At the start of this week’s episode, poor Marin is trying to pick out her best bra and panties combo. She’s simply putting way too much thought and energy into something that’s never going to happen, especially when they’re still just friends. Hell, even if these two kids eventually become more than friend, Gojo seems like the kind of dude who would be uncomfortable with holding hands in a relationship. It’d probably take a few years of him and Marin being exclusive before he even considers going to first base. Like I said last week, I’m still surprised Marin jumped to conclusions, because this is so out of character for him. He’s not like that. He’s never been like that. There’s a nonzero chance that she’s probably the first actual person he’s masturbated to (look, what he does with those hina dolls is none of my business). I guess I can’t blame Marin too much, because he is acting a little weirder than usual. Him hovering over her doesn’t help either. Marin suddenly remembers those “lucky” condoms they got from the love hotel, so she thinks Gojo wanting to do it means her luck has gone up. She’s actually happy about this situation. Sadly, said situation is all in her head… oh my god, like the Coffin game! It all makes sense now!

“Sadly” makes it sound like I care whether or not these two kids do the deed. To be clear, I’m neither for nor against teens being curious about and/or having sex. I just want Gojo to stop being weird about something as innocent as sleeping over at a friend’s house. But obviously, if you’re going to do it, do it safely. In Love is War, they did an entire bit on how a third of the student body has already had their first time. I’m not sure how accurate that statistic is, but it doesn’t really matter. Look, we don’t have to pretend that teens don’t have sex. We don’t have to be grossed out about it either. At the same time, there’s a huge difference between sexualizing teenagers and portraying teen sexuality in a way that makes sense and is relatable. I don’t need Marin’s breasts jiggling in my face, but if she and Gojo happen to do it offscreen, who cares? Her being anxious about having sex doesn’t bother me either. All of this makes perfect sense in a story about teens and their teen love.

After watching Marin shy away from him on the couch, it’s clear that her nerves have gotten the better of her. She even recoils when he reaches out to her out of concern. I hope she doesn’t inadvertently scare him into being even more shy around her. But it’s understandable, because what Marin wants is the whole package. No innuendo there, because I’m talking about the romantic package. She wants to hold hands, go on official dates, have their first kiss, so on and so forth. Sex is somewhere on that timeline, but way further down. Like in most romance anime, this whole uncomfortable situation could’ve been avoided with a tiny bit more communication. She still hasn’t bothered to ask him what he bought. Hell, she could’ve taken a peek inside the bag while he was taking a bath. But hey, Gojo isn’t blameless either. He keeps saying it’s bad to sleep over, but he won’t explain exactly why. If Marin really understood what was bothering him, she could’ve allayed some of his fears. Even better, if he actually broke it all down by trying to explain it to her, he might realize how silly he’s being. Either way, he wouldn’t have had to buy the energy drinks in the first place. But in the end, all’s well the ends well, because Marin’s nervousness eventually tires her out.

Instead of anything raunchy, we get a sleep-deprived, mentally disturbed Gojo, and a Marin who feels dumb for jumping to conclusions. Ah well, you live and learn, kids. This won’t be the first time you guys will embarrass yourselves. Hell, your first time will probably be embarrassing too. But next day clarity hits Marin pretty hard. The sudden cut to Marin’s panties is exactly what I was complaining about earlier. It’s so unnecessary. I don’t need to see her crotch. Just the line “I figured that Gojo-kun might like white” is more than sufficient. That aside, Marin is seriously bummed out. Again, she didn’t necessarily want sex. Rather, she wanted their relationship to level up. But in that case, she needs to get serious. Marin even admits that if she really wants them to start going out, she’ll have to confess first. And I really hope she does, because like I’ve said before, part of Marin’s charm is her boldness. Go for it, girl. It’s your life. Seize the day and all that.

Unfortunately, Gojo being so consistently shy about the thought of them being a couple has actually done a number on Marin’s confidence. I get why he’s the way that he is. From the very start, he’s always viewed the two of them as being from different worlds. He thought he would drag her down or whatever if people saw them as a couple. Hell, he probably still thinks this. At the same time, Marin worries that she’ll lose their friendship if he rejects her. It’s a hot mess. As she’s struggling with her feelings in bed, the music during this scene sounds almost silly and whimsical, but I actually find the whole thing to be quite sad. Their relationship is in limbo because neither of them have any guts. To nobody’s surprise, we don’t get a confession. Marin tries to give one later that night, but she seemingly backs out at the last second. Man, I hope these two make actual progress by the end of this season. But even if she does confess, I can easily imagine Gojo not getting it. He’ll either misheard her or thinks she’s talking about something else entirely. Basically, I hope she has it in her to keep confessing over and over in order to get her feelings through his thick skull.

