Blue Box

Episode 10

Man, I knew that Blue Box wasn't suddenly going to let Taiki and Chinatsu get together all willy-nilly after only ten episodes, but you have to feel for the kid. An intimate moment like the one they shared during his fever would have Taiki wondering if and how he should make a more decisive move to get closer to her, but to have Chinatsu just flat out tell him that they should “forget it ever happened?” That hurts.

This is where the show is starting to hurt for me, too, though not necessarily through any inherent fault of its own. Rather, Blue Box is simply dealing with tropes and story beats that are understandably appreciated and anticipated in many Japanese romance stories, and it has never been anything but upfront about its intentions. Trust me, I get it, for Japanese kids, doing something as forward as when Taiki keeps instinctually grabbing Chinatsu's arm is, like, Fifth-and-Half-Base for someone who hasn't even gone through the whole “Love Confession” ritual yet. I am a product of my own culture, however, and no matter how much I enjoy the ways that the best anime and manga can capture that oh-so-particular flavor of effervescent, youthful romance, sometimes I wish that these silly kids could be just a teensy bit more direct with their emotions and their communication.

My biggest fear is that, while Taiki's whole cavalcade of internal conflicts has been the focal point of damn near every episode, Chinatsu's side of this simmering romance is getting dangerously close to being drowned out completely. Again, I get that the point of her character is that she is so reserved and laser-focused on making practical decisions that won't distract anyone from their long term goals or upset the status quo. It's something that Taiki's dad even points out after his awkward pow-wow with Chinatsu at the family barbecue. She's only one year older than their goofy-ass son, but she's so serious about everything. This is not a problem for her characterization, but it may end up becoming a problem for my investment in Blue Box's central love story.

For anyone that has watched enough anime and gets all of the unspoken, subtextual, purposefully-indirect-to-a-degree-that-can-sometimes-be-infuriating nuances of the genre's storytelling, it is just so freaking obvious that Chinatsu likes Taiki back, even if she's trying to put some distance between herself and the boy she's found herself living with. The “It's not that simple” line that she drops to her friend after being teased for living in the middle of a literal rom-com cliche is proof enough of that. It's just getting hard for me to stay cheering and hollering for Chinatsu like I want to be when she's just so darned glum and withdrawn about what little emotion she allows to break through the shell of her composure. I'm the kind of guy who likes love stories where both parties are, eventually equally crazy about each other, and are able to show it in the most personal and intimate ways possible. Sometimes, that may take the form of emotionally volatile but pulse-pounding drama. Other times, I will be happy to accept a few rounds of spontaneous song-and-dance numbers. Can you tell that my favorite movies growing up were Singin' in the Rain and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

The point is that I struggle when anime spends too much time on all of these furtive glances, self-doubting monologues, and melancholy half-smiles. Do I want these kids to go so haywire that Blue Box descends into a Scum's Wish-esque pit of angry self-loathing and emotionally manipulative despair sex? No, of course not! I mean…probably not. Right? Then again…if Taiki somehow ended up hooking up with Kengo in a tryst of badminton-fueled, bicurious mania…and then Chinatsu resorted to seducing Hina to remain close to the love she let get away…and then they all traveled to America to get Tom Wilkinson to erase their memories of the whole, messy affair…

No, as incredible as my fanfic pitch might be, all I want is to feel even half as close to Chinatsu as I do Taiki or even Hina. While keeping her at arm's length from the viewer makes perfect sense for putting us in Taiki's headspace, I would love it if our protagonist's romantic interest actually seemed a little more interested in romance with him. It will all come to pass in due time, I'm sure, but I turn 33 in just a couple of months. I know the characters in these high school romances are stuck in a perpetual haze of high-school nostalgia, but it's not like I'm getting any younger!

Rating:

Blue Box is currently streaming on Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.