I have a funny sort of relationship with Just Because. It’s a sneaky show, a tortoise and not a hare – one of those anime which invariably finds me enjoying the second half of episodes more than the first. There are shows which suffer from trying too hard, but his one is the diametric opposite of that – yet it never suffers from not trying hard enough. The way Just Because drifts naturally from moment to moment without forcing the issue is quietly brilliant, and it’s one of many things about it that stamp Kobayashi Atsushi as a director to be watched.
Though it’s an original anime and Kobayashi-sensei is not the series composer and creator (that would be Kamoshida Hajime), his fingerprints are all over this series. While not lavishly budgeted, it’s exceptionally good at faces – and the director clearly understands their importance and makes sure they’re rendered with care. And Kobayashi is not afraid to linger on those faces in silence, let them speak in the absence of dialogue. These are children who’ve not yet mastered the art of hiding their true feelings, and their emotions show through clearly even when they struggle deeply with verbal communication.
I’ve been down this road before, but I believe the romance here is secondary – and even in an episode superficially laser-focused on it like this one, I think that shines through. Haruto silently musing on why people go to college, Mio wondering why she’s so uncertain what she wants after pushing herself so hard chasing what she thought she wanted, Hazuki changing her hairstyle in an attempt to reboot her life – they’re all uncertain, all a little lost. This, to me, is the real story of Just Because – the feeling of being lost when we realize that everything we obsessed over in youth was merely a transitional part of our lives. That’s a scary thing, and if these kids knew that the certainly they’re looking for almost never comes no matter how old you get, they’d surely find it even more terrifying.
Thus, my feelings about the romance here are more a sense of general empathy for what this quintet is going through than any specific desire to see any of them end up together. More than anyone, this episode focused on Mio (who seems to have become the de facto audience punching bag, unfairly in my view). Hazuki really does Mio a favor by asking her outright if she has feelings for Haruto – because it’s the push Mio needs to say out loud when she already knows in her heart. If her feelings for Soma-kun were as deep and real as she thought they were, she wouldn’t have sat on them for six years – she’d have acted. That doesn’t mean those feelings weren’t valid, but they’re not real in the deepest sense of the word. They’re a childish obsession, of which this cast has many.
So are either the Mio-Eita or Hazuki-Haruto relationships real in a way that one isn’t? I would argue “yes and no” – because while we’re still children when we’re 17 or 18 years old, we’re more serious beings than we are as middle-schoolers. If I’m honest, I think what Haruto feels for Hazuki and what Mio feels for Eita are largely borne out of a desire to get a bite of the apple of adolescence before it’s too late – to give true love a chance before life intervenes, and to experience a high school romance. Perhaps the most interesting question here is whether or not Eita would have come clean with Mio had he not moved away – to do what she never did with Haruto. I think the answer to how “real” Eita’s feelings are is largely tied up in how you answer that question.
So how does Komiya fit into all this? Well, she doesn’t as far as I’m concerned – though I do think Eita is legitimately her first crush, and she’s helped him move forward as a person able to communicate his feelings to others. The problem with communication still runs deep, though – these kids struggle with saying what they really mean to each other (as most of us did). And in the case of Eita and Mio that’s a pretty big problem indeed, since despite sharing the same feelings neither has come clean with the other. And now Mio has decided to change her first-choice university (to “Joei“, in truth Tokyo’s iconic Toei University), unaware that Eita is trying to follow her to what used to be her target school – because, of course, he’s never told her that. It should make me want to strangle the both of them, but in truth I just want to give them a hug – because while getting older doesn’t make being open with others any easier, it does give you an understanding of just how damn hard it really is.
justfun
December 8, 2017 at 3:07 amThanks for the interesting post! While I’m also more interested in the characters coping with a time of transition than with one shipping or another, without your article I wouldn’t have connected this theme to Mio’s childhood crush on Haruto.
But I think it’s too early also to dismiss the other character’s romances as childish infatuation. Things like Haruto’s confession after the pitching game could also be interpreted as coming clean with past grievances and moving on in life. And relationships can change: While they may begin out of a whim, the persons involved could develop serious feelings on the way. In your post you implicitly raise the question what adult, serious, or “real” love is – but I doubt the show wants to go that far.
I am me
December 8, 2017 at 12:20 pmRather obvious but I think Komiya will be the one to tell Eita about Mio’s change of plans and that will be the end of her crush and probably character arc.
