This week, on Hirose Fanclub…
After what I would say was a bit of a stumble last week, Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! is right back on it with this episode. Hilarious, frantic, a bit creepy – all the things we love about this show (and its namesake). We start right off in the cold open with a fantasy sequence which shows where Nakura’s head is at with regards to Hirose. For the record I knew it was an Icchan thing pretty early on, but it was still a good gag. And a reminder that among the many reasons octopus don’t make good pets is that escape artist thing.
Still – fantasy or no, Nakamura is feeling a bit emboldened by being officially Hirose’s friend. So much so that he brazenly approaches him on the first day of school to mark his territory, only to let out a low “Yo” and stumble away. Nakamura seethes at the easy familiarity between Hirose and Ohmori-kun, the closeness of childhood friends. Then one of Hirose’s pals (he seems to have them in every class) pops in to borrow his PE uniform. For the record, I know teenage boys are pretty gross about such things but there’s no way in hell I would have let anybody else wear my PE clothes (or worn anyone else’s).
This was definitely the ecchiest episode so far. That really kicks in when Nakamura is the only one in the class when the PE uniform gets returned. I mean, Nakamura-kun does understand this is wrong but honestly, there was no way he wasn’t gonna seize that opportunity. At least he has the good grace to feel terrible about doing so – and about how stinky the clothes were. But not as terrible as he does when hinds out they’re actually the ones Hirose borrowed from class behemoth Todoroki-kun, voiced by Miyake Kenta no less (All Might voicing Todoroki, seriously?).
That’s only the warmup, though, for the arrival of another of Hirose’s childhood friends, Matsumura Ko (another big name, Ono Kenshou). After Nakamura collapses from shock (Todoroki carries him to the nurse’s office) Hirose (seriously, could he be any nicer) offers to walk him home. Awaiting them outside is Matsumura-kun, who attends a highfalutin college prep school nearby. Hirose has a date to eat with him, though he says he’s forgotten. Nakamura immediately goes about DEFCON 2 at the tall, striking Ko’s arrival but it’s agreed the three will walk home together. Then Hirose gets called into a meeting with the committee advisor.
This next scene is weird, wild stuff. It is genuinely creepy and hilarious at the same time, no doubt about it. I don’t know if there’s something more to this – I’m vibing that Hirose is seriously a bit freaked out by Matsumura, who tells Nakamura Hirose “ignores 80%” of the messages he sends every day. But it’s hard to say for sure. The thing is Hirose is so nice that he’d probably keep seeing Matsumura even if he was creeped out. The mood swings here are breakneck. Nakamura’s jealousy of Mo’s looks, then a seeming turn towards them bonding over Hirose befriending them despite their awkwardness. And then, full stalker.
Yeah, my immediate thought was “why does he have those photos?” too – that’s when you knew. I don’t think there’s any read on this except thay Matsumura is a full-blown stalker – I’d like to think at lengths Nakamura wouldn’t go to. But there’s no denying he’s into it too, and much of what he’s done probably crosses the line. The punchline here is the gym uniform Matsumura carries around in his back (how creepy is that), which Nakamura promptly steals and inhales it. Then the two fight over it and rip it, only to find out Ko has been carrying around Todoroki’s middle school PE uniform for years because Hirose is so absent-minded and always was.
Not to belabor the point, but there’s a lot of stuff here people would be really offended by if Hirose were a girl. I’ve spoken about how this series objectifies Hirose in a very profound way – largely because we see events through Nakamura’s perspective. But it actually goes deeper than that, Hirose is unbelievably kind and indeed pure – a truly wonderful person. Is that who he really is, and it’s just a function of how he’s written as an object more than a real person? It is still reflective of Nakamura’s biases, and we’re not seeing the real (or at least full) Hirose? How aware is Hirose of the way he’s being viewed, and if he is, does it bother him in any way? I don’t know if any of those questions will be addressed but I’d certainly be curious to know the answers.
