You and I Are Polar Opposites

Episode 9

You and I Are Polar Opposites has done a pretty good job of splitting its screentime between all its various side couples and its main one, which is a strategy that's largely worked to its benefit in keeping the latter from getting stale. This time, the focus is almost entirely on our main couple as Miyu attempts to celebrate Tani's birthday, and fun as they normally are, I'm sorry to say that it was probably the show's weakest outing so far. There's still plenty of its signature charm, and the two of them remain as cute as ever, but it's possible to have too much of a good thing, and all of the fluff here felt a little over-saturated.

Before that, there's another birthday boy who needs celebrating, and it's, of course, our boy Tani. While Miyu is busy losing her mind at planning out the perfect surprise for her man, Tani spends his big day being even more of a mope than usual, as it seems like none of his friends could even be bothered to remember it. Fun as it is to laugh at Taira's expense, it's hard not to feel a little bad for him here (though not enough for this not to be funny), especially when he manages to somehow do the impossible twice, and inadvertently gives Miyu good advice on how to surprise Tani by telling her that the gesture matters way more than whatever gift she actually plans for him. Sure, he said that without really thinking about it, but it's still an improvement over Taira's usual default to cynicism, so he's done enough to deserve at least a little happiness on his birthday. The only person who does manage to remember his birthday is Azuma, but if you were expecting any big romantic moment to come from that, those expectations get quickly shot down as her “gift" to him is just some random sticker someone dumped on her that day. Depressing as that is, does say a lot that Taira decides to stick it on his wallet anyway, and hey, he even gets a couple of tiny chocolates from Miyu and Tani while they're in the middle of their own birthday bash, so at least he didn't end up with nothing.

That's the most I really have to say about the episode, though, as Miyu and Tani's big birthday date doesn't amount to much more than a straight shot pure fluff. It was very sweet seeing Miyu follow up on Taira's advice by calling up Tani at midnight so she could be the first person to wish him happy birthday, but the actual date itself ends up being a little dry on humor. Since Miyu usually takes the lead on their outings, she decides that the best way to celebrate Tani's big day is to have him pick out some places to go that he enjoys but whether it's going to a museum exhibit or eating a nice meal at a restaurant, pretty much everything backfires and Miyu ends up being the only one to have a good time. That's enough for Tani, though, as he's happy as long as she is, and as opposite as their ways of thinking tend to be, enjoying each other's company is the one thing they're in sync on.

It's charming enough, but the jokes here were a little too low key to land for me, and I didn't find them all that funny compared to some of what we've gotten in previous episodes (though part of that might be due to the dub no longer being day and date, as its great one liners were a welcome addition to show's sense of humor), and while it's always nice to watch these two casually interact, having that take up the bulk of the episode felt like a little too much, so it lost me after awhile. I guess it was nice that their date ends in the two of them sharing their first kiss after Miyu spends a couple of points in the episode, imploding at the thought of it, but since it ends up happening off-screen, the moment doesn't quite feel like it was worth all the build-up. This was a fine enough episode for it was, and it's far from a dealbreaker, but it just kind of reaffirms that, as much as I like Miyu and Tani as a couple, they can't carry the whole show on their own, so I hope it goes back to cycling through our side couples next time.

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You and I Are Polar Opposites is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.