We get a lot of loose, seemingly disconnected scenes at the start of the episode. A guy checks in on Chiyo, the girl who was apoplectic about the medical school scandal. Apparently, she’s given up on school ever since she found out about it. Can’t blame her. It must be disheartening to know that you can’t succeed just because you don’t have the right parts between your legs. But sometimes, you just gotta fight through it. Do what you want to do. You might not have those opportunities here and now, but you can always find them elsewhere. Emiri continues to not care about the popular guy and his love life, but her friend — not Asa this time — expects her to. Why? Should all girls be into hetero romances? A bunch of reckless boys run through the hallways and nearly knock Asa over. Unfortunately, they refuse to even apologize. A microcosm of the times? After all, a lot of people will write this behavior off as “boys will be boys.” We then see another kid quit the baseball team due to toxic, bullying behavior. His coach, however, thinks he should just tough it out. If you want to be a part of the team, you gotta take it. Again, “boys will be boys.” In the background, a baseball player gets kicked by a man who appears to be one of the coaches. As a result, the victim has to bow to his aggressor, because he’s expected to.
Lately, Asa has been writing down a lot of Makio’s “smack talk,” definitions and all. Somehow, this triggers a memory of her mom judging her for getting a “boyish” haircut. As you can probably already imagine, Asa’s father didn’t have much of a response even if his advice was ultimately correct. On the surface, it feels as though he didn’t give a shit about Asa at all. Didn’t he want a child? Wasn’t that the sole reason he was even with Asa’s mother? So why was he so hands-off with his own daughter once she came into his life? What was wrong with that man? Well, we started this scene by going over Makio’s insults. Perhaps Asa can’t help but think of her father when she reflects on the word “void.”
We immediately get a scene where Asa desperately wants to talk romance with Emiri only to be rebuffed yet again. Perhaps like her father, she doesn’t understand her loved ones very well either. After all, she also has trouble comprehending Makio’s thoughts and actions. Near the end of the episode, she’ll come to admit that “[w]e’re all so forgiving of our own contradictions yet show no sympathy for the contradictions in others.” In all likelihood, Asa’s father was much more complicated than he might have seemed on the surface. Unfortunately, the man is dead, so we’ll never know what truly made him tick. He was probably still a bad parent, but it’s a pity that Asa will no longer have the chance to unpack the contradiction that was her father. In any case, Emiri will still give her friendship chocolate for the occasion. You just hope that the friendship doesn’t continue to feel ever increasingly like an obligation. I hope Asa will come to understand her before it’s no longer possible like with her father.
Asa is annoyed when she overhears a couple flirting over Valentine’s Day. She opens up to Makio later about how she feels like she’s the only person who isn’t in love. Does she actually expect to be in love? We rarely ever see her interact with anyone romantically, though. You can’t get anything to grow if you don’t tend to it. Like with all relationships, you gotta put in the effort. Case in point, she doesn’t even bother to go to band practice anymore, so her “friends” are hardly bothered by her absence. So what does Asa really want? As usual, Makio’s response is that not everyone needs to fall in love. In other words, Asa should just do what she really wants. Makio has always been consistent with her advice. For example, if Asa didn’t feel like crying at her parents’ funeral, her aunt was quick to tell her she didn’t have to. But I can’t tell if Asa truly believes she wants to be in love, or if she just expects to be in love because it’s the norm for someone her age.
Later, Asa meets yet another one of Makio’s friend. The girl is then surprised to hear that her aunt is about to do a book signing. She’s even more surprised to learn that Makio had given a speech at her friend’s wedding. This doesn’t fit her view of Makio. She had pegged her aunt as the type who shies away from public speaking, but she was wrong. Sure, Makio might be an introvert, but that doesn’t mean she has to follow every expectation you have of one. There are multitudes to her just like how there are multitudes to everyone.
After realizing this, Asa indirectly opens up about her reluctance to try out for the vocal role. If you’ll recall, she had abandoned the idea in last week’s episode. She claimed she wanted to switch to bass guitar instead. But we learn now that she still wants to sing, and according to both Makio and Makio’s friend, Asa ain’t so bad at it either (it doesn’t sound great to me, but what do I know?). She just thought she wasn’t the type to do so; she thought she wasn’t the type to “stand out.” But why? I have to confess, I don’t really know what it means to be the type that doesn’t stand out. Much like Makio and her friend, I’ve always felt that if you wanted to do something, then you should just do it. What does it matter? It’s your life, and you’ve only got one to live. It’s thus interesting that her father had given her the exact same advice, but because he seemed so uncaring in every other aspect of their relationship, his words back then didn’t have any impact. Then again, Asa did keep her haircut…
At one point in the episode, Asa comes home to find out that Shingo had gotten both her and Makio chocolates. She’s so excited about it, too. Even Makio’s editor had given Makio chocolates. What for? I thought guys were supposed to wait until White Day. But let’s take Makio’s friend’s advice, i.e. who cares what you’re expected to do? If you want to do it, then just do it. Shingo wanted to give them chocolates, so he did. Nevertheless, some people feel societal expectations much more keenly than others, and Asa is a chip off of her mother’s block. She has held herself back because she has felt the need to fit in. But maybe after processing the events in this week’s episode, she can finally “set free” as the episode’s title suggests.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— A fried egg with curry sounds nice. But it’s getting too warm lately for curry.
— Pardon my ignorance, but what do LGBT couples do for Valentine’s Day and White Day? Do they just arbitrarily divvy up the days? Do whatever they like, I suppose? Well, it’s not like you have to take the holidays seriously.
— Preach it. I want to broadcast this to everyone around me.
