This episode is a perfect example of the “show, don’t tell” thing I was talking about in the first couple episodes. This episode had so little dialogue and instead focused on character close ups, and scenic shots to show the passage of time. If I had to be honest, this was probably my least favorite episode but it wasn’t a bad one by any chance. It was a lot slower than usual, though we had a lot of focus on Akira’s strained friendship with Haruka, and then we got something really interesting in the very end with Kondo.
This episode was filler, except it kind of wasn’t filler either because some progress was made. Little Akira with pigtails is adorable and I’ll be damned if we ever see a wide smile like that from her ever again. The distancing between Haruka and Akira is sad, and very realistic. I hate to say that I’ve dealt with things like this more times than I’ve ever wanted to, so I know how terrible Haruka is feeling, though it’s worse in her case because she’s been close friends with Akira since they were children. Ever since her incident, Akira has spent more time at work and chasing after Kondo than hanging out with Haruka. Though I found it pretty cute that Akira was hanging out with Yui during the weekend, but again that’s bad for Haruka. To Akira, Haruka is everything she cannot be. She reminds her of the one thing she can’t do anymore, and that’s track and field. Being around her would just remind her of that, and to save herself from the pain, they’ve distanced themselves. There’s no hard feelings between them or anything, but it’s that one little detail that’s getting in their way. Akira doesn’t exactly see how she’s hurting her friend, so I had wished that Haruka had actually said something other than the little note she left in the kitty gatcha. It’s hard, but at least with how direct the note was “Our friendship isn’t all about track and field, right?”, their friendship can probably mend itself back to what it used to be. Especially since she gave her the special kitty keychain that’s supposed to bring the person you like closer to you. Kind of funny that she has no idea how significant that ugly cat is to Akira. With with Akira checking out a book about running, maybe their friendship will turn in a better direction.
We’re slowly unraveling Kondo’s inner mind, but I really wish we had one episode at least dedicated to just him. I’m not sure what they meant by “pure literature” but looking it up I think it means literature that all should read and analyze? So it’s basically what we all know literature to be, but then again there’s many ways you can define literature, but as an English graduate that has had these discussions numerous times…no thanks, not again. Point is, Kondo seems to love reading classics. Though the stories we saw in his room are pretty telling. The Complete Collection of Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Notes from Underground are more dark pieces of literature. I’ve never read Notes from Underground but I looked it up to read a quick synopsis and it’s not exactly a happy one. And I’ve read a couple short stories of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, In a Grove and Rashomon. The first was strange and grisly, and the second one was absolutely creepy and unsettling. Thanks to a Japanese Short Story class I took in university, I was able to read these stories and I still have more, including a couple Natsume Soseki poems so I should check those out. I don’t want to read (haha) too much into this, but it’s interesting that those are the books that were shown to us. We know that Kondo is a depressed man who doesn’t think too much of himself, and the choices of his literature may show that. But what was absolutely most interesting was the book he checked out in the end that changed the mood completely. Window by the Wave by Chihiro Kujo. I didn’t dare look this one up in case of spoilers, whether it’s a real book or a fictional one in this world. I’m going to guess that maybe Chihiro is his ex-wife? That would probably be the best guess because seeing the book affected him so much.
It was such a huge emotional shift that it’s absolutely significant, and I hope the show doesn’t dawdle too much. If we’re going to get at least one episode centered around Kondo, it better be the next one.
