Karen's Anime Blog

Last time, Rintarou and Kaoruko scheduled a study date for Saturday in the hopes of helping Rintarou pass his midterm exams. Saturday morning, Rintarou wakes up early and takes the train. People on the train are scared of him two separate times in this episode, and it really shows how tiring it must be for Rintarou for everyone around him to constantly assume that he’s a dangerous thug based on appearances alone. As a relatively small woman, everyone assumes I’m harmless, so that’s what I’m used to; I can only imagine what it’s like to be constantly calibrating how you appear in public just to try to garner less attention. It sounds exhausting. You can see why it immediately meant so much to Rintarou when Kaoruko said she had never been afraid of him.

Lunch Check! Looks like Rintarou got an omurice and Kaoruko got shrimp and broccoli in some kind of luscious sauce. I approve of this lunch selection.

Kaoruko is early too, and the two of them eat lunch in a nice little cafe. This is a minor point, but it appears the pair eat lunch and then stay at the restaurant for several hours studying. Here in the US, you can do that at a Starbucks or another coffee shop, but if you tried to do that at most sit-down restaurants, you’d get dirty looks from the staff for sure; I wonder if Japanese restaurants are more student-friendly. Anyway, Rintarou tries to focus on the math that Kaoruko is teaching him, but he’s so excited being this close to his crush that he’s having trouble focusing. He’s such an adorable doofus.

They get to talking about their friends, and Kaoruko mentions that she was pleased that Rintarou had not judged Subaru too harshly, since she had been very rude to him. She also explains that Subaru had “trouble with boys” and doesn’t deal with them well. We find out the truth behind this in about ten minutes of screen time, if that, so it’s a little strange they bother to tease it here.

After a productive session, Kaoruko makes a detailed study guide for Rintarou to follow from that day until the day of the test. When did she get the time to do that? Was she actually compiling that the whole time they were working together? She is quick with the pencil, that one.

“I can tutor you in math and make detailed study guides at the same time: what I lack in stature, I make up for with excellent time management skills.”

Rintarou is ready to call it a day when oh no, it’s Subaru! I really was not happy to see her again after what a piece of work she was in the last episode, but I have to admit: it’s a striking character design. Of course, she gets Rintarou’s attention by grabbing his bookbag from behind rather than calling out to him like a normal person would.

The two sit down to coffee at a place called Tea Tea Cafe, and Subaru wants to know if Rintarou is dating Kaoruko. He says he isn’t, but then doesn’t know how to answer when Subaru asks what Kaoru is to him, exactly. Meanwhile, behind Rintarou on the wall is a chart featuring different espresso drink recipes and it’s totally distracting me from everything Subaru is saying, but that’s probably a problem unique to me. Anyway, Subaru wants Rintarou to stop seeing Kaoruko; it’s not even that she thinks he’s a bad person, but she’s worried about Kaoruko’s reputation at Kikyo Academy if people knew she was hanging out with a Chidori guy.

I’m not sure Subaru is making much sense here. Kaoruko isn’t a pushover, and if the other girls gave her trouble for seeing Rintarou, she could put them in their place easily enough. And even if a group of them shunned her, that’s her choice to make. Subaru says that the problem might be more coming from the teachers than the students, which is sad but rings true– whatever ugliness you hear between the students, it’s got to be a horrible festering sore spot between the adults, all the worse for not being acknowledged openly. However, how would that confrontation with a teacher go? “Yes, I helped a Chidori student study. I’m a regular at his family’s cake shop and I wanted to help him pass an important exam.” Oh noooo, how scandalous. Maybe I’m being naive, but I don’t think anything would come out of this except stupid rumors, which Kaoruko is more than strong enough to withstand.

“I love your hair, you look like a chibi shonen protagonist!”

We learn that Subaru was bullied during childhood for her naturally silver hair, and Kaoruko was the one who protected her from the bullies and said her hair was beautiful. I understand why Subaru is so attached to Kaoruko and wants what’s best for her after that formative experience, but she seems to be missing the point that Kaoruko is the kind of person who stands up to bullies, and has always been that way; she doesn’t want Subaru to fight her battles for her.

To his credit, Rintarou doesn’t entertain the idea of breaking things off with Kaoruko. I expected Subaru to blow up when he said that, but instead– in a really nicely animated moment– Subaru begins crying and confesses that he may be right. After Rintarou leaves, Subaru asks herself what she’s even doing. I think she’s so overprotective of Kaoruko that she’s just not thinking straight at all.

There’s another scene of Rintarou being scary to girls on a train, but the important thing is Rintarou mulling over Subaru’s words. He doesn’t regret his decision to continue seeing Kaoruko, but he does realize he could end up hurting her, so Subaru did get through to him after all.

Next, we see the results of the math midterms, and Rintarou passed. Nice! Except he got a score of 59, while Usami got a score of 30 and passed. What are these tests being graded out of? I’m so confused. Oh well, it doesn’t matter as long as they passed. The class has an outright celebration over the two low-scoring dudes passing, and there’s even confetti; it’s pretty adorable. I mean, kind of mean if you consider that everyone expected them to fail and passing is treated almost like a miracle, but let’s ignore that and just focus on the charming aspect.

Rintarou is ecstatic and immediately wants to text Kaoruko but then thinks of Subaru’s warning and holds back. Meanwhile, someone knocks his bag over, revealing the study guide Kaoruko made for him, including a cute little Post-It with her name. The other student asks “Who’s Kaoruko?” and now Rintarou’s cover is real and truly blown.

A solid episode, but I have some reservations for next time. I hope Rintarou’s friends finding out about his relationship with Kaoruko doesn’t become an annoying drama bomb, because I’d like to think his friends are better than that. It will be a bigger deal on the Kikyo side, but once again, I think our heroine can handle it.

Man that scene in the coffee shop between Rintarou and Subaru made me want a good cappuccino so bad…I think I may have to make a little side-trip tomorrow.