Gotoubun no Hanayome Episode 8 – The Photo That Started It All

NOOOO. NOOOOOO. LOOK AT THE PICTURE UESUGI. Look. At. It. I was so excited for that connection to be made! I’ve been fooled! Deceived! And then the sisters looked at it again downstairs while he’s on the balcony and I thought, ‘Oh! He’ll see it this time!!’ I was double fooled. Ahh, I wonder how long it will take for that to come back around again. Weeks, if at all… I wonder if the anime will even get to it. The end is coming up so fast. This show makes me want to pick up the manga so much. Once the series ends I’m probably going to have to. I haven’t been this invested in a harem in a long time. WHO’S HE GONNA MARRY.

We got were blessed with a lot of Yotsuba and Nino screen time this week too. Like, so much content of them. I accidentally took like 40 screenshots just because each moment was too hard not to capture. Even Raiha, who’s adorable as ever. Her hairstyle also never ceases to amaze me. Perfect curvature. Using her email as bait to get Itsuki’s email address was some top notch negotiating skills. I’m proud of you, Uesugi. While the ending was so so so frustrating, I guess I can at least take comfort in the visuals we got.

So a lot of stuff happened this episode. Yotsuba has pretty much been open about liking him the whole time. Which leads me to believe that she’s probably the one in the picture with him. Also, that super ominous-for-no-reason scene from the OP was actually totally fine. I seriously thought she was going to have a mental breakdown at some point. She was on her knees, bent over with shadowed out eyes. That’s usually a recipe for disaster. It’s almost as foreshadowing as the infamous ‘hair braid to one side’ AKA hairstyle of imminent death. But nope. Literally just a confession. Well, not just a confession. Uesugi may be fooled, but we know you can’t lie that well, Yotsuba! Uesugi also gave me a new perspective on her. I’ve always thought, like she says, that she’s the only one who hasn’t really changed. The truth is, she really was the first one to change. Not only that, but she’s been dropping major hints, and just straight up confessing, at multiple points throughout the show! I thought she was just being overly-friendly to compensate for something bad going on, but this episode changed my perspective on everything. I’m this close to locking her in as best girl. I’ll remain neutral for now, but this is a major discovery and my rankings are shook.

So we, the viewers, are now totally aware of this connection he has with them. Uesugi was a delinquent of some sort, met this girl (or multiple girls without realizing they were sisters), and their interaction made him turn his life around, more or less. God, I want to know the backstory so bad. I mentioned before that Yotsuba is probably the girl in the picture because she recognizes him and already seemed to have feelings for him. It’s also possible that the other sisters may have forgotten about him? Nino saw the pic though and it didn’t ring a bell. I feel like you’d remember that. At least we know she’s into the punk type now. I’ll be waiting expectantly for the moment she pieces together that that was actually Uesugi. The fact that she didn’t remember him is what makes me think it’s only Yotsuba who knew him from the past. And she’s super gung-ho about helping people and she’s always smiling and cheerful. Maybe, in the same way the girl changed him he also had a lasting effect on the girl. Now I’m using my brain.

It was kind of snuck in, but we did get to learn some stuff about Nino. Maybe it was just a convenient setup, but it sounded like she wanted earrings just because it was cool. The other sisters seem to have their personalities and independence more locked down, while Nino always kind of seems like she’s self-conscious and always worrying about fitting in. Earlier she was the one most affected by the sisters not getting together for the fireworks show too. Plus, we got to see a rare, in the wild, sleepy Nino this episode. I feel like she’s intentionally being kept out of the spotlight for now. When she gets her screen time, I’m positive she’ll be shooting up the ranks of favorite sister.

I’m glad they decided to show us the photo of Uesugi at the end. He looked like such a punk! His dad was probably so proud of him.

And to Ichika… well played. It looks like she wants to get everyone on equal footing before the bitter, bitter war of love begins. I respect her decision. It’s a noble pursuit in an often unfair battle.