Right off the bat, Umi rejects the other guy. “It seems impossible to get Umi to say yes,” says one of her friends. But she mentions later that this guy has been going around, asking out all the hot girls. So don’t you want her to say no? As for the guy’s tactics, some guys play the numbers game. Not saying it’s right, but it’s just what they do. It doesn’t matter how many times they fail or who ends up hating them, because they only have to hit their target once. Eventually, the group disperses, but not before Yuu asks for Maki’s phone then puts her number in it. I will never understand why people will agree to hand over their incredibly expensive electronics to a relative stranger, no questions asked. He then adds that he has yet another secret to keep. Um, no? Why would you want to lie to your only friend?
When Maki hangs out with Umi later, he ruminates on the perils of being popular. Bro just spent half of the first episode, pissing and moaning about how he’s gonna be “awone” again after he bombed his introduction, but now he’s all like, “Gosh, being popular sure sounds annoying! I’d rather be alone in that case!” Bro, do we need to show the replay? Do we gotta whip out the receipts? It just cracks me up.
Friday eventually arrives, which means it’s time for Maki and Umi to go on their totally-not-a-date date. His “DESTROY” shirt is certainly a choice, but at least it’s not another fanny pack strapped across the chest. Meanwhile, Umi is dressed like a Marvel superhero trying to go incognito. But hey, maybe she’s just that popular. Sure enough, some random girls think they’ve spotted her when the couple takes a break for lunch (shoulda kept her hat on). But the girls take it back after thinking about it some more. After all, there’s just no way she could date a dweeb instead of the hot guy! I don’t really like it when shows do this. By this, I mean make every other character shallow and shitty. You and I Are Polar Opposites isn’t the gold standard, but when random girls go up to Suzuki to ask about Tani, they aren’t judgmental. They don’t start shit-talking Tani. They just want to know the deets. But in other shows, the NPCs feel like they only exist to prop the main characters up. They’re only there to make the main characters seem saintly by comparison.
When Umi leaves for the restroom, Yuu and her friends just so happen to walk by. She then tries to get him to join their group. He could’ve just said no, but he goes on this vague spiel about how trying to fit in, not bringing the mood down, and being thoughtful eventually wears people out. Then Maki simply says no. Huh? I’m sure in his head, it all makes perfect sense — that he was just defending his friend — but to the group, it must have seemed so random. Like what is up with this kid? We just asked him if he wanted to hang out. “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” ass energy.
The next day, Yuu apologizes to Maki, then says she would like to speak to him some more. She then accidentally blurts out that he has her number. As a result, all of the guys in class start glaring at Maki. Again, this is what I’m talking about. In reality, most people wouldn’t give a shit. Maybe one or two dorks might get jealous, but most people are too busy with their own lives to care. You really want to convince me that 90% of the guys in class are not only listening in, they would get also mad? Nah, man. Get out more. Go touch some grass. So why are we seeing this? Is this gonna be one of those shows where the main character can secretly flex about getting to know all the hot girls? Well, that’s just how it is in some anime. The plain Jane, shy girl befriends the hottest, most popular guy in school who just happens to have no interest in anyone until she comes along. Same thing here. Umi is shooting down guys left and right because she’s just sooooo hot and popular. But she only wants to hang out with her nerdy gamer friend! We only care about what’s on the inside, after all! By the way, have we mentioned just how hot she is? Second most, actually! It’s literally in the title! But jokes aside, that’s why it’s such a breath of fresh air when a show comes along and doesn’t even mention the characters’ attractiveness. Unfortunately, this anime has been very bog standard so far.
But hey, add one more hot girl to the friend list. Surely, this show won’t have Yuu eventually develop feelings for Maki, right? Surely, we wouldn’t entertain such a cheap ass subplot, riiiiiiiight?
Stray thoughts & observations:
— Guys will be like, “Oh my god, years ago, I invited a girl over to play games, and we just played games. Now that I think about it, maybe she was into me!” This is pretty much that.
— The all black outfit keeps you cool? Huh?
— Friends don’t tell friends to work on their color scheme for a platonic hangout.
— Who keeps making all these movies about sharks?
— Someone thinks highly of herself.
— What, has she been stalking him this whole time?
— These subs sure are something.
— Presented with no additional context.
— Huh? What is he talking about here? Who was talking down about it?
I quite enjoy this story; but so far the manga is definitely the superior medium to experience this through; it takes its time and sets up its characterization more purposefully. I think the anime is a fair-enough adaptation, but it seems to be making some odd changes and abbreviating scenes, the latter of which I had a feeling would happen since the goal seems to be to get enough of the material to reach THEEE “season-finale” stopping point.
Anyway, examples of odd changes would be the piece of dialogue that’s got you confused as to what the hell Maki is talking about, since both the context in which it happens and the actual line itself is different. In the manga, Maki has a bit of inner dialogue on the train after Umi shows him Yuu’s text message, where he mentions that part of his decision to refuse Yuu’s invitation to hang out, in addition to his convoluted admittance of his lack of social battery capacity, was because he felt that accepting her offer would almost insinuate that the time he spent with Umi was not enough for him and he didn’t want to give that impression to himself or her (Umi). It’s an apt demonstration of Maki’s tendency to unnecessarily overthink/complicate simple social interactions, while illustrating the earnest commitment he feels towards his new friend. Unfortunately, the anime adaptation not only changes the context with which this small bit of monologue happens in an attempt to truncate (and remix) events, but it also changes the entire meaning of what Maki said, making it sound like as if he felt his quality time alone with Umi was being insulted by Yuu offering the both of them to hang out with her group.
It’s like the anime tried to make it out to seem as if Maki took Yuu saying: “The more the merrier; it’s probably more fun to hang out in a bigger group,” as HER making the implication that he and his friend could be having a better time with them rather than on their own, hence the “talking down” part. It comes off as a bad faith way to read someone inviting you into their friend group, and I guess that cooooouuld be something a socially awkward person like Maki might do, but that’s not what he did in the manga, and him phrasing his monologue the way he does in said manga matters in a subtle way to the cohesion of the character writing. Now I’m not sure if this read of the anime’s version is due to a mistranslation on the subs part, which I wouldn’t put past the translation team given some of the localization liberties they’ve been taking with the dialogue, but it really could just be the fault of the adaptation’s script, especially since some shuffling, remixing, and condensing of material has been happening since the premiere.
PS. I absolutely rock with your mention of how Polar opposites handles the whole “hey, that guy seems ‘outta your league’, why would you date him?” trope. I think it also helps that while Suzuki is considered outgoing and attractive, she isn’t considered a slamming beauty of the school. She’s not a second or third rank beauty either: she’s just cute and that’s it!
I’ll take your own on the manga as I have no desire to currently read it.
Sometimes, I do ask myself if I’m being too harsh. But I’m really just shooting from the hip when I react about shows.
You’re only harsh sometimes lol But a lot of your reactions come from a sensible place so you’re good. Despite your write ups shooting from the hip, you’re usually capable of honing in on certain marks within a show’s writing intent.
Anyway, I won’t make comment discussions on this show devolve into: “In the manga…” type shit, though as more episodes accumulate further down the line, it would probably be worth pointing out other ways in which the manga better serves the story. For what it’s worth, I do appreciate this series not being overly puritanical about physical contact: Umi holds Maki’s hand and the two of them make a run for it and they don’t make a super big fuss about it. In the real world, sometimes your friend will grab your hand and that doesn’t have to mean anything or be this HUGE thing! it’s nice to see