I went through a bout of ennui earlier today, when I was just lolling around in the midday heat of June. I started ep10 and had to abandon it about 5min in; I just couldn't focus. But watching (and finishing) Final Approach made me crave some "proper" romance, so I became focused again.
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| Girls like this kind of stuff...? |
This batch of Sekai-ichi featured the two non-main couples, finishing up the story between Kisa and Yukina (which began in ep08) and then providing another fixing of Yoshino and Tori. While ep09 wrapped up nicely, without requiring any further direct attention this season, ep10 still didn't complete the story of Yuu and his place in the Yoshino-Tori pairing, so I wonder about the focus of the remaining episodes. Either way, it was business as usual.
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| That's what happens when you're thinking about love all day~ |
Ep09 began with the next day after the previous episode, with a mini-flashback from Kisa. Like a typical uke, he ran away after being "attacked" by his seme, and then whined about it the next day. Also in typical fashion, his work life isn't going so well either, and so there was a double-dosage of sadness. Takano could do well to give him a little encouragement, but I guess that's just not the type of boss that he is.
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| So much wasted coffee...! |
Like a magnet, Kisa headed to the bookstore after work to soothe his woes (although he denied it). For his part, Yukina was very excited, and also revealed that a few days had passed in between the two episodes (not one night, as I had supposed). These were days that he spent waiting for Kisa, I'm sure. Unsurprisingly, Yukina asked him to wait for him to finish work, and Kisa did. (Sometimes, I wonder what would happen if they just
didn't wait. End of story? I'd be smarting after that kind of brush-off...)
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| I need to get one of those hats... |
Sometimes, I wonder what happens to the people that are used as props in shoujo and shounen-ai stories. I'm sure they have pretty interesting stories of their own, no? Unless they're really lecherous beasts that go around making trouble for people until their other-halves show up. Either way, Kisa's former flame from the previous episode showed up again, hitting on him and goading him, until Yukina showed up as the knight in shining armour, leading to Kisa following him to his house.
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| Saying that to a girl would surely go well. |
Sometimes, I also wonder why it's so easy to get someone to drop by your house. I understand that there's a story that needs to progress, but come on. Anyway, things got pretty interesting with this couple, with Yukina also appearing to like Kisa on a shallow level (he came to the bookstore everyday, so it "forced" Yukina to think about him). The idea that they were drawn together by "fate" was interesting, since it was very plausible. I don't know clearly how editors work, but Kisa would probably always do a certain type of shoujo story, or he might have some tell-tale editing signs, which caused Yukina to be attracted to all of his work.
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| Trying to pretend you're not excited about that text. Poser. |
Ep09 ended with the two having begun a relationship (and, surprisingly, with extremely minimal BL content), after acknowledging that their initial reasons for being attracted to each other were less than solid. While not a very strong story, I did like this tertiary pairing quite a lot - more than the tertiary pairing from Junjou Romantica, which I didn't feel was fleshed out enough.
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| That's pretty detailed for a sketch, given how much time he had. |
Ep10 surprised me by being about Yoshino and Tori, the secondary couple; I had genuinely assumed that the story would head back to Ritsu and Takano. At any rate, this episode didn't solve the question of who Yuu liked; it only added to the "mystery". I feel hesitant to say that he likes Yoshino, because he seems pretty passive about "winning him over". It might be that the kiss in the rainy alley between Yuu and Tori was planned, such that Yoshino would see and the one that he was most hung-up over would be an answer for both of them. Is that a little too much to hope from BL?
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| You're a couple. Wouldn't he not listen to you with that offer? |
At any rate, this episode began with Tori walking in on Yoshino and Yuu being physically close (nothing romantic), and walked away (obviously extremely jealous and pissed off). Despite wanting to apologize, Yoshino choked up at all the right times and caused Tori to "lose control". It's rare for an ero scene to be in the middle of a BL episode (usually the episode will
end with these types of scenes, if at all), and I was right; Yoshino fell asleep right before Tori could assert his dominance. (A lesser man would have just continued. Go, Tori~)
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| I saw Titanic. I know what happens of nude paintings. |
The hot spring portion of the episode really had me on the edge of my seat; I worried about Yoshino, the little lamb, being alone in the company of Yuu, a cunning hawk. I'm really not into love triangles where stuff other than yearning happens (and only barely can I accept that, even). Luckily, Yoshino thought about Tori the entire time, to the point that Yuu (kind of resignedly) noticed and commented on it. The scene also featured a cake and champagne that Yuu had cleverly prepared for Yoshino, since it was the latter's birthday - an event that he himself had forgotten.
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| By and by, you know. |
The drawing of Yoshino's unclothed upper body led to a surprising confession from Yuu; was it because he was a little drunk? I had never expected such inhibition from him. As he approached Yoshino's chair and held him down (absolutely like a seme), I began to genuinely worry because Yoshino probably wasn't the type to be able to do anything about it. However, his cell phone rang with Tori on the other end and he quickly rushed out to take it. It must have sucked for Yuu at that point, having Yoshino callously run out to Tori at such a time.
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| It's really corny out of context, but can work in the moment. |
Tori's meagre attempts at passing off the phone call as work-related didn't work for Yoshino, who saw through him and immediately realized that he was in the wrong and absolutely needed to make things right. I was extremely happy as he apologized to Yuu for running out...and then ran out. The quick trip back to Tori's house made me wonder why Tori couldn't have joined them, since I assumed the distance was what caused it to not be feasible on a weekday, but whatever. This scene featured the two of them verbally making up, and Tori clearly voicing that he was jealous when Yoshino was with another man, especially Yuu. As difficult of a request as it was for both sides, Yoshino did seem to understand Tori's feelings and agreed to be more careful. There was off-screen physical making up, probably.
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| Their mutual shyness is so cute! |
It was a pretty good couple of episodes, giving more focus to the non-main couples. I still question what Yuu is really doing, but I wonder if it'll be shown with only 2-3 more episodes to go. I think, for the most part, the tertiary pairing is done for this season. If there's another episode not dedicated to Ritsu and Takano, it'll definitely be for the Yuu-Yoshino-Tori situation. I'm already hoping for a second season, because I know a handful of episodes isn't enough.
~Aaro
