This remains a very weird series for me to assess, as the GoHands factor and my love for the manga are like two elephants in the room, raising a ruckus.  The fact is, if you set aside the OP (the song is fine, but the sequence is classic GoHands Dramamine bait), this ep was like 95% normal.  There’s a very real factor of the bar being so low that I end up perceiving something as better than it was, but… I thought this was pretty good for the most part.  I’ll even go so far as to say the backgrounds are mostly quite nice.  Kichijoji was the first place I lived in Japan and I have a soft spot for it, and it’s damn photogenic to begin with, but – I think it really looked good here?

With the production at least somewhat receding into the background (in a good way) that allows one to focus on the story itself, which is as it should be.  I’ve been rather surprised to see epithets like “cringe” applied to Kaede, more than once too, when I basically always considered him a teddy bear.  I mean, he basically is the nicest 13 year-old boy in the world.  But it’s been a long time since I read these chapters (yes, the adaptation has been faithful), and I guess his lovestruck histrionics could come off as a bit much for some.  It doesn’t help that the anime is definitely playing up the slapstick and obsessive side of things more, but it’s also a matter of development.

Ah yes, development.  That’s a hard sell in anime these days, but as the remarkable turnaround of BokuYaba in aggregator ratings demonstrates, there are rewards for letting a writer do things at a realistic pace.  The characters in Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta definitely don’t show up fully formed in the first chapter.  They change a lot over the course of the series, as does their relationship.  And that’s certainly as it should be, given that they’re 13 years old.  The storytelling diversifies in a huge way, too, beyond what may seem like a bit of a one-joke premise right now.  The question, of course, is how much of that we’ll get to see if the anime is only one cour.

So my message would be that The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses is a lot more than just the hook, but on the other hand, if you don’t find Mie and Komura funny or charming now maybe that’s a bad sign.  I do, and their antics give me a lot of amusement.  It seems to be a trend among these middle school romcons (like BokuYaba and Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san) that they take a while to ramp up, but stuff like that whole stew thing is really funny to me.   It’s also important to remember that at this point of the story it’s not as though Mie-san is forgetting her glasses every day – it’s just that the narrative skips over most of the days when she doesn’t.

I also find it very refreshing how open and honest Ai is about her feelings.  After the “that was weirdly intense” bit when Kaede swore to protect her, she unleashed that “as long as you recognize me, Komura-kun” line, which knocked the poor kid right on his keister.  And why wouldn’t it?  She then doubles down by asking to swap “LIME” information, and then tells Kaede that she’s fine with him seeing her be embarrassing.  I don’t think Mie-san herself understands the implications of these things she’s saying – she’s just saying what she thinks.  And I really like that about her.

Ai doesn’t wait long to cash in on that LIME exchange – after forgetting her glasses on the train.   The date was full-on adorable, with all those pretty Kichijoji shots as a bonus.  Again, Mie was totally un-self-conscious with the cake thing, but she only acts that was where Kaede is concerned.  And if you’re going to lose your glasses, I guess on the way to pick up new ones is a good time to do it.  Kaede assumes that’s it for him, and prepares to head off into the sunset alone.  But again with a total lack of self-consciousness, Ai tells him that she’d actually like to hang out for a while.

It’s only later, when she gets home and starts reflecting on the day, that Mie-san realizes that something is brewing here – the scenes she sees replaying in her head are all of Kaede.  Middle school romances and not like high school ones in real life, and they shouldn’t be in animanga either.  I feel like there are times people just don’t seem to get that.  With kids this age fits and starts are normal, not a smooth progression, and relationships can be a whipsaw of intimacy they’re not experienced enough to be self-conscious about and extreme embarrassment at the most innocent things.  Suki na Ko ga Maegane wo Wasureta does a wonderful job of portraying that for those who are patient with it.  Whether GoHands has either the time of skill to capture that on-screen it’s just too soon to say.