Ao no Hako (Blue Box) – 13

OP2: 2: “Saraba (然らば)” by Macaroni Empitsu (マカロニえんぴつ)

Blue Box is a good old-fashioned two-cour season. None of this modern split-cour nonsense. Taking a break for a week around the holidays is pretty standard, but to do is Xmas week and then return before New Year’s is decidedly odd. But the release schedule for this show is weird anyway with its pointless one-week stagger between East and West. We got a new OP and ED too of course, and they’re both fine and gorgeously animated (I like the OP song the better of the two). But they are a reminder that Ao no Hako is by no means a smooth trip for me.

In fact this whole episode was really gorgeous. Telecom Animation is a studio I always thought of as kind of mid, but this could easily pass for I.G. or Wit’s work a lot of the time. There’s a lot in this cour that I’m going to struggle with – the OP and ED make it obvious way but there’s also a new character who’s nails on the blackboard to me – but none of that here. We start out the cour with a very strong episode decidedly light on the tropism Blue Box leans into a bit too much of the time.

It’s inter-high time. Of course that means Taiki is on the outside looking in, but he’s dutifully on-board with supporting the ones who did what he couldn’t. Chinatsu is going far away, so he can’t follow. But he does follow for a hundred meters or so anyway, to deliver the wallet (I think?) she forgot. And he gets in some serious relationship time, with all that wishing and such. It’s enough for Chinatsu to call him a serious flirt – as if Taiki wasn’t confused enough already. But he doesn’t know what she knows – or rather, what she thinks she knows and actually doesn’t (which Kyou finally clues Taiki in on).

The badminton tournament is close by, which pisses Haryuu off but does mean Taiki and his other club teammates can go cheer him on. Including Karen, who rather hijacks the episode in a delightful way. Karen is a year older than Taiki and clearly enjoys the onee-san role here, quite pointedly injecting herself into his (prospective) love life. Having cleverly confirmed her suspicions about his feelings for Chinatsu, Karen proceeds to firmly push Taiki towards making a commitment. She knows the score here – Chinatsu has told her about their living arrangement.

Karen makes a very good point. Taiki thinks (legit so, he’s trying to do the right thing) that he’s avoiding putting Chinatsu in a potentially awkward spot by not confessing. But that’s creepy isn’t it – living with someone you have the hots for and pretending you don’t? Whether Karen believes that or not it’s a good cudgel with which to beat some courage into Taiki. To encourage him she shares a good deal of her own backstory with Haryuu, starting with when they were in the 5th grade. The two of them are a good fit personality-wise, but it clearly wasn’t easy making the jump from being one thing to being something else (and you sense they’re still not totally comfortable with it).

On the court, Haryuu has unfortunately drawn Hyodo in the third round. And he goes into the match expecting to lose, because he always does against Hyodo. Reflecting on how Karen inspires him to does manage to shed his inhibitions and win a game, but in the end Hyodo is simply better. There’s no shame in that, and Haryuu isn’t the type to let anyone see him beat himself up. There’a always next year for him, and no Hyodo too – and for Taiki too of course. As long as he doesn’t let Yusa-kun get into his head the way Hyodo got into Haryuu’s.