I…. am conflicted. I think that there were definitely some good moments in this episode, but there were also a lot of moments that I wasn’t too thrilled about. Part of me just wants to call it a one-off sort of thing where it will be fixed in the next episode, but I went back and re-read what I had written about the previous episodes, and honestly, I think this anime is starting to lose a little bit of the charm that kept me in. That isn’t to say that the anime is bad or doesn’t have charm, but some of my fears are starting to be recognized, namely love triangle and adult x student relationship.
I’ll start out by talking about the elephant in the room: the ending. It was pretty easy to see that Sugawara had developed feelings for Izumi, sure she hasn’t had as much history with him, but genuinely every time she has interacted with him or even talked about him it’s been pretty clear that she has been interested in him. Sure, she doesn’t portray her feelings like any of the other girls, but I honestly think that’s part of the point of the anime – each of the girls has a different way of expressing their feelings and there are good and bad elements to both! But I digress because the ending with the director???? Did not like that one bit! Regardless of if she felt nothing – the fact that she went to him, asked for him to kiss her, and he did so without question?? Not okay! Like, it’s clear that he is not a good guy, but still! It’s creepy and the way that he has been in the background so far really makes it seem like he isn’t going to have any consequences and that makes me real uncomfy. Plus, he’s really pushing her to go after Izumi using the thing that fears the most, which will potentially ruin her friendship with Kazusa and a love triangle that forms out of something like this does not sit well with me.
But let’s not forget about the other girls. Hitoha obviously has developed some feelings for Milo-sensei, but I personally haven’t decided if it’s lust or love, but I’m leaning more towards the former. She’s very much attached to the experience and she ends up feeling something after each of their interactions. Of course he shouldn’t tease her, but I’m still worried that something bad will come out of this whole thing on both ends. Yet, it is becoming a bit more clear that Milo is recognizing that he is having an impact on her will he do anything to put a stop to it? I don’t know, I’m holding out for it though.
Next, let’s briefly talk about Momo. She’s really not feeling it with Sugimoto and it isn’t because he’s a bad guy or anything. They honestly, just don’t really mesh well together and that’s not a bad thing. But because they don’t mesh very well, Momo is starting to realize that boys are really complicated and she recognizes that she likes being around girls a lot more. From the way she talks about Sugawara, it’s clear that she has more than just friendship feelings towards her, however I’m not to sure if the anime is going to let her act on it. Based on her long conversation with Sonezaki in this episode, it appears that Momo is a lesbian, but has yet to come to the realization herself. I hope she gets some more development in the coming episodes because I’m interested to see how this plays out, but I have a feeling they will never address it out right.
Kazusa has finally made some progress with Izumi and I’m glad that she’s finally going to tell him her feelings. Well, maybe she will, there might be a bit more drama that will occur before she will get the change. There isn’t too much more I have to say for her in this episode, but I do want to talk about the pillow fight and just the fact that she was so fixated on boobs this episode. I thought the pillow fight scene was really cute, I’m glad that the girls could have that moment together, but quite frankly Kazusa talking about the 10 bouncing boobs, was honestly a little unnecessary. I don’t know, if I’m missing something, please let me know! Ultimately, I’m happy with how she developed in this episode.
Lastly, I just want to take a moment to talk about Sonezaki and Amagi. Yes, Sonezaki is not treating Amagi all that well, but it’s clear that she’s happy to be around him and be able to interact with him. However, she’s embarrassed by the concept because of how other people around her have treated the concept of romance. Since it seems to be that prior to their relationship romance = sex to her, now that she’s in the relationship she is assuming that people will think the same of them. I’ll be honest, I don’t really like Sonezaki as a character, but! I do see a lot of my past self in her. She’s embarrassed to be seen by others with him, which causes her to push him away. She’s embarrassed to admit that she’s in a relationship. However, she really does like him and likes to be around him. She’s conflicted and doesn’t know how to react, and quite frankly this anime is about these girls not knowing how to react to these feelings, because they’ve never had them before and they are trying to figure out what they should do. Are they making bad decisions? Absolutely! But they genuinely don’t know what to do! I would really like it if these two actually sat down to talk about their feelings and see if they can come to a resolution, but I have a feeling that won’t happen and the two will just end up breaking up.
All across the board it seems like things are going to get worse before they get better, but I genuinely hope that things will work out in the end for all the girls.
