Eva’s First Impression
TT ^ TT RINTARROOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! This guy has such a gentle soul and yet he has to deal with so much stupid crap because of people spreading nasty and senseless rumours about him since he was a freaking kid! It’s no wonder why he has such a low self-esteem, and he’s constantly bearing the blame for things he has nothing to apologize for. It’s terrible! He feels like there just no point in defying it when people will believe whatever they want anyways.
But that’s not the case with Kaoruko, who has descended into his life like an angel. The two met at his family’s cake shop, and there’s a brief misunderstanding when she ends up running out of the store after making eye-contact. But it wasn’t because she thought he was scary, it was more about sheer mortification of being seen eating so many cakes! (It’s okay Kaoruko, I understand, I buy a lot cakes to eat whenever the opportunity comes up too! No shame to be had!) So she took the initiative to return immediately the next day to apologize to him for it.
And man, I freaking died from the cuteness overload with the fact she had bought him cake (from his family’s shop) as a token of apology, and yet– she couldn’t contain her desire to eat the said cake. So Rintarou being the nice guy he is, just slides it over to her to let her have it. They are so cute! Not to mention, they were both found themselves blushing furiously after she mentioned the way he looked at her made her heart race ahahahahahahaha! Needless to say, it sure looks likes Kaoruko’s already crushing on him, and there’s no doubt in my mind she absolutely fell for him even more after he had protected her from the thugs!
Speaking of thugs, while Kaoruko is undoubtedly a sweetheart, the girl got hella of a spine too. When some thugs pulled her to the side because they associated her with Rintaro and started yapping about all the bullshit rumours about him being a delinquent and all that jazz, and she’s like: No, he’s not. Have you even spoken to him? He’s a wonderful person! It was a fantastic way to both shut them down and defend him, and best of all Rintarou was there to hear it. I appreciate that she doesn’t let that kind of slander slide, and most importantly when Rintarou tries to apologize to her because he’s blaming himself for her getting dragged into trouble, she wouldn’t accept it, because she knew he’s not to blame. He’s not some nasty and scary delinquent rumours claim him to be, he’s a kind soul, and tells him “thank you”, something he’s been waiting to hear for so long. And for real, to put this in further context, all we’ve seen him do is look out for others this week. The most ridiculous misunderstanding was when a guy slapped by a (now ex) girlfriend in front of his house, so Rintaro checked up on the guy to see if he’s okay, and yet the guy just ran away instead and sprouted nonsense that’d cause problems for him the next day. Seriously.
That said, it is important to note that while Kaoruko is undoubtedly the shining light of the episode, it wouldn’t be fair to overlook Usami and the rest. They aren’t crass delinquents, but rather seemingly respectable students of Chidori High. One arriving to school on time, the next is politely picking up a fallen handkerchief to return to one of the girls from Kikyo Academy (one I have a thing or two to say about in a moment). They appear to be the good sort of people around Rintarou who wants to befriend him, but they haven’t really been able to make a lot of progress with him because he’s constantly putting a wall up to prevent them from being bogged down by his reputation.
And lastly, the schools situation. We have Rintaro attending Chidori High and Kaoruko attending the neighbouring Kiyko Academy. The contrast difference between the school of outcasts boys and the prestigious private girl’s academy is certainly something. Funny enough by the end of the episode, it turns out that Kaoruko’s classroom is right beside Rintaro’s making them whole lot closer than he had initially expected (especially since he had mistaken her for being in middle school!) However it’s worth pointing out, it’s because of the “prestigious” difference between the two really doesn’t help with the whole image problem that Chidori is particularly subjected to. In fact contrary to the flowery noble image of Kikyo Academy, similarly to how there are some crass students in Chidori, there are some real snobby brats there too. Like wowww… when Usami picked up the handkerchief to return to the girl, she looked at him in disgust and told him to just throw it away. It’s interactions like that which further cause the rift between the students of the two schools. So really it goes to show you can’t say one superior to the other, at least in the etiquette department.
With that all said and done, this was a fantastic and super sweet premiere! I’m glad I made sure I didn’t read beyond like three chapters so I don’t spoil myself! But now that it’s been so long I don’t remember any of it so that works out perfectly!
As I’m already covering two shows Anne Shirley and Dress-Up Darling on Saturdays, so unless I’m skipping a week to double-post, I will be generally covering this show on Sundays. Speaking of double-posting, that may be common with this show if I feel there’s not substance to really discuss. As always, I’ll leave an update on tumblr, bsky, and on the notice board (above season preview on the sidebar) and the most recent entry’s comment section for an update!
Until the next one, see you next week!
Possibility of Blogging: High
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
Notice: Ep 2 entry will be released as a double-post next week!