Haaaaaaah~ Thank goodness they got over that love triangle real quick. For something that de-escalated rather discreetly, that was quite a commotion they made last week. Either way, this episode sets things up straight again and basically showed us how it really should be done.
There’s certainly an air of finality looming in its atmosphere now that we’re nearing the end. Hitomi telling her friends about her worries and situation is always wonderful news as it’s a visible sign that she’s willing to wiggle out of her comfort zone to be with them an inch closer. Until now, us watching from this side of the screen were already made aware of the secrets Hitomi is hiding even before she shared them with others. The latest confession from this episode isn’t so different in essence besides the fact that it’s something we had no prior knowledge of. And so as soon as the story about her mom came gushing out of her mouth, I’m sure I heard a collective sigh of relief as well as sounds of people choking back their sobs. M-me? Naw, I was holding it like a boss! Really! sniff Ugh. This is pretty much the first instance I’ve ever felt the weight of what she’s been keeping locked up inside of her — you can really feel that each time she shares a part of herself, the walls she built to hide her true feelings gets taken down one by one.
It… it is very difficult to share something so personal with others. How many people have you met? How many dozens of friends have you made, and how many of those looked up to you one day and showed you their pathetic and vulnerable side? It takes courage, it takes time, it takes trust, but sometimes all it takes is the right person to give you a bit of a poke, sorta like flicking the first tile on a train of dominoes. There’s this stone figure in Hitomi’s subconscious that would remind you of those sculpture guarding a shrine/temple. Aoi stumbled upon that “room” without so much of a resistance from her, so perhaps… after years of keeping it to herself, deep down Hitomi might’ve been yearning for someone to pry its doors open. I mean, you can’t really open the door for others when you’re a stone statue, right? I don’t know, but the metaphors here makes a lot of sense in my perspective and is quite mimetic of my own inner landscape the more I think about it.
Short thoughts:
- At this rate the last wall Hitomi has to break is her feelings towards Aoi (and vice versa).
- There’s some parallelism between Hitomi and Aoi’s situation and past (losing a parent, drawing, moving on etc) which is nice because at least there’s a grounded thread tying their romance/relationship together.
- That river. Reminds me of 3-gatsu where they use it a lot symbolically.
- Dang, dude. That pensive piano piece near the end nailed it. The way the love triangle panned out last week left a terrible taste in my mouth, but I’m at least glad they handled this episode effectively — nothing fancy nor pretentious, just a few notes from the piano plus a melancholic backdrop was enough to generate them feels.
Nichi Nichi-chan 