To thine own self be true, for better or worse…
With apologies for that mixed metaphor, the (belated but thankfully, only by a week) finale of Just Because was more or less what I expected. This series has stayed pretty true to its vision and consistent in its direction from the beginning, and without any question that was one of its strengths. If that made the ending slightly predictable, so be it – let it also be said, certainly, that the fan reaction to said ending was even more predictable (about which I care not a whit, to be honest).
True to itself to the bittersweet end, the best part of the final episode of Just Because was not the scenes built around the various romantic angles, but the quiet moments that reflected on the end of these students’ high school lives. One reason I know Kobayashi Atsushi is a director to be watched is that he’s not afraid to work with silence and empty frames – and that he’s damn good at it. Just Because can communicate so much with an empty glance or an empty classroom – the absence of dialogue or of people tells us something emotionally just as much as words or actions do.
In that sense, this series is almost like a stylistic homage to mono no aware – which is all the more reason why I find it so eerily reminiscent of old-school P.A. Works. It’s almost hard to believe Kobayashi-sensei has no background at PAW, but indeed I can’t find any direct links to any of the key staff of Just Because. The obvious comparison to True Tears is certainly not miles off, but it’s more of a general mood and look than anything plot-specific – as I’ve said many times, I don’t believe this show is built around romance in the way that one was.
Nevertheless, no matter how often I deny it the romance is the reason a lot of people are here, and it’s the reason much of the fanbase is crying into their Cheerios this morning. First things first – that wry smile of Eita’s was indeed a reflection that he’d failed his Seizan exam, not that he’d passed it, as I suspected. This is a blessing in disguise, though of course for a boy who’s always looking for reasons why his bond with Mio should fail, it doesn’t seem that way at the time.
The interesting element of this is that Hazuki appears to have decided not to tell either of them what she knows, which I frankly find a bit puzzling. Certainly once the news is out that Eita failed the exam, she should at least approach him, shouldn’t she? I wouldn’t necessarily see that as a betrayal of Haruto’s confidence, though perhaps she’s worried about souring Haruto and Eita’s friendship. It would certainly have made graduation day considerably less complicated.
Once more, it’s the moments of quiet melancholy on graduation day that allow Just Because to show off its best side. There’s a strong sense of being in the moment – one can real feel what these students are feeling as they say goodbye to their home for the past three years. The nagging sense of panic at what’s to come, the urgent affection for what’s being lost (even if many of the days spent at the place were probably unpleasant for a lot of them). None of this is communicated through dialogue, and it doesn’t need to be.
While Ena never had a shot with Eita (much to the dismay of the modern anime fan), she does get a rather effective conclusion to her character arc, I think. I thought the “other” photo winning the first prize was a nice twist, and her final conversation with Eita has a nice sense of closure to it. The photo book she made for him really was a sweet gesture, and a clear reflection of the fact that she knew she never had a chance. At least unlike her sempai, she’s gotten her painful first romance out of the way with a year of high school still to work out the kinks for the next one.
Things come full circle as Eita and Haruto head back out to the diamond for a final confrontation, this time with Eita at the plate. The implication here is obvious – though I do find it a bit frustrating that Eita couldn’t at least have responded to Mio’s texts in the meantime. There’s a bit of the manufactured drama to this if I’m honest, between his lack of response and Hazuki not saying anything to him. We know it’s building up to something, but there’s an element of the plot driving the characters rather than the other way around. On the other hand a lack of open communication between Eita and Mio has been a staple of their relationship since the beginning, so again – to thine own self be true.
So Eita arrives at the hill late, in the end – and Mio never reads his LINE, much less responds to it? Hmm. It’s interesting to speculate whether Mio did, in the end, know that Eita was at Joei – and if so, how? Did Hazuki tell her, or did she spot him across the quad one day (perhaps this day)? I don’t begrudge Just Because a happy ending, even if it does feel a bit manufactured – I find the notion of these two trying to figure out how to live in a world where the truth is finally out there an interesting one, and that’s a good note to end on. It’s not a magical, fairy tale farewell like Tsuki ga Kirei’s, but then, this isn’t that sort of series.
I’ve compared those two shows before, and it’s kind of hard not to. And I think their respective endings are quite fitting, given that Tsuki ga Kirei’s reflects both the more idealistic nature of its 14 year-old’s view of love and the fact that it’s truly a story build around that love. Romance is a part of Just Because, but it’s a romance of compromise and measured expectations – one that accounts for all the complications life throws at you. Both Eita and Mio and Hazuki and Haruto’s resolutions reflect this, and it marks a refreshingly novel approach to a teenage love story for modern anime.
There are some flaws with Just Because, certainly, but on balance I think it’s a hugely admirable series – one which largely steers clear of romance tropes, even to the point where an audience looking for them is peeved at their absence. There’s a lot of talent on display here, and for Kobayashi and Pine Jam Just Because serves as evidence that the future could be bright indeed. P.A. Works certainly isn’t making shows like this anymore (to be honest, I think they may have forgotten how) so it’s nice to see someone moving in to fill that space. I, for one, hope against hope we see more series like this – ones that reflect the entire experience of being an adolescent with such restraint and insight.
Fall 2017 Rules
December 29, 2017 at 12:52 pmI’m glad you don’t hate Ena anymore ^^ She’s a good person.
Guardian Enzo
December 29, 2017 at 4:33 pmI wouldn’t say that I ever hated her, but I certainly did find her less annoying by the end. She just always struck me as the stock anime character in the cast, as compared to the other main players.
Dein
December 29, 2017 at 1:55 pmJust Because was definitely rough around the edges and could’ve used a longer format, but overall I enjoyed it. It was a mistake on my part to binge Tsuki ga Kirei between 11 and 12, since it somewhat eclipsed this show and a few of it’s elements, even if romance was never the focus of JB.
