These episodes of Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu really take it out of me.  I love this series so much for starters, and then I want to write 15-paragraph magnum opuses about every episode.  That’s a bad idea on many levels but it’s so hard to resist.  There are so many layers to Norio-sensei’s writing, honestly a lot of stuff is hard to pick up on the first time around.  Every time you re-read the manga you get things you didn’t the first time, and in a sense the anime is like re-reading the manga.

There are a lot of interesting moments here, elements that starting to really come into clear focus for the first time.  A few things really stand out for me, for one Kyou’s sense of humor.  He’s actually very funny – like, on-purpose.  Ichi has a quick and acerbic wit, and he’s just starting to gain enough confidence to show it in public (with Anna at least).  That “You’re playing a tree or something?” line (about Anna’s movie role) is a good example.  As he slowly starts to grow into a socially functional teenager, that will become a big part of his identity.

As to Anna, this was where I started to develop a theory that the title of the series might actually refer to her.  It was obvious by now that the first ten chapters were a misdirection.  Kyou’s chuuni act was just that, an act, a coping mechanism.  If there are dangers in his heart, they’re to himself.  But now we start to see a different side to Yamada.  She’s rather possessive, and prone to jealousy now that she’s pretty openly into Ichi.  It’s funny that the title of this episode was “We Switched Places”, given that speculation (though it likely refers both to the jersey situation and the fact that it was mostly Anna being driven by her feelings for Kyou).

Then we have Hara Honoka, one of those wondrous BokuYaba supporting players that’s so essential to the story.  I just love that little smile she gives when Ichi helps Anna up after the marathon.  Hara knows the score, and she’s a fan of this pairing.  Also the little smile Kyou lets slip when he finds out she’s sitting next to him.  That’s Kyou reflecting on what a nice person Hara is – a tacit admission that he’s starting to lower his guard in school.  Hara is also a beast when she takes charge of the desk situation and handles it herself – no-nonsense and to the point.

The chapters were moved around a little here.  Chapter 41 (the seat change) was moved up, and the extra chapter 33.1 (the height thing in the nurse’s office) was adapted too.  The double-entendres from 33.1 were toned down some, but Akagi-sensei clearly wanted to create a narrative around the height difference and how it impacts both kids.  We can pretend it’s unimportant but that matters in a relationship, especially with teens, and both of them are self-conscious about their height (and since Anna at 172 cm is already half a foot taller than the average Japanese woman, it’s understandable).

The jersey exchange was moved into the nurse’s office too (it happened in the library in the original) but the import is pretty much the same.  This is another massive clue brick dropped on Ichi’s head, though his self-esteem is so non-existent that he continues to deny the truth.  Anna knew, and she knew for a while – she was perfectly happy wearing his sweatshirt.  There are moments showing it all across the episode, but Anna is a very physical person – with her friends, with Ichi.  She’s self-conscious when she thinks about him, but generally speaking she’s not remotely shy about holding hands or grabbing shoulders or such things.

Anna’s career also gets more focus here.  I think this is the first time we see her stage name, “Anna Akino”.  Her TV show “ColoGaku” is classically inane Japanese TV – a bunch of vapid adolescents making “observations” and a host cracking terrible jokes.  Ichi discovers it while googling Anna (he’s heartbroken to just miss it the first time), and when he watches it she doesn’t even get to speak.  This is another element to Anna’s personality – she’s kind of awkward, and not a fit for that sort of program.  She’s there for exposure, obviously.  A role in a movie might be more her speed – and she even gets a line.

Kyou goes through a whole cycle of emotions with Anna’s fame.  Initially he’s happy she didn’t get to speak on TV – already feeling possessive and insecure about her outgrowing her life (and him), then horrified at his selfishness.  As for the movie, it’s a fairly big deal with name actors and director, even if Anna only has one line.  But that line – “You’re such a creep!” – is quite impactful on Ichi when she practices it on him.  You can see how this genuinely hurts for him, because it hits so close to the false image of their relationship he’s created in his head.  When he finally admits that he’ll see the movie when it comes out (in two years), she drops another clue brick – “I can’t say that anymore!”.

This is another big scene, and not just because it winds up with the two of then crammed into a supply closet, practically touching.  Ichi thinks “will we still be together in two years?” and never corrects himself – his guard down, he now thinks of the two of them as “together”.  As is the denouement of the seat arrangement chapter.  “All I see is you” probably isn’t an intentional double entendre from Kyou (maybe a Freudian slip) but Anna’s reaction pretty much says it all.  As does her reaction to Hara and Ichi sharing notes.  It’s starting to become clear that not only is Anna just as into Kyou as he’s into her, but she’s much more aware of it.