If only Hitler and Stalin had met we could have had a great “same energy” tweet.
There’s no getting around it – Ao no Hako is a tough slog for me right now. I don’t remember exactly how close I was to dropping the manga at this point (roughly Chapter 70). I don’t feel as if it was a coinflip, but I was having those thoughts for sure. Ayame and Hina both grate on me individually – put them together (and in their own kind of Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact) and it’s close to a deal-breaker. I was on the fast-forward button a lot this week, and with an anime I’m not experienced with that’s usually terminal. With a manga adaptation where I’ve read the source, not so much. I got through it once, I can get through it again. But for now – woof.
No question, Ayame is way worse than Hina. The problem is she brings out the worst in Hina as a character (and as a person, at least at this point in the proceedings). Things kick off with Ayame nagging her sister for insight on who Chinatsu is in love with. Karen makes up a lie to throw her off, basically telling her it’s Steph Curry. Unfortunately in a case of
anime manga coincidence a basketbro named Kazuma returns from overseas, and in Ayame’s warped brain that equals Chinatsu’s crush.
Ayame also latches leech-like onto Hina, who she’s deduced is into Taiki. Hina at least tries to dismiss it and then to accept some responsibility for the status quo, but Ayame runs with it and decides she’s going to be a saboteur for any other Taiki relationship and push he and Hina together. My God, it’s a tiresome development and hard to watch (as it was hard to read). Ayame is that most unbearable of combos – she never shuts up and she almost never listens.
Eventually we at least get an influx of other characters, as the cross-club athletic training camp takes place. That’s a trope for this sort of series too of course, but often the source of some good relationship drama. Nishida has brought a card-game version of “King’s Cup”. This is basically an all-ages take on one of the most devilish drinking games around. And naturally the questions are absolutely tailor-made for the class trip-training camp-sleepover setting.
It all ends up with Taiki (after some manipulation from Ayame) drawing the “Follower” card and thus having to follow the king card’s order – “Shout out your feelings to the one you love”. It’s a classic Blue Box “leave no romcom cliche unturned” twist, and as usual more effective than it has any right to be. The funny thing is I don’t think you could just axe all the crap and leave this series with, say, 40 “good” chapters at this point. You do need all the sow’s ears to make the silk purse happen somehow. It’s a weird alchemy, in the end it works, but it sure isn’t always a pleasant ride.






Vance
March 7, 2025 at 9:48 amI know you didn’t mention Haryu at all, but on Haryu not wanting to face Taiki, I think he doesn’t want to hurt his own confidence with a loss to Taiki, as that will give him more negatives thoughts to think about. I think when Haryu was talking about how Taiki made his goal to defeat Yusa that he can’t see what progress he has made he was actually subconsciously talking about the dynamic between himself and Hyodo, and he was projecting his own thoughts onto Taiki. Therefore, Haryu doesn’t want there to be two players he sees as the ones to beat, which would be a huge blow to him mentally.
Guardian Enzo
March 7, 2025 at 9:52 amI think that’s probably true, yeah.
catterbu
March 8, 2025 at 5:18 amYeah. I am in line with your feelings on this one Enzo. I do not think they would do a two cour adaptation without a confession by the end (obviously you have some idea on that front), but what is keeping me going at the moment is the bits of Taiki-Chinatsu chemistry we get as we wait. By coincidence I am now in the later stages of Touch right now (early season 4) and while I would say I like Yuta Nitta less than Hina, it is all better with Touch because nearly every episode has Tatsuya and Minami connect (despite the bullshit) so that Yuta ends up frustrating me less than Hina+Ayame. I think this part of Ao no Hako would have benefitted from a bit more Taiki-Chinatsu moments to go along with the clichéd tension generator that is Hina+Ayame.