©Tamiki Wakagi/Shogakukan/Anime “Are you really going to get married?” Production Committee ©Tamiki Wakagi/Shogakukan
I was 100% prepared to hate this episode. After the bombshell we got last week, I expected a follow-up confession. Not only does that not happen here, but our two leads haven’t even met each other. The two were still reeling from the painful embarrassment of the confession. Rika was so stressed out about this that her body was in constant pain, which I can relate to. I thought it would be a while before we finally broached the subject, but this episode decided to revolve around Gonda, who is not my favorite character.
His constant interruption of Takuya’s gimmick to think about how to get married quickly was distracting at best and annoying at worst. He seems like a superficial guy who just wants to get married. It ties into the overall theme that many people sometimes glorify the sanctity of marriage for arbitrary reasons, but as a point, it does fade away pretty quickly. I was shocked when it looked like this guy was going to be the focus of the entire episode because I didn’t care about the prospect of him getting married. I don’t think he’s going to get that happy ending. However, I have to give a huge props to the writing of this episode because it finally made me feel for him.
We get some insight into Gonda’s background and why he promotes the concept of marriage. He didn’t grow up in the best of circumstances and he wanted to build a better family than what he had now. It’s the desire for something missing in life, which is a related cause. The problem is, he’s too eager to get things done. His arc is about understanding that his view of marriage is much lighter than he should be. When faced with what he said he wanted, he froze. I loved the scene where Kaori reveals to him that she is a single mother. She never turned down his proposal, but she clarified that he was taking on a big responsibility that he might not be ready for. The show does allow her to see a future with him, but he’s clearly not ready to seize it by the end of the series. He acknowledged his weakness and said he would reduce his desire to get married.
I was shocked at how thoroughly this episode won me over. While it didn’t give me what I wanted, it was mature, thoughtful, well-paced, and emotionally devastating in all the right ways. If you’re going to take a violent left turn from the main narrative, you better make it worth my time, and this episode was more than worth it. I wouldn’t mind following up on this specific issue next week, that’s what this episode did so well.
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There are 365 days until the wedding Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
