The thing about BokuYaba is – and I knew this would happen, because this is anime – people thought they had it pegged after one ep and some dropped it.  But if they didn’t, boy, are they in for a hell of a ride.  As someone who wants the anime to hit for practical (I want more) and personal (I want the world to love this series like I do) reasons, I was very torn about this.  Part of me wanted Akagi and Hanada to soften up the prologue.  But as someone who thinks the series is basically perfect, I wanted them to do exactly what they’ve done.  I do fear they lost some potential viewers though.  Their loss, but that stuff does matter.

What I hope people will understand – and those who stay with the show will eventually – is that the prologue is absolutely necessary.  Establishing both Kyoutarou and Anna as they are when the story begins underpins everything that happens afterwards.  I would refer you to the OP lyrics (translated by a talented fan, as the official subs didn’t bother), because they’re quite revealing about Ichi’s mindset at the start of the series.  Let’s remember, he’s quite literally a chuuni – as in, middle school second-year – and the trope got its name for a reason.  This is the absolutely epicenter of the depravity, confusion, and emotional extremes of puberty.

Of all the many reasons I love BokuYaba, the fact that Norio-sensei absolutely holds nothing back in this respect is an important as any.  The depravity of middle school boys is personified in Adachi-kun (though Kanzaki may actually be ecchier), who’s central to many of the events in this episode.  The bloody tissues, the “personality test”, the “let’s ask the girls if they fap” game – this all flows through him.  These are 13 (mostly) year-old boys, and they’re almost all obsessed with sex.  Ichi is too, it just manifests differently with him.  The primary difference is that Adachi is pretty much unfiltered impulse – he just blurts out every pervy notion that enters his head.  Kyou understands that this freaks girls out, and he’s fundamentally a kid considerate of other people’s feelings.

Of course, the literal dirty little secret of junior high is that the girls are pretty much just as pervy as the boys, they just have a different way of processing it.  If boys in middle school knew what the girls were thinking they’d be absolutely terrified of them.  Well, in a different way than they already are.  They also have the boys’ number a lot of the time, as witness the way Yamada’s flight squadron deal with stuff like Pickup-pai and Adachi’s shenanigans.  We saw last week how Kobayashi-san embraces her role as Anna’s “moat” and her confidante.  Yoshida Serina (Tanezaki Atsumi) is also crucial here, as a sort of enforcer-protector.  She’s the one who out-boy’s the boys when it’s called for with her bluntness and forcefulness.

Much of the action this week takes place in the nurse’s office, where Ichi starts out the episode with a headache.  Yamada is there too, much to his surprise – most likely dealing with a monthly visitor, though Ichi doesn’t make that connection.  Anna shares her meds with him, but he balks at the precipice of sharing her mug.  The nurse is rather cavalier with her attitude towards Anna’s forgotten jersey, seemingly with no idea of the impact it would have on a guy his age (who in this case is surprised it doesn’t smell like rainbows and flowers rather than just like sweat).

Shou’s “fap” game (moved from earlier in the manga, presumably to establish the Ichi-Adachi dynamic first) – note, Kenta assumes it’s the winner who “gets” to ask – is pretty revealing.  In the end Shou is all talk and chickens out, retreating to a story about reading their health by checking their nails.  He tries to get Kyou to pass Anna a note (yes, that is bullying of a sort), but Kyou – understandably assuming it says something different than it actually does – pulls a switch.  He passes her the sketch he made of the “heroine who’s not really based on anyone in particular, I swear” instead.  So credit where it’s due, Adachi pulled quite the unintentional wingman move there – that drawing turns up in a most interesting way later in the episode.

After the aforementioned personality test – which hilariously explodes in Shou’s face thanks to Serina and Kenta – the main dish is served up.  It ends up back in the library – the Mecca of the main relationship – passing through the nurse’s office on the way – but starts in the gym.  Anna gets beaned by a basketball – because she’s staring at Kyou (who certainly notices).  She initially tries to bluster her way through it, but this is clearly a big deal – especially for Anna, who’s a model (with a shoot the next day).  Kyou ends up following her to the nurse’s office and hiding, and he sees just how vulnerable a person she is.

This is the paradox of Anna Yamada, especially as seen by Ichi.  She’s tall, she’s gorgeous, she earns her keep through a real job.  But she’s also a child, as much or more than most of her classmates.  She has to bear the responsibility both of her appearance and how that makes people perceive her, and her professional responsibilities.  And sometimes it’s simply too much because, you know, she’s basically a little kid.  And seeing this Ichi’s chuuni cover story pretty much goes out the window, and all he wants to do is make her feel better.  When he realizes this, his self-deception finally crumbles and he has to admit the truth.

As I’ve told folks there is no magic moment when everything changes with BokuYaba, and it goes from “Series A” to “Series B”.  As is adolescence, it’s a gradual growth process.  But I would say that everything up to now is basically the prologue, and everything that follows is the main story.  I think viewers who’ve stuck with it this long will be in for the long haul now, because the series does tack and follow the wind on a somewhat different course from here.  It’s stormy, it’s painful, it’s uneven – because middle school and first love are all those things and more.  But now the destination seems more clear, even if there are many forks in the road between here and there.