Utage’s new teacher Asuka is also a F/ACE superfan. In fact, she likes the yellow one. I didn’t think this would be something to shake on, but… here we are. I guess this is what it’s like when superfans meet in the wild. So to pile coincidences on top of coincidences, Utage immediately bumps into Natsuki at a store. Small world, blah blah blah. Anyway, on camera, Natsuki is… very over-the-top cheerful, so knowing how they tend to write characters on this show, he’s probably the opposite of that in reality.

Ori thinks Tamon and Utage kissed on the beach that day, and he’s been obsessively replaying the scene over and over in his head. By the end of this week’s episode, he will admit to himself that he’s in love with Utage. But why? Literally why? What does he even know about her other than that she’s crazy about Tamon? Oh, she tells him to be his pure and sincere self? That’s enough to be in love with someone? C’mon, get out of here. I’m not convinced. I’m simply not. Ori was right the first time: “I thought I only wanted to get her to look my way because of my pride…” He has his own fans — a veritable sea of them — but he wants what he can’t have. He’s just another petulant child.

I looked back over my notes only to realize I don’t have a central theme to hone in on. So… I’ll just cover this episode as a series of bullet points.

Being the number one card-carrying member of the Church of Tamon, Utage wholeheartedly believes that her oshi belongs to everyone. One of their precepts is that Tamon should never, ever direct his love and affection to one person and one person alone. As a result, she now wants to be professional and maintain boundaries between her and her oshi. Sure, sure. But a teeny, tiny part of her still desires Tamon for herself, and this is enough to trigger a crash-out. I’m torn too. I’m torn between “Girl, it’s just a popstar” and “This guy is weird and manipulative, so you should stay away from him.” In the end, however, it’s too late for Utage to back out. Well, no, she can always back out. But that would require her to switch off her fandom.

I’ve been griping about how this anime doesn’t really feel like a romance. After all, not only does Utage worship Tamon like a god, she only sees herself as one of his millions of girlfriends. She loves him in that distant, platonic way, not the “I want to go on dates and snuggle with you” way. Or to put it more simply, she loves him, but she’s not in love with him. But what does Tamon want? Unfortunately, this is a Pandora’s box we might not want to open. Ever since Tamon misunderstood Utage’s encounter with Ori, he’s been off his rocker. When Utage takes her weird-looking dog on a walk one day, the “criatura” somehow leads her straight to Tamon’s apartment. It has great timing too, because when the girl looks up, she sees Tamon about to jump from a building. Yep, it’s that serious. We’re actually talking suicide.