Impression
I’ve decided that I quite like Touko as a character. She can be rather slow on the uptake with things pertaining to romance and relationships, but it’s way more adorkable than it is frustrating – and it was amusing to see her get all conscious about the oddly calm dynamics between Yanagi and Yukinari. Although I wasn’t too impressed by how she casually invited Kakeru hiking with her group the same day after a guy had just confessed to her. Despite how flustered she was, maybe that indicates that she ended up arriving at a decision without much trouble, and that was partially reflected in the way she gently but firmly rejected Yukinari. That’s what I like about Touko. She goes at her own pace most of the time, but when push comes to shove she can get things done without being all wishy-washy like Hiro was – Touko made it clear to Yukinari that she wasn’t interested romantically, but that she genuinely wanted to remain friends with him. It’s probably the nicest friendzone ever, to be honest. Like David, I’m also very sceptical of the idea that their group won’t be torn apart by all these changing relationships, but if anyone can do it, Touko can. She’s such a good girl! Even though Yana-chan could have been understandably upset at Touko, she wasn’t at all – in fact, Touko’s support seems to have made Yana-chan even happier now. I see why Sacchan fell in love with her. That ship is now legit, by the way – I hope you all have your yuri goggles securely fastened! Totally called it.
For all my praise of Touko, it’s true that she’s not exactly using her abilities in the most wonderful of ways – I’d rather do what Hina suggested and make a killing on boat races instead of glimpsing the future of the relationship between two of my best friends. It’s probably worth noting that the future Touko previously saw last week ended up coming true, in a way where she didn’t realize what she had said until she had said it. That makes it seem like she can’t help but fall in line with her vision of the future – that these fragments are in fact unalterable. It would be good if I wasn’t completely held on that though, because if so there’ll be some dark times ahead with a crying Yana-chan. I actually believed that the fragment would be a vision of the future somehow realized by the end of the episode – Yukinari overhearing the little chat between Touko and Yanagi and deciding on a straight-up confrontation is how I envisaged it. I’m sort of glad that didn’t end up happening, as it’s both too common a development and too fast-paced for my liking.
In the end, Yukinari isn’t a bad guy or anything. He just ended up being unfortunate on the romance train – and sadly, he doesn’t seem to be looking at the cute girl right under his nose who would be more than happy to get together with him. Likewise, Yanagi didn’t turn out to be as much of a bitch as I thought she’d be, so I’m rooting for her happiness now too – with Touko’s rejection, Yana-chan and Yukinari are now thankfully a bit further away from the love polygon that Hiro, Sachi, Touko and Kakeru are all embroiled in on different levels. Speaking of Sacchan, she’s kind of slow on the uptake too, but that might be because she’s just not interested in Hiro – he hasn’t properly confessed yet, but I feel like he’s just setting himself up for a rejection at his point. And we might be closer to a tragedy than a romance as of the end of this episode, with Touko’s vision of Sacchan in a hospital gown – at this point, it really wouldn’t be good if these future fragments actually turned out to be events that were set in stone.
Finally, although there wasn’t much Kakeru today, I sort of welcomed his absence. These guys probably need some time to sit down and think over their inter-group and personal relationships – there’s little scope for Kakeru to do much in that case, other than shake things up even more than he already has. He’ll pop up again before long, but for now he really does represent a bird in the sky down to the very tee – he’s alone, but he’s high up in the sky as well, free from all the turbulent drama.