I am currently battling bronchitis to bring you Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. You better thank your sweet ass this week’s episode is based on the best character from this show!
Sooo the whole point of this episode is to hammer home that Kenji loves Shizuku and is really smitten wit her. Unlike the stupidity of this show from the beginning, Kenji is genuinely interested in Shizuku and thus his affections advance at a normal pace and he struggles within a realistic time period to come to terms with them. OH MY GOD SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE IN THIS SHOW! Don’t worry they still threw in some main couple so there’s plenty of bitching from me.
Kenji starts off the episode thinking about Shizuku and getting lost. He wants to invite her out to eat, but she always brings food. As usual Kenji is respectful of Shizuku until Haru starts being a dumbass and being so overty jealous that Kenji toys with him a little bit. Haru fucking over reacts as usual and throws a can so hard at Kenji that when he dodges it it hits Shizuku AGAIN (still okay to hit her by the way, she just glares and it’s still funny haha! get it because physical violence is the best. I wish my boyfriend hit me!) not to mention Haru actually punched Yamaken in the back of the head for touching Shizuku to get her out of the way of a bike.
KENJI YOU TREACHEROUS MONSTER HOW DARE YOU SHOW COURTESY AND TOUCH SOMEONE TO PREVENT AN ACCIDENT GOD I HATE YOU.
Shizuku feels bad for Kenji and TOUCHES THE BACK OF HIS HEAD /explodes with fangirl glee/ to see if he’s hurt. Kenji has about the same reaction as I do and Shizuku offers to help him, but he doesn’t say anything other than that Haru is jealous for no reason and offer Shizuku well wishes. Then Shizuku mentions it’s probably just because Kenji is so appealing, which made Kenji and I both very fluttery.
Soooo…in one episode we already have more romantic build up that all fucking 10 of the previous episodes? Let’s recap guys.
Haru declare he loves Shizuku blindly. She reciprocates only to be told he wasn’t sure AFTER invading her personal space and kissing her. He realizes he loves her ONLY after Oshima asks him about it, and Shizuku debates on studying being more important. Then Shizuku proceeds to decide to ignore Haru romantically forever, because that’s how love works, in order to keep up with her studies. Haru badgers her and is annoying, fails at being considerate, and Shizuku admits she loves him AGAIN only for him to bust out in jealousy over Kenji. All this while stupidly, they don’t need to be outside of a relationship to try and figure any of this out. Haru declares he has special feelings for Shizuku this whole freaking time, and Shizuku is just trying to maintain a balance and never really stopped liking Haru. That’s called you are fucking dating and trying to find a normal balance like a human being.
But the real kicker? I could accept all of this is these two were genuinely compatible but they aren’t. Even Shizuku at the end of this episode remarks how they have so many differences, and I’m sure the manga artist and anime team have a great IT’S LOVE IT DOESNT MATTER LALALALA lined up for us but I am not buying it.
You don’t get it, guys.
The characters in TWILIGHT are less emotionally constipated and unrealistic. Natsume knows what love is. Kenji has it down. And don’t tell me that OH HARU AND SHIZUKU HAVE A ROUGH TIME WITH FEELINGS because then I will fucking show you the door to Oshima who is a loner by nature as well and still isn’t a moron.
These two. are not compatible. Solely because deep down Haru is a troubled person who was created solely to be comforted by Shizuku. That is what this anime is trying to say.
SHIZUKU, THE 15 YEAR OLD GIRL, WILL HEAL HARU’S WOUNDS AND SAVE THE DAY AND FIX HIS SOCIAL ISSUES FROM HIS CHILDHOOD. And no. I’m
FUCKING SICK OF THAT.
I am so tired of ‘magically fixing genuinely messed up people with love’ tropes. It is fucking OLD. It’s older than Gandalf the fucking grey. It’s older than Dumbledore. It’s older than Homura, WHO LETS FACE IT HAS REPEATED THE SAME MONTH OVER AND OVER HER MENTAL AGE HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE IN THE CRAZY ZONE FOR ALL THE SHIT SHE’S SEEN.
That is not
How true love works
Especially when you have one normal person and one genuinely fucked up person. In this episode Haru threatens to rip off Kenji’s arms and legs if he doesn’t back off from Shizuku. This is after saying he was so scared she might leave him behind he thought of doing it to her, and that of course he wouldn’t but everyone else is different.
Let me rephrase my earlier statement: Love is funky. Love is weird. You can love whoever you want. But real life doesn’t work that way. Hell, one of the best things about romance is when you can see something unrealistic unfold in front of your eyes so beautifully and well written that you believe it.
But this show? It fucking SHOVES IN OUR FACES THAT THEY COULDNT EVEN GET TOGETHER FOR AN ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR BECAUSE THEY MISCOMMUNICATE SO MUCH. HOW ARE THESE TWO GOING TO FUCKING MAKE A CHOICE FOR DINNER WHEN THEY’RE MARRIED NONETHELESS EVEN PICK THE COLOR OF THE INVITATIONS.
