Ah yes, nothing like a huge dose of drama right before the weekend (I’m countin’ Friday, dammit).

Miki used to be a lot more assertive in middle school. She used to speak her mind a lot more. But I’m often told that in Japan, you don’t want to be the nail that sticks out. Doing so only invites trouble. It’s really unfortunate that Miki feels as though she needs to change her personality — that she needs to conform. Yeah, she now gets to make new friends, but are these meaningful relationships? They were initially drawn to her because… why? She was pretty? Bro, I’ve never wanted to become friends with someone for their looks. From my perspective, this is such a weird thing to say to someone you’ve never talked to. Miki even admits that she has little in common with her classmates, so what is she getting out of this? The appearance of being friendly? Does that make you happy?

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?

Right off the bat, the opening hits us with bits and pieces of the relationship drama surrounding Koyuki and that Igarashi kid (dunno if we’ve been given his first name). Miki thinks she might be at fault for the whole mess, but eh… one, there was no real need for Koyuki to take Miki’s words so seriously. Two, it happened in middle school. Just move on. Put it aside, stop thinking about it, and move on with the rest of your life. It literally doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. By the time you’re in college, you probably won’t even remember any of this stuff. I know adults sound dismissive when they say this sort of thing to kids, but ugh… some things deserve to be dismissed. Trying to parse a middle school breakup from years ago is one of those things.