This was definitely a lot more fun to watch with the ghost adventures back in action, but oh lord, the scenes involving Mei talking about her love for Ougai were so cringeworthy! I can’t remember the last time I watched a “romance” where the pairing presented to us felt so forced and lacked the chemistry that all of their scenes had me rolling my eyes. If it wasn’t obvious already, this episode proved to me this series’s biggest problem is the execution of Ougai’s and Mei’s supposed love story. I don’t know what potential curveballs may be thrown at us in the future, but as of right now, it feels certainly looking like Ougai is the lead love interest, making Syunso is the third-wheel in all of this, poor boy. And I wish I could play the game myself just so I could figure out whether or not the game’s romance between Ougai and Mei is better than this, because if it was like this for the game, and I would probably end up feeling the same way, or else the fault lies in the adaption’s script.
Ugh, when Mei tried reaching out to Shirayuki about how she could relate to her pain of being separated from her beloved, I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation because MEI, YOU BARELY KNOW THE GUY!!!! This brings me back to what I was saying last week, was how this isn’t “love” but rather an infatuation with each other. For Ougai, it comes from the curiosity of a mysterious girl who claims to be suffering from an amnesia, where as Mei is being swept up into this “romantic dream” scenario, where a handsome man wishes to present her as his fiance. And now that she is remembering she can’t be there forever, she’s feeling heartbroken about it.
Either way, I am frustrated with how superficial Ougai’s and Mei’s relationship feels like at the moment, especially when Mei (despite her “Ougai- Goggles”) has natural chemistry with Kyouka and Syunso. In fact, I wonder if it has to do with the type of scenes they are all having together. Looking back, I find Mei has had better and/or more more meaningful conversations with Syunso and Kyouka and Otojiro than the entire episode she had spent with Ougai. (Which only ended up with her wanting to become more about the era’s etiquette so she doesn’t embarrass him.)
Aside from my disinterest in Mei’s “love” for Ougai, I really enjoyed Kyouka’s story with Shirayuki escaping his script because she didn’t trust he would give her a happy ending. She wasn’t messing around when she said she was angry, she was seriously putting everyone in danger and the damage was real. Everyone caught up in her wrath was feeling the pain the day after. I also enjoyed Kyouka’s lullaby for her. It was beautiful, yet chilling at the same time. It really added that eeriness to the mood, which made the episode more exciting to watch.
Kyouka also appears to be the first one as well to have potentially overheard Mei about leaving in a month’s time. We saw him standing nearby when she was talking to Shirayuki how she could relate to her pain. So I don’t think him inviting her to watch his play next month was a total coincidence, especially since he even followed up with sweetly giving her words of encouragement in regards to her own love life. Funny he says that just before we witness him being the next guy to be caught by Mei’s charm! He didn’t freak out when she took his hand, I thought it was the cutest thing. He and Syunso are definitely my favourites so far.
Lastly, while Ougai didn’t want Mei to get involved with today’s mission, he did end up coming in to rescue her by the end of it. And although I have criticized the lack of chemistry between them, I wasn’t bothered with seeing Ougai show us his worried face when he got Mei out of the pond. It was because regardless of his feelings for her (romantic or not), he would have been worried to death all the same. I mean, the girl recklessly threw herself at Shirayuki and almost drowned. Had he or Kyouka not been there, she could have died (since Shirayuki denied Fuiji from getting into water).
Next week it seems it will be focusing on Fuiji, which should be interesting! There are bound to be ghosts involved in that one as well!
PS: MVP OF THE EPISODE, THE GHOST BUNNY FOR ITS NINJA SKILLS
I 100 percent agree with you on the whole Mei/Ougai relationship situation. I couldn’t really watch Mei confessing to Shirayuki about her love for Ougai cause I STILL DON”T SEE IT. Like you said she has had more meaningful moments with Syunso, Otojiro and Kyoka. And Otorjiro and Kyoka up until now haven’t even come close to the amount of screen time Ougai has! Boy had a whole episode with just him and Mei practically. I don’t know I guess there are still a few episodes left that might make it more convincing. One can only hope cause right now I am for the Mei/Ougai relationship as much as Kyoka is for germs.
And yup Syunso and Kyoka are my faves too.
Also side thought: was the guy at the beginning of the episode supposed to be important? The guy who was feeding the pigeons when Mei and Syunso were looking for the black cat. Idk who he is but I am guessing cause of the hair color and somewhat brief focus on him that he is part of this somehow?
No idea, I was going to include the screencap, but decided if he’s important, he’ll probably show up again. XD
That’s true XD. But whoever he is wasn’t important enough to show up in the opening.