Normally with series reviews posts there’s a strong bittersweet feeling that goes along with them, but that’s not really the case with Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san.  It’s not that I don’t like it – this has been an excellent adaptation on the whole (in spite of Kaji Yuuki), and it’s a manga that I have a lot of affection for to begin with.  No, it’s just that this doesn’t feel remotely final – I predicted at least an OVA in last week’s post, and that’s already been announced.  But I’ll be very surprised if we don’t get a full sequel at some point – the manga is a powerhouse and a full franchise, Stalker thinks the anime will do quite well, and there are some obvious “canon” manga chapters that were left on the table.

We’ll see about that in time of course, but my mindset here is that this is a season finale post, and that’s very much what this episode felt like.  I think these chapters were good choices to end with, because they fill in some important gaps in Nishikata and Takagi’s storyline and definitively close the loop on just what sort of relationship these kids are in (not that any reasonable person could have doubted it).  In order to show us how far these two have come, the anime showed us where they started – which was a pretty shrewd way to close the season and whet the appetite for a second.

We start out with letters – which touches on the peculiarly middle-school phenomenon of odd fads sweeping through the classroom like a bad cold.  In this case it’s letter-writing, and Takagi-san being who she is she can’t pass this up as an opportunity to troll Nishikata-kun.  At first flush this may seem like a fairly standard setup, but make no mistake as to what the real point of this is – it’s Nishikata’s tortured rumination once he finds out it was Takagi-san that wrote him the letter in his book.  And of course, it’s the fact that this was the whole reason why Takagi wrote it in the first place – she’s a scientist of a sort, after all.

Next the ante is upped with a flashback chapter, to the first day of school.  This one is interesting, and I think can be taken a couple of different ways.  We discover that Nishikata was a transfer student, who began junior high not knowing anyone in his new school.  To make matters worse he’s late on his first day – and it’s thanks to Takagi-san, whose handkerchief he’s found and returned to the teacher’s room at the cost of his own timeliness.  Tardiness is generally a much bigger deal in Japan than the West, and first impressions mean everything when it comes to school – it’s a bad way to start for Nishikata-kun.

Considering that he took a bullet for her before they even met, could it be said that Takagi-san has a poor way of showing her gratitude to Nishikata-kun?  I could see that, sure – and there’s no doubt that her mean streak gives Karakai Jouzu a definite edge at all times.  Even though they’ve clearly developed feelings for each other Takagi has caused Nishikata an awful lot of grief over this past year – more than she can explain away by simply having a crush on him.  He’s not so bad off, but Nishokata still deserves better.

That hanky, however, has played a very big role in this relationship.  It found its way back into prominence when Nishikata hurt his leg trying to protect Takagi of course, and she loaned it to him to act as a bandage.  He thoroughly washed it but never returned it – which he discovers to his dismay when he re-injures his leg and remembers the handkerchief is still in his drawer.  He’s determined to return it to her properly, but the news comes that the seating arrangements are going to be changed – and that looks like it means a separation for our little lovebirds.

Again, eyes on the prize here – gags aside, the real point is that Nishikata-kun is dismayed at the prospect of not sitting next to Takagi-san.  And that’s taking into account that he won’t have to deal with her constant teasing for at least a few hours and might even have a chance to regroup in his studies.  Confronted with an unexpected development like this, there’s no way for Nishikata to deny his feelings – he’s a goner.  After an event like this, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where either of these two can realistically pretend they aren’t a couple – everyone around them knew it, anyway.

He doesn’t get the pleasure of knowing it (again) but Nishikata definitely scores his second win in two episodes here.  Takagi’s reaction to the little note he stuck in the hanky was priceless – she’s every bit as much a goner as Nishoikata is, and maybe more so.  If he were a little more savvy (and experienced) Nishikata-kun would see that he has real leverage in this relationship – but of course he’s not, and the main difference between he and Takagi isn’t how they feel about each other, but in how good of a poker face each of them has.

There’s a lot more I could say about all that, but it’s really contingent on having read the manga (and not just this one, the associated spinoffs too) so I’ll leave it there.  There’s definitely a future there for Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, both in manga and anime form, and it’s clear why that is – this is about as well as this particular premise has been executed in any series.  I think Shin-Ei did a fine job here, just as they did with Tonari no Seki-kun, in taking a manga not intuitively suited to a linear adaptation and making it work in anime format.  Whether this year or next, when the sequel comes I’ll certainly be watching.