I look at the last two episodes of Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu – this one more than last week’s – as a sort of medicine.  Despite the manufacturer’s effort’s to make it palatable it’s not exactly pleasant to swallow down, but taking it is necessary.  Seiya is a core member of the cast and central to the formula – he’s the protagonist’s best friend and support system.  He was always going to get his arc, and given his personality it was always going to be kind of a dark and mopey one.  Now that it’s done, hopefully Tsurune can move past it and end on a higher note.

The less it hews to formula the better Tsurune seems to be, and the more directly Masa-san is involved in the plot the less it seems to hew to formula.  This ep was pretty much stock material and eminently predictable for the most part.  As Seiya hangs out at home with a cold (37.6 isn’t much of a fever, really) the rest of the team is nervy before the big event.  So Masa-san decides to meld his coach and priest roles, and tells the boys (who’re so testy it has the girls worried about them) to come down and get a special amulet on festival day.

There’s a nice scene between Masa and Tommy-sensei where the former reflects on how complicated being an adult is and how he fears turning into the kind of adult he hated as a kid, but unfortunately that’s pretty much the extent of the adults’ role in the episode.  The rest of it is pretty standard material, with the boys sniping at each other while Seiya sits at home and Kuma begs to go for a walk.  I’ll be honest, I was hoping there might be some deeper reason why Seiya has been acting the way he has, but no – things are exactly as they appeared to be last week.  Seiya is upset because Minato is getting better and he’s not the reason for it.

The other bit of cliche that kind of annoyed me here was the old anime cold bit, though it’s hardly fair to single out Tsurune for that, as common as it is.  I’m sure glad healthy young people don’t actually go around passing out from mild fevers, but anime would positively be bereft if deprived of this trope, seemingly.  In the end it facilitates Minato airing things out with Seiya, asserting that in effect it’s time for him to be the strong one in the relationship.  We still don’t know if Seiya loves archery or whether there’s any deeper reason behind his failed Google search on Masa-san and why he hates him, but it’s made clear in no uncertain terms that bailing on Minato now is not an option Seiya can seriously consider.

Also, those twins – seriously, they need to shut the fuck up.  Their captain is doing a terrible job reining them in, and for once I don’t blame Kacchan a bit for being royally pissed off.  A part of me really wants there to be just a bit of intent – and glee – for Minato in planting the seeds of doubt about target panic in their heads.  Minato is a great kid but it would make him a bit more interesting if he had that in him – but I suspect this was just another case of his being serially nice.