Welcome everyone, to what is a very important week for His and Her Circumstances. Why is it important you might ask? Because this week marks the departure of Hideaki Anno from the production, and the production then imploding upon itself. What does that mean? What does that look like? Let’s dive in and talk about that.
So, the production. Does it really look that bad? The answer: Yes. Yes it does. In fact it looks so bad that I almost didn’t believe it. I thought that this must just be for the opening recap, right? That’s why it’s literally sketches on paper taped to sticks being held in front of a camera, or live footage of the streets outside the production studio? But no, this was the entire episode. So the question becomes: What happened? Well the best I can figure, based on a small amount of research, is that this is the point where Anno simply left the production. Between recent (for the time) laws regarding anime production, pressure from the studio about removing sex scenes (Will get to that) and arguments with the original author, things were starting to fall apart. But the sad thing about it, to me? It wasn’t completely bad.
Early on in the episode I thought it was clever. A cute, unique way to recap that actually lent itself to some really interesting visual gags. Stuff like Asaba being presented like a paper doll, really dialing in on his vain and mostly self-serving attitude. Or the classroom scene and the way they used the picture of an actual person to set them apart from everyone else. Is it well animated? Arguably it isn’t animated at all. Does it look good outside of these scenes? Not really, the sketches typically aren’t even very detailed. But is it interesting and does it have a lot of promise if it was used well? Yes. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t used well at all, instead really just turning into a burning trainwreck barreling down the tracks with no breaks. And the worst part is it’s taking the narrative with it.
To start with episode 18, “Progress”, this week wasn’t to bad. In fact I thought this episode was quite good, all things considered. Circumstances took the romance to a level I’ve joked about but honestly wasn’t expecting to actually see. That of course being, sex! Steamy, passionate, full on, these characters fucked. While it’s a bit creepy in that we are watching two, what I believe to be, 15 year old’s getting it on, I think Circumstances handled it pretty tactfully. There were no ecchi fanservice shots of Miyazawa undressing, nothing to titillate the viewer. Just a touch, some looks, discarded clothing, cut to them waking up later that evening. All in all I think it was a great scene! One that was capped off with some amusing jokes about newly weds rather than any cries of mistake or accusations of impropriety. Yaaaay, it was consensual!
Jokes aside, I continue to enjoy how steadily and subtly Circumstances is progressing their relationship. There is the occasional acclamation of “I love you” or “I want to make love to you”, but those typically come after a bunch of more subtle hints. Effectively acting as billboards for the, how do you say, slower audience members. As such, they are never really a surprise. You’re never left thinking that this isn’t how they acted before, that it doesn’t match their personality, etc. Circumstances shows us the small glances, the blushes, the touches, the hesitancy and then the proclamation. It’s nice! I suspect its precisely because of this subtle build up that the sex scene worked as well as it did, as we’ve known they have been thinking about this for awhile. Could it have been better, maybe not split with a downer family bit? Maybe. But it was still good.
Speaking of the family stuff, this was also good but in a very different way. Such a way that it almost doesn’t fit with the steamy bits, but overall I think it worked. This bit was basically us meeting the rest of the Arima family! And boy are they a bunch of assholes. Circumstances didn’t have to try very hard to make me hate them, but man did the Aunt talking about him directly to his parents faces rile me up. Luckily there was a massive payoff to all this: Arima’s parents are fucking awesome. I just… I loved these two. Not only did they not take their families shit, they stood up for Arima and directly called everyone else out. Effectively telling them that Arima is better than them and they love him. I was prepared for some silent drama, not legitimately good parenting.
That’s right, it’s time to talk about episode 19, “14 Days, Part 1”! Going by the title, you would expect this to be the beginning of some grand 6-7 episode long finale for Circumstances. And in a way, it might be! Just not narratively. Because this episode looks like absolute shit. Jesus H Christ. But while I’ve already ranted about the production, lets take a moment to do the same to the narrative, because to put it simply? Absolutely nothing happens this episode. We setup a culture fest is coming, another new student is introduced this late in the game, and Asaba gets a tan. That’s it. No follow up to Arima’s family, nothing about their relationship or them fucking. It’s just right back to school for what is feeling some random shoehorned drama.
It’s a shame, because Circumstances had the perfect finale for the series just last episode! Maybe stretch it a bit, give it a bit more gravitas plus an epilogue of sorts. But in general, them consummating their relationship is a pretty big step and one I would deem worthy of a finale. Even if there was more story to tell after, and considering this was an ongoing adaptation at the time there most certainly was, as a viewer I would have felt satisfied. Instead however we are being introduced to a whole new character, Tonami Takefumi, who apparently used to live in this area a few years ago before moving to Okinawa. What happened? Why would he hate Tsubaki? Why has he come back? Why is Tsubasa no longer a character and just a physical gag gremlin? I don’t know! But it’s not a good sign for what’s to come.
So yeah, all in all this week was… concerning. One episode was quite good and set up a lot of great stuff for the future. It left me excited for what kind of finale Circumstances could lead to! The other was the closest thing to the literal definition of “production melt” I have ever seen. It not only looked terrible, it even began to infect the narrative as we see the team start to lose control of the series. Is it possible that Circumstances can still be narratively satisfying? Yes, most certainly. Do I expect it to be at this point? Not at all. When people told me at the start of this watch that Circumstances fell apart, I thought it would just become a powerpoint. But now it’s clear that they meant so much more. All I can do from here is pray that it’s not that bad.
