Tamon's B-Side

Episode 9

It's been easy to forget since we haven't seen Utage actually in school since the beginning of the series, but yeah—she and the F/ACE boys (or at least the three that we've met) are all high schoolers. They've been on summer break the past handful of episodes, but it sounds like that won't last much longer. And like many high schoolers on summer break before her—especially high schoolers who spend their summers working—it seems Utage still has a ton of homework left on her plate.

I'd be curious to learn what Tamon is like at school. All this time I assumed that he's either tutored at home, or perhaps in some fancy, private school for entertainers. Still, if he has to keep up the Hottiehara act during school (even if it sounds like his attendance isn't exactly flawless) that must be utterly exhausting—if not downright torturous—for him. While it wasn't necessarily hard confirmed, that's certainly what the brief flash to his high school life made it look like. And the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense for that to be the case (that he's in Hottiehara-mode at school), given how the whole reason Utage went with the F/ACE boys on their beach trip is because knowledge about their real personalities is a pretty guarded secret. If he was Gloomyhara at school, F/ACE is popular enough that word would probably get out about that pretty quick—and there's no way Keito would allow for that.

Speaking of, we finally saw a softer side to Keito this week—who's finally warming up to Utage, and coming around to the idea that while plenty of fans (and his fans, in particular) are unhinged, Utage is trustworthy. Keito very obviously has a complicated relationship with F/ACE's fans, so even if it might not seem like much at a glance, his willingness to leave her and Tamon alone together to study in his apartment is a pretty big step for someone who's obviously been burned by fans, and is trying so hard to be as practical as he is. I'm sure he'd hate to hear that he has yet another fan, but the more we see of him, the more fascinating I think Keito is. He's quickly becoming one of my favorites in this show (though he still doesn't come anywhere near surpassing Utage in this regard).

Still, even if it feels like it was Keito and Tamon's episode to shine (more on the latter shortly), Ouri is probably the one who got the most attention to him this episode. We've known for a while now that he's a nepobaby, but now we've heard from him in some level of detail on wanting to be in the small group of nepobabies whose fame surpasses their parents. Say, Jamie Lee Curtis, Miley Cyrus, or Jennifer Aniston to list just a few examples.

Incidentally, this episode made me realize that Ouri is kind of a tragic character. By the end, he's openly admitting to himself that he's in love with Utage (not that we needed to hear him say it, it was pretty obvious). Yet it's clear to us, the audience, that's severely unlikely to ever amount to anything. It begs the question of whether or not that mirrors his struggle to eclipse his parent's fame—and to be clear, given how we've seen his parents talk to him, it's hard to blame him for feeling that way. F/ACE is getting bigger, yes, but it sounds like his parents are mega-stars, and we've seen Ouri visibly struggling to take the spotlight. What I'm getting at is that while it could happen, it's not a given that Ouri will succeed in this department at all, let alone without developing his outlook on these things. We learn that Ouri needs to grow a lot with regards to how he treats Utage, and this makes me wonder if down the road, he's also going to have a character arc where he has to change his perspective on his relationship to fame and his parents.

Still, the best part of the episode was, obviously, the last few minutes—where Tamon explained to Ouri that while he can't speak on Utage's behalf, he gets the feeling she wasn't liking what he was doing. He would know, he pulled something similar only a few episodes ago. It's sweet to see that Tamon has demonstrably learned his lesson and grown so much from the whole ordeal, let alone so quickly. Does it feel a bit rushed? Sure, but in a series as lighthearted as this one, I'm surprised they went for this at all—let alone in a way that even has some semblance of grace.

With only a few episodes left, at this point, my biggest hope for the series is—well, a second season. But apart from that, especially now that we've seen Tamon recognize and address his jealousy, I'd like to see that put to a better test—namely, I think it's Keito's turn next to fall for Utage. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: In keeping with how indulgent and self-insert fan fiction-y this series feels, I think it'd be really funny if by the end, all the F/ACE boys were in love with Utage. And seeing as how we've barely even seen the other two boys, having Keito fall for her is the next most obvious thing to happen. Still, regardless of what direction the series goes in next, I'll still be seated and ready to watch it all the same.

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Tamon’s B-Side is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.