Ah, 7th-grade – that tumultuous, atrocious time of bewildering change and omnipresent fear of embarrassment and breathless possibility.  It’s no wonder you don’t see manga and anime (especially the latter) try and tackle it all that often, because it can be hard for fantasy to live up to the sheer spectacle of the reality (indeed, high school as a subject is a lot safer and more predictable).  But whatever else you may think about it, Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san unabashedly tackles the subject head-on.

This episode is all about rites-of-passage (even more so than most eps of this series are), starting with the first cell phone.  In Japan middle school seems very much the time when many parents decide to bite the bullet, seeing the benefits for safety (and tracking) outweighing the potential drawbacks.  But for the kids, that first cell phone is much more about social growth and experimentation, and sheer fun – texting late at night, exchanging videos, snapping silly pictures.  And, of course, LINE…

Perhaps the most important subsidiary rite within-a-rite when it comes to cell phones would be the dreaded exchange of email addresses.  Nishikata-kun has, typically, not thought this through – in his mind a phone is a powerful weapon to remotely tease Takagi-san (perhaps he thinks that he’ll have the advantage if she’s not physically present to rattle him), but hasn’t considered the sheer terror of the act of asking itself.  A boy in 7th-grade asking a girl for her address is a big matzoh ball, no matter the circumstances – and let’s not pretend those circumstances aren’t riddled with subtext here anyway.

After a brief interval with the Doyoubi trio (a cell phone bill is indeed the ultimate horror for a middle-school girl) Nishikata shows us that remembering and learning are not necessarily the same thing.  Takagi-san basically pulls the same trick here that she did with the tandem bike practice, conning Nishikata into being jealous (because, she can) over an interaction that’s actually with a relative.  Father, cousin, same difference – Nishikata is still the same fish on a hook the way he was the first time.  Then we have the classic “you hang up first” routine – that one doesn’t need a whole lot of interpretation, does it?

Finally, photos – another precious cell phone ritual for teens.  Obviously Takagi is not just going to let Nishikata-kun use her visage as a way to win a contest with his goofball buddies, but as the last chapters of an episode often do, this one piles on the romance flags.  Of course Takagi-san is embarrassed by the photo Nishikata takes, even if its a flattering one – that photo is for him.  And of course he’s not going to delete it, and no, his attempts to convince himself it’s because it might be useful for blackmail later aren’t remotely convincing.  Nishikata-kun may have thought a phone would be a ticket to freedom, but in reality, it’s just another bolt on the door sealing his fate – though it may not be such a terrible fate, in the end…