Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou – 11
Not quite walking off into the sunset yet
The other thing I can do with the TV in my room is watch a movie while I’m trying to blog something, although this usually lengthens the time it takes to write the post. Especially when watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But let’s find out what happened in Kawaisou this week.
Piling On is Condition Normal
Hmm, this might not be good
As always happens in Kawaisou, whenever anyone senses a weakness, it’s piling on time. And the target of the piling can change in an instant. For instance, Sayaka encourages Mayumi to get a pet, not for friendship, but because of less wholesome reasons. But when faced with the idea of it being a rabbit, Sayaka won’t actually let on the reason she’s against that in particular, trying to pass it off instead as another dig at Mayumi. And when Ritsu is asked whether she likes dogs or cats, and Sumiko remembers that she likes large dogs, Usa becomes the target of the jibes. I do think that Ritsu’s reluctance to say that Usa’s like a big dog is her actually defending him, in that he’s more thoughtful and an actual person.
Time for the Country Girl!
But the focus quickly shifts back to Sayaka when her middle-school friend Tsuneko shows up, full of country accents and calling Sayaka “Nabe.” Even more, she’s full of Sayaka’s secrets and history, the perfect source for everyone else at Kawaisou to finally get on a more even footing with Sayaka, or more like bring her down to everyone else’s level. And I don’t get the impression that it’s just Tsuneko’s bumpkin-esque personality accidentally revealing all this about Sayaka, I think it’s good natured piss-taking, the sharing and insulting that good friends do. And it’s something that Sayaka at least endures, even if Sayaka thinks she wants to get rid of Tsuneko ASAP.
Sayaka still cares
But it’s obvious that although Sayaka is embarrassed at Tsuneko coming to visit and reminding her of her own country past, Sayaka does care for her friendship with Tsuneko, even to the point of performing a makeover to help her with some of the people that would give her a hard time at the reunion. It’s just really obvious that Sayaka is too uncomfortable with her own self to be able to deal with her friend on natural terms. Maybe sometime in the future she’ll be able to be honest about that, and accept herself for all of her parts. Even those that are not that cute without makeup and scared of bunnies.
Usa learns a new meaning of “scary”
Too Much Friendship
Yay, a new friend!
I’m sure we’ve all gotten into that kind of friendship at one point or another: where it gets out of control and interferes with the rest of your life. And although Usa had the right intentions when he breaks Ritsu out of her reading reverie to acknowledge Maemura who takes an interest in Ritsu’s reading. And Ritsu really seems to enjoy having someone to talk about books with… until the condition of having a friend starts taking up so much time that she can’t actually do any reading. What starts out with some short conversations about books and reciprocal recommendations escalates to walking to classes together, walking home together, repeatedly going to the bathroom, exchanging phone numbers, and then a pile of text messages.
This doesn’t look like a good situation for Ritsu
And even though Usa’s run some interference for Ritsu’s new friendship, like getting Sayaka and Mayumi presentable and Shiro out of the way, he realizes that he’s never even gotten Ritsu’s phone number or email address, and that the small victories he’s had are evaporating without acknowledgment. And in typical anime protagonist fashion, he takes this as a rejection and that she’s never been interested in him. But the roughest part for Ritsu comes later when she’s invited out to a meetup at the library with some other girls that turns out to be a mixer with karaoke, completely foreign territory. Can Usa do anything to help her there?
It was a good thing the Star Trek movie ended, otherwise I might never have finished this. 🙂 But speaking of endings, next week is the last episode for Kawaisou, and Usa may have the opportunity to go rescue Kawai. I don’t think we’ll get a really confess-y ending, unfortunately, even though that breaks my rule that all romance animes should end with a couple. I’ve really enjoyed the series so far, and think it’ll have a good ending, but I wish it would go further.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Oh, it was so good seeing Sayaka taken down a bit; no one belongs on that lofty a high for long. Good measure showing her crack just a touch. It was enough to give her more character, but didn’t break her essential nature.
At this point, it would be easier for Usa to learn how to write and slip his work under Ritsu’s nose. But I don’t know if that would even work…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Who the heck is terrified of rabbits? Someone who as a child was traumatized by the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Or did Sayaka’s family raise rabbits and as a little girl she went into the pen to feed them and was swarmed and knocked down by them? Whatever, it was good to see that Sayaka’s weakness was actually a ridiculous one. A character who’s so tough-seeming and ready to exploit the slightest weakness anyone else shows needs to have a ridiculous weakness of their own to offset the rest of their personality.
I also don’t think this will end with Ritsu and Usa as a couple. He just doesn’t seem to have made enough progress for that to seem like anything but a contrived, happy ending. Although if he does save her from her new, clingy friend and the karaoke mixer that must be a pain for her that does open the possibility for him to start making real progress with her.
Season Two anyone? That would be the one for Ritsu and Usa to make progress as a couple.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Rabbits are evil
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I dunno, I think Usa’s reached critical mindshare. What he needs now is a catalyzing event. Now, I don’t think that the show will get to a confession, but Ritsu is realizing that Usa is a caring person who gets along with her well, even as difficult as she is, and that she thinks kind thoughts about him. So the battle is 80% won, it’s just not formalized. There’s the confounding factor that they live together, and that can actually be a big brake on a relationship, especially for someone who thinks as much as Ritsu. But if she graduated, or Usa moved out, who knows if she’d forget about him.