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Stray thoughts & observations:

• If she was ready to go before, those feelings have to be gone after downing a cup of noodles. But maybe that’s just me. I would not want to eat right before having sex. Gross.
• There’s diet instant noodles? That’s a real thing? I think I’ve only seen low sodium variants.
• Honestly, I don’t think I like instant noodles anymore. Maybe it’s just me or the brands I have in my cupboard (just the usual like Nongshim and Maruchan), but they seem to leave a weird aftertaste these days.
• Cute moment though. Marin with her natural hair color is also a trip.
• Some of the visual novels out there are pretty fucked up. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I was enjoying a lot of the highly recommended visual novels at first. I’m talking Danganronpa, AI: The Somnium Files, The House of Fata Morgana, Raging Loop, parts of the Muv-Luv trilogy, etc. Y’know, the ones for normies. Even something like The Devil on G-String has its funny moments, and I think YOU and ME and HER is a more effective Doki Doki Literature Club. As you go further and further down the list, however, things start to get a little dark. I eventually had to draw the line at Wonderful Everyday ~Down the Rabbit Hole~. It’s tagged as psychological horror on Steam, which I suppose isn’t incorrect. But I don’t wanna read that shit ever again.

• I guess this is the part where the game actually gets scary. I know people like to hate on jump scares, but psychological horror that slowly builds up over time can actually be pretty hit or miss. If you can’t empathize with what the characters onscreen are going through, you’re going to be real bored for a real long time.
• This is, uh, a lot more explicit than I thought it would be. Did you really need to describe the color?
• Poor Gojo can’t even handle sleeping over, and yet he has to read about rape and mental abuse just to do research on Coffin. It doesn’t help that he’s forcing himself to stay up all night. Trust me, none of this is necessary in order to design a few props. I’ve seen some spicy cosplays for games like Nikke, and I doubt every single one of those cosplayers have ever played that game.
• I hate the “it was all in their head” plot twist so much. It’s beyond overdone at this point. We’ve careened past the sell-by date.
• But in all fairness, maybe Coffin is the OG psychological horror game in the My Dress-Up Darling universe. For example, I’m totally cool with Silent Hill 2, because it put the trope on the map. It might not have been the first to do the whole “Congrats, you were the bad husband all along!” schtick, but it definitely popularized it. As such, it deserves a pass even now. But for all the derivative indie horror titles in the past decade or so, please make your own game with your own vision. But noooooo, here’s nothing but PT clones! Here’s nothing but ghost hunting clones after Phasmophobia! Here’s nothing but Lethal Company clones after watching four chucklefucks stumble around in a small procedurally generated map go viral on Twitch. Christ, stop chasing trends.
• Shinju, a middle schooler, is absolutely digging this discussion on Coffin. She and Suzuka can’t get enough of Gojo’s reaction. Welp.
• They should’ve asked him to livestream his playthrough. It is nice of him to call them up so soon, though. That sort of thing would’ve slipped my mind on account of me trying to scrub my mind clean of child abuse.
• Meanwhile, Sajuna is only into mahou shoujos. Y’know what they could do? They could bond by watching one of those horror mahou shoujos that briefly became all the rage thanks to Madoka.
• Gojo worries too much about silly stuff. For instance, he wanted to make her fried fish, because she was craving fried food. It’s a cute gesture. But then he thinks you shouldn’t be eating fried food for dinner, because… that’s bad or something. I mean, yeah, don’t do it every night. Maybe this is the American in me, but bro, indulging a guilty pleasure once in a while isn’t going to kill you.
• That’s right, girl, eat your pain away!

• Look at our girl telling these two chumps to fuck off all on her own. Even a totes-down-in-the-dumps Marin has no issue standing up for herself, so how come other anime waifus can’t do the same? How come other anime waifus need their Gojos to protect and coddle them? Sure, he did jump to her defense when he thought one of her hairstylists was trying to hit on her. But had that actually been the case, Marin probably would have told him off way before we got any reaction from Gojo.