©Tamiki Wakagi/Shogakukan/Anime “Are we really going to get married?” Production Committee ©Tamiki Wakagi/Shogakukan
Rika is doing everything she can to make sure she doesn’t become the centerpiece of the show, but little does she know, things are already in motion. We get a proper follow-up to a confession from two episodes ago, but our protagonist doesn’t take it well. Takuya is at least trying to reach out and communicate, even if he’s still painfully incapable of handling the situation or even knowing what he wants to say. Meanwhile, Rikoka goes to great lengths to avoid this situation under the guise of logic. We’ve seen this before, but now this episode brings it full circle and introduces some additional background on Rika’s mother.
As a child of divorce, it makes sense that Rika already felt like much of her life was beyond her control, giving her the impression that she didn’t have much agency. Considering her mother’s well-meaning but domineering mother, Rika didn’t make many major decisions in her youth. She was either left alone while her mother traveled, or her mother decided everything for her. No wonder Rika ends up becoming so passive and distant. While the memories of her dealing with potential confessions in high school are funny, it’s also a little sad because the girl had severe anxiety during any type of confrontation. Even if it’s exaggerated to the extreme, I can understand that.
The problem with this situation is that this is one of Rika’s designs. Rika is the mastermind behind this, and although she is unprepared for it, she must take responsibility for creating a situation in which the opposite sex wants to have more contact with her. She’s also in disbelief in denying the situation because just a few episodes ago she was craving more from Takuya and now that she’s getting what she wants she doesn’t know what to do with it.
She was so confident that there was no future between them that she proactively asked Takuya out on a date, thinking he would get bored of her and the situation would resolve itself. She seems to take a proactive approach but still leaves the outcome up to outside forces and other people to decide, rather than just expressing her feelings. If I had to guess, I think Takuya will have a great time on the date and Rika will be faced with less options of denial, which could be the climax of the season. This is an interesting approach to social anxiety that I haven’t seen in many love stories, and I’m curious how this is addressed.
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There are 365 days until the wedding Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
