Recap

I’m glad this conflict wasn’t just put to rest immediately. Sure, having their feelings out in the air means they’ll at least understand each other better, but the problems will not end here. If that wasn’t obvious enough, Yuuri going to cry in the bathroom should be a pretty good indicator of how hard she took the news. She doesn’t seem like the kind of person that shies away from what she wants. It would be interesting to see if Yuuri will try to use her feminine charms even more directly around Kou, and whether Futaba will try to change her personality to change the current conception Kou and other people have of her.

Despite me really liking that first act, the second half is where this episode gets hard to enjoy. Futaba is definitely in the wrong for simply tailing Kou without his consent. It’s not her business what Kou does in his spare time. Kou is not justified in his late night wandering, but this isn’t a problem that’s going to be solved by badgering him about it. It’s after this already tough to swallow sequence that this show commits one of the cardinal sins of shoujo. Faked assault is never acceptable. What Kou does to her is a violation of her trust, even if he means to simply warn her. The message could easily be told to Futaba with enough gravitas to make her understand. It’s especially unfair of him to do that knowing she has a crush on him. It seemed to me that he was banking on her being okay with it, which is simply not right.

I think the kicker of the whole sequence is Futaba’s reaction. The bodice ripper is an old trope in the realm of romance, but it shouldn’t be a common one. And I swear if someone comes to me about “kink-shaming” I’ll have a conniption. I think I have a right to believe that assault of any nature is wrong. My opinion of this show has dipped down heavily because of the latter events of this episode, which is such a shame. I really do think there’s an interesting dynamic to be had between Futaba and Yuuri now that everything is out in the open, but if this is how we’re going to experience the romance then I’m sorely disappointed.