This was another slow episode that mainly focused on progressing Koito and Nanami’s relationship even more. As Koito continues to ponder her feelings and thinks to herself, Nanami continues to show her feelings towards Koito but also shows a surprising side to herself.
I thought it was kinda funny when Nanami started freaking out when she found out that the bookstore she frequently visits belongs to Koito’s family. She wasn’t mentally prepared to meet her crush’s family, but they seemed to like her very much. Her family getting together around the table was a very interesting moment. As Koito’s mother and grandmother talk about her senpai being kind and well-mannered, her older sister automatically assumes it was a boy and thinks it’s her boyfriend. When they say it was a girl, she nonchalantly asks if it was her girlfriend? Koito turns that thought down casually and her father mentions how much he wouldn’t be able to take the shock if that were the case. That’s VERY important to remember. This anime could have been fiction to the core with not having the family involved and the same-sex romance happening just between the characters or having it accepted like it was nothing. But her father’s response is realistic in that not everyone is accepting, unfortunately, and when Koito does end up falling for Nanami, there’s going to be conflict. I also can’t tell how accepting her sister is. She seemed okay with it, but she could also just be teasing her. Either way, Koito is probably going to have trouble enough coming to terms with her own feelings and sexuality but putting her family into this will be even worse.
Nanami has really gotten more comfortable with showing Koito affection. Coming back from her trip with her family, she visits Koito’s home to give her a souvenir, a mini planetarium. She’s obviously embarrassed and nervous but Koito remains distant. That’s the only way I can call Koito’s emotions towards Nanami. While she feels more confident to be around Nanami as well, I still can’t sense a single shred of romantic feelings from her.
Their talk outside the gym before the student council speeches was indicative of this. We got a nice moment of Nanami revealing her true self. Noticing how nervous Nanami looked, Koito brought her outside to unwind and Nanami feels embarrassed from being found out. We learn that this perfect and cool-headed student council beauty is all but an act. When she was younger, Nanami was actually a very quiet and shy girl that always stayed off to the side and didn’t have much friends. But one day she wanted to change and she slowly became this “confident” girl that we always see. She never wants to turn back to person she was before and so she always puts up a tough face even though it eats her up inside. She also does this because people depend on her so she can’t make herself weak in front of the others. She’s never shown such a vulnerable side to herself before, only to Koito. Koito has become such an important person to her that I wonder if Koito even realizes that. She does ask herself WHY Nanami even loves her in the first place. Koito was kind enough to let Nanami lay her head on her shoulder, and she stroked her head once. While Koito was affectionate and caring, it still feels very distant. She obviously cares for her but it’s nothing more than platonic, but at least she’s becoming more comfortable and confident to do these types of things. This little moment also pushed Koito to make a great speech and give her the drive to join the student council.
But her line of having to give up something in order to stay by Nanami’s side makes me nervous. I wonder what that could mean. So far the show has been a little slow but I like how their relationship is progressing, but not gonna lie I can’t wait for some drama to kick in.
