With You, Our Love Will Make it Through

Episode 5

Oh boy, now it's time to get into that classic teenage angst! Characters are feeling complicated and having contradictory feelings that they can't always act upon. It is always tricky to convey in a story because it's very easy to excuse contradictory behavior as bad writing when the whole point of being a teenager is that you don't have everything figured out. For example, Tsunagu made it very clear that they shouldn't pursue a relationship together because of how hard it would be for society to look at them in such a way at the end of the last episode, but in this episode, he makes it clear that he wants to get closer and wants to take on the full brunt of Mari's feelings. There's also the moment where Yukihiro explains that he has feelings for Mari, but doesn't want to act upon them because he doesn't want to ruin the fun high school days that the trio is having. But now he's being spurred on to at least try to pursue those feelings by Tsunagu, even though it's pretty obvious to me that it's most likely not going to work out.

That's a shame because I do like Yukihiro as a character. He's a lovable goofball with a good amount of self-awareness (let's just ignore him locking our two hormonal love birds in a room together in episode two). He's not an idiot, and I do fully believe him when he says that he's going to back off on his feelings when he already sensed that something was going on between his two friends. I also feel bad for him because it feels like he is that unfortunate third wheel that's just sort of doomed to fail. The other two have already pursued things physically and are open about how they feel about each other in private. This isn't a case where the relationship is complicated; society is just making the relationship complicated, so there isn't really a lot of romantic tension there. That does make scenes at the end of the episode between Yukihiro and Mari feel pointless, though. It's funny that Mari misunderstood Yukihiro's assertiveness to be strictly about the race, but I also don't know what she would've done, or if she would've been emotionally swayed if she had fully gone in with that serious train of thought about him.

The contradictory feelings are a lot better when they revolve around Tsunagu. Even though he's a very passive guy, you can sense the frustration building around him. I liked his flashback as a baby, already dealing with the prejudice of being a mixed child. I like that he doesn't want anybody to hold back his feelings around him, even if it could potentially make his life more difficult. I also do believe him when he says that he's going to work hard to make everything work out for him and Mari…even though it doesn't seem like he has a plan outside of just setting a good example.

I feel like the show is subtly hinting at all the pressures that he has to deal with, but we're not getting into the specifics yet. We hear his mom when he comes home, but we don't get to see her. We don't know why he was specifically selected to be the beast folk representative for the school, and I'm shocked that being a mixed child isn't made more of a bigger deal. If the show is trying to be about breaking down walls of prejudice and trying to frame the story to be about pursuing love despite societal pushback, we might need to see a bit more of this society or get a better understanding of how things work. The school setting is a great escape for our trio, but I want to get more into the hurdles they are going to face as those complicated feelings grow.

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With You, Our Love Will Make it Through is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.