Oh damn! I was sort of half expecting we’d see a confession this week, but at the same time I also kind shocked he let it slip! HAHAHAHA! But man, Shohei’s impeccable timing of interruption to not give them to immediately follow up on that properly! Kaoruko’s absolutely internally combusting right now because it must be mind-blowing to her to think that he feels the same way as she does. Meanwhile Rintaro’s both extremely flustered but also feeling refreshed that he had gotten it off his chest as soon as he has. He claims he needs to make things right, which followed up with a phone-call…
The only thing I hope for is that he’ll properly follow up on it rather than trying to sweep it under the rug. This series has been doing to great job of steering clear of the typical tropes that sends stories running around in circles due to misunderstandings or poor communications, so I really hope this won’t be an instance where we’ll see that happen. And if he does try, I really hope Kaoruko shuts that shit down by telling him that she likes him too!
Apart from the adorable blurted confession, the majority of the episode actually focused mostly on Subaru. For most of the day, she was quite anxious and insecure about whether it was even okay to be included in the trip. We saw how she was trapped in the mindset of feeling like she was a blight that spoils the fun for the rest of them, and that she didn’t really belong or have the right to be there.
While overall it was good, there were parts of it that I had felt a bit slower than I had liked… but at the same time, it did make sense it was delivered the way it did. For someone like her who has had her walls up for so long due to past trauma from bullying, it does makes sense why it takes more courage to verbalize that. Nevertheless, credit where it’s due! With the help of Kaoruko’s encouragement, Subaru was able to muster up the courage to tell the boys about her insecurity and how despite that, she was really glad to be there and truly wants to be friends with them all.
And honestly these guys couldn’t be better for Subaru’s path to healing. Rintaro was a great start because his sincerity towards Kaoruko and his consideration towards her even when she was acting out selfishly. This helps her lower her walls a bit and soften up around him. Then came the boys, who got off on the wrong foot with her on two separate occasions, swooping in to help them. That incidentally helped create a bridge between them, and from there on out since she had apologize, the boys more or less viewed her and Kaoruko as a part of their circle, therefore friends.
I will confess though, for the past few episodes we’ve been seeing the group together, I had started getting this feeling of, ‘Do I sense a ship?’ between Saku and Subaru, particularly after the study gathering one haha. And after this week’s episode, yeah after this episode, yup– it sealed the deal: I freaking ship it! These two are such adorable awkward ducklings, and I’m absolutely here for it. Saku despite trying to hide the fact he loves doughnuts because he’s embarrassed about it, decided to share some with Subaru after noticing she liked them too. It was super sweet to see him give them to her when she went to sit down to dry off. Ahhhh I hope we’ll get to see more of them! SO MUCH POTENTIAL! [SLAPPED] Okay okay, I’ll contain my giddiness to myself, ahem.
Speaking of cuteness, Saku also had a cute moment where he kicked some water onto her as a means to make a point that they are already friends. Of course as one would expect, he said it round about way of saying he already considers her a friend. Thankfully Shohei had him repeat himself to say it again in a more straight-forward manner hahahaha! But honestly it’s no wonder why he goes about things the round about way. He’s just super shy about it, and it’s less embarrassing for him to do it that way!!! And while we’re on the topic of Saku being shy: He really wants to try Rintaro’s cakes too! Heck seeing how happy and excited Rintaro is about getting involved in it (which is absolutely wonderful to see), Saku even suggested they should sell some at the school festival! I definitely would love to see that too, I’m sure it’d be quite popular!
And with that, we have one more episode left! I hope we get another season of this wholesome goodness, but I know I won’t be able to contain myself from reading the manga once this end. Actually I have to commend myself for having the restraint from doing so throughout the season! Hahahahahaha! Perhaps it’s because the adaption has just been so beautiful, that I really just wanted to experience it all the first time through watching it!
Scheduled Maintenance Update: Due to encountering more frustrating issues emerging with the server move preparations, maintenance originally scheduled for Monday, September 22nd has been postponed until further notice. Therefore there will be no downtime or changes in our release schedule in the meantime!
