Karen's Anime Blog

Last time, Idol Uzuki managed to read the room and Idol Nodoka was shocked, and this has somehow become Sakuta’s problem. We start off at college, and Mai is on campus for once. She’s rocking some glasses and an atypical (for her) hairstyle, and I think she’s trying to camouflage a little. Everybody at Yokohama City University probably knows that the famous Mai Sakurajima is attending their school, but by trying to blend a little bit she’ll get fewer people recognizing her and staring. Mai and Sakuta share lunch with Miori, the second member of the “I’m Too Cool to Have a Smartphone” club, and the topic turns to…clothes. Sakuta notices that Uzuki and a group of her friends are dressing alike, and he’s concerned this is related to the whole “Uzuki can now read the room” thing. Mai encourages Sakuta to talk to Futaba about the Uzuki thing (yay!), and off he goes to Benny’s. I love the fact that Mai and Sakuta’s relationship is secure enough that she knows he has other female friends and she’s fine with it.

At Benny’s, Sakuta and Futaba have one of their little chats that are kind-of-sort-of about quantum physics but not really. Sakuta orders katsudon and I would kill to have a family restaurant nearby that served a good katsudon. Futaba first floats the possibility that maybe not everything is about Puberty Syndrome, but we’re not even going to entertain that silly notion. Futaba’s other theory is that Uzuki starting to blend into the school is a case of everyone else at school having Puberty Syndrome: There’s an unconscious idea of what a college student should be like, and Uzuki’s fame and success as an idol makes her an outlier, so the group consciousness is trying to cut her down to size. Sakuta smarts from the realization that the amount of people he needs to be concerned with has now gone up to “almost everyone you know and tons of people you don’t.”

Sakuta heads to the back of the restaurant to pick up Kaede so they can go home together, and Kaede shares a video on her phone: it’s an earphones advertisement featuring Uzuki singing. I’m a little confused because the video title also says “Touko Kirishima,” so I guess Uzuki must be singing a Kirishima song. The video has gone viral, so maybe the “group consciousness” isn’t doing such a good job of squashing Uzuki down to size.

BUY SANY EARPHONE

Next morning, Sakuta is on the train only to run into a giant poster of Uzuki…and also the actual Uzuki. Huh, that’s certainly convenient. Sakuta teases her that with her current success, she’ll “head straight to Koshien” and I felt like one of the cool people for actually getting that joke. For those who don’t know, ahem, Sakuta is jokingly saying she’ll make it to the big annual high school baseball tournament, to which she responds “that’s baseball.” They discuss whether she’ll make it to Budokan, which is the site of actual music events- this will be important later. The pair see a lady handing out flyers who was also onscreen last episode: she’s handing out flyers for an organization that provides education to children that don’t go to school. This is relevant to Uzuki, since she didn’t like going to in-person high school and got her diploma from a correspondence school instead. It’s also relevant to Sakuta’s sister Kaede, who left school for a while due to bullying. I’m not sure how, but this woman and her organization are sure to be relevant later this season. Uzuki breaks down a bit and I’m not sure if it’s the reminder of her high school days or if going viral is just messing her up right now.

“Have you heard the good news about correspondence school?”

At cram school, one of Sakuta’s students asks if he *also* knows Uzuki Hirakawa. I guess from the kids’ perspective, Sakuta is just loaded with famous women. Solve supernatural mysteries that nearly erase you and/or your girlfriend from existence, and you too can be a hit with the chicks! Sakuta’s boss (or perhaps a fellow tutor) has on that quiz show featuring Sweet Bullet, and Uzuki is answering question after question right. I don’t get it. So to become like everyone else, Uzuki’s personality is changing and she’s becoming…not an airhead? I need Futaba to explain it again.

We change gears for a moment and get to the most interesting scene of the episode. Sakuta meets up with Koga, the lower classman who literally kicked his butt in the first season (you had to be there). They see a street musician, and Sakuta asks Koga what she thinks of him. Koga says he’s a guy who’s doing what he wants, “and I think that’s amazing and so I pretend not to look at him.” What? Why wouldn’t you look at him, if you think he’s amazing? So much of the Rascal Does Not Dream series is about how your existence is tied to how you’re observed, with both Sakuta and Mai having disappearance storylines where they nearly became invisible and forgotten. To be honest, I’m not completely sure how this relates to Uzuki’s storyline. The obvious connection would be that the world is not looking at Uzuki because she’s too amazing, but that seems to be the opposite of what’s happening in regard to her career.

I can’t wait for someone on reddit to explain this to me and tell me I’m stupid for not immediately getting it.

“Why have none of you absolute schmucks put any money into my guitar case?”

We meet Himeji, Koga’s kohai and a student at Sakuta’s cram school. I’m sure they’re introducing her so we’ll be prepared when she has her own Puberty Syndrome arc, probably because her tears are turning into indigo paint or something. Himeji wants Sakuta to tutor her in math, so that’s how she’ll probably appear next. She says she thinks she’s being a third wheel and leaves, which means she must be literally the only person in Japan who does not know that Sakuta is dating THE Mai Sakurajima.

The next day, Nodoka is waiting for Sakuta when he comes out of his building, and I am beginning to hate the sight of Nodoka. The blonde idol tells Sakuta that Uzuki isn’t opening up to her, and she isn’t “understanding” Uzuki lately, so she wants Sakuta to help Uzuki. This is why Nodoka is starting to infuriate me: if you’re upset that Uzuki is shutting you out, TRY TALKING TO HER ABOUT IT. Like maybe saying something like “Please let me know what’s going on, you’re my friend and I want to be there for you.” No, instead she’s gonna rope in her sister’s boyfriend, who has school, a job, and a little sister to take care of. Sakuta says he will, because of course he does.

Who just happens to be on a nearby train, visible through a window: Uzuki, of course! Man, the amount of coincidences in this episode is getting ridiculous. Sakuta catches up with her and she shares that she wants to do some self-discovery. That’s what college is for, Uzuki. This is where the episode gets weird because Sakuta basically takes Uzuki on a date: they have lunch together, then rent some bikes and take a ride. I know Mai is comfortable with Sakuta having female friends, but this is maybe pushing it. Just to bang on my last nerve, Uzuki asks “Did Nodoka talk to you?”

Upon seeing proof of Uzuki’s superior flexibility, Sakuta began to reevaluate his girlfriend options.

The two end their excursion at Budokan, which happens to be nearby. Maybe Uzuki unconsciously was aiming there when she picked which stop to get off on the train. Uzuki confides that Sweet Bullet can only fill venues of up to 2,000 people currently, while Budokan is 10,000. That’s…actually not that unreasonable to reach. I mean it’ll take effort certainly, but it’s not like a Taylor Swift situation and they need to be able to fill an arena of 70,000 people. Uzuki muses about her new reading-the-room abilities and asks Sakuta which version of her he prefers. He says that both are great, because he’s not an idiot. Uzuki then calls Nodoka (Yes! Yes! Talk to your damned friend!) but that’s just so she can give the phone over to Sakuta so he can ask for tickets to Sweet Bullet’s next gig. Maybe Sakuta will take Mai to the concert and you know, maybe go on a date with his actual girlfriend, what a concept. Sakuta and Uzuki’s banter here starts to sound a lot like his talks with Mai, and Sakuta might be wondering just how much Uzuki has really changed. Santa Claus Girl sightings in this episode: Zero.

That’s it for this week. I’m really hoping next week’s episode takes place at the concert because it would be a nice change of pace from all the long conversations this week. I enjoy the conversations on this show, but they get tough to recap >__<. See you space cowboy.