Tanaka-kun is Always Listless

Episode 8

Mark your calendars, everyone – May 28th is Ohta Day. (We'll go with the day this episode aired, since keeping track of seasons in-show is nigh on impossible.) That's a special holiday Tanaka-kun made up on the spot in order to thank his friend when he realized how much Ohta-kun does for him on a daily basis. The reason for this realization? Ohta's titular trial is that he sprains his ankle helping an old woman carry her parcel up some steps and must be the helped rather than the helper for a week. In any other show, this would be a heartwarming episode wherein Tanaka realizes just how much Ohta really does for him, and their bond would strengthen immeasurably. In Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Ohta gets a random holiday and a book of “I'll Walk to Class” coupons that prove to be pretty useless. But hey, at least Tanaka tried!

Basically there are two stories going on in this week's episode: Tanaka “trying” to help Ohta and Tanaka learning that Echizen is actually an incredibly nice and thoughtful person despite her yankee reputation. The latter part most of us had already guessed, if not actually seen coming – last week's Valentine's Day debacle pretty much solidified the impression that her yankee looks are really just an act. So while it is amusing to see a little girl invite her over to play the equivalent of Calico Critters, the real entertainment this week comes from Tanaka's reaction to Ohta's injury. His initial worry, or rather, their peripheral friends Kato and Shimura's initial worry, is that Ohta is sick, and they ask Tanaka to figure out what's going on when he delivers the handout a teacher gave him for the absent one. This, regretfully, necessitates Tanaka finding his way to Ohta's house. As it turns out, he has been there before; he just has no idea how to get there on his own. This both confirms and assuages our assumptions that the two guys have a weird friendship – Ohta clearly carried Tanaka the whole way there, but hey, at least he's actually had him over! It is kind of nice to know that the viewers aren't the only ones who think there's something strange about their friendship, though.

The real highlights of the episode are Tanaka-kun's “efforts” to be helpful. I really do think he wants to be, but it just goes against every lazy bone in his body. His idea of “helping” mostly involves sitting in solidarity, reasoning that if Ohta can't move, he may as well keep him company. Of course that's no excuse for Tanaka to do nothing and get away with it. No no, he's helping. It's just that no one really understands that or believes him – the best reaction comes from the music teacher when Tanaka tries to say that he should get to sit down during class because he's so tired from helping Ohta – the way the teacher's line is delivered hits just the right note of amused exasperation. Tanaka-kun, of course, really believes in his excuses as the master of self-justification. No, really, he had to eat Ohta's sweets. Otherwise, how would he have mustered the energy to get back to class carrying that heavy bag with three whole things in it?

All of this really just serves to point out how good a guy Ohta is. Nothing Tanaka does is surprising to him; although the lunch thing is kind of disappointing, you get the impression that he's more resigned than shocked. But he seems kind of touched that Tanaka would try to help him, even if he turns out not to be any good at it, and he recognizes the effort that goes into that help. They may have a strange friendship, but it works for him as much as it does for Tanaka. We may never know why, and we don't really need to, which is really what this episode is all about.

Well, that and the amazing fact that Tanaka could find his way home on his own after dropping the handout off at Ohta's place. Did that surprise anyone else?

Rating: B

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.