©Ino Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee
It’s easy to say that the show lives or dies on the relationship between Kakude and Ouran. And, in this episode, it’s not just “alive,” but “thriving.” The girls have achieved one of the most important milestones in life: graduating from high school. Suddenly, they are no longer children. Now, they are adults and should do things like live on their own and pursue their dreams through college studies. But, of course, nothing magical changes after graduation—Cadod feels like she’s still the same kid.
Much of Kadod’s life was in constant change. She was going to a college she had not originally planned to attend. Her mother moved out of Tokyo with her boyfriend, leaving her without direct support from her parents. Her crush on her teacher shows her that he is now ready for a relationship. And then there’s all the alien stuff. Japan is tearing up its treaty with the United States and building super lasers to shoot down UFOs. There are constant protests in Tokyo, and oh yeah, thousands of alien corpses are falling from the sky.
However, despite all this chaos, one thing remains stable in Kadod’s life – immutable and inviolable: Ouran. Is there anyone more like a brother than Ouran? Kadod wants to seduce her teacher? Ouran was there with text signs cheering her on like it was a WWE event. Cardo is about to move? Ouran saw her off at the old station, and then desperately went to the new station to meet Kadot and help her move in. Support is also needed, and Kadode can provide it. It’s easy to see how much they love each other.
Another highlight of this episode is the introduction of Makoto and Futaba – two young men from the same small town who moved to Tokyo. For Futaba, moving to Tokyo was a way for her to experience the world firsthand. She’d heard a lot about aliens and the state of the nation’s capital, but she felt something needed to be done more than blindly parroting it.
Makoto, on the other hand, is a young man who likes to dress in women’s clothing. He is not gay, and he does not feel like a woman in his heart. He just loves dressing cute – and loves the attention and inner feelings that cute things bring. Of course, the conservative countryside was not a good place for him to explore this side of himself. He hopes that in a big city, he can find open-minded people who can accept him for who he is.
To be honest, he found someone who fit that description in Futaba. Of course, as a small-town girl, she was a little shocked by his cross-dressing—but that surprise didn’t equal rejection. She’s determined to keep an open mind – not just about aliens, but about everything her upbringing told her was bad. Unfortunately, just as they make a heartfelt connection, their plane finds itself on a collision course with a UFO, and soon after is hit by the aforementioned rain of alien corpses.
So while the government may have been hiding the existence of aliens from the public, it’s now safe to say the secret is out. We’ll just have to wait until next week to see the consequences.
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Random thoughts:
• The shopping scene in Akihabara really shows that Kakude and Ouran’s friend groups are two pairs of friends with completely different interests. Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they separated during college.
• I wonder how many people died from the bodies and burning debris that swept across Tokyo.
• Does the Prime Minister know he is a powerless puppet?
• The most shocking subtitle question of the week? The countdown numbers don’t match the Japanese sounds at all.
DeathDeathDestructionDestruction Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