Mark my words. However this anime ends, however the point comes across, this is not a relationship built to last. You might as well copy and paste the end of Bitter Virgin here and call it a day folks. High School relationships CAN work, don’t get me wrong. And I love most shoujo mangas and believe most of them will be forever despite personality differences, age, and life in general. Hell, my first love was a total douchebag! THAT’S WHY WE BROKE UP
But this show?
No. Fuck this show. Shizuku and Haru probably are remembering these days fondly in the future when they’re telling their kids about their first loves. Hell, Shizuku is probably telling this story to her teenage kids about how she met their father and HARU IS THE ROBIN. HARU IS THE DECOY LOVE TO THIS STORY.
This show is trying to be amazing and meaningful but it holds no mysticism. There is no reality to these feelings. Feelings are fucking WEIRD and they’re crazy and they aren’t some controlled formula obviously written to make the story longer for your BAD writing. Where is the chemistry behind the conflict like in Mars? Where is the difference but humorous and endearing quality like in High School Debut? It’s nowhere.
It’s fucking terrible. This show is shoving this deep and meaningful love down my throat and in the end it’s going to be a one year relationship in high school at the most and if the author ever tries to say differently I WILL DRAW KENJI AND SHIZUKU HAVING SEX IN A 120 PAGE DOUJINSHI OF THEIR FUTURE TOGETHER BECAUSE IF ANYONE HAS LASTING CHEMISTRY IN THIS SHOW IT’S THEM
NO. GIRLS DONT JUST MAGICALLY STAY WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE TERRIBLE FOR THEM!
AND WHEN THEY DO, IT’S HOT GIMMICK
AND NOBODY LIKES HOT GIMMICK
AAAAAAAAAGH EVERYTIME I TRY TO REVIEW THIS SHOW CALMLY I JUST WANT TO PUNCH A BABY
*THROWS A VENDING MACHINE*
*hacks up a lung* See ya’ll….next week -_-
Oki
LOL I always crack up when you make reviews of this show! XD Admittedly, I also find Kenji as the best for Shizuku. Really, Haru is so ridiculous. He’s hurt Shizuku physically many times, and somehow never seem to apologize in a direct or sincere way. It’s just…meh. =.= I agree so much that with Haru’s personality, him and Shizuku won’t have a great relationship (but of course, the mangaka will make it so that they’ll have a great relationship to show change when we know it’s pretty inconsistent and out of place).
I’m also tired of that fixing-some-guy’s-dark-family-stuff. =.= Like, I’ve read a thousand of manga already with that kind of storyline lol. It gets so repetitive that I dropped most of those mangas (like Kaichou wa maid-sama).
Anyway, too bad Shizuku will SOOO be with borderline or dependent or whatever disorder-ed Haru because THEY’RE OH SO MEANT TO BE. =.= Kenji will forever be a fanfiction or doujin pairing for SHizuku…=.= Future seems bleak as always when it comes to this kinds of stories.
It may be stuck in doujin land but I can draw and I will make Kenji see more boobs canonically than Haru IT WILL HAPPEN
I like Yamaken being in love and I prefer Yamaken x Shizuku over Haru x Shizuku although I can’t deny that I do find Haru x Shizuku VERY interesting in a humorous way. But, I do not want Yamaken to end up with Shuzuku. HE’S MINE. BACK OFF, FANGIRLS. MWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *choke*
But you already have Rin! I want Yamaken!
Man, Haru’s great. If you can overlook the accidental abuse!
Rin? Who’s this Rin? LMAO
Well, add the barking on every person as well. He’ll be great as a dog though. D8
What ticks me off about Haru is that he’s not really considering Mitty’s feelings as well – he’s in love with her, and she says that studying is important to her. Yet Haru is completely disregarding that and even said himself that he wanted to storm in there and mess everything up. Maybe if he was supportive and accepted that along with her cram school sessions (instead of threatening to break Yamaken’s arms and legs) then maybe their relationship might be more stable.
Also, what’s with all the accidental physical abuse?
GOD VANTAGE MAYBE HE JUST FELT LIKE HITTING HER WHAT’S YOUR ISSUE
But no seriously, stop it show. Stop.
Oki’s rage level is OVER 9000!!!!!!
Seriously, you’re so funny. Love your rants. I actually checked this blog before watching the anime and read the last few lines and then said to myself “no I have to watch the show first and then get the funny critique later”.
Great job and get feeling better :P.
“…get it because physical violence is the best. I wish my boyfriend hit me!” I laughed so hard at this comment haha!
Comments like these are why I still review this show.
I MEAN LIKE WHAT WAS THE AUTHOR THINKING? “OH BABY I HOPE I HAVE A BOYFRIEND ONE DAY WHO HITS ME! LET ME WRITE A MANGA FOR GIRLS WHO FEEL THE SAME WAY ALSO HE WILL BE JEALOUS AND THREATEN TO DISMEMBER PEOPLE WHO LIKE ME OH THATS THE STUFF”