Yamada and Nishi have an upcoming date, so the girl frets over what to wear. Maybe she should just put stuff on, then snap pics for Honda to critique. After all, her bestie likes to get dressed up. If she doesn’t want to bug her friend, she still has plenty of other options. But like a typical overthinker, Nishi’s first outfit — her first draft — is… way too much. Too much of everything, really. I guess Nishi’s never heard of the phrase “less is more.” While we’re at it, let’s go with another phrase: “monkey see, monkey do.” She can simply look at what the average girl is wearing on a night out with their beau, then go with that. Or hit up fashion forums. The internet sucks for a lot of reasons these days. Toxic social media and rampant bots to name a few. But it’s still a wellspring of information if you know to filter out the noise.
When the date kicks off, Nishi is stuck in her own head. “Uuuuuu, do I look right next to him?” Y’know, that sort of thing. Girl, he chose you, so who cares if it looks “right.” Luckily, Yamada starts yapping, so his voice starts drowning out her overly anxious inner voice. But at some point, Yamada throws out the expected “I’m talking too much, sorry.” Can’t blame him. Even the biggest extroverts will eventually run out of energy. Everyone needs a little back and forth. Like with every single aspect of our lives, the point isn’t to be perfect. You just have to try, because trying at the very least means you care. Nishi doesn’t need to dress like a model or carry a conversation like an experienced lady of the night. She just needs to put in a little effort. To her credit, she does eventually settle in and start contributing equally to their conversations.
It’s the freaking wrist thing again. I swear, there’s no way we evolved hands just for anime boys to constantly grab their girlfriends’ goddamn wrists all the damn time. Nishi actually has to be the bold one for once, and turn this awkward moment into a perfectly normal hand-holding session. And at the end of the day, even the normally happy-go-lucky Yamada can be embarrassed. He’s perfectly content to hold Nishi’s hand and keep yapping, but as soon as they spot Suzuki and Tani also on a date, Yamada and Nishi run for the hills. I don’t see what the big deal is, but I guess we can chalk this up to kids being kids.
To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of this coupling. It doesn’t mean I hate them together or anything. I just think they’re a little boring. There isn’t really much to say about Yamada. He’s kind of a golden retriever; he’s a nice guy but I wouldn’t say he’s got a lot going on upstairs. He doens’t have a ton of depth. Ironically, even though Nishi is stuck in her own head a lot, I would argue that Nishi comes across as a blank slate. To put it another way, Nishi’s so wrapped up in being anxious that we barely know anything about her, i.e. who she is, who or what she wants to become when she grows up, what are her loves and hates, etc. Plus, like I’ve said elsewhere, I tend to lose patience with scaredy-cats like her. Life might seem intimidating, but you’ve only got one of it. You’re going to let it pass you by if you worry about every little thing.
Meanwhile, Suzuki was canoodlin’ with her boyfriend. She also saw Yamada and Nishi, so she also got a bit self-conscious. I love how she hid her hair, because that’s exactly how you would pick her out in a crowd. But eventually, our girl went into classic Suzuki mode and started wondering if the other couple will become official soon. Ah well. But what’s even left for Suzuki and Tani? Obviously, the first kiss. Unfortunately, they get kiss-blocked by her parents of all people. They couldn’t do it by the bay, because there were people around. They couldn’t do it on the ferris wheel, because there were nosy kids. They still can’t do it in the neighborhood, because it’s too close to home. At some point, however, you gotta stop making excuses and just smooch. But I guess that’s what the second season (or cour?) is for. And luckily, we only have to wait three months to see it. Hopefully, the new OP will be just as good.
Yeah, I like the show. I also liked the manga when I read it over the course of two days. Sure, You and I Are Polar Opposites is low on conflict. The characters basically never fight or bicker. Nevertheless, I don’t think the characters are any less complex or interesting than the ones you can find in the average romance series. Some pairings could be stronger. Again, Yamada and Nishi are cute on the surface, but personality-wise… they don’t exactly light up the screen. But what works in the show’s favor is not having to deal with the same overwrought drama over and over. As a result, the kids can just be kids.
There was one moment that really exemplifies what I’m talking about. Midway through the season, Nishi wondered if it was Yamada who made her feel a certain way, or if any boy could. This is a classic but silly worry that comes up in countless romances. In any other show, they might have wasted three or four episodes on this nonsense. But instead, Honda figuratively slapped her bestie back to reality. She rightfully pointed out that you can make up infinite hypotheticals until the day you die, so you might as well embrace what’s in front of you. It’s a simple message, but that doesn’t make it any less effective.
My Dress-up Darling is kinda similar in that almost every single interaction is wholesome. Some people criticize the lack of conflict, but I think they’re just brain-rotted by cheap drama. Moreover, I wouldn’t say that the show lacks conflicts entirely. Suzuki still had to overcome her need to conform, Nishi still had to overcome her anxiety, Azuma still neeeded to take better care of herself by not going with the flow all the time, so on and so forth. So there were still conflicts to resolve, and there will be many more in the upcoming season. They just happen to be more of the internal variety. They’re just less overt. The best part, however, is that none of these issues ever prevent these kids from supporting one another. After over a decade of watching anime, I’m glad that I can just watch friends be friends.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— A lot has changed over the season. Tani has more friends than ever. Azuma busts a gut practically every second now. But a lot has also not changed.
— I used to care a bit about how I dressed. But then covid hit, and I stopped going to the office. No way am I going to put in effort around the house. Who am I trying to impress? The cat?
— You thought cupcake earrings “seemed pretty at the time?” This is a rare glimpse into Nishi’s personality behind all the anxiety, and it looks like she has gaudy tastes.
— Hell, I don’t even know these two characters’ names. They’re barely in the story. I don’t remember them having much to say in the manga either.
— Damn, Nishi’s face as she ran.
— Is Suzuki lying here or is she referring to something else?
— San Francisco has been kinda warm lately. As much as I like corn potage, chugging it from a can on a hot day sounds gross.
