Just when you think one thing is solved, a new obstacle arises. Chinatsu’s message fills Akane’s mind, and when she seemingly resolves this awkward rift in their friendship, Chinatsu takes it up a notch. Hmm, I understand what Chinatsu means by closure, but I don’t know if her favor in the end was really smart.
I found it really cute that Kotarou and Akane made meeting in the school library early morning as a regular thing. It gives them time to talk and hang out with each other without pressure of being found out by other people. Akane’s track meet is coming up, and Kotarou was surprised to receive a call by a publishing company that had read his manuscript. They each have something huge to look forward to. Unfortunately, Kotarou’s meeting with the editor is on the same Sunday of Akane’s track meet, so he can’t go and cheer for her. But with smiles on their faces, they pinky promise to each do their best on Sunday. Gosh they’re adorable. We then proceed to watch them go to their respective places with a lovely insert song. I haven’t mentioned the insert songs in the show but I really love them. Nao Touyama has a sweet and lovely voice and her songs create such a relaxing atmosphere. It makes scenes a lot more beautiful than they need to be, and it makes me feel warm inside. It’s their big day, they each send encouraging texts to each other, and head on.
Unfortunately, neither of them had good days. Akane confronts Chinatsu and with all her courage told her that she and Kotarou are dating. And Akane is surprised that Chinatsu knew, from how obvious it was. Makes me wonder when Chinatsu suspected that they were dating. Before she sent Akane that LINE text, or after. Either way, there’s no hard feelings and Chinatsu is glad Akane was honest with her, but this still weighs on Akane’s head. And unfortunately, she wasn’t focused on the race and had the worst time she’s had and didn’t make it to the semi-finals. She’s heartbroken, and the fact that she disappointed Hira didn’t help to make her feel better either.
But man I did not like that editor guy from fake Kadokawa at all. He gets straight to the point that Kotarou has no talent and shouldn’t even focus on serious literature because he doesn’t have the talent for it, and you can’t make money from it. I mean shit, he’s a kid, you can’t crush his dreams like that. Maybe he has issues with his writing, but the least you can do is give him some advice that will help him in his future. But this guy had so such intentions. Instead of focusing on serious literature and winning literature awards, the editor is blunt and says that their looking for young writers, and that the real money maker is light novels. Even though he comes back home with a bag full of light novels the editor must have given him, Kotarou is obviously disappointed. Light novels are not what he wants to write. He wants to write more serious literature. It’s also pretty unfortunate that his mother isn’t very supportive of him. Back when I was a freshman in university, I was scared of changing my major to English and focusing on writing when I wasn’t enjoying my science major. I was scared my parents weren’t going to fully support me, but thankfully they did and still do after I’ve graduated. Of course, my mom has mentioned the money issues of being a writer. Luckily, you can find lots of work with an English degree for a stable job, though it’s a little more tough. I know that being a writer isn’t stable, which is why I’m searching for work related to my field, but dammit writing is fun! And Kotarou seems to enjoy writing quite a bit.
That’s why even though his writing didn’t go well with the fake Kadokawa, he’s not going to give up. He and Akane meet up at the library and tell each other what happened and they both pinky promise that they’re going to work even harder! Akane wants to focus and do more for track, and Kotarou wants to do more with his writing and not give up. I love that he kept those light novels in the Kadokawa bag on the floor next to the trash can, showing how little he cares about them.
So with this confidence and support they have for each other, they continue on. The episode ends with Akane and Chinatsu walking home from practice. The night before, Akane explains to her sister why she didn’t do well and she suggests leaving Chinatsu. But it’s really conflicting for her. They talk again, and Akane makes it clear that they’re still friends even though she knows how Chinatsu feels about Kotarou. And things seemingly end great, until Chinatsu asks Akane if it’s okay for her to confess to Kotarou anyway, to get some proper closure. Getting to know Chinatsu, she doesn’t seem like a bad girl, I’ve said this already but I don’t think what she said in the end was too smart. Ahh, the awkwardness continues. But I have hope. I thought the title of this episode, Run, Melos!, was an interesting one. I looked up what it meant, and apparently it’s a book by Dazai Osamu. And the one line I found reassuring in the Wikipedia description (lol) is that the prominent theme of the book is unwavering friendship where, through hardships, Melos does everything to save his friend. So I’m positive that things are going to end well~<3
“You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time…but you were wrong! The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair.” –Harvey Dent
The moments between Akane and Kotarou are so adorable. It was nice how Akane was considerate about Kotarou.
The thing that I try to keep in mind is that this might be a first for Chinatsu as well, falling in love and whatnot. At their age being middle school students, can you find fault in their actions being inexperienced on how to approach things? There is a ‘friend code’, but for the uninitiated Chinatsu, it’s difficult to know what the boundaries are in this love triangle. I feel that people may rip on her for not respecting boundaries with Akane since she did say that she was dating Kotarou, and that she should’ve just accepted it and move on, but at that age, it’s hard to understand what’s right to do in situations like this with new feelings and whatnot. Likewise, thinking back to Akane’s friends, they may seem eager to pair her up with Hira, but I don’t think they really have much experience in the matter, so this might just be a group of girls thing.
Having said that……with the knowledge of time and experience, is Chinatsu selfish in her actions? Inconsiderate/immature? Or is she just outgoing and being more open as she seems to be in the previous episodes? There was a really interesting flourish of comments on another blog’s review of the episode, and it’s amazing to see how many people are trying to justify/rationalize Chinatsu’s actions.
That editor….in a way, he was rather fair to Kotarou, age not withstanding. He was blunt (considering how Kotarou is still in middle school and possibly lacks the experience to write well endowed literature), and just laid out the bare truth to Kotarou. I feel that he would’ve done the same with a newbie author in college trying to debut. I mean, like the quote, the real world is often cruel, so perhaps it was right of him to not coddle him. Then again, he could’ve been more supportive. I guess at this time and age, not a lot of serious literature writers out there (meta commentary on the current LN industry?).
They’re all in the same boat in that falling in love is a first. Frankly, they’re all experienced but I think any person can realize that Chinatsu is stepping over a line. I think any person at their age can grasp that what she wants is a little much. She’s well aware that Akane and Kotarou are dating. We can use the excuse that she’s a kid, she’s not experienced, and that’s all very understandable. In my personal opinion, I think she is stepping over boundaries. I don’t hate her and I’m not going to rip her character to shreds, but I think she is making a mistake. But mistakes can be learned from.
Aha, I’ve had many conversations about what IS and IS NOT literature and I feel like this argument can go on forever. But the editor wasn’t wrong in saying that light novels make more money.