There’s only two episodes left of this series and I feel like there can only be one way to end it all after watching this episode. I feel like the series is setting up to end anyway, so I think a second season might be out of the window even though I know the anime hasn’t adapted every single chapter of the now finished manga. It’s been pretty obvious that the romance between Akira and Masami has gone down a lot. Sure, we still see Akira blush around Kondo and her constantly thinking about him, but whenever they’re together, it’s a lot less awkward with the romantic tension and a lot more mellow. Their relationship really is more like a friendship, and because the awkwardness is out of the way, they’re able to have really nice conversations about things other than romance like books, and Kondo’s ever wonderful advice. This is also shown through their little text messages at the fair. But the conversation they had in the end was especially deep and might point to how the series might actually conclude.
Akira invites Kondo to a secondhand book fair and they meet up with someone Kondo knows. The owner to a bookshop that Kondo frequents, an old man that hilariously mistook Akira to be Kondo’s daughter. At the book fair, Kondo gets so wrapped up in the books that he basically ditches Akira. She stays behind at the old man’s stall and looks through old postcards and she learns from the old man that Kondo used to want to be a novelist. And while at the fair, she also sees a post on social media about the track team and at first chooses to ignore it, but later on likes the post. When Haruka sees that, she likes the post too. The track and field team is mentioned again when Akira goes to her check up at the clinic.
Something interesting we learn is that Akira is able to go back to track after she does some rehab, but the doctor notes her lack of interest. But by the end of the episode, it seems Akira is maybe thinking things out.
The metaphor with the swallow was poetic and beautiful, and it represented both Akira and Kondo. Akira was hurt and couldn’t fly with the others, and Kondo basically gave up. We learn that because Kondo was so obsessed with writing, he neglected his family and tore it apart. What Akira told him, wanting to read his novels someday, and that he deserved to write, was something he really needed to hear. He was glad that someone was finally able to say that to him, and it’s probably lit a spark inside of him. There’s hope for both of them. With that little push from Akira, I think that Kondo could actually take up writing again.
The way I think the series is going to end is with them going their separate paths. Kondo goes back to writing, and probably with the convincing from Kondo, Akira is going to go to rehab to go back to track and field. I think the postcard that Akira picked out was probably foreshadowing. Some of it had read “Let’s meet again when the season comes around.”
It could mean that they’ll meet each other again during a particular season, and the season significant to them is the rainy season. It could be the next year, or it could be five years. But I feel like there will be an inevitable separation between them where they’re going to go out and continue the things they love, and they’ll meet up again. As for a romance, I think it’s unlikely but if they meet up in the future, then who knows? But I for one am excited to see how this amazing story is going to end.
