My position was pretty much summed up in the comments last week: “I honestly have no idea how I’ll feel watching the next episode, and I guess I won’t know until I’m watching it.” Well, the answer is, not real positive. I certainly didn’t feel any residual goodwill from the first four episodes – it was mostly irritation over the fifth. So if I was coming back, Yamada-kun was going to have to earn it.
Frankly, it didn’t. Not that this can go toe to toe for awfulness with last week’s atrocity, but it wasn’t good. The basic take was “forget the whole thing ever happened”. That’s not acceptable – just as all the shit that went down in that episode was not acceptable. Akane and Runa are buddies now, nobody has any consequences (including the stalker, presumably now free to stalk, terrify, and injure someone else). Oh, but Runa was spoiled as a child so her behavior is understandable and we have to love her.
There are two fundamental problems here. The headspace of the series itself, and the fact that I find Runa incredibly annoying and would have even if she hadn’t put Akane in jeopardy and had no repercussions for it. I don’t know if she’d be a deal-breaker for me if that incident never happened – if she was as prominent every week as she was here, she might. But on the heels of that debacle her presence all over this episode was too much to take.
At this point I have to think this is a drop, though I want to see how I feel about a largely Runa-free episode (assuming we get one) before making that 100%. And that pisses me off, because I was starting to really like this series and it has some good things going for it. Not enough to compensate for the seemingly fatal self-inflicted damage of the past two weeks, unfortunately. That’s the way the cookie crumbles – at least we have a boatload of good to great romance shows this season to tide us over.
Christine
May 7, 2023 at 9:07 pmYou have to stick it out, I promise it gets SO good. The anime had to cut more of the manga bc well that’s what animes do.
Guardian Enzo
May 7, 2023 at 9:31 pmAppreciate the sentiment, but no promises. Right now I’m bitter, salty and sour.
toroidal
May 8, 2023 at 6:11 amSort of like me and the Heavenly Delusion manga. If certain things don’t work for you, they don’t work for you. No point in fighting our own instincts.
Ronbb
May 8, 2023 at 7:12 amI know I am going to stay, and I can understand how you feel. I don’t like Runa, but I have a different take on Akane’s reaction and behaviour. She inspires me of becoming the bigger person and not letting the pettiness distract our pursuit of happiness. I don’t know if that was the author’s intention, and on some level I want to see repercussions for someone like Runa who does bad things to others out of selfish reasons. At the same time, I am learning to focus on the infinite game to stay happy, kind and capable. Akane reminds me of my intention. Besides, I am still curious about the progress between Akane and Akito. I am going to stick around. I will miss hearing your thoughts on this show every week, but it needs to work for you and makes you happy. BTW, Momo-chan was so cool this week by telling Runa off.
Guardian Enzo
May 8, 2023 at 9:20 amA very Buddhist take, which I can respect. The problem for me comes with the headspace of the writer. I hate to keep referencing Shigatsu but the biggest problem there was not – as Samu so memorably said – that “everyone in the series except the MC is a total bastard and I hate them”. It was that the mangaka thought everyone in the series except the MC was just fine and the MC was a big baby.
My impression based on the last two episodes is that the mangaka thinks (or at least thinks they have to pretend) that there’s nothing wrong with what Runa did (well, not much). And that Runa is adorable and we have to forgive her being completely selfish and a borderline sociopath because her parents were too permissive with her. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s how it feels to me, and that’s tough for me to get past. Then you do have the not inconsiderable problem that Runa is an incredibly irritating screen presence and if she’s going to be a major focus, that would be a big drag chute even if Episode 4 had never happened.
So for me, I’m kind of at the cut bait point unless the next episode does something to convince me otherwise. Totally my own decision based on my own take, and no aspersions cast on anyone else’s decision.
Ronbb
May 8, 2023 at 1:34 pmI hear you. What Runa did and how she got a pass irritate me, too. I understand that sometimes a writer wants to add a conflict when introducing a new character, but that plot was a miss…it’s unnecessary. We will see what will come after this week, and how big of a role Runa plays.