Look at me being an ending skipping heathen again and missing yet another important end credit scene~ Whoops… I just don’t seem to learn my lesson. It was such a short scene that I didn’t even notice there was more after the ending. But I did go back to see what I missed and whoops, all the heart-shaped balloons went missing. Though I guess it wasn’t TOO important since they still addressed it this episode. All the heart-shaped balloons were seemingly stolen by a mysterious thief going by Arsene. And of course, Chika is all over this since she sees it as a game of sorts. Also can we just appreciate how much Shirogane has improved in his balloon making skills??? He’s now able to make such intricate balloon figures. Chika sure knows how to train him well.
Kaguya was mostly the focus for this episode and I couldn’t help but notice there are certain things that she’s developed well in, but others she has not. I feel like she wasn’t as heavily focused on in season 2 as she was in season 1, making her feel a bit flat compared to the other characters. And while I feel like she’s gotten a little better, she still feels like she’s made the least amount of development despite her being the series’ title character. Unlike Shirogane, she’s still trying to play the game they’ve done back in season 1 where she tries to outwit Shirogane to force him to confess first. And I couldn’t help but go: Kaguya PLEASE. We’re not playing this game anymore! Even Nagisa seemed super done with how evasive Kaguya was being and I like how she actually comes in and suggests Shirogane make the balloon heart for her because she KNOWS that’s what Kaguya actually wants.
And while Kaguya hasn’t grown as much, I do appreciate the series not rewarding her whenever she gets into this conniving mode she tends to go into. Like how her plan on having Shirogane make her a balloon heart ultimately fails when she has to give a heart-shaped item in return. And even though she was ultimately trying to be a good friend to Ishigami, coercing Tsubame to turn down what she thought was a rival so cruelly wasn’t the right thing to do. And boy did she backpedal on that sentiment HARD after she found out it was Ishigami who had “confessed.” Though I had to laugh at the instant regret Kaguya had afterwards. Though I was a bit miffed that she didn’t see herself comforting Ishigami if he got his heart broken. Unlike Shirogane who imagined both of them would be comforting him. Come on, Kaguya. But it’s great that Shirogane isn’t stooping down to play that game anymore and is actually being very direct in his intentions, wanting to spend time with Kaguya during the Culture Festival. It isn’t until Kaguya drops her cunning front where she actually starts getting rewarded and ends up having a good time with Shirogane and didn’t have the usual interruptions.
Regarding Kaguya, while she was at the fortune telling stall, it was interesting how she was described as someone who is easily influenced. If she were to be around terrible people, she would adopt terrible qualities, but if she is around good people, she would take on those qualities instead. Which kind of makes sense in regards to how she acts. We don’t know Kaguya’s full backstory, but from this we can most likely assume that her family hasn’t been a positive influence on her and is probably the reason why she acts terribly at times because that what she was around. However, after becoming more involved with the people in the student council, who are all good people, she has started becoming more kind to those around her minus Chika. Like how was actually just trying to do something good for Ishigami but took the wrong approach. It’s also interesting how meeting her for the first time, inspired Shirogane to change and vice versa. The two unintentionally bring out the better out of the other.
And then the ending is the kicker where Shirogane tells Kaguya that he’ll be graduating before all of them and will be studying abroad at Standford. Which is extremely sad since Kaguya and Shirogane had their first uninterrupted “date” where they actually did something fun together. Because he’s leaving, him confessing feels like it’s torn in a sense. On one hand, if he doesn’t confess he’ll feel regret over not acting on his feelings. But then on the other, if he does confess, he only has a little time left to actually spend time with Kaguya. It’s like, no matter what he does, he and Kaguya are going to feel burdened in some form or another. It is a shame that the two hadn’t decided to act on their feelings until it was too late. Since they could have spent their time a lot more productively instead of trying to use calculating methods to try and get the other one to confess. But these are dumb teenagers, so I’ll digress lol.
Continuing off the “feels bad man” train, Ishigami is definitely in for a rough time. Right off the bat, Tsubame goes to Kaguya to ask how she turns down a confession. Which already is OOF. Especially since the poor guy has been dealt so many losses. But Tsubame’s feelings are also valid and if she doesn’t see Ishigami in that way, she isn’t obligated to reciprocate. It doesn’t make the situation any less rough though. Though it is understandable why Tsubame wouldn’t reciprocate since she doesn’t know Ishigami too well as the two just recently became friends after all. Not to mention that she’s graduating soon. Though I do appreciate it that she still cares for Ishigami as a friend and doesn’t want to hurt him. Not to mention, by the end of the discussion, she did decide to just try and get to know Ishigami better before giving him her answer. Though it does concern me that she already wants to talk to him about something. I thought she would wait a bit longer before giving an answer…
This episode definitely had some hard hitting and foreboding things happen. Though despite all of that, there were still some cute and funny moments. At first I thought the animosity between Maki and Kaguya was back, but Maki was actually just being difficult. That’s actually really cute how she just wanted to give Kaguya something as a thank you for going with her to the haunted house. And Nagisa is just so done with both her and Kaguya’s tsundere tendencies lol. But goodness, things could have gone wrong for Iino if Ishigami and Onodera hadn’t been around. Though it was hilarious how annoyed Ishigami was with Iino for being a pushover towards a couple guys who were totally sus. I’m also glad that Onodera was also there to drag her away and it wasn’t just Ishigami. Also can we just talk about that old horror rpg game they referenced with Kaguya trying to run away but running into a wall XD. This episode definitely had a nice blend of comedy and seriousness. Next week is the finale and is going to be a special 1 hour episode. They’re pulling out all the stops this time and I’m curious just what they have in store for us since the past several episodes have felt quite slow and is definitely building up to SOMETHING.
