It’s always a challenge to organize my thoughts where BokuYaba is concerned.  And to resist the urge to write about 2000 words, which I could do in a heartbeat about this ep if I let myself.  This is an especially tough week, because as soon as it became clear what the general pacing was, this episode (my one question was whether it would end on a torturous cliffhanger or not) was one manga readers had circled on their calendars (#6 was another).  Mind you, as I tell people if there is a second season the calendar is going to be nothing but circles.  And the last three eps of this season too.  Still, this was a big week for Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu.

If I started listing all the reasons why Kyou and Anna are an all-time great couple, that alone would blow past 2000 words in no time.  But one thing that stands out watching this episode is that they’re both incredibly high-maintenance, but in totally different ways.  That’s why they work, but the road is never easy – and that’s just so damn real.  A lot of the fanart with these two riffs on Kyou being a stray cat Anna is trying to coax into letting her cuddle it, and you can see why.  Kyoutarou is a living, walking, exposed nerve ending.  He’s whip-smart and keenly observant about others, but has a huge blind spot in the mirror.

One of the most important lines of the episode, I think, is when Kyou – while reading “Kimi Iro Octave” – describes what he imagines Yamada’s dream guy is like and bemoans “Guys like that don’t exist in real life!”.  The irony of course is that he’s describing himself almost perfectly – “distant and curt, but really nice under the surface, kind of charming, a little awkward”.  Kyou is incapable of seeing the good in himself – what Anna (and his family, too) sees in him.  He’s incapable of not looking a gift horse in the mouth.  I kind of feel like this is an “either you get it or you don’t” kind of thing – some people will understand this, and to some it will seem silly.  It just depends on how you’re wired.

Amidst all the flash, this is the stealth key scene of the episode (not least because it introduces Fukuyama Jun as he who will be known as “Lucifer Nigorkawa” – perfect casting we never knew we needed).  And it ends with Kyou’s “Gah – this train of thought is bad.  Don’t give yourself hope!”.  Much of the drama of the episode surrounds LINE – not referred to by a euphemism for a change.  By now it’s a common trope in anime romcom, but never (apart from perhaps Tsuki ga Kirei) used to so artfully develop characters and story.  Anna is desperate to get Kyou to swap LINE IDs (“here, kitty kitty”), but Kyou’s self-esteem refuses to allow him to accept that’s what’s really happening.  Anna’s frustration with this is so palpable.  She’s popular but has no relationship experience.  She’s trying to figure this mystifying boy out and getting nowhere.

It’s only when Moe talks Anna into asking popular bishie Ishimuro-kun for his LINE that Kyou groks what Anna was doing (her delight when he does is adorable) – because she uses the same language with him.  This is a sort of key moment too, as Moeko refers to Ichi as a “slime” and implies that level 99 Yamada is too powerful to waste time asking for his ID.  As far as I remember this is the first time Kyou is referred to as “Ichi” – as in, “level 1 slime” – and it’s pretty darn insensitive of Moe.  I don’t think she necessarily means to be mean, she’s just being utterly thoughtless in a middle-school girl way.  But the nickname fits, even if not in the way she intended.  And Moe is nothing if not blunt (as events later in the ep will show).

Anna’s consternation over Ichi and Moe exchanging IDs is hilariously relatable (note: the anime got permission from White Fox to use the actual Re:Zero Rem icon).  Also hilarious is Adachi dropping that “Do you ever check if your sis is up to date?” gag (over time, his charms become apparent).  But this is all building to major conflict, and Pickup-pai is again at the heart of it.  I’ve talked often about how Akagi Hiroaki so brilliantly shifted chapters around (and added original ones) to make the Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san anime better – and how that wasn’t really needed with BokuYaba.  But here he does so brilliantly, shifting Chapter 21 to this episode in order to set up Ichi’s conviction that he’s being used by Anna.

Pickup-pai Nanjou-kun is trying to get Anna to go to his place to game (in Chapter 21 it was to the pool), and this time he has a girl (Mamiya – Asahina Madoka) alongside him who looks very uncomfortable.  Anna is obviously not into it, and Chi is doing her usual “Gandalf and the Balrog” act.  But clever Pickup-pai invites her along – obviously a ploy, but Chi’s head is turned by this as one imagines even she sometimes tires of being overshadowed by her glamorous bestie.  This causes some friction between them, especially since Anna doesn’t have the sophistication to know how to put the truth to Chi without sounding like an arrogant jerk.  But that’s nothing next to the friction it will cause between Anna and Kyou.

This all comes to a head in the library, when Pickup-pai’s girl friend (space needed, or no?) Mamiya shows up and explodes a passive-aggressive bomb in Anna’s face.  Anna’s insistence on “I don’t have a boyfriend!” is obviously for Ichi’s ears only, but he of course refuses to accept that.  Mamiya gets it immediately though – and proves herself an opportunist, dashing off to fetch Nanjou and show him what’s going on.  Anna takes the bait, making a grand show of intimacy with Kyou for Nanjou’s benefit.  It’s effective, but understandably leaves Kyou totally bewildered.

It’s only after Ichi overhears Moeko breaking the truth to Kobayashi about her role in events that Ichi lamps the truth – he was being used.  It goes much deeper than that, of course, but unfortunately this is the absolute worst thing Anna could have done because it completely validates every fear Kyou has about himself and their relationship.  Anna wanting to be around him never made sense – this conveniently explains everything.  His worldview aligns again.  What’s especially insidious is that he’s actually not wrong – I mean, that is actually what Anna was trying to do in the moment, though Kyou only understands half of her reason for doing it.

The problem is, Anna’s obvious despair over this chain of events is the one thing that doesn’t fit with the narrative Kyou has constructed.  And this is a huge moment for him, because he’s able to step back and step outside his narrow worldview and realize something – that narrative doesn’t fit the Yamada he’s come to know very well.  And that somehow, impossible as it may seem, she must be hanging around him because she wants to, and asking for his LINE because she wants it.  And her apology – and tears – muse be genuine.  Anna’s signature kabedon was great, but it’s her spontaneous hug that really seals the deal.  And actually summoning the courage to ask for his ID doesn’t hurt either.

Obviously, this is a huge levee to be breached here.  I’m not sure if Anna intentionally forgot V2 of “Octave” so she’d have an excuse to make a date with Kyou on Christmas Eve (I have my suspicions) but it almost doesn’t matter.  That exchange of “AAAAAAAAAA”s is one of the extra chapters, again moved to the perfect spot by Akagi-sensei.  BokuYaba isn’t Takagi-san – it’s a series where the source material will always stand as a masterpiece in its own right.  But this was perhaps the first moment where the anime really stepped into its own as a re-imagining of it, elevating it in the way Akagi did with that other series.  Let’s just hope very, very hard that he gets another season to repeat the achievement.