So much for democracy. I’ve been perplexed over how to handle coverage of Blue Box, so I put out a poll on twitter (Bluesky – which I’m gradually shifting my social media interaction to – doesn’t offer that option yet) to see what readers preferred. But it came back basically tied between as-is coverage and delaying things a week to match the non-Japanese Netflix schedule. So no help at all, basically. I suppose for now I’ll keep going with releases as they happen and see how my coverage schedule looks for Winter 2025.

It struck me in watching this episode that Taiki’s mom is pretty horrible towards him in many ways. She effusively praises Chinatsu at every turn and never to my recollection has had a positive word for her son. I get that Chinatsu is a guest in the house, the new flavor of the week, and generally kind of a paragon of virtue (which is why some readers dislike her). But truthfully, for a kid already struggling with self-confidence that can’t be helping. Maybe parents get tired of their kids after 15 years but I’d like to think if it were me, I’d try and do better. He certainly deserves it.

I guess that makes it even more fortunate that Chinatsu is as kind to Taiki as she is. She’s nice to everybody, true, but she never ceases to make Taiki feel special to her (unlike his mother). She always builds him up when he needs it. The chemistry between these two is off the charts and it always seems to right the ship whenever Ao no Hako veers off course (usually through its reliance on tropes). Some people find romances about two overall extremely nice people boring, but if they’re the right nice people that element adds appeal as far as I’m concerned.

Exams are the theme for much of this episode. And for kids at athletics-driven high schools, I guess they present a real challenge. Often students are given an enforced break from club activities around exams time but Eimei is a power school. For Chinatsu it’s about the non-stop pressure of getting ready for inter-highs. For Taiki it’s about putting the crushing disappointment of the prefectural qualifiers behind him. But that gap in motivation is something he’s acutely aware of, and it makes his inferiority complex even more of an obstacle. These two are only a year apart (hell, eight months to be precise) but it often seems like a lot longer than that.

Enter the anime cold. And that’s a trope if ever there was one. Ao no Hako never met a genre cliche it didn’t like but it handles this one pretty well on the whole, and with some restraint. Mostly Taiki is concerned with not getting Chi sick too, and he never descends into fever dreams or passes out cold. But he does choose to suffer in silence, which is not ideal. Chinatsu lamps that something is amiss and asserts herself to take care of him (where his parents are is not explained). Mind you a girl going uninvited into the bedroom of a 15 year-old boy is not something that should generally be encouraged, but in this case it works out for the best.

This whole scene is really lovely, and exemplifies why Blue Box works. Simply put, Taiki and Chinatsu. They have a smartly-written discussion about lofty goals, and why he’s gone off-track by abandoning his. She serves him udon, and ponders his cold medicine. The one conceit to tropism is Taiki stumbling getting out of bed, but that leads to a rather resounding climax for the episode. It’s impossible to interpret that event as anything but proof that Chinatsu has feelings for Taiki – romantic, physical affection. In its own way that may be as important for his confidence as anything – Taiki really needs to believe that he’s someone a girl like Chinatsu could want to be with. He obviously is, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of that.