© pom・JOYNET/LINE Digital Frontier・”Senior is a Man” Production Committee
If there’s one thing romantic comedy fans don’t know, it’s the terrible “misunderstanding” plot device. Anyone who has ever watched a romantic comedy (whether anime or live-action Western) knows how much writers love to prolong their romances by having their characters mishear or misinterpret something they overhear, and then jumping to conclusions. While I share the same frustration, there are some nuances to the subject. After all, misunderstandings do happen in real life, and there are many natural, character-driven reasons why someone could inadvertently come to those far-fetched conclusions.
Take Makoto’s false theory that Ryuji and Saki are secretly in love with each other. Part of it was just Cheng’s unfounded assumptions of wildly misreading signals, but most of it was driven by his insecurities. Makoto is unable to see himself as an ideal romantic partner for others, so he can only view Saki’s confession as a mistake that she seems to have corrected by falling in love with a conventionally masculine boy. This only exacerbates his fear of taking up space or causing problems for others because he immediately sees himself as a third wheel. None of his conclusions are accurate, but they illustrate how Cheng has become accustomed to being isolated and ignored, even as more and more of his classmates begin to contact him. This could have just been some wacky prank on Makoto’s part as a silly idea popped into his head, but instead, it became a window into his own problems and how they work beyond his equally troubled friends.
Ryuuji’s head is basically straight, even though he’s not otherwise. It’s surprising to see him confess to Saki at the beginning of the episode, but I guess it shows how much he trusts her. I love how he refuses to let her run away once her façade starts to crack. No matter what Ryuji thinks about Saki and Makoto’s relationship, he understands how important she is to his closest friend and won’t let her run away. It seems like he learned a lesson from what happened with Makoto before the prom, and it’s refreshing to see someone in this love triangle holding down the fort.
Saki certainly isn’t, no matter how hard she tries to convince everyone – including herself. Her inner struggles aren’t exactly a mirror of Makoto’s. Saki’s situation has less to do with her identity and more to do with her relationships (or lack thereof) with those around her, and how she learns to compromise to avoid causing problems. While I don’t know what words you would use to describe it, she sees a distance between herself and others that prevents her from truly interacting with her peers. She became a people pleaser, greeting everyone with a smile and ready to agree with everything they said, regardless of her preferences. So while she’s ostensibly more social and has more friends, she ends up feeling just as isolated as Makoto.
This brings us to a question: What exactly are Saki’s feelings for Makoto? Or rather, it raises the question of why one needs a specific word to begin with. Saki cares about Makoto, and the way I see it is that she resonates with his isolation and sees a kindred spirit in him, who also struggles to connect but bravely stands his own and doesn’t compromise to fit in. Cherish an aspect of sincerity, whether you want to call it love, friendship, or something else, there is no denying that it is a strong emotion. Yet Saki convinces herself that because she experiences and expresses this feeling differently than others, it must be less than what Ryuji or anyone else feels for Makoto.
It’s all mixed together, and it’s a maelstrom of emotions that none of these kids are quite capable of unpacking, but damn if watching them try isn’t compelling. In the final shot of the episode, when Makoto is left alone in the classroom, the sound of raindrops growing louder in our ears interrupts it all perfectly. This is a gripping, complex and sympathetic character drama.
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Senior is male Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
