I’ll freely admit that some of the conceptions I had about Yubisaki no Renren look like misconceptions now.  It might just be Shigatsu scar tissue, but I have seen that syndrome repeat itself multiple times.  My improved outlook on this series comes down mostly to one simple factor – it doesn’t seem to be nearly as screwed up in its outlook as I thought it was.  It still has a couple of episode to prove me wrong, but that’s looking less and less likely every week.

No element of the series embodies this more than Itsuomi.  I had him pegged pretty wrongly, it looks like.  He’s proved himself to be quite smart and respectful in the way he’s approached his relationship with Yuki.  And I really appreciated that the thing with Oushi’s call didn’t turn into a big drama.  Itsuomi didn’t answer Yuki’s phone (which would have been wrong altogether).  He makes sure she knows Oushi called her, and offers his help if she needs it.  In short he did everything right here, exactly as it should have been done.  That reflects well on both him and the writing.

I also liked his decision to mute the TV when they were watching a movie – so he could see what the experience was like for her.  A bit theatrical I admit, but I think genuine.  Itsuomi really is interested in Yuki’s differentness rather than pitying her for it.  As for the rest of it, I got the sense that he went into the “sleepover” with a play it by ear attitude.  He’s obviously experienced, but knows Yuki is not.  If she’d been more at ease, he might have pushed nudged things further along.  She obviously was anything but, so he applied the brakes and rolled out the futon.  Obviously he wants to get physical with her, but that doesn’t make him a bad person – her’s her boyfriend.

As for how Itsuomi handled the rest of the situation with Oushi, that’s a bit more complicated.  It was certainly unusual but it should be noted that he never sought out a confrontation (apart perhaps from being a little cheeky at the train station)  – Oushi initiates the contact.  Itsuoumi is no dope, he knows the score here.  He knows how Oushi feels about Yuki, and he knows that he’s still a child compared to him.  I think in the final analysis it was probably better for Itsuomi to get this out in the open (skip the bullshit, in his words) than let it fester.  Though it could certainly be argued that’s exactly what he’s done with Emma.

Oushi comes off as rather pathetic here, no two ways about it, but he is in a pretty miserable situation.  He never knew how to treat Yuki in such a way as to make her interested in him (which Itsuomi has done).  He patronized her and took her for granted, and eventually she fell for someone else.  And if it hadn’t been Itsuomi it still wouldn’t have been him.  It was easy to pretend otherwise when she wasn’t with anyone, but that’s impossible now, and Itsuomi is the logical thing for him that lash out against petulantly.  Like Emma Oushi needs more than anything to deal with reality and move on, and he has more clarify about his situation than she does.  In that sense, you could say Itsuomi did him a favor.