Welcome everyone, to another week of His and Her Circumstances! This post was written on a deadline, and I don’t expect that to change with Mob Psycho airing on Wednesdays now. I will not apologize for my priorities damnit. My inevitable fall into being more and more late for the next few weeks aside though, this was a pretty interesting week for Circumstances so lets dive right into it.
Visually, Circumstances had some ups and downs this week. Animation wise there was really only one scene that stood out, it once again being Tsubasa. But god damn did that scene look good. Not only because it was well animated, but because of the details and expressions within it. The narrowing of the eyes, her face shattering apart, how Tsubasa’s mouth ripped open. It’s just beautiful. So if it looks so good, where are the downs? Well that’s just it. The rest of the episodes didn’t move at all. They are more like slideshows than animation. Yes, the creativity within those slide shows is great. Circumstances has some of the best visual metaphors and facial expressions I’ve seen in a long time, just look at Tsubaki’s rotating flip-board reaction faces for a perfectly example of minimalist animation. Even with that however, it’s becoming noticeable just how little Circumstances moves.
Getting into the episodes, first up is episode 16, “Eternal Interspersions”. I’m just going to come out and say it, this one felt like a filler episode. That doesn’t mean it was bad, we will get to that, but it didn’t really have anything to do with the main plot. Instead it was all about Miyazawa’s parents and their relationship. Now I can see an argument for how it might tie into a larger theme about love, familial or otherwise, and looking after each other. How it can take time to build and become something truly special. But if that was the goal, I think this was an odd place to put it. It doesn’t tie very neatly into Circumstances previous arc with Tsubasa and he own parental issues. Both are about family, but they approach the topic in two very different ways in my mind.
This isn’t to say that the episode bad! I actually kind of enjoyed their romance, as limited as its presentation was. And I especially enjoyed the interactions between the father and grandfather, how parents may look at a relationship but still end up supporting it for love of their children. As a speed run through over a decade of their lives, getting us to where Miyazawa is now, it was cute. Funnily enough though, it wasn’t their relationship that really won me over. Instead it was the relationship between the father and his own grandfather that stole the show. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, considering Circumstances prior focus on family, but it was easily the best part. I could see his death coming from a mile away and yet it still hit hard. As far as filler episodes go, it was most certainly not the worst.
That brings us to episode 17, “His Return”. And yes, I know that was a quick one, but it was a pretty straightforward episode so live with it. This episode is all about, you guessed it, Arima’s return and their big reunion. There’s a lot to like here! From Arima’s subtle, but noticeable character design changes to Miyazawa finally saying the 3 important words. But there’s also one moment near the end that I found to be really off putting, and that was Arima’s reaction to Miyazawa’s lack of communication. At it’s core, I get it. He wasn’t going to let something small be the end of their relationship, he pushed through and they talked it out. But the way Circumstances presented that scene was just… I’m going to come out and say it, it felt rapey.
Why would I think that? Isn’t stuff like the kabedon standard? Well yes it is, but it isn’t the kabedon that made it weird. It was everything around it. The way he threw her into the wall beforehand, his proclamation of not letting her go even if she hates him, not caring how she feels, etc. This is supposed to be a sign of his dedication to her. But instead it comes off as incredibly possessive and forceful. Like there wasn’t a conversation here, it was him forcing the answers out of her. And while that did resolve the issue, it shows some distressing sides to Arima’s personality. My hope is that this is a one-off mistake on Circumstances part, that or its angling for a breakup in its finale. Anything so long as he doesn’t pull this crap again and then be presented as “right” for doing so.
As for Miyazawa’s side, I quite liked all of it! Circumstances did a great job showing us her feeling of anxiousness as he returned. The way the days got longer, her nervousness increased as the days counted down. Her realization of her growing love for him and her inability to vocalize it, which is on point with her characterization throughout the series. On top of that, Maho’s advice about whose feelings she cares about more was spot on! Even the last bit with Arima, while creepy from his side, was fantastic from her. She recognized his fear of rejection and how much her silence hurt him. She knew what she was doing was wrong, coming out and saying as much when he cornered her. If it just wasn’t for Arima’s part being as it was, it would have been fantastic. Instead I’ll have to settle for good, with a side of creepy.
So yeah, all in all I think this was solid week for Circumstances. Certainly not its best, possibly it’s worst even. But if it’s worst week is still this good, then there really isn’t much to worry about. That said, we have started to see more and more of that fabled melt people have told me about. The production is growing weaker and weaker, and strong direction can only make up for so much. There are only so many ways to make a still frame interesting. On top of that, from what I understand, this isn’t a complete adaptation. So there’s a strong chance we will end on some kind of horribly unsatisfying cliffhanger. That or it will go anime original. Now since I haven’t read the manga, I really have no idea what’s going to happen. Any of them could be good. Just so long as Circumstances executes them well.
This is why I prefer manga over anime adaptations. Adaptations only exists to promote the manga and nothing more. I like more original titles like odd taxi.