English Dub Review: Watari-kun’s XX Is About to Collapse “What It Means to Love Someone”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Satsuki finally comes to terms with her feelings and continues to aggressively hit on Naoto, making him more confused and Ishihara more insecure.

OUR TAKE

I’ll tell you what it means to love someone, and it involves NOT DROPPING YOUR LOVE CONFESSION WHEN HIS GIRLFRIEND IS RIGHT THERE NEXT TO HIM. I have made it no secret that I am not a fan of Satsuki as she has been portrayed, even less so with how the story is framing her, and even lesser still with my narrative understanding of how she is likely to be the winner of Naoto’s affections by the end of this series (and possibly this season). But we are finally at the point that Satsuki has fully understood her feelings towards Naoto, leading to a rare bit of vulnerability that, for a brief instant, made Satsuki feel like a CHARACTER and not just a vehicle for fanservice. But despite her and Ishihara seeming to be on at least good terms, Satsuki just kind of confession bombs the two of them and then asks Naoto if he loves her or hates her, which is incredibly manipulative and leading, especially since she knows that Naoto does care for her and is attracted to her to an extent. All I can really say about it is that it’s simply shitty behavior on her part, but it’s not like I’ve been given any reason to expect anything more or less from her at this point.

So, what does this mean on Naoto and Ishihara’s end? Well, Naoto is understandably torn between trying to maintain a friendship with his oldest childhood friend who he is also very clearly attracted to while being very blunt about the fact that he is in a committed relationship with Ishihara. Though frankly, having Satsuki around after they started dating was already kinda weird, but now that she has essentially declared war, now would be the time for Naoto to be telling her that they need space until things cool down. Though it seems that he won’t have that choice since Ishihara’s brother and mother spotted him and Satsuki in the pool and read the situation the worst way possible, which could have only hurt Ishihara’s feelings even more. The episode ends with her meeting Naoto for a date, though we’ll see how that goes. Except…it doesn’t end there, as the episode has a post credit scene of Naoto eating dinner with his sister and aunt and talking about how it’s good to eat meals with family. Didn’t have a damn thing to do with anything going on in this episode and they just…tossed it in at the end there. Anyway, more drama next week.