At this point I’d say flat-out that Sayonara Lara has fully won me over. I love that it doesn’t feel the need to explain every weird thing that happens – and a lot of them happen. There’s nothing wrong with a story making sense, but not making sense can totally work if the writing embraces it. It works on many levels as a love story, none of them conventional. Which is of course fitting, as “love” is the core tenet of the plot. Just not in the way it usually is, one suspects. And one of those ways is as a love letter to Shiga, my neighbor prefecture to the east. It’s a too-often overlooked place I have enormous affection for myself, so that’s great to see.

This narrative has been a process of layering in new elements and new characters, usually without a lot of preamble. They just take over for a while and we get to know them. This time it’s Luca, the boy we saw at the end of last week’s episode. Is he the Prince? A reincarnation? Mari doesn’t know any of that but she does act decisively. That “thud” we heard was not her putting her boxing stills to use, but pushing Lara into Lake Biwa. The idea of course is to protect Lara’s secret identity but it doesn’t work – Luca saw what he saw. And Lara’s flippers turned back into legs when she hit the water.

What happened? Auntie Witch isn’t sure, at least that she’s admitting. Intensity of feeling had something to do with it, clearly. The next day at Andeken the blonde boy turns up with Lara’s clothes in a bag. An awkward conversation takes place at the register. He beckons her closer and asks if anyone else knows she’s a mermaid; horrified, she begs him never to mention it to anyone. He agrees and asks for her number – she says she doesn’t have done so he gives her his, analog style. Then he turns around to walk out and just before he gets to the door, falls flat on his face.

It’s hard to convey in words how fun this scene is in a delightfully weird way. Also great fun is when Mari tries to teach Lara how to send LINE messages using voice dictation, and because Laura is pressing the send button everything they say blasts out to Luca – including Mari exclaiming “It’s a date!”. Luca matter-of-factly tells Lara to meet her at Biwako Terrace at 10 AM the next day. They take the ropeway up (it’s a ski resort in the winter), then the ski lift even higher when clouds are spoiling the view. But it’s cloudy up there too, and Luca seems resoundingly put out that the weather isn’t obediently following the forecast.

Let me say up front, Luca is a great addition to the cast. He’s a weird kid in a totally charming way. And crucially for plot purposes, whatever his connection to the Prince (who flashbacks suggest may not have been as bad as originally depicted) he’s a totally good guy. Luca is sweet and romantic and quite daft, in fact. When he goes to grab two curry pan and falls yet again, he responds to Lara exclaiming “Thank goodness the food is safe!” by eating both. He then invites Lara to a “secret place”. This turns out to be an old house he uses as a painting studio. And waiting for them is Leo, who I’m almost 100% sure is a boy even though he wears a frilly dress. No explanation there either, this is Sayonara Lara.

Luca (superb work as usual by Murase Ayumu here) puts up with a lot from Lara. She clearly doesn’t get his impressionist style, and laughs uproariously at his portrait of her (which I found rather endearing). The problem is, an incident with his palette knife brings back memories of the Prince, and Lara realizes just what the dagger in the sky is. It’s her heart, and when she’s worked up, it can hurt people. As it nearly did the Prince on that fateful day. So she retreats and tries to cut Luca off, but he stubbornly refuses to give up until finally, she relents and goes – at Mari’s urging – to at least cut things off cleanly with him.

There’s no question that what Luca said to Lara was exactly what she’s been needing to hear for 200 years-plus. And the ending montage with the Lake Biwa Fireworks Festival was gorgeous. I love too that this didn’t play out as you might expect. Mari acts supportive in fact (if anything Yoshiya seems to be jealous). But what does all this mean? I’m not sure we can conclude that Luca is the true love Lara was supposed to find – that seems too straightforward for a series as cattywampus this one. And Lara’s shoes being soaking wet after the fireworks despite not a drop of rain doesn’t seem like a good augury for this relationship.