Recap

Yuki is still struggling with math scores, so Kaori invites him to come over to her place for a study session. It quickly turns into a hangout for everyone, and the gang meets Kaori’s adorable mom. Giving Yuki a message, she sheds some new light on Kaori’s past.

Marlin’s Thoughts

I was wondering how long we’d go before Kaori went about helping Yuki with his math problems. I’m starting to think more and more with every episode that this love isn’t just one sided. Saki obviously needed help too, but she specifically wanted to help Yuki. I think one of the funniest things I’ve heard about this show is that Yuki takes the place of the normal female shojo protagonist. There’s a bit of truth to it with the way he acts around Kaori, blushing at the mere idea of going over to her house. On a side note, I still think it’s absolute madness that a 32/100 is a passing grade in any kind of academic rigor, but that’s just one of those strange systematic differences I will never understand.

I also like that they took some time out to finally bring up Kaori’s issues with Shogo. Saki’s laid back personality works well as an intermediary between the two of them. She also has some pretty good gag lines. I don’t come to this show for the comedy, but I welcome her bringing that off-kilter space cadet style in to fill that gap. It seemed weird that Kaori still acts so weird around him, but it could just be due to how antagonistic he was in their first introduction. Shogo continues to be the voice of reason, pointing out that the fact that they hang out all the time already makes them friends, no matter what kind of mental block Kaori has put up to make her think otherwise.

I really like that Kaori’s mom was brought in to tell this story. Far too often in anime, parents are just these unseen benefactors, or sometimes intentionally missing from characters’ lives in general. It helps that she is as adorable as her daughter. Finally, we get some light shed on the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kaori’s condition. It seems to me, from what we’ve been told, that Kaori must have gotten into a fight before getting into the accident. It would make sense that she ignored the light because she was distraught, just wanting to run away from whatever happened. Still, even with this information, I’m not sure how much will change. Yuki is incredibly non-confrontational, so I doubt he’s going to start grilling her about the accident without a good reason. I know full confession is a lot to hope for with an ongoing series, but I’ll be content with more scenes like the final one, slowly sharing their feelings and growing closer.

Iro’s Thoughts

As seems to be the running question asked about this episode, how in the world does a 32/100 count as a passing grade? I would figure that to be the sort of grade that causes Hase to need to take a remedial exam. Anyway, it does serve as a convenient excuse for everyone to end up at Fujimiya’s place for a study session, which means we put another tick on the checklist of anime romance cliches. It’s all very cute though, and stoner girl adds a bit of levity to what might have otherwise been an awkward situation. On the other hand, Hase is still clingy to the point of it being sort of creepy, and I have to wonder if that’s going to become an issue later.

As for the explanation of Fujimiya’s amnesia, I can’t help but think that it would have been better off unaddressed. It adds to the drama of the whole “friendship” theme we have going on, but also calls more attention to how silly the premise is. There’s no reasonable explanation (and no, I don’t consider traumatic memories as reasonable, especially since they explicitly say there was no actual brain damage) for why the amnesia is so laser-focused other than because it has to be or the story doesn’t work. It was much easier to accept when it went completely unexplained.