Real Girl

Episode 12

It's the end of the season, and that means it's time to wedge a new villain into the story at the last minute! After Chika makes it clear that he doesn't approve of their relationship, Tsutsui decides it's time to make a proper statement about his feelings for Iroha. At Ishino's suggestion, he starts working part-time in order to buy Iroha a ring. Of course, Tsutsui doesn't tell Iroha where he's going every day after school in order to keep the gift a surprise, but this leads her to wonder if he's avoiding her for some other reason. As all of this unfolds, Ito finds himself without a clear path forward now that his crush on Ayado has failed to pan out. It takes some pretty quick pacing to hustle through all of those storylines, but the series manages to reach something resembling an ending by the time the credits roll.

As the final antagonist of the season, Chika is all over the map in terms of his characterization. His introduction last week painted him as a violent and tactless person, yet this episode seeks to redeem him in its opening scenes by having him voluntarily pay to fix Tsutsui's busted glasses. His café confrontation with Tsutsui finds something of a middle ground, with him still objecting to the relationship but at least managing to do so without assaulting anyone. Then we have his interactions with Iroha, where we find out that these two siblings aren't related by blood, which presumably means that Real Girl is setting Chika up as a romantic rival for Tsutsui instead of just a hardheaded family member. After all of that, he ends up being largely irrelevant to the ending; Tsutsui is able to give the ring to Iroha without ever standing up to Chika in any meaningful way. I can only assume that Chika is a more consequential character in the original manga, but his inclusion in these last two episodes has been too sloppy to make any worthwhile impact on the anime.

On the upside, Iroha and Tsutsui do a decent job of carrying the episode whenever Chika's off-screen. Tsutsui's quest to buy a ring creates a handful of sweet moments, even if it does rely on the conceit of having him tell Iroha absolutely nothing about why he's disappearing at the end of every school day. To the script's credit, Iroha doesn't immediately assume something shady is going on, and she only really starts to worry after Chika feeds her misleading information. The scene of her walking in on Tsutsui while he's taking a nap in the classroom is presented nicely, and the scenes of Tsutsui at work give us the impression that he's putting in some significant effort here. The presentation of the ring is also handled reasonably well, with the focus staying on the emotional significance of the gift instead of whatever arbitrary price point Tsutsui had to reach in order to buy it. Considering that it's an “our journey continues” conclusion for the main characters, this is a plausibly satisfying way to wrap things up.

Then we have Ito, who seems to wander into this episode whenever the rest of the cast needs a break. He's at a potentially interesting point in his character arc, having given up on pursuing Ayado but still struggling to move on. Unfortunately, all that melancholy introspection doesn't really go anywhere. Any hope of a romantic relationship was effectively scrapped last week, so Ito's initial interaction with Ayado in this episode is largely redundant. I'd expect him to have a heart-to-heart with Tsutsui at this point, which would have allowed the two of them to offer one another some encouragement, but the series instead has Ito sit down for a conversation with Iroha. This allows him to vocalize his appreciation for her friendship, which plays off of his struggle to be open about his emotions, but it seems like Ito would have had more important things to say to either Tsutsui or Ayado. Real Girl has the right idea with this little “moving on” story arc for Ito, but I can't help but wonder if he ended up talking to the wrong person.

All of this adds up to a finale with a mix of some satisfying scenes and some poorly structured plot points. The chemistry between Tsutsui and Iroha is this episode's saving grace, and it's at its best when everyone else steps back and lets the two of them sort out their relationship on their own. The supporting cast, on the other hand, drags the story down instead of adding to it. Chika's characterization is too inconsistent to make him a credible threat to the main couple, and Ito's woes serve more as a distraction from the central relationship than as a complementary storyline. It's a modest improvement over the previous episode, but that only raises it up to a point of being watchable and forgettable in equal measure.

Appropriately enough, many of those same points can also be applied to Real Girl as a whole. This show started off with a fair amount of potential, thanks in large part to the dynamic between Iroha and Tsutsui. Their relationship opened the door for an intriguing and emotionally compelling story about two people trying to understand one another, and the series was at its best when it maintained that narrow focus. Sadly, Real Girl wasted far too much time trying to spice up the drama, and its inability to craft a believable romantic rival proved to be its downfall on multiple occasions. Supporting characters tended to be inconsistent, sometimes adding depth and flavor to the story and sometimes taking screen time away from the lead duo for no discernable reason. At the end of the day, I'd chalk this up as a decent premise in need of a sharper and more focused execution. Real Girl wasn't terrible, but it never made the most of its strengths.

Rating: B-

Real Girl is currently streaming on HIDIVE.