Episode 4 & 5
With Izumi returning to track and field team, that also includes reuniting with a long time rival for gold, Makoto. They came across the guy on their way back from Natsuka’s soccer match, where Makoto came up to say his greetings to Izumi. He’s quite fired up to see Izumi back on the field, to the point he came to their school to check out his progress. Ironically of all the guys besides the doctor, he had (unknowingly) correctly identified Mizuki as a girl. He only thought to ‘correct’ himself when he meet them again at their school, but still makes a point that Mizuki’s body feels a lot like a girl. That of course earned him a hefty slap and a nickname that has Izumi rolling “Kitsune with stump legs” (he’ll never be able to eat Kitsune Udon without thinking about that again).
Needless to say, the last few episodes Mizuki’s definitely falling into old habits when she forgets she’s supposed to be pretending to be a girl. From leaving a towel with encouraging words could been seen as a girly gesture. Joke’s on her though, Izumi knows her true gender– but that’s hilariously what makes talking to her so difficult.
But then comes along the hot-pot party, where suddenly Mizuki finds herself encountering a very drunk Izumi. The whole incident happened because Minami made the foolish mistake to leave out a bottle of wine that was picked up by the others for the hot pot party. These kids really thought it was grape juice, and since Izumi downed a huge cup of it, he wounded up in a state of stupor. And the next thing they know, he’s kissing her!
And since Izumi’s drunken kiss, Mizuki’s feelings towards Izumi has pretty much exploded. Though she did like it, she had the appropriate reflex of punching him in the face to knock him out before risking things escalating any further that could expose her.
For better or for worse, Izumi doesn’t remember kissing Mizuki. But I find the whole thing quite funny because I distinctively remember wondering which I would have preferred more when I read the manga. There was a part of me that was (and still is after watching this) a bit bummed out that he didn’t remember– for chaos sake. After-all, Izumi knows she’s a girl, but she doesn’t know that he knows, so if he had remembered and she knew it, then she might’ve thought he’d be into guys and not girls and clusterfuck hilarity ensues. But honestly, it is probably better that didn’t happen because as funny as it could’ve been, it avoids stirring up another misunderstanding. Besides, we already have Natsuka who has settled with that it’s okay that he has feelings towards “a guy”.
Then came along the incident where the other “idol” of the school (Senri) started picking on Mizuki because Minami was giving attention to her. Senri’s just a super petty type when it comes to jealousy, and was taking it out on Mizuki in a pretty stupid way. That’s why I’m just going to leave it at that, since I really don’t have anything to say about him. He remains the type of character I’m really not a fan of, and I can’t even remember if the guy ever grew on me at some point down the line. I guess we’ll see if that day ever comes.
I will say though, these last few episodes definitely felt more rushed to me. here was a point in episode 5 where the seasons just abruptly changed and announced they are on winter break. I was like, “Wait? Already?!” And before we knew it, it was Valentines day. Time is flying and it’s really hard to keep track of the pace.
Episode 6
In episode 6 Mizuki’s brother Shizuki Claude made an appearance. He had come to Japan because for a two weeks exchange for work. It was super unlucky on Mizuki’s since her brother knew which school she was attending and went to check it out. What he didn’t expect was that it was an all-boys school and naturally scolded her for pulling such a ridiculous stunt. In the end, it was agreed upon that if Izumi completed a successful jump in the preliminaries, her brother would turn a blind eye to all of this.
Clearing the jump though wasn’t guaranteed. As of the last few episodes, Izumi has been struggling to get back into form, and haven’t had any much success, But when Makoto later shows up to their practice, we got confirmation that Izumi did in-fact suffer from a serious injury, a torn ligament in his dominant leg. They didn’t elaborate whether it was severe enough to need surgery to treat it, but considering Izumi had quit despite his recovery, it’s entirely possible that he had been advised against continuing the sport.
To Izumi’s credit though, although he didn’t pass the preliminaries (which is to be expected since he has just resumed his training), he did finally make a clean jump, which marks his first big breakthrough since he had quit. Mizuki’s brother Shizuki certainly lit the fire in him when he made the conditions of allowing Mizuki to remain in Japan, and turn a blind-eye to the fact she’s attending an all-boys school tied to having a successful jump.
That being said, I do find it funny just as much as Mizuki has not been discreet at all with her own feelings towards him, Izumi’s not really shying away from expressing his. He’s not afraid to be rather intimate with her, like that hug at the end, which was quite sweet. Bu on the other-hand, his forwardness is certainly not easy on Mizuki’sheart. She’s barely keeping herself together as she has become even more conscious of him since the kiss. But Izumi doesn’t remember of course, so he hasn’t been able to quite connect the dots just yet as to why she’s abruptly blushing upon close contact.
Also I freaking lost it when she had given him a charm in hope to support him, but it ended up being one for love and marriage! Izumi was such a good sport about it because he accepted it anyways. After-all, it’s the sentiment that counts right?
With that said, I will note that I’m finding it difficult to cover this series due to the slow progress and really the lack of depth for discussion. I’m going to give it another three episodes to see whether or not I want to continue the covering. As much as I enjoy the nostalgic journey, this may just be another one of those shows I’ll enjoy more just watching than writing about.
