This episode of Yesterday o Utatte was rather an intentional mess, because of course life is a mess much of the time. For most of us, anyway. This show and Nami yo Kiite Kure continue to provide an interesting contrast in the way they approach relationships – there are great differences in tone and theme, but they’re both smartly written and really a breath of fresh air in an ever-more homogeneous anime landscape. Unfortunately for Yesterday, because of its superficial resemblance to more formulaic anime it suffers from a lot of misplaced criticism from viewers expecting it to be something it’s not. Nami is pretty much free of that (though the catch is, hardly anyone seems to be watching it).
If I was to capture this week’s episode in a single theme, it would be “what do we owe each other?”. Because the relationships in this series are non-linear in every sense, it’s not an easy question to answer. Rikuo is indeed a “nice guy” as Huzuhara Chika (Kitamura Eri) says about him. About herself Chika says she has a hard time saying no to anyone who says they like her (while we have to take her word for it, there’s no specific reason to doubt her). That clearly gets them both in trouble in life – and indeed, with each other.
Chika didn’t start off on a good foot with me, especially when it seemed she was asking a guy she barely knew to crash at his apartment. The knowledge that she and Rikuo had dated for four months made that a little more understandable, but it’s still a hell of a lot of nerve. This was a very calculating move on her part – she knew Rikuo was the sort of guy who lets himself be pushed around. But you know, I ended up liking Chika quite a lot. Her honesty was refreshing (if hard-won), and by the end of the episode it seemed to me that she was a better match for Rikuo than either of the two women who are fixtures in his life.
Even before Huzuhara-san’s appearance the question of personal responsibility was already on the front burner. Is Shinako-san being unfair to Rikuo by remaining friends with him, knowing he’s in love with her? That’s a very, very hard question to answer. Of course he could always cut her off whenever he decided to – but she knows he loves her, and that would be very hard for him. She knows he’s good for her, in the larger sense – he makes her feel safe, and appreciated. He’s non-threatening and yes, a nice guy. But I don’t think it can be denied that by stringing their friendship along, she keeps the flame of his false hope flickering. If it is indeed a false hope…
I do know this – neither Shinako nor Haru (I thought we might be getting a much-needed breather from her for a week, but it was not to be) have any right of expectations over Rikuo. Haru has no right to expect him to reciprocate her feelings – he’s entitled to be attracted to whoever his heart tells him to, and he’s done nothing to encourage her. And Shinako-san has (to her credit) flat-out rejected Rikuo in unmistakable fashion – she should have no grievance over his moving on (though he actually hasn’t of course). If they want to be upset about it that’s certainly valid, but as regards the pesky matter of what we owe each other, they ought to keep that to themselves rather than dump it (or milk crates) on him.
One thing I think we can say for certain – based on the way Rikuo reacted when he learned that Haru and Shinako had come to his apartment while he was in anime-cold mode, his feelings are clear – and unchanged. His heart belongs to Shinako, not Haru. The latter’s violent reaction just cements the idea that she can veer disquietingly close to stalker mode. As for Shinako, one could I suppose argue that Rikuo is stringing her along as much as she him – but the difference is, she’s the one who pushed for them to remain friends. He made it clear from the beginning that it would be very difficult for him, but she keeps drawing him in – and he’s done nothing to try and force the issue farther than she’s comfortable.
If there’s any progress here, I think it’s with Shinako-san. She’s being forced to confront the truth about things with Rikuo. She is indeed his crush, as Chika says – she can’t avoid that reality. And her nomikai with her colleagues (I loved that zoom shot of her megane friend when Shinako said she’d never been in a relationship) forces her to face the reality that she’s put her social development in hibernation over someone who passed away years earlier. None of this is to say Shinako is in the wrong here, but it’s better that she have no illusions about the choices she’s making. And Chika’s brief (too brief – as I said, I ended up liking her and what she brought to the dynamic) intersection with the story made those illusions a lot harder to maintain.
Mus
May 10, 2020 at 6:35 pmOne thing that I can’t help but point out is how jealousy is used to show signs of love. I’m sure everyone seen such a thing across many romance anime.
In my opinion, jealousy is such an easy thing to convey. Even the most subtle gesture could convey it. It’s different to ‘love’ itself, since much more justification is need. Some people even demand explicit evidence for that ‘love’.
What I’m trying to say is jealousy is not sufficient to explain love due to their nature. I think asking “Does this person move forward because all the available option or despite all the available option?” may add another layer to the watching experience. Jealousy tries to see everything available, but love don’t need to see everything available, in my opinion anyway.
