Recap

A late arrival by our main pair puts the group on edge. Their varying personalities start to make them even more at odds with each other. Later, Futaba tries to get everyone to work together to help strengthen their solidarity, but once again their stubbornness gets the best of them.

Episode 4

I knew it wouldn’t be that easy to form our band of five into an actual group. Futaba is a bit of a spaz, but in a way that’s really hard not to like. She is just really eager to get this new chapter in her life on the right track, unfortunately her eagerness seems to bring her more problems than it helps. It’s a little mean that Futaba had to bear the majority of the scolding for being late. Kou should have known where they were going just as well as she did, yet he let her drag him onto that train. It would be nice to see her efforts get some reward every once in a while. It seems like she’s always a little too dumb for her own good, and always has to get bailed out by Kou in the end.

The late night talk was pretty adorable. I’ll have to admit, if it weren’t for the strength of the chemistry between these two I’m not sure if I’d like this show nearly as much as I do. The moment is really sweet. I love how these two are still acting like bratty teenagers. They’ve both been hurt in different ways, so it’s making it hard for them to accept each other for how they’ve changed just yet.It’s pretty funny that Futaba keeps backpedaling in admitting she still likes Kou. This especially after she pretty much makes out with his hair. Kou continues to impress me as a main lead. He isn’t afraid to ask what’s on his mind. It seems this show isn’t going to be as much about them dancing around the idea of whether they like each other and more about them accepting themselves enough to push beyond how things were in the past.

I’ve been really interested in Shuuko’s story so far. Not a whole lot of shows have seriously approached the topic of a student pursuing a teacher, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle that kind of tricky relationship. This does confirm my suspicions by the way, it seems she never really wanted to join them to be a part of the representatives, she just wanted to get closer to Youichi. She’s selfish, but in that way that stupid teenagers in love can be. She simply thinks she knows what she wants, even if its wrong. It seems Youichi’s already had plenty of experience deflecting her, has his lines were pretty well engineered to get her off the topic.

Episode 5

This episode was a little disappointing. Not much happens other than your rote bond building story. I do like that it starts out seeming like everyone’s going to get along great, and then devolves as their bull-headed personalities clash in finding the right way to the end. Still not sure if I really like Aya. The guy has been pretty annoying in general, and his only interesting character trait is his weird love triangle between Shuuko and Youichi. He already seemed like kind of a dick in last episode, and in this one we see him being a bit petulant as he becomes unwilling to accept blame for getting them lost.

I did find it interesting that my initial suspicion, that of Yuuri eventually having a crush on Kou, was spot on. It is an angle that is. Yuuri and Futaba’s friendship is quite newer than most under these circumstances. I have to wonder how she will deal with this going on. Technically, Fukuba has a sort of priority over Kou due to their experience. Still, considering she hasn’t gone through with any of it, she has no real right to say she deserves to be with Kou more than anyone else. With Yuuri as her only real friend left, will she support her and let her feelings slide to the background again? This kind of drama could really make or break the series, but from what I’ve seen so far I think this show can pull it off.