Welcome everyone, to another week of His and Her Circumstances! This week was an odd one, and perhaps an indicator of things to come from what I’ve been told. There’s no better way to deal with that though than to just talk about. So lets dive in and do just that!
Starting off, the animation felt like it took a hit this week. There were a lot of reused scenes, stills, and overall minimal cost-saving animation practices. Oh don’t get me wrong, Circumstances was very clever about it! What we did get was well directed and story boarded to produce a specific effect or emotion. Take for instance the way it showed us the same scene twice, once from each of our leads perspectives. Showing us just how different they are and how they weren’t quite on the same page yet. Only for them to have the same response in the last of such scenes in the episode, showing how much closer they have become over it’s course. I’m not saying the editing didn’t have purpose, it very much did and when I understood it, I was impressed. But it’s a fact that it still wasn’t particularly interesting, visually at least.
Moving on to the episode proper, this is the next oddity of the week. Episode 5 is split into two mini episodes, rather than a singularly titled one. I don’t know why, maybe some issues with the original airing, who knows. But we will start with Episode 5, Part 1, “Days of Labyrinth”. My initial reaction is that this mini-sode was actually kind of fun. It was mostly about showing how much Miyazawa and Arima think about each other, but the honeymoon phase is always cute. Plus, they kissed! It was a cheek kiss, but that’s like… 90% of the way to first base! The only downside I saw, for them not the show, is Circumstances also introduced their first couples problem: Conflicting responsibilities and balancing time with each other vs school. I don’t know if this will come up again, but I’d be very interested if it did.
We also got to see a bit more of Arima’s “true” self! He’s usually very composed and cold, even around Miyazawa. Keeping a largely straight face with subdued reactions. But as we saw this week, when he gets tired he can actually be pretty snappy. In fact, I think that was some of the most emotion we’ve seen from him in the entire show. The only other moment I can think of is his explanation about his upbringing, and that was more of a somber moment than breaking out of his shell like this. It was nice to see him show some more of that emotion, and I really hope we get to see him open up over the course of Circumstances. Of course Arima may not like that, as we will later learn, but as a viewer his suffering is my entertainment. That’s not weird, right?
This brings me to Episode 5, Part 2, “His Ambition”! The main thrust of this mini-sode is our new character, Hideaki Asaba. And I have to say, Asaba is a dick. Circumstances tries to turn him around on us, to make him a friend by the end of the episode. And it’s an admirable attempt! But I just can’t get over his initial asshole impression. The way he baited Miyazawa to try and get her to break up with Arima. Or how he only did it because he wanted to use Arima to get a harem of sorts. It’s all just… such a strong first impression that I’m not sure I’ll ever come around to truly liking him. Not as a character, I think the conflict he introduces and his place in the story is fine. I mean as a person. Depends what happens with him later though I guess.
There is one good thing he did though: Giving us a look into Arima’s head, the reason he likes Miyazawa so much. I really liked this. Arima has based his entire life up until now around his own value. Around what he can do to provide value to his family, rather than his own emotions. So it makes sense that he would appreciate, and fall for, someone who doesn’t care about that. Who hangs out with him and enjoys his company even when there is nothing to gain from doing so. Their relationship is not one based on value, like Asaba. Rather it’s based on just enjoying each others company and being able to be open and honest with each other. I like that. I like how much a single line, when supported by everything else we know about Arima, can tell us about him.
Next up is Episode 6, “Your Voice That Changes Me”. This was a very curious episode. Do you remember above, when I talked about production issues and scene reuse? And the very clever thematic meaning behind it all? Well that was this episode. If you followed it from one perspective, you could almost cut it in half, that’s how much reuse there was. Now as I said above, that’s not completely a bad thing. There was a lot of meaning behind the way the episode was shot. The subtle differences in meaning between each of them, how Miyazawa wants to know more about what’s going on in Arima’s head while Arima thinks of her as weird, but uses it as a way to put himself down rather than her. Basically using it as praise for her originality more than anything else. It was some nice internal thoughts!
All of the big thoughts however came from Arima and the way he thinks about Miyazawa. Like simultaneously questioning if she truly wants to be with him while noticing that she only smiles and laughs openly when she’s with him. It’s like he’s wondering if their relationship will last, if he’s truly the right pick for her, and then actively piecing it together on his own that it’s fine. I like that! I like that Arima doesn’t have to be told this stuff through big, obvious scenes. Watching him think about their relationship and then put the pieces together himself feels so much more… meaningful. Like he’s taking an active role in their relationship even when he’s just sitting down and thinking. Arima isn’t some empty headed romance protagonist hoping things will work out. Instead, he goes out and makes them work.
Of course the culmination of all of this was the big kiss as the end. We did it! We reached 1st first base! I absolutely adored this entire sequence. Miyazawa’s song in her head about men being wolves, Arima thinking it was wrong, the bucket to diffuse the situation before they dove in again. 6 episodes people! 6 episodes to get a kiss. And not even an accidental one! They both went for it, backed off, reconsidered, and then tried again. I love it. I actually thought we were about to get baited with it, like normal romance do. But it was a pleasant surprise to watch Circumstances take something that started as accidental and make it purposeful. More first kisses in romance shows need to be proactive decisions from the leads.
Anyways yeah, all in all I think these were two good episodes. I’m very concerned for the production moving forward, both from what I’ve seen and what you readers have told me, but I have hope that it will at least be directed well. Meanwhile on the narrative front, I continue to be really impressed by the pace Circumstances is moving. It’s not rushing through things, I feel like proper time is being taken for each step, but it’s also covered more in 6 episodes than most romance do in an entire season. That probably speaks more to the state of the modern romance genre, but I don’t want to make sweeping statements like that. Yet. So yeah, still enjoying Circumstances, as much as I can a romance show anyways. I don’t expect it to be a favorite like last seasons Welcome to the NHK, but it’s been good.
The leads made more progress in 6 episodes than other couples in most romance anime.