My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999

Episode 9

If everyone else had already clocked that Akane and Yamada might have feelings for each other, it was probably about time for the pair themselves to catch on. Not that they do so yet, in this week's episode. This is a romance manga adaptation that still has at least three episodes to go through this season, so the exact process of figuring out their feelings will take a little while. But the idea of seeing each other in a romantic light is starting to cross the minds of both our leads, even if the initial way it manifests for Akane is her feeling like she shouldn't jump to seeing Yamada that way, for some reason. Probably not because he's, you know, an actual minor, but due to more introspective issues. That's probably more interesting to explore in a fictional context anyway, even as it comes alongside the quirkier indulgences of the story—like Akane's friend Momoko enthusiastically encouraging her to bone down with an emotionally stunted high schooler.

Akane's no stranger to romance, or at least the most basic performances of it. Here's someone who committed to a whole online game to maintain connection and communication in what was, with the benefit of hindsight, an already thoroughly doomed relationship. Moves like that, alongside her, continued providing Yamada with things like meals, reinforcing how invested she is in the performance and signifiers of these sociological relationships. She hasn't yet accepted that Yamada's remarks about her at the school festival are a genuine expression of his interest, so she sees any entertainment in the thought of actually dating him as selfish. So unable is Akane's mindset to abide by this lapse that the suggestion of lovesickness almost immediately strikes her with actual sickness. We knew she was bad at self-care, but seeing what she collapses to by this episode's end is a new level of disastrous destructiveness. Though it does result in her being princess-carry rescued by Yamada himself, so perhaps it will turn out to be a happy accident overall?

Yamada, for his part, finds himself considering things from a characteristically less emotionally intense, though still rather revelatory position. It's very funny to have Tsubaki's remark about how he thinks of Akane prompt an affectionate montage of her at all of her goofiest moments in their meetings. That only compounds when you recall his confession in the previous episode that he does see Akane as some sort of ideal. It cements the kind of eccentricities that make Yamada continue to come off like an actual character, rather than a one-note exercise in muted emotional states serving as the end-goal of a shoujo romance. It's confirmed by Tsubaki, who seems to begrudgingly internally admit that Yamada's interactions with Akane have been better at getting him to come out of his shell than her own.

That doesn't even have to be a signifier of romantic intent either, as we know Akane's just predisposed to be a friendly helper (for better or worse). We see this not only in her pledge to help out the new incoming guild member (who happens to be Tsubaki) but also in how Runa asked to discuss the situation with her, knowing that doing so through Akane's approach might mitigate her anxieties. It also says a lot about how quickly Runa comes around to Akane that the younger girl sees our heroine as one of the friends she's possessive about losing to another incoming interloper. Akane naturally warms her way in with people. She's aware of this, which may be why she doesn't want to attribute her chemistry with Yamada to romantic interest just yet. But then there's also that whole "chronically neglecting her own needs" thing, evident in her picking up an extra shift at work when asked (albeit grouchily) at the cost of exacerbating her illness.

It's a crashing-down communication of Akane's disaster-tude presented in a less silly way than usual, the canted angles of her apartment perfectly capturing the disorienting feeling of a debilitation you left yourself unprepared for. I've mentioned the direction in this show is great at least once or twice before, yeah? It's embodied in a stretch that can effortlessly switch between goofy comic asides of Akane expressing her exhausted affliction and more serious showings of the raw consequences of her not affording any opportunity to let others take care of her. It all rounds back to some frankly relatable feelings of self-flagellation, as she even ends up guilting herself for believing she's fantasizing about Yamada rescuing her in her delirium. The lenses that Yamada-kun at Lv999 frames its explorations through, specifically the characters' imperfect human feelings, are what make these components of the story feel so substantial, as well as unmistakably, quintessentially shoujo. It's what makes it engaging to see these messy weirdos work their way toward figuring out their feelings, regardless of how slowly they're getting there.

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My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is keeping busy keeping up with the new anime season, and is excited to have you along. You can also find him writing about other stuff over on his blog, as well as spamming fanart retweets on his Twitter, for however much longer that lasts.