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Summary

Kaoru has been opening up more to his class, and they suspect something going on between him and Ricchan, nominating the pair together to work for the school festival committee. Back at the jazz shop, after leading Yurika down to the basement Sentarou nearly kisses her, but realizes the situation after seeing Junichi and punches him, with Ricchan coming in afterwards having missed the incident. When a technical problem threatens Seiji’s performance at the festival, Kaoru decides to pitch in and play My Favorite Things to keep the audience’s attention, and Sentarou joins in.

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Impression

So Kaoru’s practicing of My Favorite Things finally paid off, and this culminated in an amazing improv performance which completely drew us in (plus the entire school population) and away from Seiji’s initial performance. Despite the rift between them, the two still play in such sync together, and to an observer it’s fascinating to see how much happier Kaoru becomes from playing jazz with his friend. I respected how he decided to take the initiative in bridging their problem after overhearing Sentarou’s loyalty, and I guess that was the right step to take.

Although he learnt it for a different purpose, Kaoru isn’t doing it to charm Ricchan particularly, but instead to help out his friend, which may have achieved its original effect since Ricchan was certainly enthralled. Interestingly enough, so was Yurika, though I’m not sure of her motives – would it be to regain Sentarou’s trust, or to make up for the rift she’s created between Sentarou and Junichi? Speaking of Junichi, he’s giving off a slightly more antagonistic vibe especially with that emo-like hair, though he seems to fully understand why Sentarou punched him, and accepts his reasons. Now you know why Kaoru told you to stay away from Yurika…

Something I’m noticing is Kaoru’s development and progression as a character. At the start of the ep, without Sentarou’s friendship it’s clear that he feels all alone and isolated again – back at square one, you could say. Symbolically, it’s clear what kind of change Kaoru has going down the slope in the opposite direction, this time with Sentarou back as his friend again. Even slight things like not having many friends has now begun to change, once people start looking past his introverted nature and begin to talk to him. Things are looking up for this guy.