Wow, I wasn’t expecting this series to actually make me cry! That really was a heartbreaking way to end the episode, but I really liked the outcome of it!
Over the course of the episode, I suspected Keito would be the one to win it all after Ouri and Tamon blew it in the final round. He had been consistently either first or just trailing them in second throughout the competition, so he seemed to be the most probable winner given how things panned out.
But what I was not prepared for was how gut-wrenching it was to actually see Tamon lose his position. He was doing his best to hold it together, but he broke down when he saw Utage’s message “Tamon will always be the center in her heart“. Because yes, while he wanted to keep his position for his fans, he also really didn’t want to disappoint Utage– especially after how much she has helped him. And man, when he started crying during his performance, I started crying too.
It’s so sad that he wounded up overworking himself because he got overwhelmed by the feelings to meet the moment. But there’s another reason why he pushed himself so far, and that was the underlining fear of what would become of him should he lose that pillar of support.
This seems to suggest Tamon’s fear of losing support is rooted in something far deeper than any of us initially imagined. This stood out to me when Ouri asked Tamon how long is he going to dwell on what happened in the past. It seems to allude there may have been a separate event altogether that caused Tamon to become the way he is. Because in hindsight: If Tamon had the Gloomyhara mindset from the get go, I don’t think he even would have come all this way to Tokyo to audition in the first place. Based on what we know so far, it does seem to suggest it might be support related to some extent, as Ouri made a point that they have to accept there’s always going to be fans that drift away at some point. That could also explain why Tamon’s has such intense fear of not measuring to other’s expectations.
It also doesn’t help at all that the president of their company demands absolute perfection from them. She wants them to be the best in the world, and expects them to perform 2000% every time they are on stage. The kind of mistakes both Tamon and Ouri made were so unacceptable, that she even alluded to kicking them out altogether if they failed to perform to her standards. Seeing that this is what F/ACE has at stake, gives us more context to the brief instance before where Tamon had a memory flash about something she had said to him once before. We didn’t get to hear exactly what it was, but it was definitely something to instill fear in him, and was likely something along the lines we’ve seen them discussed today.
We also got to learn why Tamon’s constantly walking on egg-shells around Ouri. When Tamon first came to Tokyo, it was Ouri who helped him find his footing. So when he ended up winning the auditions, not only did he not expect it, but he felt guilty seeing Ouri so devastated by the loss to be center. In that moment, he really didn’t feel like he deserved it. But since then, that has changed, and Tamon became stronger and wanted to properly compete with Ouri to keep his position he has come to love, but unfortunately, their ideal head to head match didn’t pan out when both of them ended up botching their performance.
And speaking of Ouri, he was a lot more tolerable this week. He was still a brat, but he had it rough too. He isn’t the type to reveal to the others that he’s actually sick, so he had been covering it up by saying he’s taking days off. It was a good thing that he did call to hire Utage, albeit it wasn’t actually for cleaning, but simply to privately ask her about her relationship with Tamon. He was actually pretty sick, and we could see that with how red he was when he opened the door for Utage. It wasn’t a one day recovery either, as his fever actually spiked the second day Utage was working for him. In the end, he wasn’t able to actually recover enough on time as his voice was completely shot in the final round.
If there’s one stark difference between Ouji and Tamon, it’s their mental fortitude. While Ouji revealed he has a bad habit of choking when the results matter most, we can see that he’s able to bounce back better and faster than Tamon. And much of that probably has to do with the fact he had been in the entertainment business since he was a kid. So in order to survive it, he has to know how to do that. But clearly the one thing he does still need to sort out is not overworking himself, because if he hadn’t pushed himself while he was still recovering, he might’ve not spoiled his path to victory.
On the side note, it was really funny to see him retract his bet request for her to work for him, and changed it for her to become his fan. But the joke’s on him, that’s not how being a fan works haha. Besides what’s the point of having a superficial fan that isn’t actually committed to you? It was a silly request altogether, which was why Utage’s new bet arrangement in response was that if Tamon won, Ouji would have to become Tamon’s fan, haha!
And finally our best girl Utage! This week she found herself teetering back and forth between her devoted fangirl mentality and simply thinking about Tamon as person. I actually completely lost it when Ouri had asked if she and Tamon were dating, because her response was so freaking unhinged I was in tears from laughing so hard. “HE WON’T SETTLE FOR ONE GIRL, HE’LL MAKE ALL HUMANITY HIS GIRLFRIENDS” Like, oh my god girl! Another highlight was when she was in such intense denial, insisting to herself the moment Tamon had sleepily hugged her and fell asleep on her back that it was all a fantasy in her head. I must say, her resolve is quite admirable.
But my favourite moments was when Utage was showing concern over Gloomyhara. She could tell that he wasn’t in his best form when he performed in the final round. She couldn’t delude herself into thinking otherwise. She knows his habits too well. It was interesting though to see she felt like worrying about this side of him made her a failure as a fan– as though recognizing or accepting the “Human” sides of him is a bad thing. Though I suppose at that point, rather than simply being his fan, it goes to show at the very least, she cares for him as a friend too.
Overall I’d say this was probably my favourite episode to date. I just really liked the overall pace and mood of it, and I appreciate that even though this has been going so hard with the comedy since the start, we actually got a more sober and realistic outcome to the situation. I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop from hereon out now that Tamon’s no longer center of F/ACE.
