English Dub Review: HANEBADO! “What I Want Us To Be Is Not ‘Friends'”

Connie and Ayano communicate through their shared language: badminton!

Overview (Spoilers Below):

We take a break from tournament play in order to make room for some familial drama. Connie appears at practice asking to play a match with Ayano. However, Ayano’s ‘Wei Wei’ keychain has broken, and instead of playing the match, they decide to go together to get a new one. After a fun day out, Connie reveals her real reason for visiting Ayano – she wants to form a family.  But Ayano is not ready to accept her request.

Our Take:

The ninth episode of HANEBADO! opens with a surprising scene. Nope, it’s not a reunion between Ayano and her mother (that comes later!). It’s the boys on the badminton court, doing some practicing of their own. The male members of the club haven’t been a major part of the show, and their scene is short-lived, but it’s still nice that they’re integrated into the whole like this.

Returning focus to our main group of girls, Ayano is still acting weird. It looks like she’s going to be going up against Nagisa in an important match soon, so her newfound competitive streak shows no signs of letting up. And when Connie makes an impromptu appearance on the 2nd floor of the Kitakomachi high school gym, bathed in a spotlight of sun, it doesn’t help matters. (Seriously though, her dramatic arrival was definitely played for laughs, and it earned them.) Even though Ayano should be practicing for the finals, Connie says they have unfinished business. She challenges Ayano to a match, which everyone is surprised to find she accepts. This is definitely a sign that Ayano really has undergone a personality switch up recently. But one thing will never change her love for Wei Wei, the adorable and slightly-creepy whale shark!

When her mascot keychain breaks, Ayano agrees to go with Connie in search of a replacement. They have a fun time looking around the amusement park, but Ayano doesn’t come away with a new keychain. (She gets a giant backpack, which is just as good in my mind, but whatever.) Connie goes off by herself and manages to snag a new keychain. This is definitely going to come back in the finale, and it’s a nice little moment here for sure.

When the two of them are alone, Connie confesses the real reason she wanted to visit Ayano: she has a wish that the three of them, Ayano, herself, and their mother, can become a family. Hearing this, Ayano leads her ‘sister’ to a nearby badminton court. Playing badminton is how they communicate, according to Connie. In the mildly-heartbreaking final minutes, we see flashbacks to Connie being ‘adopted’ by Ayano’s mom, and how she craves some form of acknowledgment from them. Ayano soundly beats Connie and tells her they will never be a family. Luckily, Connie has another family to pick her up when she’s down. Meanwhile, Ayano returns home to find an unwelcome guest waiting for her.

This week’s dub was spitting out some fire. Ayano’s line near the end of the episode is just crazy: “This time, I’m the one who’s abandoning Mom.” Things are gonna get crazy soon! Also, I loved Alaina’s visible confusion about Wei Wei: “How’d he get that hat on his head without arms?”

What I Want Us To Be Is Not ‘Friends’ started off on uneven footing but ended up bringing some interesting new angles to both Ayano and Connie’s characters. There wasn’t much badminton action this time around, but there was a decent amount of humor sprinkled throughout. All in all, a fine episode that makes me more invested in both Ayano and Connie’s stories going forward.