I was rambling yesterday about not having a lot of bubble shows this season. But I guess that’s three in a row, pretty much, as Toumei na Yoru ni Kakeru Kimi to, Me ni Mienai Koi wo Shita. is right there too. I’m enjoying it but the whole LN thing has built up a whole lot of scar tissue over the years. That’s not going to be the decider though – I’ll let what plays out on screen speak for itself. I will say that this episode kind of reset my expectations for what sort of series this is.

In a series like this, with modest production values and no action, seiyuu are magnified. Toumei is basically two people talking to each other most of the time. I’m enjoying Irino Miyu working in that framework, where he has to bring so much interpretation to low-key dialogue spoken by a low-key individual. It’s also worth noting that it’s quite difficult for a really good singer – which he is, as Kusunoki fans know – to convincingly sound like a bad one. That made the karaoke scene especially fun, along with Kakeru’s discomfort at Kotonoha playing touchy-feely under the table with her thigh.

But as breezy and cute as all that was, I come away from this episode with an overwhelming conviction that this show is going a whole lot darker. Koharu hoisted a zombie U.N. building’s worth of death flags for herself, I’m pretty convinced. First the innocuous forgetting that she’s already told Kakeru about her love for fireworks. Then the bookmark with the mysterious message written in braille. And – most obviously – asking Kakeru if he has a bucket list. That’s not so unusual but to phrase it the way she did when these are 19 year-olds is a Chekov’s Gun.

Then we have the fireworks obsession itself. It’s not the most obvious manifestation of mono no aware (fireflies much more so), but fireworks are very much viewed that way in Japan. Brilliant and cacophonous for a brief moment, then gone forever. It’s why so many tragic stories about young people have a fireworks theme. It seems as if Koharu either sees herself that way, or just a general metaphor for grabbing everything you can while you can, because who knows how long you’ll be around. Who could embody that more than Anne Frank, another of Koharu’s loves?

I’m not rooting for this, mind you, but I think it kind of slaps you in the face. We know Koharu lost her sight rather than being born without it, and it’s possible she may have memory issues. It’s hard not to speculate. There’s nothing to say Toumei na Yoru ni Kakeru Kimi to, Me ni Mienai Koi wo Shita. can’t go in that direction and be just as good as it is now, or even better. But the standard of writing required for that sort of story to succeed is a lot higher than the wistful slice of life we’ve gotten so far. And given the medium of the source material I’d be pretty nervous about that.

We’ll know soon enough I suppose. In the meantime the observational side of the series continues to be pretty effective. Koharu’s comment about being sad when people give up explaining things to her really hit hard. I think the audience is like Kakeru in the sense of thinking about things in ways we’ve never had to consider. If indeed the central theme is a carpe diem message there’s certainly nothing wrong with that in and of itself. Kakeru is a person who’s always holding himself back, protecting himself, and Koharu one who wants to grab experiences and relationships as fast as she can. That makes them an interesting pairing, whatever direction the plot chooses to take them.