Episode 9 – Blue Box

At the beginning of “I’m Rooting for You”, Kyo tells Hina that Daiki’s greatest strength is his ability to overcome things quickly. In a sense, that’s not wrong, as we see throughout the episode that Dashu quickly returns to the parts of his life outside of badminton and the national team. He had friends to hang out with, finals to study for, and the rest of the world wouldn’t just stop and wait for him. Still, we see that he hasn’t really shaken off the disappointment and embarrassment either. Sure, he’s smiling, chatting, studying, etc., but Daiki has enough moments of quiet contemplation to show that his ego is still severely wounded.

To make matters worse, a lot of negative emotions were associated with Chinatsu, as her string of wins in qualifying (and the continued excitement in his family about her cross-country tour) made Daiki’s failure bother him even more. For Dashu, this is a painful, embarrassing, yet deeply relatable situation. The girl has become something now.

Speaking of things getting more complicated, our protagonists’ simmering romance got some major developments this week after several episodes focused more on the kids’ feelings about sports than their feelings for each other. Well… at least as far as coming-of-age teen drama anime are concerned, it’s “important”. Chinatsu not only came over to comfort Daiki, but even made him some delicious udon noodles to help with his fever, but the two fell into a familiar “Oops! We both tripped over each other and ended up landing in a very intimate position.” It’s a trap that anime likes very much.

Now, I guess you can shout blue box Having Chinatsu play such a stereotypical caregiver role, but honestly, I didn’t mind how the whole action was executed here. I’m the kind of person who becomes the doting nurse on duty whenever my wife sniffles, so to be honest, I find Chinatsu’s gesture very cute. Additionally, the time spent with Daiki gave Chinatsu the opportunity to open up about his insecurities and validate his depression and anxiety. It’s a cute scene that strikes the right balance between humanizing Chinatsu while continuing to portray her as Taiki’s dream girl.

Additionally, the way the show’s final rom-com plot was framed and edited was extremely enjoyable (again, by blue boxis a typical standard of chastity). I wouldn’t be shocked if the show dialed it back and portrayed the whole thing as more kinky than sexy, but the blush on Chinatsu’s cheeks, and the slow and subtle way she reaches out to touch Daiki’s face, it’s clear she Start responding to Taiki’s feelings in a more public way. This is great news for our boys! Daiki may have lost the National Battle, but he still has a good chance of making progress in winning Chinatsu’s heart.

grade:

blue box Currently streaming on Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found in twitterhis blog and his podcast.