After the placid story-telling of AnoHana and the rapid randomness of OreTsuba, it was a nice change of pace to watch this. Isn't that what BL is all about?
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| Does it get pinker and flower-ier every week? |
So, ep07 dealt with more about Ritsu and Takano, specifically with the direct interference of Yokozawa. On the other hand, ep08 shifted the story completely to the tertiary couple, Kisa and Yukina, even shifting the timeline back to circa ep03 (which means that, should Kisa and Yukina be super happy with each other, it's already been shown in recent episodes with Kisa in the background). Try as I might, this batch doesn't encompass all of Kisa's story, which will continue into ep09. The "cliffhanger", as usual, makes it worth looking forward to.
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| I wonder if there will be any more between Ritsu and the CEO...? |
In ep07, there was some "deepening" of our understanding of the past love story between Ritsu and Takano, although not really. I mean, their memories all seem to occur in that library, and it also seems that the pre-relationship was much longer than the actual relationship (I assume they broke up within days). The theme of this episode was definitely how Ritsu's feelings for Takano are growing, and Yokozawa helped it along by laying claim to Takano in typical seme-style. This, of course, caused Ritsu to think about Takano even more (if possible; he's thinking about him the entire time he's on screen already...), so the third point in this triangle served his purpose well.
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| I want a clear umbrella! Much cooler than the solid one... |
This episode also had the requisite "jealousy" scene, wherein Ritsu saw Takano with a woman (while he was also in the restaurant with a woman). It wasn't that much of a surprise that Takano was more annoyed about his uke being out with a woman than the other way around; Ritsu is still pretending to not like the guy, right? It let to typical force-kissing, wherein Ritsu was dragged to Takano's apartment (yet again...). I'm pleased to see that there has been some development, whereas Ritsu seems more into the intimacy than before, leading it to be less an act of rape on Takano's part. I'm pretty curious as to when Ritsu will finally crack; he seems pretty physically ready to go already.
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| You mean his ass, instead? |
I'm curious about Yokozawa's (uncontested) declaration that Takano has a hard time letting go of "past relationships"; particularly, the plural state. He's already made it clear that he's never forgotten Ritsu, with memories of their relationship haunting him in every successive one he attempted. I'm curious if it's just that Yokozawa doesn't know that Ritsu is the root of this problem that's caused Takano to be messed up in every relationship, or if there really is more about Takano's inability to let go. It's a little too perfect that he's focused on Ritsu 100% already, with no development, although it's pretty typical that the seme is like this in BL. With only a few more episodes to go (and two other couples that'll take screentime), this is probably a groundless curiosity.
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| Yukina has the power to make the animation quality drop~ |
Ep08 began without any beating around the bush; Kisa has been attracted to Yukina for quite some time, dropping by the (local?) bookstore simply to see him. His take on love is interesting; he finds himself attracted to looks and has been hurt by it a lot in the past. With Yukina being extremely good-looking (in his eyes, although I must admit that sparkly men usually imply drop-dead gorgeous), he's wary of the root of his feelings and has attempted to keep his thoughts at bay the entire time. Despite this, he's still visited the bookstore regularly to essentially stalk Yukina.
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| Typical seme scene of protection. |
Considering this episode was based on Kisa primarily, there was absolutely no revealing of Yukina's internal thoughts. Suffice it to say, he positioned himself quite clearly as the seme of the relationship, given that Kisa's thoughts led to vulnerability and the desire to be "saved", so to speak, which is pretty typical of the uke archetype. It would have been pretty boring if the the entire episode was devoted to Kisa being depressed about his love life; luckily, it was also devoted to him being depressed in his career. It was actually pretty interesting to see, considering Kisa could be considered to be in a rut. He obviously has talent to be in his position, since Takano wouldn't keep dead-weight on his team, so all that's left is for Yukina to introduce some sunshine and sparkles.
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| Even if you hide it, everyone can tell... |
Yokozawa played a hand in this episode as well, forcibly taking Kisa to meet Yukina (there was some plot device of meeting the manager of the store that sells his books a lot, but no matter). Unlike with Ritsu and Takano, Yokozawa has no particular interest in either of these two, so they were left alone to develop. Like with most episodes in this anime, it ended with some physical development. There's no reason to assume that Yukina doesn't also have feelings for Kisa, leading them to begin dating (or at least just sleeping together at first); it might be too cliche, but it's hard to say that it'll develop in any other way.
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| There also should be a limit as to how old you can look too, but oh well... |
A quick note about my subs: after picking up Sekai since I was horribly disillusioned with HorribleSubs, I found out that the subs are actually the same, with font differences and honorifics placed in. While it bothered me, it was acceptable since I would rather some improvement. However, immediately after I decided to pick them up, they stopped subbing (or are extremely delayed, as they're still stuck on ep05). Sigh~ I hope aarinfantasy really does pick up the DVD, like rumours have it.
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| Isn't it creepy to work next to pinkness like that? |
So, ep09 will continue with Kisa and Yukina, and then most likely bounce back to Ritsu and Takano. If this is a 12ep series, as I assume it is, that leaves only three unknown episodes. I suspect there will be a second season to cover a lot of the remaining plot points, just like Junjou Romantica. Is it too much to hope that the primary couple will at least be together in a month?
~Aaro
