English Dub Review: Stars Align “Episode 5”

 

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Toma confronts Maki about his broken racket and his troubles at home. Trials and tribulations also come to light for other students. 

Our Take

A change of pace this week; this episode is all rapid-fire backstories and contains no tennis. 

Instead of ending with confronting Maki’s dad, not only do we begin with it, we go full force on it. Toma is able to slowly pull the truth out of Maki, revealing what we all already knew to be true; Maki’s dad is a no-good deadbeat. What’s actually more surprising is we learn that his mom is encouraging his dad’s behavior, leaving money out for him. 

If you knew that your ex-husband was abusive towards your son, why would you let him come to your house when you know your son could be home alone? And why would you pay him anything at all? I don’t know how Japanese law handles these situations, but clearly, something should be done.  We do know from a previous episode that Maki’s mom has tried legal means before and she needs to try again. A 13/14-year-old kid shouldn’t be responsible for any of this, but unfortunately, that’s how it is here.

Toma and Maki’s confrontation with Maki’s dad is cathartic and pivotal. It isn’t particularly productive in persuading Maki’s dad to go away, though that’s not a big surprise seeing how much of an asshole he is. But it is incredibly important for Maki, as this is the first time he was able to confront his dad and stand up for himself. And we can see that, as Maki embraces Toma in tears at the end. Maki finally has someone he can rely on when facing his greatest fear, someone he can call a real friend. 

We also gain more insight into Rintaro’s situation. Previously we saw that his mother was very supportive of him, but he didn’t seem to feel that support. Now we have a much fuller picture; Rinato is adopted and harbors a great inferiority complex. As someone who has personal, but not direct, experience with psychological issues resulting from being adopted, I found Rintaro’s experience compelling. Questioning the inherent purpose and worth of one’s self is, unfortunately, a very common trait in those adopted, one that can inflict a lot of mental damage. Fortunately, Toma is there for Rintaro and able to provide his perspective, which seems to help. 

Toma is the star of the show this week, being there for his teammates. His straightforward, inelegant, brutally honest approach is a great source of support for Maki and Rintaro. However, beneath this attitude lies a big fault; in both situations, he is overly aggressive. Perhaps in the heated and direct confrontation with Maki’s dad, this might be considered appropriate.  But in Rintaro’s case, it is clearly a bit too much. 

This quick anger has brought him close to trouble before and is also what is straining his relationship with his mother. His relationship with his mother is also why he feels so strongly about helping his friends. Toma feels that parents should be supportive of their children, and tries to right any wrong he sees in that regard. This position is admirable, but the attitude and impetus behind it are unhealthy. 

We also learn more about Kinuyo, the student council president who is cracking down on unproductive clubs. This is surprising as up until now she was simply a bit character who served to launch the premise of this entire show. 

Like everyone else, she has parental figures who are not doing a great job. Unlike everyone else though, she is taking all of it in stride. When she doesn’t get what she wants, she puts up with it and vents it to her diary instead of taking it out on someone else. Up to this point, she gave off a haughty, dignified, self-important air that didn’t speak well of her character. With this peek into her home life, she earns some of that dignity for herself. 

Seeing someone like her receive this much of this kind of attention is unexpected, but not unwelcome. Almost every character in the show so far has received some attention, enough to able to exposit their past, that we may learn more about them. As we see in this episode, this applies even to side characters. No character is completely perfunctory here, everyone has a life and story behind them. Thus far that is proving to be one of this show’s greatest strengths. 

With an episode completely dedicated to drama, fortunately, it appears next week will be all tennis. Witnessing what fruits the tennis club’s efforts bear should prove to be engaging.