Meaning by brain now accepts it as a mater of fact in anime.