Jerky McJerface, aka Ori, actually manages to goad Utage into taking a bet: if he becomes the new center of F/ACE, she has to switch her loyalties and become his housekeeper. After all, if she’s so confident in Tamon, then why not accept the bet? Surely, Tamon’s biggest fan would never doubt his success. But why even entertain this asshole? Just kick him out. I don’t understand why people always give an inch to jerks like Ori, in real life or in fiction. Utage apologizes to Tamon afterwards, claiming that she literally couldn’t say otherwise. Bullshit. She didn’t have to say anything! Literally grey rock Ori. Let him talk. Oh, he’s saying shit about your oshi? It. Doesn’t. Make. A. Difference. But now there’s added pressure on Tamon to succeed.
Regardless of the bet, Utage is gonna help Tamon maintain his center position. And first things first, he needs to understand what romantic love is. All of a sudden, he wants to hit up a summer festival. Sounds like Tamon got shitty advice from an AI bot. But it’s kind of a date-like activity, so maybe he’ll fall in love with Utage there or whatever. Unfortunately, her first inclination is to immediately reject his request because “[t]he only way a lone fan would be allowed to go with Tamon-kun to a summer festival is in their own delusion.” Christ, she’s exhausting. The worst part isn’t that she’s a crazed fan who insists on putting Tamon on a pedestal. The worst part is that she’s afraid to simply be his friend — a normal friend who needs your help. If I were in his shoes, that feels lonely to me.
Of course, they end up going to the summer festival anyway, ’cause Utage was always gonna fold. It’s the initial hesitation that bugs me. And unfortunately, Ori tags along in secret, because the guy is fucking obsessed with Tamon. Instead of worrying about himself, he has to make sure Tamon is miserable. What a loser. Oh well, he gets front row seats to Tamon and Utage running through the gamut of festival-related activities, i.e. playing festival games, eating festival foods like scaldingly hot takoyaki or chillingly cold ice cream, doing the festival dance, etc. Again, date-like activities. Unfortunately, Utage doesn’t understand what romantic love is either. She has a certain type of love for Tamon, but out of some weird respect she has for him as her oshi, she utterly refuses to truly fall for him. She won’t or can’t cross that line. Meh, we’re only on episode four. Give it time.
When Tamon leaves Utage’s side for just a moment, Ori swoops in and interrogates her. He wants to know so badly if she and Tamon are dating. So of course, Tamon comes back and sees them chatting. And of course, he gets all hot and bothered at the sight of them together (but he doesn’t know it’s Ori), so he marches right up to them and gives the wrong idea. But hey, one step closer to understanding romantic love, right? Apparently, romantic love is not allowing other dudes to even talk to your girlfriend. Nope, not one second. Romantic love is getting all jealous and possessive. And it works, because Utage finally sees him as a guy and not her oshi. Just for a moment, though.
Obviously, they’re not a couple. But she can’t help him either if she keeps insisting on him being this untouchable, unreachable fallen angel or whatever crap she’s spewing. Ultimately, they both need to put their weird issues aside for at least one night and just hang out as friends. Let the super mega pop star experience the life of a normie. Did it have to take all night for Utage to finally come to this realization. Yes, yes it does. But at least we’re finally here. Then in their heart-to-heart near the end of the episode, Utage suggests taking his feelings for his fans — about wanting to make them happy or whatever — and seeing that as love. Eh, sure. After all, love comes in forms.
The Ancient Greeks tried to deconstruct the concept. You would have storge, which is like the love you have for your family. Then you have philia, a type of love for your friends. There’s also agape, which is akin to universal love. Maybe love for your fans falls in here? I’m not really sure, because I don’t know if the ancient Greeks ever had oshis! Last but not least, there’s eros, which is probably best described as romantic love. Again, I get what Utage is trying to say, but the love you have for your fans is just different from romantic love, which is what the first round of the competition was going for. Romantic love is like a passion accompanied by a tint (or more) of sexual desire. But hey, if her advice works for Tamon, then I suppose this is all semantic nonsense.
When the fireworks go off, Tamon can’t help but stare at Utage instead. It’s a common trope in romantic anime. You find the person even more beautiful than the fireworks, so you look at them the entire time. You see it in Kaguya: Love is War, you see it in My Dress-Up Darling. It’s almost like Tamon’s falling for Utage right there and then. But she immediately shoots him down, because y’know, her boundaries as a fan. Again, we’re only on episode four. We’re not rushing this. We’re gonna drag this baby out, woo! But also again, Utage is so exhausting.
In the end, the second round has nothing to do with romantic love. But hey, he wins it easily, because somehow, a gloomy dude who’s practically a shut-in is somehow also super athletic.