One thing I think anime fandoms forget about it is that reality is not 12 eps long and about one particularly story. Most of us go through plenty of relationships, crushes and loves which in reality is healthy because experiencing many things and people is what helps us realized what we really want and who we want to be with. Unfortunately as anime is so stuck on endlessly showing the race to start the first relationship or fulfill a first love, I think in all honesty that many anime fans (especially the ones who fire up the twitterverse) don’t really understand that people’s feelings change about who they love, in a relationship or not. IMO there is an unhealthy obsession, particularly for guys, that the opposite sex should love the same person forever and wait till they shows interest, that making choices away from what you initially liked is blasphemous.
I know the Mio bashing is more due to the fact that she’s vaginablocking Komiya, who in anime and outside, is probably obsessed about because she’s straightforward, honest and most importantly takes the initiative (very important for lazy asses who can’t). Komiya is sticking to the plan for most of anime fandom, she’s found someone she likes and she’s trying to make things happen, whether she believes it’ll work or not. But Mio isn’t. She’s moved beyond that first childish crush and realized that there will always be more options, in love or school and indeed in careers. She isn’t afraid of making choices and changes to better her life. And that probably scares a lot of anime fans, the reality that ‘I love you’ doesn’t mean ‘I love you forever’.
Maybe I’m just babbling but when I hear about the Mio bashing, I do feel there is a deeply unhealthy obsession with first love ideals in most anime fans. Then again, I could be totally wrong, who knows.
Guardian Enzo
December 8, 2017 at 12:57 pmI don’t think you’re totally wrong…
karma
December 8, 2017 at 10:55 pmI still think that this whole “Mio bashing” is a strawman. Probably worst thing I have read about Mio is that it’s hard to root for her with her moody, wishy-washy attitude. Now we know there is more to her, but that was not the case few episodes ago. Similarly Komiya starts as a pushy, selfish girl, but we could see that Eita had a good time during their date (so she doesn’t always make everything about her), and she has those small moments like shouting “This day sucks!”, but still smiling. Long story short – I don’t think that liking Komiya is making somebody worthless as a male. It’s even possible some viewers prefer her just for being underdog.
If you really want to play this game, we could say that Mio-Eita ship is about being obsessed with your first love, pining for many years (even after losing contact) and (probably) winning heart of your dream girl by just being “a nice guy”, whereas Komiya story arc is (probably, I haven’t read novel nor any spoilers) about dealing with a heartbreak, seeing that there is more to life than love, and moving on. Mio is a safe option for herbivore males, because they can “be in love” for many years, and do nothing. Komiya is too much for them, considering that she’d pressure them to choose, and stop being sad sacks.
I could go on, but the viewers probably agree that both lines of reasoning grossly oversimplify things, just because this anime is much more subtle.
Guardian Enzo
December 8, 2017 at 11:05 pmI don’t think the Mio bashing is a straw man at all, given that probably 80% of comments I see on public forums about this series find time to do so specifically. I don’t disagree that there’s a lot of oversimplification on all sides when it comes to stories like Just Because (as I said, I don’t think the romance is really the point here to begin with), but I also don’t accept a false equivalency in the way commenters treat Mio and Komiya. We already see way too much false equivalency in public (and private) discourse in American these days generally.
Fall 2017 rules
December 9, 2017 at 6:33 amTell us about your high school romance experiences, Enzo. Was it a beautiful and dramatic saga like Just Because is? :3
Guardian Enzo
December 9, 2017 at 8:39 amThe romance in this show doesn’t seem all that beautiful to me – more like realistically awkward, uncomfortable and frustrating.
Dein
December 9, 2017 at 10:35 amWhich is another point towards JB not being a romance-focused anime. Seems to me that shows often tend to do better on certain topics if said topics are not the center stage of the narrative. Maybe because they don’t feel the need to shoot for mass appeal if it’s not the shows bigger selling point. Kinda reminds me of that idol show from a few years back (can’t remember the name since I never really finished it) where they managed to weave some rather sobering commentary on the industry every now and again, while that clearly wasn’t the shows main objective.
Fall 2017 rules
December 9, 2017 at 6:19 pmQuestion dodging! >.<
Guardian Enzo
December 9, 2017 at 6:43 pmOK. No, and yes.