I just caught up with the series, and I wish it had bypassed romance (and worse, the romantic triangle) altogether and gave us a clearer understanding of what happened to all the Magic Photo Club kids in the future.
I was actually angry at Sho for confessing to Hitomi in the first place---this girl basically just told him that this is the first time in her life she's had close platonic friends, and he proceeds to freak her out with a love confession, even while suspecting she was interested in another guy. Then, when she runs away and avoids him the next day, he doesn't take responsibility for it or apologize for freaking her out, he acts like he's the one owed an answer by her. It would have been a far worse situation if Asagi had blamed her for how hurt Asagi was by Sho confessing to Hitomi---that little bit of being jealous was too much. I'm really glad the show side stepped that trope and have Asagi realize it wasn't Hitomi's fault right away, and that the girls were able to maintain their strong friendship. I still think Sho is perhaps more selfish than he is mature (Asagi, you can do better!)
Episode 10 was excellent. The novelty of visiting the inside of a drawing really does look like fun! We found out why Hitomi dulled her vision (and her social skills) and it all makes sense.
Best of all, Yuito took the first step at what my headcannon hopes is a very successful career as a children's art therapist! I really do think that scene, and the show overall, might have worked better if there were no romantic tension between Yuito and Hitomi, just two friends who were able to help each other through similar traumas through their connection and empathy. (I don't remember correctly, but didn't Yuito develop artist's block because of an issue with his dad?)
I kind of wanted Yuito to turn out to be Hitomi's grandfather (the guys who marry into Hitomi's family take their wives' name, it seems, so if she didn't know her grandfather's family name, maybe she wouldn't recognize him?), but that would have made their "romance" even more awkward, and he and Kohaku had absolutely no chemistry. I do like the idea that Yuito's encounter with Hitomi inspired his career as a children's book author/illustrator (...and maybe art therapy), and Hitomi's encounter with Yuito and the others certainly helped her gain confidence.
The last few minutes of the show was a bit frustrating. It did not show who everyone ended up with, or even which grave Hitomi visited. If it were her mother's grave, I suspect her mother committed suicide.
I hope that's not the case, because when Hitomi said she wanted to find her mother and speak to her and have Kohaku reconcile with her, too, I had so much hope for them, especially for Kohaku. This is a woman who regrets unintentionally pushing her daughter away, you could tell in how she told Hitomi that even though she was good at magic, she wasn't good at keeping people in her life (her daughter/Hitomi's mother) happy, and I can totally see how an unhealthy, resentful dynamic could develop between someone as outgoing, gung-ho and enthusiastic about magic as Kohaku with a daughter who was unable to use magic at all.
For all Kohaku learned when her granddaughter visited her high school self, she didn't learn how to relate to people on a deep level *without* using magic---if anything, the experience made her think that she should try to use magic to solve all her problems, and spend even more effort to learn complicated time magic techniques to ensure the time loop would take place, which is kind of sad, when you consider how this would become a wedge between herself and her non-magical daughter.
So I hope Hitomi's mother is still alive, and the three generations can patch things up. I don't know why the show was so vague about the grave, or everyone's whereabouts, and the romance frustrated me, but overall it was a good show (and I kind of hope we get an OVA of whether Asagi ends up with Sho, and the other couples, perhaps through the letters Asagi promised to write to Hitomi!)
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