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My Clueless First Friend
Episodes 8-9

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 8 of
My Clueless First Friend ?
Community score: 4.3

How would you rate episode 9 of
My Clueless First Friend ?
Community score: 4.4

clueless-first-friend-ep-8-and-9

How jealous am I that Takada's broken arm healed so quickly? Given that the surgeon informed me that mine would take two years to regain full functionality, the answer is "extremely." But mine also didn't make a horrible crunching noise when I fell, so there's that. I also didn't need to make a grand gesture during and after the break, while Takada did. His injury comes in the service of saving Nishimura, and his rapid healing allows him to fulfill her wish to be a part of the school's field day. So, in the interest of the continued adorableness of this show, we must allow him astounding regenerative powers.

While episode eight is stronger in terms of the cute factor, episode nine takes the cake when it comes to the actual plot. The former feels more like a collection of sweet vignettes than anything else. In a lesser series, that might be a strike against it. Here, though, it helps to highlight how important Takada and Nishimura are to each other. It's easy to overlook that Nishimura is just as big a factor in Takada's happiness, as he is in hers because he's such a little ball of sunshine. But that doesn't mean it's not true. He genuinely loves doing things with her. As we can see, when Kitagawa "accuses" him of having gone on a yukata date, he can't quite believe his luck at having met her. She may not be a god (and, as he points out, a grim reaper is still a deity), but she's just as good as him. The scene where he helps her climb the jungle gym does a beautiful job illustrating that: he not only wants to do things with her but also wants her to be happy and safe while doing them. It's a true friendship (or marriage, as Adachi thinks) because both only want the best for each other while enjoying each other's company.

Takada's broken arm is the catalyst for Nishimura to show others what she gains from his continued friendship and belief in her. Tellingly, no one blames Nishimura for Takada's injury. If we think about Kitagawa and Kasahara's typical behavior towards her, we would expect one or both of them to start ranting about how she "cursed" him, dooming the class' field day performance. Instead, his out-of-commission limb allows Nishimura to extend the helping hand he routinely offered her, and no one seems inclined to comment on it. Sure, Kasahara's not thrilled, but there's a distinct lack of snark and drama surrounding Nishimura's role in the whole thing, and that's the surest sign that things are beginning to change in their classroom. No one even comments when Nishimura feeds him, although I can imagine that Kasahara's quietly seething.

While Nishimura gets a lot of important moments here, most specifically when she opens her mouth and cheers, because words don't always come when we need them to, Kasahara also is worth paying attention to. She's been a thorn in Nishimura's backside for the entire show up to this point, but episode nine gives us glimpses that she's also dealing with her issues. When she announces that she has no intention of running anymore, what she's doing is voicing the social conditioning that girls shouldn't be athletic. She's a talented sprinter, but in her mind, being in the fifth grade means that she needs to stop doing that. Even looking at the way she dresses, which is more "mature" than most of the other girls in the class, indicates that she's feeling some sort of social pressure to be the "right kind" of girl – and that girl is interested in dating and not in being sporty. Nishimura's request that she run allows Kasahara to reclaim that part of her life, and that's not something she's entirely comfortable with... and neither is the fact that it was Nishimura who helped her. At the end of episode nine, it looks like Kasahara is starting to come to the awkward realization that she's treated the other girl badly, which is a much more mature thing than anything else she's done in the name of "maturity."

She may also recognize that no one's getting between Nishimura and Takada at this point. Even Kitagawa is starting to get that, and the humiliation of drinking too much tea and upsetting his stomach, and being saved by Takada's last-minute return may have some sort of impact on the bully. (Or not. Bullies aren't known for learning their lessons.) But Takada and Nishimura are slowly changing the class around them, and that makes their world a brighter place, even if Hino can't marry a tank top.

Rating:

My Clueless First Friend is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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