Y’know, I honestly never expected Niko to like Sanda. They were arranged to be married by the state, so I guess I assumed she didn’t have a choice in the matter. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. It’s also possible she just fell for him overtime. But why? And when? It’s not like they’ve spent a lot of time onscreen together. Has she liked him from before the events of the story? Or is it because he’s a little more attractive now that he’s tapped into his Santa alter ego? Or maybe this is just something I’ll never understand, because I’m not a big proponent of arranged marriages to begin with. Ultimately, I suppose I underestimated Sanda. In fact, he likes the kiss so much that he goes back in for seconds. Hell, he practically tries to suck her face off. What better way to celebrate the “peak of youth” ceremony, huh?
What makes turning fifteen so special? According to Yagiuda’s narration, It is “the age when you’re considered at the peak of your beauty before you become an adult.” Excuse me while I retch. I could say that the most beautiful person I know is currently 44, but sadly, I’d probably be accused of virtue signaling. Nevertheless, Yaguida had someone who loved him, but he was too embarrassed to enjoy his youth. Sucks to be him. But I see this a lot. Some people are so scared to be cringy that they can’t enjoy life. They don’t break out into an insane laughter like Yagiuda, though. Instead, they shamble through their days with dumb, disinterested look on their face all the time. “What do you wanna do?” “Uh, whatever.” “What are you into?” “Iunno, whatever.” It’s like talking to a wall. But we’re getting off topic.
I’m still not sure what to make of Yagiuda. He seems to care a lot about the Sanda and Amaya, but is it only because he wants to live vicariously through them? Is that the only reason why he doesn’t want to see them make the same mistakes he made? Either way, he wants to protect Sanda’s precious youth so bad that he goes and confronts Namatame directly. Why? Well, Sanda is having a romantic moment with his fiancee Niko right about now. It would suck if Namatame ruined that. But I mean, would she have done anything against Sanda? Doesn’t she only kill adults? Speaking of which, I’m actually a little disappointed that Namatame doesn’t immediately react to Yagiuda with guns ablazin’. Instead, she shows quite a bit of restraint against this particular adult.
Time for an all-out battle between Namatame and Santa, right? Well, not quite. She starts off by siccing her classmates on poor St. Nick. Sheesh, where did the others come from? And why do they all look the same? In any case, Namatame then asks if Santa could honestly fight against so many children. If it were me against a bunch of murderous children, there would be only one answer to that question. But Santa’s gotta be Santa, so his solution is too wholesome. But is it the right solution? Namatame makes a good point: “Why hasn’t anybody ever scolded me?” It’s tricky, right? You want kids to know that your love for them is unconditional, but does this still apply when they’re literally murderers? Parents say they will always love their child, but what if your kid is a serial killer? I honestly can’t answer that question. At the end of the day, however, these are (extremely) naughty children, and Santa should judge them accordingly. How else are they supposed to learn from their mistakes? But can the kids in Class 10 be rehabilitated? Can you redeem someone like Namatame? It doesn’t look good as the girl riddles Santa’s body with bullets.
Elsewhere, Ono is being selfish as usual. She knows Fuyumura is distracted. She knows Fuyumura is involved in something dangerous with her new friends — something bigger than all of them. Nevertheless, Ono continues to want to hog all of Fuyumura’s attention. I know this is a ceremony where kids often declare their love to one another, but Ono is being a bad friend. Hell, she’s been a bad friend ever since she came out of hiding. She eventually relents and gives Fuyumura “permission” to leave, but her heart breaks. Then her expression darkens. She’s obviously bitter and resentful that her bestie took her up on that offer. All this time, we’re worried about Namatame, but Ono is the ticking time bomb just waiting to make a mess out of everything. And ultimately for what? Jealousy? There lies the rub: her dilemma feels childish and immature, but she is a child and she is immature. Nothing she’s going through is exclusive to adults and adults alone.
Ono might end up furthering Oshibe’s cause simply because she can no longer monopolize Fuyumura’s attention. And ironically, her current predicament never would’ve happened if she didn’t disappear in the first place. Her going missing is why everyone is now involved. Fuyumura wouldn’t have sought out Santa, which then pulled in Amaya and Namatame. And to rub even more salt in the wound, all Ono really had to do was tell her bestie what was going on before she went into hiding. But no, she told nobody what was going on with her. Ono made her own bed and is now refusing to lie in it.
At the end of the episode, Ono and Santa seem to come to the same conclusion: kids can be so cruel. I can’t agree with that. I think they’re victims of their own false expectations. Ono expects an impossible love from Fuyumura. As for Santa, I’m not sure what he honestly expected. He didn’t even try to hug Namatame with love. He initially said he wasn’t going to let her off easy for hurting Yagiuda, but he’s currently doing nothing to stop her attacks. So yes, how does he expect this situation to resolve itself when he’s literally tried nothing? I guess that’s why Fuyumura is rushing to the scene. She’s saved him before, so she’ll probably have to save him again.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Yagiuda is slowly killing himself with legal drugs.
- Wow, Fuyumura actually looks… kinda adorable.
- Sanda says, “The Peak of Youth Ceremony sends the message ‘Don’t you dare become an adult.'” Seems like an impossible task. How can you literally avoid becoming an adult? Hormone blockers? I think they only delay puberty, not stop it altogether, right?
- Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the double pigtails look. But my distaste is probably cultural. I literally never see this hairdo outside of Japanese media.
- So what happened to the whole “Santa dies if he falls in love” hogwash? I guess you could argue Sanda’s not technically in love yet. He just loves kissing, and who doesn’t? Kissing is pretty awesome.
- For some reason, Yagiuda can’t defend himself against Namatame, because… uh, the girl is too short. Bro, literally aim down. What the hell is wrong with you?
- Jeez, she is short.
- This whole Black Santa business is so weird.
- Again, just because Fuyumura doesn’t have romantic feelings for Ono now doesn’t mean she won’t in the future. Plus, there’s the whole “plenty of fish in the sea” thing.
- Bro, you are so wrong about this, it doesn’t even deserve a response.
