“If I could have one wish, God, then I would wish to be human. Humans are stupid and weak…but so warm.”
Summary
Sasami seeks out a friend in Kagami, and while she accepts, she doesn’t seem too interested in such a relationship. When unfortunate physical accidents begin happening around Kagami, she tries to resist Sasami’s advances even more, who is unaware of what her power over Amaterasu is causing the jealous Myriad Gods to do.
Impression
I learnt one main thing from this episode today – Kagami is the best. Guys, I wish I could be just like her. She’s like…my role model. I mean, look at this – the epitome of laziness, just casually sleeping there despite it being the middle of the day. And she keeps a pillow in her bag. How awesome is that?
In all seriousness, this was a great episode. It was much easier to follow than the wackiness that went on last week, and it was focused on a topic that would actually be a problem for ex-hikikomori, which is the concept and difficulties over making friends. It’s also what the Rinjinbu in Haganai have been spending their time trying to do, but unlike them Sasami transferred in halfway through the school year, where all the close-knit friendship groups have been formed, and she’s been isolated after Kamiomi’s very helpful description of her as a sad little girl who used to be a hikikomori. Oh Kamiomi…the fact that it was actually true makes it pretty hard to refute you.
“I’ve always dreamed about going to the bathroom while holding hands with a friend! It’s like a must for girlfriends!”
While it probably wasn’t the best idea to have Sasami ask Kagami to be her “practice” friend, Sasami was genuinely making an effort to try and enjoy her high school life, by making her time as happy and fulfilling as possible. With Sasami being the ultimate god that she is, Kagami should have really listened to at least some of Sasami’s many requests, even if they were just as simple as walking to the bathroom together while holding hands (does that really happen?) or watching a movie together, which we painfully realized was named “Best Friends” right after Sasami threw the tickets at Kagami for her indifference. All those rejections must have really hurt Sasami, even if the intentions behind them were secretly good – and everything drove home when Sasami caught Kagami being all chummy with three other “friends” from her class, right after her own offers had been casually rejected. Man that was painful to watch – I admit, there was a point during these scenes where my loyalty towards Kagami started wavering, though I kept telling myself that there must be some plausible reason why she’s doing all this.
I’ve learnt that Tama isn’t actually as excitingly naive as she makes herself out to be – when the situation calls for it, she’s actually quite perceptive in realizing that Mamarin was all sad and that it was related to a problem she had with Kagami. Of course, she attempts to solve it through the only way she knows how – to play with Sasami until she’s too tired to worry about anything else. I keep forgetting about all these potential issues that may arise if the holder of Amaterasu’s power gets too sad, with the Myriad Gods potentially trying to make her happy by changing themselves and therefore messing up the world. Tama’s take on their situation as gods in general is a valid point too – that as gods, they have the power to make anyone their friend, and thus there’s always a rift between a friendship between a god and a human, as the gods have the power to influence that friendship even on a subconscious level. Sasami, who wanted a friend, chose Kagami, a fellow god – thus proving her intentions towards Kagami as real, but also making the Myriad Gods jealous so they would start attacking Kagami. I mean, it’s a very clever reason to have all these unfortunate incidents occur, from getting crushed by a falling closet to getting casually run over by a truck – I initially thought she was causing these accidents to happen intentionally in order to keep her distance from Sasami, until that moment when Sasami saw her covered in blood, lying by the side of the road.
“I shall send all standing in my way to the very depths of hell. Because we’ll be friends…until the very last school bell!”
While Kagami claims to just be a “stand-in” friend, Sasami clearly thinks of her as a real one – and evidently Kagami shares the same sentiment, even if she’s showing it in a slightly different way. Despite being attacked by the world because of her friendship with Sasami, she’s willing to fight to an incredible extent to protect that friendship, and her ability to feel genuine emotion after spending so much of her life as a puppet with no free will. By willing to do the dirty work and cleaning up the mess going on behind the scenes to protect Sasami’s everyday life, she may have to hurt her on the surface, but behind her back she’s acting in the way only a true friend would, even if she’s not willing to admit it. It was really emotional to see such a heartfelt friendship arising from a show like this, and I’m glad for both Sasami and Kagami for reconciling, and thankful to Tama (of all people!) for giving Sasami that push she needed.
