Taira stares at Yamada being happy, and Azuma stares at Taira. She’s always watching him. These two opposites need to start their romantic arc already. And maybe that’s why this week’s episode is almost all about them. But we have to start from the top. Azuma points out how she’s never seen Taira laugh out loud. This immediately triggers a painful memory of a classmate calling his laugh creepy. His sister also ragged on him. As a result, Taira’s been holding back his laugh ever since. Okay, the sister, I can understand. I know siblings can act like this with each other. But c’mon, this girl looks like she’s in elementary school. Were they really that mean back then? I normally wouldn’t doubt Taira’s personal experience, but he often assumes the worst. Nah, not often. He almost always assumes the worst. Memories are also notoriously unreliable. I don’t think I can confidently say that Taira’s recollection of past events is entirely accurate. Plus, this feels backwards. Basically, everyone was super mean to Taira until he got to high school, where everyone is suddenly super nice. Maybe I’m wrong, ’cause I haven’t been a kid in a long time, but shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Azuma can’t get Taira to boldly laugh out loud around her. He still tries to stifle it as much as possible. Nevertheless, she invites him to confide in her if he ever feels the need to unburden himself of past regrets and resentments. She even brings up how he changed her outlook (a callback to season one), so she’d be happy to do the same for him. But that really cuts to the heart of the matter, doesn’t it? Azuma’s problem was that she didn’t love and cherish herself enough, so she allowed others to walk all over her. And guess who doesn’t love himself? So as cool as it would be to see these two characters end up together, there’s no point if they still have issues, especially regarding their self-esteem, to work through. Yeah, Azuma’s in a better spot these days, but it still might be too early for her to jump headfirst into a relationship.
Immediately, Taira starts catastrophizing again. Azuma literally just told him to pour his heart out to her, but as soon she dozes off, he starts stewing in his own negativity, telling himself that he merely lucked out with his current friend group. It’s like he can’t wait to self-flagellate; picking his scabs and wounds has become a paradoxically comforting yet destructive habit. Taira insists that he hasn’t changed whatsoever. Dude, not with that attitude. Ultimately, this boy needs a real professional to talk to, but this is anime so he’ll just have to make do with his classmate. The one solace is that spending time with Azuma makes him forget all those dark thoughts. As soon as she wakes up from her nap, Taira can’t even remember what he was even thinking about. So it’s tricky. I mean… untangling Taira’s bullshit shouldn’t be Azuma’s cross to bear. And yet, maybe what Taira needs to do is just spend more time with her. Guys like Taira will never take the first step, though. The ball is firmly in Azuma’s court. Hell, it’s gonna be in her court for a long, long time.
As such, when Azuma reflects on how their second year has come to an end, which means that the end of high school is also fast approaching, she impulsively invites Taira to grab a bite to eat. Yep, their only chance as a couple is for her to forcefully drag him out of his shell. Otherwise, that boy will let his negative thoughts consume him. He can’t be alone or he goes back to his old way of thinking. But is this really progress? Or are we just papering over the cracks? Until Taira works on himself, maybe this is all just a distraction. For him, anyway. For Azuma, certain feelings are starting to coalesce. At the very least, she’s certain that she doesn’t want to Taira to disappear from her life. It’s easy to get wrapped up in Taira’s nonsense, because he has so much of it. But this is Azuma’s story, too. And whether or not Taira ever returns her feelings — if he even can return her feelings — it really doesn’t matter. There’s a scene in the movie Adaptation that completely changed how I look at love and the ability to love:
Charlie Kaufman: How come you looked so happy?
Donald Kaufman: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn’t have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.
Charlie Kaufman: But she thought you were pathetic.
Donald Kaufman: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That’s what I decided a long time ago.
Azuma may or may not fall in love with Taira (though I’ve read the manga so I already know the obvious answer). And he may or may not love her back. But the act of falling in love — genuinely having giddy feelings whenever you think of someone — is a treasure in itself. It’s worth cheering Azuma on even if she and Taira aren’t meant to be.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— The girlies are so happy for Nishi and Yamada. They just love a good love story.
— The Prince Shotoku that Yamada is referring to here was someone who could listen to a bunch of people talk at once. In fact, four would be rookie numbers. Legend says he could go up to ten.
— When Taira finally learns who Yamada’s girlfriend is, he realizes that Honda and Nishi were never laughing at him (all the way back in season one). And why would they? Not every single person you meet is a jerk. I know what it’s like to be insecure and self-conscious, but people like Taira need to hammer this into their heads: “You’re not the main character in other people’s lives. Unless you’re literally discovering the cure to cancer, you’re just not that important.” Best to learn this now when he’s still young.
— Hey, at least she doesn’t find Taira’s laugh creepy.
— The third years have graduated, so all the extroverts are taking a pic with them. But we’ve never met these characters, so none of this really means anything to us.
— Ah, the two dummies of the group. In the end, however, Yamada’s just happy he didn’t get held back. Man, Nishi seems smart. We at least know she can get her summer homework done on time. They’re going to end up at different colleges at this rate.
— Oh, it’s White Day already. They certainly don’t make a big deal out of it like Valentine’s Day. In theory, both holidays should be on the same level, but somehow, we just never expect much from guys. I think that’s a shame. Case in point, Tani got these super high-effort, fancy cookies from Suzuki, but she only gets this bear in return. He doesn’t even know if the candy that comes with the bear is any good. Bro. I’m just sayin’, he could’ve tried to add something with a personal touch (e.g. a handwritten note). Granted, the mangaka sure has a thing for derpy-looking mascots if her two shows are a sufficient enough sample size.
— Meanwhile, I can’t really tell what Yamada got for Nishi.
— Last but not least, Taira got Azuma an assortment of candies and snacks? Well, she did only give him a piece of gum.
— Time is certainly flying by. When I was reading through this part of the manga, I felt like the mangaka was slowly running out of ideas. She clearly didn’t want to create unnecessary drama to put their characters through their paces. But she didn’t have an endless supply of happy moments either. It’s a shame that the series ended up being so short, but happy people often don’t have much of a story to tell. Every day is just contentful.
— Despite Suzuki’s best efforts, she can’t seem to convince Nabe that bad boys are appealing. Actually, does Nabe even have a single romantic bone in her body? I feel like she and Sato are incredibly neutral. They don’t even think about dating.
— Bold words that Taira easily could’ve taken the wrong way.
