Catch the other episode reviews here
Last episode, we finished up the Kamiya stuff. Well, the drama part.
My Thoughts
We begin with Izumi being sick and unable to come to school. Pretty normal, but Shikimori gets upset because he tells Inuzuka and not her. I kind of get that. You would feel left out. I probably would. Also, as a warning, this will not be nearly as fact-checked as some of these other reviews as far as what is and isn’t in the manga. I’m away from my normal setup. Thus I don’t have the manga next to me for once. Sue me, I know.
The main plot point of this first half is some bonding between Inuzuka and Shikimori of all people. Inu is going to visit Izumi, and Shikimori wants to tag along. The two spend time together, not really fighting, but Inu is still uncomfortable because every other look he gets from her is one of anger or disgust, but they’re getting along ok. He does want to do better, though, because nobody wants to get murdered in their sleep or something.
After picking out coughdrops, Shikimori buys Inu some he likes, showing that she’s still sweet, although I will say that part always seems weirdly out of character to me. She and Inu, in general, kind of do. Basically, Hachimitsu, who was stalking them, reveals that Shikimori has an older brother (which we knew) and projects him onto Inuzuka. The accidentally calling him “Nii-san” bit didn’t help.
This doesn’t really make sense to me, and I always thought it was forced. Like their relationship has, and will be, Shikimori getting intensely jealous of him and Izumi because she’s, frankly, very needy. Now that’s not a bad thing, per se, some people require more attention than others, but their relationship has never even slightly seemed like siblings, so I do think they kind of pulled that out of nowhere, but still sweet, I guess.
They never actually see Izumi, which is how you know this is the friendship episode. The second half is also very much following that theme. This time focusing on Kamiya, Nekozaki, and Shikimori. Well, Neko and Shikimori find Kamiya while they’re already out, and they all agree to hang out. Something that Kamiya never does. It’s basically part of her image to be a loner, but again, the image forced on her. It’s not what she wanted.
I relate to Kamiya a lot, not for the loved and popular part, but very much for the being seen as someone you’re not thing. I give off a very standoffish aura, and while I do enjoy my alone time, I don’t prefer being alone. I prefer hanging out with people I like to being alone, believe it or not. That’s just not what people think when they see me IRL, though.
As Kamiya hangs out, she begins to open up a lot more, smile more, and in general, just be happier. She’s happy, and that’s very different from how people are used to seeing her. Nekozaki picks up that someone changed her, but Kamiya can’t really say why without telling her the whole I love my friend but am still friends with his girlfriend thing. But she wants to tell Neko at some point. It’s just not something you can say out of nowhere, you know?
This episode was very good, I think. Not the most exciting one. Izumi isn’t even in it. But this is one of the character-building episodes that are necessary. They decided to help establish the relationships some of these side characters have with each other, and that’s always nice to see. It reminds me of Horimiya a bit, which is a series I really enjoyed that loved their side characters.
Shikimori doesn’t have the most in-depth characters you’ve ever seen, but you can tell from this episode that they are trying to flesh them out, even if it doesn’t always make sense. Kamiya, at the very least, is great. I really like her character a lot, but I know there are a few people that don’t get her, which is also fine. She’s not just some homewrecker, people. She’s a good character, I swear.
Thank you very much for reading
That was nice after a two-week break.
