In my opinion this was the best episode yet. This was an episode of transformation. No one remains the same, except for possibly Kaoru.
Brother Jun left college after leading student protests (likely during the leftist strikes against ANPO, he was leading a student group of communists) and was disowned by his father in response. He’s a changed man, moping around his house and taking drugs in a depressed haze.
Since Jun tells Yurika that he’s changed, she decides to change as well and symbolically cuts her hair. I came to appreciate Yurika much more in this episode. She started out as a perfect, beautiful rich girl, but here she shows she’s not just about appearances. She’s both smart and forceful.
Ritsuko begins to change as well as she falls in love with Kaoru. Those two would go great together, but Ritsuko can’t hope to match Kaoru’s chemistry with Sentarou.
Even Sentarou begins to change as he realizes that he hasn’t noticed Ritsuko standing right next to him this entire time. Seriously, how dense can you be?
Yurika’s Advances
So that’s why she was so interested in Jun. I thought it was simply because he was so ridiculously awesome, but he actually put the moves on her.
I have to admire her for her ability to see right through Jun. In most other shows she would have run out screaming and not spoken to him for several episodes. Or he would have completely broken his character and actually gone through with it. But these characters actually understand each other, at least a bit.
You know, at first I just saw this as Yurika’s hopeless crush on a suave older playboy. But this could actually work. Much better than Sentarou, that’s for sure. Those two would not go well together.
Kaoru and Ritsuko
Great portrayal of Kaoru here. He’s putting on a front, and he knows it. But he’s able to control himself, to an extent. This is much better than the typical response in anime, which is running away from the girl and hiding.
The best part though is that she’s blushing because of him. Such tough choices… Ritsuko and Kaoru would go great together, but I don’t think it would compare with Kaoru and Sentarou’s relationship…
As an aside, Sentarou and Ritsuko were so cute when they were younger!
I hope they don’t go the Yaoi route. Would be a real turn off.
I’m pretty sure they won’t, but I wouldn’t mind if they did.
Ritsuko has sooo become one of my favorite anime characters. So charming. Everyone else is great, too – even Brother Jun and Yurika, after this episode.
Ritsuko is adorable. The characters in this show really feel like actual people.
Yurika’s relationship w/ Jun might indeed work out as Jun generally seems to be a decent person who just had a very bad streak in life. But I liked Yurika better before. In particular in the last ep. and in this ep. when she was sitting on the stairs she had this air of discontent ojou-sama which found quite alluring.
I know what you mean, once a couple actually gets together I tend to lose all interest. There’s something about wanting that is more exciting than actually having what you want.