When you try to work things out in your head, the negative thoughts can sometimes set in and overwhelm you. That’s why people keep themselves busy. The existential crisis can’t creep in if you’re too busy to even think! At the same time, however, your personal issues aren’t going to solve themselves, so it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Well, all Taira ever does is lock himself in his own mind and brood. He’s done it ever since he was first introduced. Luckily, he may have finally seen the light. After torturing himself and the audience all this time, our boy may have finally worked his shit out. Oh look, it’s already the twenty-third episode. Welp, better late than never, I suppose.

It was nice to see Taira finally come to the realization that he already has everything he’s ever wanted. And this wasn’t happenstance either. He’s surrounded by friends because they genuinely enjoy his company. Hell, Azuma wouldn’t be in love with him if he wasn’t a good person. Case in point, Sato’s advice to Azuma is to really consider if her crush (Taira) is even a good influence on her. Well, that’s easy: it’s absolutely undeniable that Taira has been an overall net positive for Azuma. He’s one of the main reasons why she doesn’t let people walk all over her anymore. She even admits that she never would’ve studied this hard if it weren’t for him. Most of all, he just keeps her company. That might seem really minor, but it’s the small things that make life worth living. So again, Taira never really had a good reason to be so negative about himself.

Still, it’s hard to say where we go from here. Great, Taira is now relaxed. He can finally appreciate his time with Azuma without constantly worrying about whether or not he deserves to be seen with her. But nothing here implies romance. Nothing here suggests that he even sees her as a potential love interest. I don’t doubt that Taira cares deeply about Azuma, but what that entails is anybody’s guess. So what’s the solution?

Well, Azuma is going to have to be bold and confess her feelings. She constantly asks herself if she could have what Suzuki has, but Suzuki didn’t sit back and let life come to her. If Azuma wants to be like her friend, she’s going to have to start acting more like her. But it doesn’t look like she will. She probably thinks she would scare Taira away if she confessed, and that’s a shame. We don’t exactly have a lot of time left either. The kids are graduating soon, and the series is literally coming to an end. This is it. It’s do or… well, not die. Rather, if Azuma doesn’t confess, we’ll just get one of those painfully annoying open-ended conclusions. But hey, that’s what fanfics are for, right? In a way, this is fitting. To balance out the other two couples, this pairing has to be bittersweet.

Stray thoughts & observations:

— Despite all the progress he’s made, it still must be exhausting to grow up with someone like Taira. Dude just can’t get out of his own head. I honestly sympathize with his sister.

— Tani keeps complaining about not being able to see the blackboard because Taira is too tall. How come neither of them has raised this issue with their teacher? These passive boys, man… I thought I was an introvert, but watching introverts in fiction, I feel like a party animal compared to them.

— People like to pair Nabe up with Sato, but hearing her thoughts, I definitely think she’s aromantic: “I see both girls and boys as just people.” Not everyone needs to be in a relationship. I don’t like forcing pairings based on nothing but our delusions. Hell, we even learn in this same episode that she and Nabe stopped walking home together on a regular basis. Does that sound like romance to you? Sure, it’s possible that Sato just hasn’t met her person. It’s also possible that a satellite could fall on my head. I’m not going to spend my days worrying about it, though.

— There’s also a tendency for people to ship the “leftovers,” and I also find that really offputting. It makes the world feel so small when every single character can’t help but date each other.

— These side characters are so generic, Lapin Track doesn’t even bother to draw them properly.

— The latter half has the kids having one big blow-out snack party before they finally graduate. Our boy Taira even proactively texts Azuma about it, allowing her and her friends to join in. I like to think he missed her presence, but who can really say? But other than that, there are no further developments in their relationship. They’re just happy to be near each other.

— It would’ve been cool if the series had more time to flesh out Honda as a person. Too bad she’s just kind of a quirky side character.

— As I watch the kids celebrate, I can’t help but have nothing to say. After all, I can’t really relate. My high school friend group was minuscule by comparison, and when we did hang out, we certainly wouldn’t have done it at school. My high school experience was neither positive nor negative. When I look back at it now, I see it as nothing more than just a step in my life. I honestly hardly ever think about my time in high school (mostly because I barely remember any of it). So as you can imagine, it definitely feels weird when most media treats high school as the end all and be all of life. It’s not just anime. Even Western shows can be obsessed with high school.