Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2

Episode 12

Aharen-san is always surprising me. And true to form, yeah, that was not the ending I expected. If I'm understanding things correctly, then Aharen and Raido don't see each other for five years after graduating, but then see each other as student-teachers, and then get married. Later down the line, they have children and grandchildren, and also, Raido becomes a novelist and astronaut.

Right off the bat, I could totally envision Raido as a novelist who just goes on a bunch of side quests—say, a trip into space. Not sure how I feel about the mustache look on him, but whatever. Aharen, meanwhile, has an art studio, complete with her statues of herself and Raido as high schoolers. She doesn't look at all different, even in her old age—it wasn't until the kid called her “grandma” that I even realized it was possible so much time had passed, and even then I kept wondering if it was a bit since she just didn't look all that old. Either way, both seem to be living lives that feel correct for them, and best of all, they're still together. Cue the crowd saying “Awwwww” sound effect.

I guess the thing I don't really get is Raido and Aharen's promise to get married when they meet each other next (after their high school graduation). Like, are neither of you on any social media or chat platforms? Do you not have each other's phone numbers? Do you not contact each other outside of school? Surely you have plans to hang out with each other over summer break, right? Maybe this whole thing makes more sense in Japanese, or there's some contextual note that I'm missing, but the way it's presented as far as I can tell just makes it feels like way too much. “Next time we meet, let's get married—” “My guy, we bump into each other all the time at the grocery store and we got movie tickets for next Tuesday, literally what are you talking about.”

Still, it's cute that we got to see their wedding. We don't get to see those every day, much less in a high school rom-com. I must say, given their height difference, I was curious whether Raido was going to bend down to get to Aharen's level, if he was going to pick up Aharen, if Aharen was going to stand on boxes, or if Aharen was going to try scooting her way down the aisle in some monstrously tall platform heels (personally, I was hoping for the latter, but alas). It's unfortunate that their wedding was a speedrun, covered in just a few minutes. I could easily envision their trying to plan a wedding being its own season of this show, and Raido and Aharen trying to figure out what they were going to do about their height difference making for a great bit around which you could build at least half an episode. But alas.

Speaking of weddings, that brings us to Ishikawa and Hana. Although the series hasn't said it plainly, it's been alluding pretty heavily to Ishikawa being queer, and this week's episode pretty much confirms that. He asks Hana to marry him, Hana says he's… something, and then Ishikawa replies, “No one said it has to be one or the other.” On one hand, bi erasure sucks; it's awesome when characters are canonically bi, and especially when their bisexuality isn't treated as a joke or a flaw. That being said, why is this series so allergic to saying gay or bi plainly? And for that matter, I think it's a huge shame that this series did next to nothing with what could've been a really cool storyline—which is to say, a storyline relating to Ishikawa discovering and exploring his queerness.

In so many words, we got a mixed bag of an ending. Underwhelming, given how great the rest of the series has been. But as a whole, while this wasn't quite my pick for anime of the season (that was Anne Shirley) it was definitely among my favorites. I found myself really looking forward to seeing what manner of highly imaginative antics they'd get themselves into week after week, and I'm going to miss that going into the summer season. That being said, this was probably the biggest sleeper hit of the season. Surely there's more people out there who would like this series' specific brand of absurdism, right? Maybe this is a series that more people will discover or revisit after some time has passed. And if that day ever comes, I'll be ready with a fidget spinner in one hand, and a copy of Animal Crossing in the next.

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Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Mondays.