After all the drama that has been building up with the last few episodes, I feel like episode 11 really took a completely different turn than expected. Truthfully, I expected the drama to reach its peak and potentially have a friendship or two ruined. Quite frankly, as a stand alone episode, I actually enjoyed the overall story and the various parts it portrayed, but in the context of what we’ve seen so far, it really seems like it’s tearing away from the main narrative. Most of our main cast is very different from who they were in episode one and if there was actually a resolution in this episode I was absolutely unable to find it.
I thoroughly appreciated the very beginning of this episode. We start out with Sonezaki commenting on the public’s reaction to Jujo. We can clearly see the impact that both Amagi and Jujo have had on Sonezaki and how she has grown since we first met her. Amagi has been able to show her that a relationship is not strictly physical and how it feels to have some genuinely believe that she is likable. Jujo on the other hand piggy backs off those feelings that Sonezaki has felt since getting closer with Amagi. Jujo has been absolutely unapologetic in what she does and is still pretty genuine about how she feels. The connection that her and Sonezaki have formed in just a few short interactions have honestly been fantastic character development. Of course…. now we’re running into a situation in which all three of these characters might be out of the school for good.
Another stand out moment from this episode is the punch. I was really worried when Sugawara went to go see Saegusa. During their whole interactions I was whispering “no no nononono” but then out of no where she just took him out and I cheered. I have built up negative feelings towards Sugawara during this entire series and it will probably take a lot more for her to be redeemed in my mind. But dang. That punch was great. I also appreciated that Sugawara was finally honest with Kazusa in this episode. It doesn’t erase what she has done in the previous episodes, but at least now she’s straight forward and honest, rather than trying to steal the guy behind her best friend’s back. And in the same vein, I think Kazusa handled that situation really maturely. I mean…. what else should you say when your best friend, who you have been convinced was already going after your boy, admits they are in love with you boyfriend? Not the best situation, but the moment it was pretty good. Though, I will admit that it got a little cheesy that I thought it was perhaps a cutaway to a fantasy of what could have happened and then they would have switched to a “are you crazy???” moment. (But at least they gave her true thoughts afterwards)
But in all honesty I want to take a minute to talk about Kazusa and some of the bad decisions she made in this episode. First, with Momo and then again with Izumi. Now, to be fair, Momo has honestly been getting the short end of all of this. She doesn’t really have anyone to acknowledge her feelings and quite frankly she’s getting hurt the most by the literature club members. I really don’t see why Kazusa would answer Milo-sensei over Momo. She says it has to be a boy, but quite frankly the anime has really set up that the question of “You have to do it or the world blows up” that the answer is to choose someone who you love? This may just come from naivete, but honestly I don’t even know if Milo and Kazusa have actually exchanged words, so… why would she even make that choice? But where Kazusa continued to go wrong was, after seeing Momo’s disappointment, was acting as if she didn’t say anything wrong and didn’t really recognize it. I don’t think Momo was in the wrong to not want to continue the conversation. But from there…. nothing new was brought up with Momo, and with only one episode left – will she even get good closure?
And second, I think Kazusa is being pretty unfair to Izumi. And I’m not saying that he would be better with Sugawara either because she has also treated him completely unfairly. But Kazusa, once finding out about Sugawara’s plan basically decides that now is the perfect time to do the deed. The no pants dance if you would. And honestly Izumi’s response to not wanting to do it was perfectly valid. He wants to take it slow and treat her right. Honestly! She and Sugawara can learn something from this sentiment. The two of them have completely fallen for the idea that being in love means engaging in certain activities. Yes, we walked in him and yes he does have a porn dvd, but at least he has to have a good and comfortable relationship with the girl he loves. And it just really frustrates me that no one is really taking into account his feelings. At this point we’re all pretty aware of the feelings of all the girls in the literature club and they’ve been so focused on their feelings that they aren’t even taking into account how he feels.
But all of this is completely overshadowed by that ending. That ending seems to have come from completely out of left field, and yet when I take a moment to actually think about what lead up to this moment… I guess it was something that I could have seen coming. However, it really feels like they’ve taken all the conflict they’ve built up until this point and put it on hold just to get this one big hurrah at the end by…. holding their teacher hostage to get the administration to undo their ruling. There was no closure to anything that has happened thus far and so introducing such a big thing right before the final episode? Man I really don’t know what they are thinking. But! We have one more episode for everything to come together and maybe I’ll finally be able to make sense of everything that has happened to these girls.
