Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?

Episode 5

I like how last week's episode tried to end with some sense of ambiguity about Yu's feelings for Himari…only for this episode to just straight up come out and say that he does, in fact, like her as more than a friend. There is a part of me that was fully expecting them to walk that back or keep it ambiguous for as long as possible for the sake of maintaining the status quo. So I wanna give the show credit that it actually is having character development. The show is having character development…while still trying desperately to hold onto the status quo, and it is not always working.

Last week's episode felt like it was having a tug-of-war with itself and this one feels no different. There are some things that I Love Like Yu starting to tease Himari back about being a couple. You get the sense he never really did that before, so it's kind of cute that the two are using their teasing as a defense mechanism. They're saying what's on their mind, but as long as they say that it was all a joke at the end, then they can maintain the status quo. Despite affirming their feelings to themselves, neither of them are confident or mature enough to progress things to the next stage. It also doesn't help that they both have reasonable reasons to believe that the other would not be interested in them.

I actually liked the little conversation about love and affection during the flashback at the beginning of the episode. Part of why Himari was drawn to Yu in the first place is because he came off as somebody who wouldn't try to take advantage of her. He had a very pure outlook on things and she saw that as something that she wanted to protect both because she admired him, but also because she was tired of people using affection as a weapon against her. I like the fact that these two still have really good chemistry with each other and are very much in the “just get married already” stage of their relationship.

The problem is Himari is always taking things a little bit too far. Don't get me wrong, I think that scene in the bathhouse was absolutely hilarious, and I nearly fell out of my seat. But outside of that, she is far more wishy-washy and arguably mean in how she tries to hide her feelings. I think I wouldn't mind it so much if she was more self-aware and apologetic about how she acted. It took her brother to call her out on that for it to be addressed, but even then, we don't really get a direct acknowledgment of that treatment between Himari and her brother. I don't know if the show was saving that for later, but for right now, it does still leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

Oh right, Rion! I completely forgot you were here considering that you barely had any screen time or any lines throughout these past two episodes. The reason why I thought the show was going to maintain its status quo was because we still need to get that love triangle drama going, but these two have already revealed to themselves and to the audience that they are interested in each other. So now, Rion doesn't really have a place here anymore. Maybe there's some appeal in watching her fight a losing battle, but Yu already established that he was going to move to Tokyo and quit school to be with Himari. I don't see how anything happens in the show that can potentially challenge that strong of a declaration. Plus, Yu doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would give into average temptations. He comes across as pretty dedicated. So what's the show gonna do with the love triangle angle at this point? I don't know, but let's hope that this isn't another thorn in the show's side.

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