Adachi to Shimamura – 03 [Isosceles Triangle]

Another week, another incremental improvement over its previous iteration by Adashima. This show keeps going from strength to strength, learning from its minor narrative follies and dialing up the adorableness with every new episode. This time around it (kinda) embraced its fantastical elements yet still managed to not make it feel completely out of place. But were there no stumbles at all? Let’s find out!

Let’s just start with the one thing which still has me feeling mixed about the show going ahead: the boy inside the space-suit who says he’s from the future. Well, the boy who’s revealed to actually be a girl and doesn’t wear a spacesuit anymore because she realizes that her assumption of all humans wearing that at all times was wrong (‘cause aliens have only encountered space travelers. Clever.). She still maintains being from the future though and Shimamura doesn’t believe her which is understandable as it could well be the fantasies of a child but I mean, she’s got BLUE HAIR THAT SPARKLES WITH FAIRY DUST. Surely that must be a giveaway?? Even though her proper introduction into the narrative led to a lot of adorable and cute moments, I don’t think it was a necessary element to put into the story. But that’s just coming from a place of skepticism for not knowing where this plot-point leads.

As for the rest of the episode, it was as close to perfect as any we’ve had this season. In fact, for my money, this was the series’ best installment yet, surpassing even the stellar premiere. The comedy hits consistently and left me chuckling throughout the episode. The cute moments are absolutely aww-some and there was barely any long exposition. Like I said, incremental improvements on just about everything.

After spending most of the runtime with Adachi last week, this episode focuses on Shimamura and her feelings. She is the sort of person who makes her friends feel comfortable around her, a person who likes the people she’s with but doesn’t love any of them. She finds it hard to form attachments with people, unable to let them turn into an irreplaceable aspect of her life. If any of these people were to go away, their departure would make her sad for a few days but she would then move on and forget about it. Like a scrape wound that heals itself in a week. She feels that she would be hated by anyone she gets close to as she would be unable to give them the same kind of importance in her life but that’s actually the reason that she is unable to get attached to them in the first place. Like the snake that eats its own tail.

The first step towards forming genuine relationships with people is to let them in. To be vulnerable in front of them. To allow them the power to hurt us. If we are reluctant to do that, all our relationships only feel… hollow.

Adachi on the other hand is still recovering from the embarrassment of last week and but she’s strong enough to do that, as is evident by her raging biceps. She gets jealous of the alien girl getting so comfortable with Shimamura that the two start sharing their food from the same spoon and playing pranks on each other. She has come to fully accept her feelings towards her and wants to put these feelings to words but is afraid that Shumamura might not feel the same. And to be honest, I fear the same.

I’m just hoping these two girls somehow find a way to be together and overcome the hurdles – both the realistic and fantastical kind – which lie in their wait and am eagerly looking forward to next week!