Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara – Episodes 8 & 9

Time to cue the classic love triangle, lassies.

It’s there, it was bound to happen, and now it’s spreading like wildfire. It isn’t really about the show per se but I hoped Irozuku would’ve kept its romance low-key, the sort that develops with minimal drama — or at least didn’t make too much of a deal with it. Sure, this turnaround was already telegraphed from the start and I dreaded seeing the “romance” tag in there, though there were a couple of instances wherein they managed to make my tummy go butterflies thanks to some cute, unpretentious lovey-dovey interactions between the characters.

It’s probably because I’m now too old for this, or I’ve already watched a dozen samples from this genre or whatever the reason is, but this trite melodrama is sticking its vapid head in an otherwise unique and interesting anime. Irozuku has a lot of positive things to show for — pretty visuals, likeable set of side characters, charming main protagonist, interesting premise, interesting settings — and yet here they are, feebly trying to cover some dejected dude’s screaming by timing it with the Wind Instrument Club’s practice… and he was still heard by probably the entire campus eitherway. Like what was the point? If the guy’s so frustrated then let him scream his lungs out. I’m not sure why they have to bother being fancy about this. Or maybe the whole point of the attempted “cover up” was to visualize Sho’s inner turmoil, that no matter how cool he pretends to be he’s so mad it spills out anyway. Nope, still ain’t buying it. I guess the problem here isn’t exactly the genre itself but moreso Irozuku‘s oftentimes ineffectual way to sell an intended feeling or emotion. It’s a shame, really, because they already have all the tools to make that defining scene impactful, just like how they handled that moment weeks ago where Hitomi was able to see colors again.

I know, it just sounds like I’m cherrypicking here but if anything what really set me off here is poor Asagi — this is more of a case of whoever wrote the scenario but it still bothered me nonetheless. Sho got rejected, Asagi is now in the middle of everything and she knows it, and because of that, well, we’ll probably never ever going to see her go out with Sho in this timeline. They’re still an item and will likely end up marrying each other, that’s for sure, but Sho dating her while Hitomi is still around sounds terribly like a dick move and doesn’t offer any satisfying closure to her teenage love life. To be Asagi is suffering, and I can’t even blame her for her lack of initiative because Sho hasn’t really shown any sign of romantic interest towards her, so it didn’t really matter whether or not she confessed to him first before he wooed Hitomi. Maybe if she confessed to him earlier they would’ve already been dating now, but c’mon people, sorting out your feelings doesn’t sound as easy as you think it would be. Oh well, whatever. I guess this is just one way they could spice things up and give Hitomi a reason to tuck her tail between her legs and go back into the future, but of course that isn’t going to end there, although I’m sure she’d still go back to where she came from regardless of the reason why.

Short thoughts:

• I mean… if Asagi confesses to Sho now which is likely what’s going to happen, they still won’t end up dating each other soon (not unless Sho’s a jerk and takes the rebound). But at least that would get a load off from her chest. Let’s just see how they’ll play this out in the next episode.
• It’s funny that Hitomi now has a following in her class with some of the boys even having a crush on her.
• That bespectacled dude manning the bookstore looks very suspicious. Maybe he’s who Kohaku is going to end up with. I guess that might explain where Hitomi’s quiet and reserved personality came from.
• Jeez. Hitomi’s proving to be a great photographer. Those are some nice shots, I’d say.
• That… postcard of a rabbit covering its own face. Cute.