Recap

Yuki gets curious about the circumstances surrounding Kaori’s memory loss. After convincing Hajime to spill the beans, Kaori happens to hear upon it as well.

The SakixShogo plotline is developing very rapidly, but to be honest it’s starting to become more enjoyable than the main pair. Saki finally coming to realize what she had said to Shogo was pretty cute. I’ve always loved the role of the two gal pals, even if I constantly forget their names. Since Kaori and Saki are such a hopelessly introverted pair, it’s up to them to get things together. I always love a good bit of gossiping, so having them go out and have some girls only time was a lot of fun to watch. I’m still not sure how the SakixShogo plot arc is going to be able to tie itself together when I’m pretty sure we only have one episode left, but if there’s one thing I have faith in is that Shogo will be a Brogo and Saki will be as increasingly endearing as ever.

The unfortunate thing about this show is that there are an unhealthy amount of contrivances in order to move the plot along. It would have made a lot more sense if Kaori herself wanted to learn the truth about why she can’t remember her past. By having Yuki be the one to contact Hajime, it just caused this utterly baffling coincidence where both them and Kaori somehow end up at the same restaurant at the exact time needed for her to overhear the full story. It’s an absolutely unforgivable bit of storytelling that really brought this episode down.

Last but not least in the pockmarks covering the slowly deflating balloon that was my enthusiasm for this show, the final act. Yuki, after learning the full truth, seems convinced that acting on his emotions could potentially hurt Kaori, and thus resolves himself to limit the ways he interacts with her. This is by far the stupidest idea Yuki has ever had, and Yuki has had some pretty dumb ideas over the course of this show. He seems to totally neglect the idea that it was jealousy that fueled the girl’s betrayal of Kaori. Her close friendship with Hajime was resented by the other girls, and thus they acted against her. Last time I checked, no girl has been secretly pining to enter the Yuki Hase Bone Zone, so it makes no sense for him to think their current situation is in any way equatable. This is just manufacturing a situation where Kaori becomes distraught because she’ll think Yuki doesn’t want to be her friend anymore. This whole show has been a big downward spiral since Isshukan Rage. At this point I’m simply biding my time until it coughs up its last paltry offering, hoping to find maybe a little bit of gold left untarnished.