English Dub Review: Tsukigakirei “Passing Shower”

Just like today’s forecast.

Spoilers Below

No show can go wrong by sending their characters out together on a trip. Not only is it the school trip in this episode, but we get to find out Akane’s reaction from last week! It comes in a flashback. When Kotaro asked, “Would you date me?” Akane responded, “I need some time to think”. I don’t know what she needs to think about, since clearly, Kotaro’s the center of her whole everything now. She narrates that they’ve barely spoken since then. Maybe she’s concerned that them dating will actually only entail repeatedly noticing each other.

With that question (kind of) out of that way, this show is finally free to be as fun as it’s been threatening to be. The girls all enjoy checking out their rooms at the ryokan and the boys kind of punch each other or whatever, I don’t know what boys do. Kotaro just stares at his phone, hoping for a response. He finally texts Akane, but she still won’t answer. This kind of behavior would have felt infuriating back in episode one or two, but now it’s just curious. There’s enough relationship buildup that the audience can actually care. It’s also interspersed with adolescent school trip antics, so it’s hard not to stay in a good mood.

Kotaro asks Akane to meet him outside a department store tomorrow at noon. Then he gets his phone confiscated at the worst possible time. The next day, Kotaro doesn’t know if Akane is showing up, and Akane doesn’t know why he’s not answering her texts.  She goes to the store and he’s not there. It starts raining. Kotaro is running and can’t find her, Akane is sad and abandoned. Kotaro finally catches up with Chinatsu and asks to borrow her phone. Chinatsu calls Akane for him – which does mean they actually have to talk!

Frazzled and dejected, the two finally meet. “I don’t get it. I was waiting,” Akane says. And my heart just breaks for her. Kotaro said he liked her, so why would he do this? Does Kotaro even know? Probably not! Akane, boys are inconsiderate and dumb.

Akane thinks that Kotaro and Chinatsu must be pretty close if he was using her phone. She’s just looking for any kind of answer and guesses who’s not giving one! Anyway, Akane proves she’s actually pretty self-aware about the situation. “We barely talk to each other,” she says. That’s true. I can see why she’d be hesitant about this relationship. But like the truly compassionate, possibly low self-esteemed girl she is, she takes this chance to jump right in.

“I want to talk with you to know you better,” she tells Kotaro.

“Is that your answer?” he asks. And she replies yes.

After all that’s happened, this was not what I was expecting. No love triangles or anything, just clear, straightforward communication. I don’t know where all the melodrama went but I did not miss it at all. There was only normal drama, and it all fit so well. The high energy of the trip worked to counterbalance any of Akane and Kotaro’s extended squeaking. And maybe this relationship is actually going somewhere, for real this time.