Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You

Episode 8

Hey, are Sasaki and Tayama/Yamada just dating now? It really feels like they're just dating in this episode, but they just skipped the difficult and vulnerable step of expressing how they feel about each other to make their relationship official. I mean, come on, they basically have a dog together now! All of that is to say that this is the most domestically adorable episode of the Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You that we've seen yet, while also quietly crystalizing how the people around us inspire us to be better people.

Beginning with Tayama/Yamada loosing the portable ashtray that Sasaki got her as a gift a few episodes ago, the first two acts follow the young woman searching for it, Sasaki becoming aware of this situation, going above and beyond to find it for his friend/idol, and Sasaki still not piecing together that Tayama and Yamada are the same person leading to some very cute and entertaining communication hiccups. This stretch of the episode is also maybe the most outright comical Supermarket Smoking has been in a minute, with Tayama surprised by Sasaki and having to code switch to Yamada on the fly and a rambunctious child showing up and thanking them for finding his (legally distinct) beybebeyblade.

(side note: Does that kid's mom who also works at the supermarket have a name? She has a fun energy and I feel like I'm gonna see a surprising amount of fan art of her soon!)

After Sasaki and Tayama/Yamada are done doing the thing couples do in helping each other find something the other misplaced (something my fiancée and I do for each other three times a week), the episode pivots to Tayama letting Sasaki into the store during a typhoon. Here, an innocuous conversation about how they both started smoking turns into a surprisingly earnest conversation about how our respect and admiration for other people is one of the few things that keeps us going and inspires us to be better people. I can't believe a show where a perpetually exhausted man cannot tell that the two girls he likes are the same person can affect me this much, but here it is hitting me where I live yet again! As someone who is only where I am today thanks to my desire to stand among the people who inspired me when I was younger, the third act of this eighth episode is maybe the best this show has ever been.

Moreover, this episode features some great use of sound, music, and silence to make a scene more impactful! The way the music shifts between Sasaki speaking and Tayama/Yamada speaking at the end of the second act really drives home how the conversation between them is shifting, and a big part of the third act being so good comes from the emphasis created by the rain, wind, and silence caused by the surrounding storm. With every other part of this production working so well and so cohesively, I'm more than willing to forgive Supermarket Smoking's longstanding limited visual direction.

Rating:

Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.