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GLASSLIP
Episode 10

by Matt Packard,

The last episode of GLASSLIP ended on a cliffhanger, with Sachi apparently confessing her love to Touko under the pale light of the moon. In this one, Sachi quickly clarifies that she loves both Touko and Hiro, but intends to remain friends with Touko rather than pursuing her romantically. Everyone takes this in stride, and day-to-day life continues. Anticlimax. I was hoping for something more interesting, but given the show's recipe for character (name + name of love interest + hobby) it comes as no surprise that a character-driven turn of events like this one would end up swept under the rug within minutes. This could have been a last-minute opportunity to detail why Sachi is so rabidly protective of Touko and add a bit of depth to an otherwise mechanical relationship. Instead, it ends with the same flatness it began with.

The second stop is Kakeru, whose parents provide a bit of information that an attentive audience will mostly have already guessed; he didn't have a great childhood and has been constantly moving around. Kakeru has always been on the wrong side of the thin line between “understandably troubled dude” and “downright cold and boring,” and this backstory doesn't have enough impact to change that. There are hints of more to come for him on the horizon—it seems like there always are—so maybe the series will circle back to this.

Yukinari and Yanagi end up having a more cathartic moment of their own, one that rings truer than most of the halfhearted drama in GLASSLIP. They meet outside their home, after Yukinari returns from training camp and Yanagi gets back from her routine run. Their conversation is short, but laced with meaningful subtext about Yanagi's loyalty and Yukinari's acknowledgment of the hardships that loyalty has caused her. The emotions underlying the scene are subtle, with a single teardrop or an understanding glance conveying more than the hokey dialogue of past episodes ever have. If their relationship were fully explored and they were well-developed characters, this would be a beautiful scene worthy of the show's sunlit splendor. Lacking that buildup, I'll settle for brevity and a little wit.

Touko later finds herself surrounded by a recurring vision of snow, and an appearance by Jonathan the Chicken leads her smack into Kakeru, waiting in the school's art room. The two finally have their fated kiss, and by the end they seem more determined than ever to figure out the secrets of the future fragments. I can only hope something comes of it.

To its credit, this episode breaks a GLASSLIP tradition and gets things done. Whether they're done well is a different story, but this late in the series any semblance of forward motion is to be savored and appreciated.

Rating: C-

GLASSLIP is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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