Anime Lover
May 10, 2020 at 7:25 pmIntersting episode of series. The truth is love is not a state to see everyting available.
BlueBlue
May 10, 2020 at 8:06 pmIsn’t it possible to exchange Haru with Chika definitely? Anyway, judging by all the color pages dedicated to the former, I know that I can keep dreaming and kidding. But again, when she has few screen time, this is fantastic (to me).
“Misplaced criticism from viewers expecting it to be something is not”. Funny as a sentence as it applied to all of us and so “misplaced” is all relative. As you taught me: “your mileage…”.
Anyway, to me, I have decided that this a kind of love harem/triangle/square manga trying to be a “serious” one (I am reductive on purpose). Which I don’t despise but will certainly need a manga roadmap at the end to understand how much character development (besides the luckiest man of the planet Rikuo) has been lost or packed.
Guardian Enzo
May 10, 2020 at 8:27 pmI only have one opinion I can realistically state, and it’s my own. And to me when I see people criticize this show because it doesn’t act like a harem romance – or Seirei no Moribito because it doesn’t act like a shounen action series – it’s misplaced.
Panino Manino
May 11, 2020 at 12:04 amI have been watching the discussions out there and I side with Guardian.
You see a lot of people repeating, “why isn’t this romance exactly like the other ones”?
People are have a hard time processing how this story is being told, people are seeing Minato and Chika as just “rivals”.
It’s tiresome to discuss because of that.
BlueBlue
May 11, 2020 at 6:10 pmOh yeah, no worry, I know too well with series like “Ahiru no Sora”, the burden of “why is it not like X & Y” discussion and yeah I agree it is problematic if that is the case for that series. But honestly, I think that this is unfortunately the outcome, everytime you find familiar characters’ tropes and have associated them to famliar series (which is also always funny when it is made on series’ which actually precede the “familiar ones”). But anyway, for me, being totally in the ignorance about the manga, I am excited to see how it ends up “differently” (no irony there). And thanks for your inputs by the way.
Bel
May 10, 2020 at 8:24 pmI end up liking Chika a lot as well; I wish we’ll hear from her again. I’d love to know more about her and follow her story beyond what’s revealed in this episode.
Panino Manino
May 10, 2020 at 11:59 pm“It’s not like you can become one (a photographer) just because you want to.”
That scenes huuuuuuuurts!
Chika had just talked and give an exemplo to Rikou about how she didn’t lamented her past and was using what her past had give her to move on with her current situation and he replies… like that. He is scared.
Like, super duper scared.
The episode started with him flipping the pages of a photography magazine, looking at camera’s adverts he could buy but still didn’t. Remember how the was eyeing some camera that he could buy with a three month salary? How many months already passed since then? He already have the money but still didn’t up and bought the camera.
When his boss talked with him about a better job offering where he could grow his first thought was negative, that the door had closed to him, not open.
He is still froze, paralyzed by fear to start trying.
Makes me wonder what Chika thought about him now and his current situation.
“and by the end of the episode it seemed to me that she was a better match for Rikuo than either of the two women who are fixtures in his life.”
Maybe you’re right and it’s a pity, the same way Minato could be a good pair for Haru also Chika could be one for Rikuo. Sometimes people just need someone close to give support and watch along the hard way, right? Of course Haru would cheer for him all the way, but they aren’t close enough to make him feel comfortable with her support, and she is the most immature/inexperienced of them to make this viable.
I wonder if Chika after thinking serious about that situation “feared” the “risk of falling in love a bit with Rikuo” complicating things even more and that’s why she left after her long tale with Shinako (by the time jump I understand that Shinako explained everything to her?) to “let her take care of him”.
Things could be very different for all of them, but the way it is every one of them will have to fight their demons alone.
ibtachi
May 14, 2020 at 2:04 amI’m with you here, Chika turned out to be a breath of fresh air.
I especially liked how both her and Rikuo dropped all pretenses and talked without the baggage of expectations. There’s some weight of expectations (either received or presented) that colours every interaction he has with Haru and Shinako – naturally, it drains those interactions of honesty because on some level they’re calculated with some manner of romantic hope.
I very much hope we see more of her, though I expect we will if Rikuo decides to seriously pursue photography.
Pieislife
May 14, 2020 at 6:15 amThis may be overanalytical on my part but it sounds like you’ve had some bad relationships with girls, not just with your writing here but in general.
Guardian Enzo
May 14, 2020 at 9:01 amNope, not really. Maybe the psychoanalysis gig isn’t the right career move for you.