Natsuki’s do-over life hits a snag when Tatsuya suddenly slams his hands down on the table during a hangout one day and storms off. Natsuki goes after the guy, asking Tatsuya to tell him what’s wrong. But Tatsuya can only reply that he feels pathetic and wants to be alone right now. H-how can this be? This second life was supposed to be perfect. Well, even in last week’s episode, you could already see storm clouds brewin’. I questioned the need to have Natsuki thoroughly beat Tatsuya in a pick-up basketball game. Is it silly to have a fallout over this? Sure, but these are moody teenagers. And for a guy who is officially on the basketball team to lose to Natsuki, it’s kinda insulting. But the MC has abs tho!
Natsuki is either greedy or oblivious. Sure, he likes Hikari and looks like a complete idiot whenever she so much as smiles at him. You can sorta accept that. But even when Uta gets a little too close for comfort, Natsuki still gets lovestruck! Focus, man, focus! I thought you were only gunning for one underaged girl! Now you want both of them? When does it stop! Well, people aren’t blind. People can see exactly what is unfolding right in front of them. The only person who doesn’t seem to realize that Uta is developing a crush on Natsuki is Natsuki. The only person who doesn’t seem to notice that Tatsuya likes Uta is, again, Natsuki. And it’s not like he wasn’t warned ahead of time. His own childhood friend tells him that Uta talks about him all the time. Tatsuya told Natsuki and Uta to get a room. Even Hikari chimed in to tell Natsuki that Tatsuya seems down lately. How much more oblivious can you get?
After Reita spells everything out to Natsuki, he acts all shocked and surprised. B-b-but how? I looked up to Tatsuya! I wanted to be Tatsuya! Which, again, flies in the face of evidence. It bothered me how he would talk about their relationship in the past versus how he’s acting now. Tatsuya always stood up for me! He always defended me! So you would think the second time around, Natsuki would show a little more gratitude to the only person who was nice to him. ‘Cause I mean, where was Hikari back then? She probably didn’t do anything outright mean to the old Natsuki, but she certainly didn’t give him the time of day! Uta wasn’t even in the picture! Meanwhile, Tatsuya was a bro until he, too, hit his limit, but Natsuki doesn’t pay him a lick of attention this time around! Except to beat him at his chosen sport, of course. “I wanted to be friends with someone like him,” my ass.
Reita tries to assure Natsuki that the latter hasn’t done anything wrong. I dunno about that. Does the main character owe Tatsuya anything? I actually think he does. How much worse would his first go-around in life have been if Tatsuya wasn’t around? I’m not saying he needs to go play matchmaker and fix Tatsuya up with Uta. I’m just saying, there’s more to life than girls, but it sure seems like our middle-aged-man-turned-teenager is only focused on impressing the ladies this time around. He even admits to himself that he’s still bad at understanding people. So of course, we have to ask ourselves what, if anything, has changed?
Does it not bother Natsuki that the only real things that have changed about him are his looks? His personality isn’t drastically different. He didn’t gain a whole new one. He’s the same guy he’s always been. Just not fat. When you read personal accounts from people who have lost a lot of weight, they are dismayed over the fact that everyone is now nicer to them. It really, really bothers a lot of folks to their core to realize that looks do matter.
Where does Natsuki go from here? Maybe don’t act like a typical anime harem lead. Don’t just pay attention to the girls and the girls only. Show a bit of gratitude to the guy who tried to help you the first time around. Just be… a good friend.
