We finally get a proper introduction to Nishi, and she’s personally pretty relatable. It’s not that you ever want to eavesdrop on the conversations around you, but we have ears. Even when you try to distract yourself, you can’t hear but hear things with those same ears. Luckily, her chatty classmates don’t seem to mind. They even try to loop her in, but she just can’t keep up with their tempo. In any other show, there would probably be a side plot where Nishi gets bullied by the popular kids, thereby forcing one of Suzuki’s friends to step in and save her, blah blah blah… then bam, romance. I’m just glad this isn’t that type of show. I’m not trying to deny that bullying exists, but from a storytelling perspective, I’m just so tired of it.

It’s almost time for the local summer festival, but that also means it’s almost time for term exams. Naturally, Yamada gets the bright idea to coordinate a study session. It’s just funny how Tani rejects him with nothing more than a simple “no.” He doesn’t elaborate further. People usually do, because they want to be liked; they don’t want their friends to misunderstand them. After all, Yamada assumes Tani isn’t worried about the upcoming exams. Meanwhile, Sato is a little more cynical: “More like Tani-kun doesn’t see any merit in studying with us.” Only Suzuki knows the real answer, because she understands him.

It has been pretty Suzuki/Tani-centric thus far, and for good reason: this is their love story, after all. But this week’s episode finally shares the spotlight with a couple of side characters, specifically the aptly named TairAzuma duo. Suzuki is the one who gives them this moniker, so perhaps this is a harbinger of things to come: a girl who keeps stumbling into bad relationship, and a guy who overthinks his relationships — what a pairing they would be.

Now that Tani is dating Suzuki, he’ll find himself gradually integrated into her loud and boisterous friend group. Yamada is only the first of many. But it is a little strange that he doesn’t have his own friends to introduce to her in return. Like who has he been hanging out with all these years? Nobody? Nobody at all? Has he been a loner this entire time? Sadly, this does seem to be the case.

On paper, this is just another nerd x gyaru love story. It shouldn’t be anything special, and it arguably isn’t. But as I’ve said elsewhere, I’ve read and enjoyed the manga series mostly because 1) the gyaru makes silly faces and 2) the couple gets together in the first episode. And thank god for that. It turns out you don’t have to read over a hundred chapters before two people officially date. Nor do you have to abruptly end the story when it happens either. I get the appeal of the former, I do. People like to see a relationship slowly develop from the word “hello.” But boy, does the latter piss me off. But I digress. We’re talking about You and I Are Polar Opposites, which is low stakes, fluffy fun. It’s cotton candy. I enjoy it once in a while, but it’s not something I indulge in every day, every week, or even every month. For this cold winter season, however, I’ll let this bright, saccharinely sweet series take over.