Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka is rapidly climbing my list of favorite relationship series. Most obviously because it’s really good, but also because of the fit. There have been very few anime that so accurately depict the agony of romance for those who aren’t good at it. Naturals will never understand how difficult all this shit is for awkward people. That’s not their fault, any more than being awkward is ours. We’re born a certain way, and we can no more choose to be different than choose who our parents are. But this sort of authenticity is rare as hen’s teeth. Which may be surprising, given that you’d expect a higher incidence of that sort of person among mangaka (and writers generally) than the general populace.

One common trait among really good romcom is a supporting cast that’s distinctive in their own right while mainly serving to advance the story of the main couple. There are certainly cases where those characters end up outshining the stars (“sometimes the wingman wants to fly the plane” syndrome) – like the satellites in orbit being brighter than the sun. But the best of them have a main pairing strong enough to stand up that. That’s a balance Kekkon sure tte has struck very well so far. There have been interesting stories built around the secondary characters, but each has served to meaningfully advance the main storyline.

How does Umiyama Nao fit into all that? She starts off sort of annoying – that uber-genki demeanor and her status as a pretty tropey figure. But there’s more to her than the cliche – enough to make her fairly likeable. And she’s certainly an important lever to move things along with Takuya and Rika. Mind you, her running into Rika randomly in a city of 41 million people is preposterous enough – living next door to her gilds the lily. But that sort of conceit is pretty much a given with animanga so I’ve mostly stopped getting hung up on it.

Nao is serious about her craft, to her credit. And glassmaking is an incredibly difficult one to master. Once Rika gets a glimpse of that her view of Nao softens a bit (but only a bit). She tries to slink away unseen after that glimpse but Nao spots her. And then proffers an invitation (well, invites herself) to a drinking night at Rika’s place. And in doing so sets off what’s going to be about a 6.0 relationship earthquake, I would say. Hell, even having someone over to her place is a tremor for Rika – that’s just not something she does. Nor is drinking a lot of beer, obviously. But there’s a first time for everything.

Once Nao infodumps her life grievances on Rika and demands a counter, Rika’s response really struck home with me. “The map I bought yesterday had a fold in the corner” she says. She’s a bit OCD for sure, this one. And once she starts this process and gets enough beer to lubricate the gears, Rika can’t stop unloading her complaints. And we all know where this is headed. Why is Takuya so hard to read? Just what is the deal between him and Nao? Why is all this so goddam hard? Even tanked Rika has some guard rails, and she can’t bring herself to ask Nao outright if she and Takuya really are just osananajimi. But she’s certainly thinking it.

I so, so feel Rika’s pain here. This is so hard for her – what seems obvious to some people is nothing but confusion for her. She’s never had a guest in her apartment. She’s never really been close to anyone since her parents split. She can remember no meaningful conversation with a man (or boy) – before Takuya anyway. She shut her emotions down to avoid getting hurt, which is always an inviting course of action. But Takuya has opened the spigot, and Rika’s brain is flooded. The problem is she has no idea how to process all that. Experience is the best teacher, and she has none of it.

It doesn’t help that Takuya himself is almost equally (though differently) awkward at human interaction. The last thing Nao does before she passes out biffledinked is to call Takuya and demand he come over and clear the air with Rika. It did occur to me even before it came up that he’s never been there, and how he found the address after Nao refused to give it I don’t know (it’s not like he could ask his boss, under the circumstances). But dutiful as ever Takuya does arrive, to find a rather horrific scene – Nao out cold and Rika angry drunk. I give him credit – I’d probably have bailed right there.

“That’s what I’d like to know” pretty much sums it up. Rika finally musters the nerve to ask Takuya what he was about to say that night under the stars (though her true question was probably even deeper). “I’m glad we got to take a walk” he replies. True? Maybe – but it’s not the answer Rika was looking for. Eventually we get to the heart of the matter. And Takuya, bless him, rises to the moment and tells her flat-out – “I want to date. Be my girlfriend.” I wouldn’t be totally shocked if he has a bit of experience here – Takuya has clearly trended more introvert as he grew up, while Rika has been this way for most of her life. But still, for the current Takuya this is a huge deal.

What follows is agony – for them, and for us. I don’t know if it would have been harder or easier for Rika to muster a response if she were sober, but as is she presents a BSoD. For ten minutes. Then, seemingly, hours. I don’t blame her, but Takuya doesn’t deserve this. He’s a nice guy trying to do the right thing. It’s hard to imagine anything more awkward than dropping that bomb and getting no reply at all – just dead silence. Finally he can take no more and hoists Nao onto his back (presumably he has no idea she lives next door) and staggers out. What a mess. But that’s what happens when two people like this try and climb the Everest that is romance for awkward people without supplemental oxygen.