© Takibi Amemori/Shogakukan/McCain Support Committee
Episode Six is a surprisingly realistic and hilarious story about teenage friendship and heartbreak.
This week, the team seems to have struck the right balance between melodrama and relatable events. Any story will have exaggerated dramatic effects, and romance is no exception. MakeneThe main quirk in this aspect centers on Nukuzimu being at the center of all these relationships. But the actual events of the week all felt just the right amount of mundane and reasonable, making the relationships and situations all the more palatable in terms of reality.
Lemon’s Confessions is a good example of this duality. She made this extravagant confession through a Freudian slip of the tongue that she really loved March and had escaped from everything. She retreats to the mountains to spend time with her grandmother, prompting the gang to take a friendly field trip to visit her. In the process, everyone grew closer and had a lot of very normal fun that kids should have! They took some silly photos, played with river crabs, hung out, and overall had a great time. The impromptu sleepover was a fun twist on the kind of thing that would happen without any over-the-top scenes in between. There’s an undercurrent of teenage melancholy over lost love and missed signals, but it helps provide a nice juxtaposition with the low-stakes fun of the group’s travels beforehand.
The only thing that really drags this episode down is Chihaya’s behavior. I know she’s the vehicle for much of the melodrama, but I have a hard time understanding her motivations. Does she want to fight for Mitsuki, or does she want to give up completely? It’s hard to pinpoint her behavior from scene to scene, although you could chalk it up to teenage insecurities and erratic youthful behavior… Arguably, it makes for a very, ah, functional role. Chihaya comes across as an inconsistent character as she achieves a purely mechanical approach to the narrative: One minute she is meek, the next she is bold, scheming in one scene and passive in another . A bit too much for me.
grade:
Grant is the co-host of the Knife Licker Podcast and the Super Seniors Podcast.
Makeine: There are so many failed heroines! Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
