I have no idea if Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai would have won the patron poll this season.  I suspect not based on the lack of comments, but it wasn’t on the ballot so we’ll never know.  I also don’t know if I would have covered it anyway – it would have been a close call.  What’s certain is that it’s going away until April, and in a packed (for me) spring season it seems unlikely I’ll have time to cover it (or maybe even watch it).  I also know that I find it interesting, or maybe vexing.

Shows that have elements I find really appealing mixed with ones that bother me are inherently more interesting than ones which are just mediocre across the board.  Kubo-san has been very much a see-saw affair for me episode-wise (this was one of the ones I liked).  And Nagisa is a character I can’t quite get a handle on.  There are times when I think she’s being depicted as a little creepy and condescending towards Junta, and others when I’m convinced I’m just projecting.  And there are times when I think the series is a relatively serious rumination on isolation and introversion, and others when I think I’m just imagining that.

That intro sequence was one that felt almost profound to me.  I think most introverts have been in that position of deciding where to eat alone, where you simultaneously feel a bit lonely but also loving the idea of that peace and solitude.  In that way, one might charitably say Junta’s rather absurd quirk is a device to explore the very real struggle against loneliness many adolescents deal with in school.  It comes down, I suppose, to whether you feel finding a nice quiet spot to contemplate life over a bento is a choice Junta would have made strictly because it made him happy, or that he’s only doing it because he has no other options.

Likewise, then, Nagisa’s character can be taken two ways.  She’s not giving Junta a choice – she’s invading his world whether he wants it or not.  Her telling her friend “I don’t own him” was an ironic moment (unintentionally – or not?), because she basically acts as if she does.  Is it “more like that love”, as her other friend muses?  I think there’s clear affection here but also a sense that Junta is Nagisa’s toy, to do with as she pleases.  He fascinates her, even turns her on pretty clearly.  But what is that really, in her case?  That’s the question upon whose answer a lot of Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai hangs in my view.

I did think it was quite a strong moment for Kubo-san when she told her friend who was bad-mouthing Shiraishi-kun “That’s enough”.  I want to take that at face value, but I think there’s also an element of Kubo being upset because something of hers is being put down, and she takes it as a personal slight against her.  Which is fine – she’s a human being and a teen at that.  I don’t even blame her friend – high school is a time of shallow motives and petty put-downs.   It’s sad that she’s so incapable of seeing anything worthwhile in Junta but it’s not at all unrealistic.

All these questions of interpretation apply to the last two chapters, the first of which finds Nagisa all but sitting on Junta’s lap and popping her earbud in his ear.  Again, there’s just no respect for Jun’s personal space (and as an introvert he needs it to be sure).  The way it plays to me is that it simply never occurs to her that this is presumptuous on her part – or that if he’s uncomfortable with it, why that should be of any concern to her.  Disrespect through thoughtlessness is still disrespect.  But I don’t know if any of that ambiguity is intended in the writing, and that’s both interesting and frustrating for me as a viewer.

The White Day bit was cute, but in truth it seriously stretches credulity to imagine that Junta could possibly – possibly – not know Nagisa gave him the cookie.  I know he’s a loner without much social experience, but seriously – come on.  And at that, if he really is that dense (and no one is) why wouldn’t Nagisa just out and tell him rather than tap dancing around it?  I’d like to see a little more emotional realism in moments like this – I think it would serve the series very well.  But on balance, being vexed some of the time is still not the worst thing with anime – at least I’m engaged enough to care.