Kotoura-san Episode 7: Making Sweet Memories

After a wild vacation at her grandfather’s, Kotoura decides to try and ask Manabe to hang out but isn’t able to reach him. She starts to grow concern about why he is avoiding her and is so focused on strange unusual thoughts.

Impression:
I am glad that it’s going back to delivering a powerful impact because that is the main highlight of this show. The comedy is good at times, but for Kotoura-san it feels like it needs to make sure it is balanced properly, which I felt was exactly done in this episode.
It grew very tense when the mother’s reaction was exactly as I predicted last week. Despite knowing that, it was a horrible feeling and I only grew more concern for Kotoura. The mother has no intentions of reuniting with her daughter, and seeing her with a smile on her face with friends is treated as offense. With her opinion being the same as it was in the past definitely had raised some red flags which I am certain that Kotoura’s grandfather picked up. He also knows that Kotoura never was able to enjoy her birthday because there was no one (except for him and the head priest) who appreciated her for being part of their lives.
So having told Manabe about Kotoura’s birthday was exceptionally special since Manabe went all out, from working multiple jobs to strategically creating a nonsense firewall of his thoughts so that Kotoura would not find out about the surprise party. He was also smart to have kept it from both Mifune and Muroto knowing that they would probably spill the beans, be it verbally or mentally. With that said, for Kotoura to experience a birthday surrounded by friends who care and appreciate her for being part of their lives is a huge reassurance and a piece of positivity and hope within her dark, depressing memories of her childhood.
Speaking of her childhood memories, as we seen last week; Kotoura found herself hesitating to step into that room. However this week she was found to have easily walked in with a rather optimistic attitude. I was actually surprised that she knew that her mother was there (she must have heard the head priest’s thoughts at some point or another), and at first when she had looked somewhat hopeful I felt like she was almost setting herself up for disappoint (as we know her mother’s opinion has not changed by the slightest). I was reassured though that she isn’t being naive since shortly after having returned to her home she was plagued by her mother’s last words before parting with her.
I was not expecting both Manabe and Moritani to get drunk or just plain high on Moritani’s uh, cursed meals. I am glad that when Manabe had accidentally helped himself to multiple spoonfuls that he dumped the entire plate into her mouth for her to taste and realize just how bad her cooking is. I think Moritani should just be banned from the kitchen already or at least be supervised and guided while cooking.
I was even more surprised to see that the three of them (Kotoura, Manabe and Moritani) slept in the same futon while both Manabe was almost naked and Moritani was shirtless (how Manabe didn’t accidentally grope her boobs while was asleep is beyond me- but then again he was definitely completely knocked out). It was funny to see both Manabe and Moritani completely misunderstand and think they did something last night. I cracked up when Moritani had thought they had a threesome because Kotoura’s reaction was priceless.
Finally last but not least, Mifune and Muroto ‘s relationship. We were able to have a glimpse with some depth on how long they knew each other (by the way Muroto looks ADORABLE when he was a kid). Muroto was always there for her, and supported her when she needed it most. That’s why Mifune loves him. It really sucks that he isn’t openly acknowledging her feelings, I don’t know whether it’s become he is waiting for her to let go of her drive of attempting to use people to that psychic abilities do in fact exist, or he doesn’t share that mutual feeling. Honestly I will be sad if it’s the later because well… One sided love always sucks and I am rooting for these two!
Oh and one more thing: I appreciate the amount of effort Moritani puts into keeping selfish thoughts out of her head. It shows that she definitely learned her lesson and will punish herself whenever her thoughts drift there.