The final frames could’ve been left out as well, I think. There just wasn’t any weight behind that last sequence. They could’ve left the whole thing up in the air and that would’ve fit the shows narrative much better.
Either way, it was a good ride and hopefully it means bigger and better things for the studio.
PhilOz
December 30, 2017 at 3:27 amCome now mate, with all the hardcore Akane/Kotarou shipping we’ve seen from you, should you really be berating “modern anime fans” for shipping Ena/Eita? 🙂 It’s perfectly fine for you to focus on other aspects of this show, but for those interested in the romance angle as well, there were reasons for Ena/Eita outweighing Mio/Eita that went beyond mere character preference. One tends to find it hard to root for someone who rebounds onto a guy who was never her first choice and even then never actually does anything to indicate her feelings to him until the very end. It wouldn’t be a stretch to conclude that had Eita passed his impromptu entrance exam and ended up at Mio’s initial choice of uni, Mio would have let the whole thing go. Compare that to Ena’s developing chemistry with Eita; the way her more assertive nature nicely complemented his indecisive tendencies; the way she showed great care for him with plenty of meaningful actions; the way she made her feelings known and how hard she took the rejection – is it any wonder she had more people in her corner? If Eita hadn’t been been pining for Mio from way back and both girls had started from an equal footing, the outcome could have been quite different. I myself liked Mio well enough and would’ve also been fine with no romantic conclusion at all, but even though my initial reaction towards Ena was similar to your own, her effort did not go unnoticed and by the end she was the one I wanted to see rewarded the most.
Guardian Enzo
December 30, 2017 at 9:39 amI think you’re missing the point, really. My view isn’t that Eita should have been with Mio – it was that the romance in this show kind of doesn’t matter that much to begin with. And my issue with Ena isn’t the idea that she and Eita should end up together, but the hilariously incensed reactions of fans that they didn’t. If you haven’t read some of those I consider you fortunate.
PhilOz
December 31, 2017 at 12:28 amI’m curious which point you think I missed, since the very first thing I said was that as an occasional couple fanboy yourself, why not cut some slack to those shipping a couple in a show where for you romance wasn’t important but for some others it was. The rest of it was just me trying to explain why that couple was a fan favorite and why I liked it myself. That some fans behave immaturely is to be expected and doesn’t in intself mean that the issue they’re upset about has no legitimacy to it. I’m willing to bet you’d have reacted negatively if Kotarou had chosen that other girl who was after him whose name escapes me at the moment.
Guardian Enzo
December 31, 2017 at 1:55 pmWell, that’s fine – I take your point. I just think you’re accusing me of something I didn’t do.
I am me
December 30, 2017 at 5:01 amTsuki ga Kirei constantly tapped my own experiences, certainly not as sweet as Koutarou and Akane’s, and I honestly spent quite some time thinking about what could have been had I known what I know now about relationships back then. So to see Koutarou and Akane work things out in such a grounded reality makes me feel both happy for them but sad for my own mistakes. I’m happy with my own first long distance relationship now and I feel I even got a few pointers from the anime to help me out but its just interesting thinking back if I could’ve worked out my first love or relationship like they did.
I really enjoyed Just Because throughout its run but this was the only episode that made me as emotional as most of Tsuki ga Kirei. However while that show tapped into my own bittersweet experiences, Just Because, and especially this episode, tapped into my lack of them. I got expelled from highschool as a sophomore for a career in mischief rather than a single massive infraction. And instead of going to a different school, I quit highschool all together, homeschooled myself and got into university a year before many of my friends. And while I dare say I enjoyed the envy of my friends for waking up at 11AM everyday, partying all night every night and not having any homework or tests (save for SATs) for a year, I do feel I missed out a lot by not being able to have those last 2 years in highschool or graduate with my friends.
This episode especially really hit home what I’d missed out on in life. There are some events in life that universally level up a person’s maturity and I feel graduating from school is certainly one of them. On some level I felt emotionally stunted for years until my university graduation and even then I still feel I hadn’t made as huge an emotional leap into the unknown future like going from school to university just because I’d already experienced work life through internships and as my school friends were busy, my homeschooling year was spent mostly with some older college friends (free underage drinking for the win)
At one point in the episode I really wished I had been able to go to school again, through waking up early, having to do homework and tests, partying only on the weekends and maybe work out my first love (the homeschooling world is one of slim pickings for dating, though I guess with Tinder its probably easier now) just to enjoy a day like the one in the finale of Just Because. At some point you realize that life is but a passage of time and holds no importance for your damned personal situation. Jobs change, relationships change, locales change. You simply get up each time and go one with the flow of it. Part of growing up is understanding that change is intrinsic to living and moving on with little to no fuss is what makes us adults. But I do wish I could go back to a time before I knew that, when letting go of school life and friends to go to university life felt like walking into a blackhole.
Innocence is truly a wonderful thing, its a shame we have to give it up one day, whether we realize it or not.
Guardian Enzo
December 30, 2017 at 9:36 amComment of the year candidate – thank you.
I am me
December 30, 2017 at 6:04 pmYour welcome and thank you for the high praise with a nomination. The subject matter and your writing inspired me to be a little eloquent and write about something deep inside me. Not deep in a painful way but in a distant way, a feeling I know is so intrinsic to my sense of self or personality and yet too far off to truly confront. It exists within me but is outside of my reach and I’ve accepted it without being able to question its legitimacy as a part of me.
A Happy New Year to you Enzo
Griffin
January 5, 2018 at 3:43 pmI really like your review Enzo 🙂 Thank you for this.
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2018 at 3:44 pmYou’re very welcome Griffin, and thanks for commenting.