Well, Giraffe Guy’s younger siblings — blood-related or not — seem to love him, and that’s always a good sign. Personality-wise, however, he’s still kind of a blank slate. But this is the episode where we finally start to learn more about him and understand what makes him tick. He won’t just be the tall, nice guy in Koyuki’s small friend circle. He’ll finally have real depth. Having said that, I am already bracing myself for the angst: “I have to stop the noise, or it consumes me.” Yeah, that’s a little dramatic. Sure, I get it. He lost his mom at a young age. That would mess anyone up. But is there a single character on this show who doesn’t have major baggage?
One of the key problems I have with a lot of dramas is how they can often feel emotionally monotonous. Everyone has issues. That’s undeniable. I’ve got problems, the people reading this post have problems, we’ve all got problems. From a storytelling standpoint, however, it’s exhausting when you daisy-chain these heavy moments from the first episode to the last. Okay, I’m going to go first and trauma dump on the audience! Cool, now it’s your turn to trauma dump on them! Then you go, then you go… so on and so forth. To put it another way, I just want a little more balance. I want a good mix of joy and drama, not just drama.
The story immediately cuts to Koyuki and she’s brooding over what she’s learned about Giraffe Guy. Right after the OP, Koyuki starts reflecting on her parents’ divorce! This then segues into how she never felt as though she fit in at school. Bro, it doesn’t let up. It never lets up! Some of the conflicts feel so basic, too. Her peers were simply making fun of her for her water bottle. If You and I Are Polar Opposites was too monotonously happy, I think The Ramparts of Ice has gone a little too far in the other direction.
Still, after thinking it over, Koyuki finally accepts that it’s okay to lend an ear should Giraffe Guy need it. She puts herself out there first by opening up about her parents being divorced. As a result, Giraffe Guy finally spills his guts. For some reason, I thought Giraffe Guy had lost both his parents, but it was just his mom. His problem is that he doesn’t feel like he fits in with his father’s new family. It always feels callous when parents do this, huh? They just go and remarry, leaving you to wonder if they even cared about their old family to begin with. But we don’t really know. Maybe his father was also struggling with the death of his wife, and he felt like his only choice was to get out there and find someone else. Or maybe he didn’t think he could raise his son on his own. I’m not saying he’s right to do any of this. Personally, if I lost my partner, I would never date again. All I’m saying, however, is that we just don’t know. We’re only getting this from Giraffe Guy’s perspective. We have no clue with his father might have been or still is struggling with.
But hey, unrelenting melodrama aside, it’s good that Giraffe Guy has someone he can open up to. In fact, he might be opening up too much. Outta nowhere, he confesses that he’s in love with Miki. Okay, how did we go from “I sometimes hate myself because I feel like I don’t fit in with my blended family” to talking about high school crushes? Still, I always knew that the whole Koyuki x Giraffe Guy pairing was a red herring. Minato is twisting himself into knots over nothing (not that I’m rooting for the guy). Girls and guys can be just friends. Girls and guys can hang out without any strings attached, and I never once felt like Koyuki and Giraffe Guy had any romantic chemistry. People really need to stop thinking like shippers where every little interaction means “OH THEY FUCKIN’.” Not only is it immature, it’s also such an unhealthy way to approach relationships.
Koyuki suddenly realizes that Giraffe Guy constantly spills his spaghetti around Miki. To be honest, I never noticed it either so shrug. Her next thought is that she’s happy for Miki, and her reasoning is pretty heartwarming: someone actually likes Miki for who she is and not the school idol persona she projects around their classmates. Unfortunately, Koyuki still labors under the assumption that Miki has feelings for Minato. So when the group meets up again at school, Koyuki tries to give Giraffe Guy an opportunity to talk to Miki alone. She does this by striking up a conversation with Minato on the side. But Miki still ships Koyuki and Giraffe Guy just because they grabbed a burger together — it’s so fucking stupid, I know — so she thinks she’s getting in the way. As a result, Miki barges into Minato just to interrupt that conversation. But I bet this will only convince Koyuki even more that Miki has a thing for Minato. God, what a mess.
Miki seems so proud of herself, too. Didn’t she mention in another episode that she shouldn’t have talked Koyuki into dating that Igarashi guy? So maybe she should hold her horses. On the other hand, Minato already thinks Koyuki and Giraffe Guy are a thing. Even though there’s no real love triangle or polygon in this show, it still feels like there is one.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— Yeah… yeah, seeing this, I definitely never want kids of my own.
— Even though my parents also split when I was a kid, I can’t really relate to Koyuki. My biological father was a loser, so I didn’t really care when he left. Womp womp.
— “…being with others was when I felt most alone.” I can relate to that, though. There’s nothing more isolating than being at party or any large group event, and nobody even bothers to talk to you. They don’t even have to bully you. They just have to do their own thing, which forces you to realize you have no true connection with anybody there.
— The step-mom is really trying. I guess I just read too many evil stepmom stories on Reddit, but this lady seems really nice. You can never truly replace your actual mother, but there’s no reason why you can’t forge a similar but different relationship with your step-mother.
— A trio of girls are surprised to see Miki act so giddy around Minato and Giraffe Guy. So? I mean, really, so what? Why do people care about this shit? If I saw a friend acting differently with other people, I would just leave it at that: “Oh, that’s how they are. Cool.” Worry about your own life.
