I really can’t figure these two out.

Last week I remarked “So I guess the question for this season’s first two-parter is whether next week returns to the usual romantic fumblings, or continues to explore the ramifications of Tokiko’s presence and Tsukasa’s true identity. I suspect it’ll be a little of both, and that’s fine with me.”.  As it turned out it was almost all the former.  There were a couple of oblique moon references (“too radiant to look at”) but it was normal operations resumed.  Which again is fine with me – though there are times when that can get a little frustrating (and if I feel that way, how must Nasa feel?).

I gotta say, I don’t get this couple, or at least what the status quo is supposed to be.  I’ve been operating under the assumption that they’ve consummated their marriage, and Hata Kenjirou is just being discreet about it.  I mean, how could they not?  He’s about 19, and I speak from experience in saying that a male at that age generally has a very healthy libido.  She’s obviously not that age, but physically she is, and she’s an incredibly attractive and charismatic person.  There’s just no way – there couldn’t be.

But then…  I mean, I get that Tsukasa is very shy about such things.  But is that really all this is?  They’re married for crying out loud.  If they’re really intimate together, is it that big a deal to get into a bath together?  And there’s no indication that anything happened afterwards, either.  And a married couple on a trip like that, in a place that – I mean, come on.  There’s no way you let an opportunity for a spicy meal like that go to waste when you’re used to the same cuisine every day.  “Variety is the spice of life” is never truer than it is in this context.

So yeah, I have no freaking clue at this point.  Maybe Tsukasa really is that bashful, and Nasa really is just incredibly patient and incredibly pent-up.  But if these two are still at that stage, it’s a pretty strange marriage.  Not that they aren’t great together either way, and not that sex is everything even when you’re 19.  Sharing a meal like that with someone you love is a great experience.  Hell, those ryokan meals are wonderful even if you’re traveling solo.  The whole onsen experience is brought off incredibly well here, and this plays like an infomercial for Kusatsu Onsen (I sure as hell wanna go).  Hata is a geek at heart for certain, and he does love his travelogues.

The thrill of having someone like Tsukasa say “I love you” is certainly reward enough, no argument.  And Nasa is hella manly here (for him), not only straight-up telling her he wanted to bathe together, but telling her he loved her first (after the classic “tsuki ga kirei” bit).  Hata-sensei loves his trope satire as much as his travelogues, and we got a dose of that too – the onsen being as big a trope as anime has.  As for Tokiko, she just makes a brief appearance at the end, to scold Tsukasa for trying to leave without telling her and ask if the pair has any plans to have a ceremony (Tsukasa is adamant they don’t).  I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard from Tokiko, just as I’m sure that she – like Tsukasa – is much more than she seems.