Yuri Is My Job!

Episode 9

Ever since learning about Hime and Mitsuki's shared past, there was one obvious question: If the fallout from Hime sharing her secret was as socially destructive and traumatizing as it appeared, how did she come to share it with Kanoko. This episode tells not only why that happened but also delves deeper into Kanoko's mindset in the process.

Before the two became friends, Kanoko was your classic adolescent outsider. Ignored by the rest of the class and unable to easily make friends, she reacts in a way to preserve her ego and self-worth. It's not her fault she doesn't have any friends. It's theirs. They're all fake and playing by the rules of society by pretending to get along. But not Kanoko. She alone is able to see them for what they truly are. And she doesn't want to be their friends anyway—in fact, she hates them for their duplicitous nature.

Of course, this is a defense mechanism. In reality, Kanoko is lonely and jealous. She wants more than anything to be accepted by someone. However, admitting that would completely destroy her self-esteem. On top of that, she is also projecting. She complains they are pretending to be “good girls” when it is her that is playing that role. She bottles up how she truly feels and takes it in silence. She caves into peer pressure to the extent that she can't show any form of outward resistance.

To a person like Hime, young Kanoko is an open book. She can tell at a glance that Kanoko is hiding from herself and getting hurt in the process. Hime plays all sides specifically so that no one will be hurt—especially her. So seeing someone getting unfairly treated grabs her attention. In fact, she can't help but reach out—even when she knows doing so will put her in danger of being exposed.

Of course, seeing Hime's true self—getting that true friend she's always wanted but could never admit to herself wanting—makes Kanoko re-contextualize her world. Unfortunately, the lesson she learns isn't that everyone is basically like her—putting up fronts to protect their hearts and trying to find what joy they can.

Instead, she almost doubles down on her worldview—it's Hime alone who is good and special. Everyone else is exactly as she always believed they were. Worse still, this viewpoint sets her on the road to the extreme codependency we see in the modern day. Now her entire emotional state is based on Hime. Her obsession is the only joy she has in life. When she is at Hime's side, she is whole. And as for the idea of someone else taking that spot… well, we saw where that leads in the last episode.

But there's one extra layer to all this. Hime told Kanoko that she reached out to Kanoko originally because she reminded her of Mitsuki—implying they were similar people. In the present, Kanoko reacts viscerally to this idea. She and Mitsuki must be different or her position is in danger. And here's the thing. Kanoko is right. She and Mitsuki are different—vastly different. While both were social outcasts unable to create a façade (and were suffering because of it) this is where their similarities begin and end.

The big difference is that while both girls love Hime, Kanoko's love is both obsessive and possessive. She hates and feels threatened by Mitsuki. Mitsuki, on the other hand, seems to have no negative thoughts toward Kanoko at all. She's not bothered by the idea of Hime having a second true friend. She's just happy that she and Hime are together again after all these years. It is Kanoko's jealousies and repressed desires that are the threat to her position at Hime's side—not Mitsuki. Kanoko treating Mitsuki poorly will only cause trouble between her and Hime. And we've seen what happens when Kanoko's frustrations hit their limit: she breaks things.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Sumika's blackmail threat did not go in the way she expected.

• Hime is good at reading people's thoughts and motivations. However, those like Mitsuki and (the modern day) Kanoko who view the world in abjectly different ways from her are sitting right in her blind spot.

• While Hime says Kanoko doesn't have a façade, I think that's incorrect. Mitsuki is a person who doesn't have a façade. Kanoko does have one—it's just one focused inwardly instead of outwardly.

• I love how nonplussed Mitsuki is in that final scene. She has no idea what's going on with Kanoko—heck, she probably doesn't realize that anything is going on with Kanoko at all.

Yuri Is My Job! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.