This series is aptly named, because it’s certainly a danger to mine.

I have an unusual problem with Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu, in that I simply love it too much.  Never mind objectivity, which I fully recognize is out the window – that’s not even that unusual for me.  But I can’t keep churning out 1500 word opuses every week, both because I don’t have time and because that’s just not good coverage.  But I’m just so engaged by these characters that it demands to spill out of me.  The only thing I can compare it to is if Tsuki ga Kirei had been based on one of my favorite manga instead of being anime-original, because some of the feelings with that show were similar.  But given my enormous love for the source material here, it’s still not quite the same thing.

We’re starting to get to the point now, as well, where every chapter adapted is one of my favorites (they pretty much all are).  The subtlety and sharpness of Sakurai Norio’s writing really stands out – there are double-meanings to almost everything.  Ichi overthinks everything.  And, as is so often the case in middle school, there’s the great paradox where so much is exciting and terrifying at the same time.  The workplace visit mini-arc is both great and really important – Japanese junior high school students do indeed do this in their second year, and it’s yet another scenario riddled with possibility and hidden terrors.

For Kyou, first of all, there’s the inevitable terror over not being picked.  He can call himself a loner all he wants, but being conspicuously left out when groups form up is a brutal experience.  There are several factors playing out here, first of all that the Adachi-Kanzaki-Oota trio is starting to accept him (and he’s grateful for it).  But ultimately any outing is a potential opportunity for hooking up, and that means trying to horn (pun intended) in on the girls’ groups.  Adachi wants to glom onto Yamada, naturally, and for Kanzaki it’s Hara’s group that beckons to him.

And so begins the inevitable horse-trading.  Sekine, for starters, angles to get Ichi and Kenta into their group (again, Ichi is grateful).  But Kenta of course wants to be with Hara-san, and – as they both realize it – Ichi and Anna try to manipulate events in that direction.  Ichi accidentally winds up calling Anna’s pack dumb (she doesn’t buy that he’s a bad student – and she’s right).  There’s a rather humiliating “draft” attempt by Chii-chan, but it eventually lands with Ichi and Adachi joining Anna’s group and Kanzaki and Oota joining Hara’s.

The library is the spiritual home of BokuYaba, especially in these early chapters, and we get another great scene there, this time with Kyou eavesdropping on Hara and Anna.  Hara is a total sweetheart, and a very real middle school girl – completely lacking in self-confidence.  Anna could never understand how Hara is feeling about herself  – that’s not a criticism, just a fact – but she’s essentially kind to her just by instinct (mostly).  This conversation features Anna missing a couple of double-entendres (including one she utters herself) –  “how far”, et al – reflecting just how innocent she is above and beyond never having had a boyfriend.

Hara is a smart girl, and she’s pretty well grokked that Kyou and Anna are a society of two at this point, with the library as their capital.  The “ghost photo” bit hilariously leads to her observation that it’s okay that he overheard them, because “no one will ever hear it from him”.  Ichi of course grinds on this – it could be praise (he’s discreet), but he hears it as “no one ever talks to that loser” (he’ll later do the same thing in reaction to Chihiro’s “Ichikawa would never read a girly manga like that” comment, which most guys his age would take as a compliment).

Then, the inevitable rain scene, so fraught with… everything.  So much to unpack here.  Anna pretends she doesn’t have an umbrella – why?  Because she wants to wear Ichi’s poncho (d’aw)?  If she wanted to share umbrellas (“aiaigasa”), why not just offer to share hers – is it because she wants him to be the one to offer?  She goes off in Ichi’s kappa to buy an umbrella (“if this were an anime that’d be my last line”) but naturally she forgets her wallet (again) which outs her lie (she tries to cover by saying it was broken).  It all ends with a bag of sweets, and Ichi making the grand realization – he likes this girl.  But that’s a long way from accepting that she could ever possibly like him.

Finally, the workplace visit.  And it turns out to be a very cool one, to the very real Akita Shoten manga offices in Iidabashi (not far from my old apartment).  Akita publishes BokuYaba and Mitsudomoe (which Kyou name-drops) along with both Beastars and Baki the Grappler (by the Itagaki daughter and father).  Ichi is desperate not to out himself as an otaku, but his love for the greats of manga reveals itself when a chance to see original Baki artwork is given – and Anna makes sure his posturing doesn’t rob him of the chance.  She’s also absolutely entranced by seeing him so passionate about something, maybe for the first time.

That elevator scene is another watershed, featuring one of the all-time great kabedons.  That Ichi would be dazed is no surprise, but Yamada’s reaction is very interesting –  she seems as overwhelmed by the moment as he does.  I think it’s because she’s the girl who’s never had a boyfriend, who doesn’t get what “how far did you go?” means, and for her being so close to the boy she’s fallen for is, well- overwhelming.  Once at the station the mini-group of those two and Kobayashi-san turns to manga as a topic, which is where the aforementioned shoujo manga exchange happens.  And again, Ichi looks this gift horse in the mouth, refusing to believe what his senses are telling him could actually be happening.

It’s kind of fitting that Oshikiri Rensuke’s contribution to the BokuYaba tribute series should have come out today, because Hi Score Girl too featured two protagonists getting separated from the group on a school trip.  What started out as a school assignment has now turned into… what, exactly?  Is there a name for the thing that happens when two people who like each other are alone together on an outing?  Whatever you call it, it’s all a bit much for me – next weekend can’t come soon enough.