Sasaki and Miyano

Episode 8

Having at last made peace with the fact that's he's attracted to guys, and unwittingly reaching a certain level of comfort with his appearance, it's time for the next step on Miyano's timid trek towards romance: admitting to himself that he wants to date Sasaki. Now that might sound like an easy hurdle to clear – after all, Sasaki's affection is what spurred this multi-episode revelatory journey in the first place, right? But never underestimate a teenager's capacity for denying the obvious. Admitting you're in love with somebody means being emotionally vulnerable, and there's absolutely nothing more terrifying than that when you're in high school.

Surprisingly, we actually hit a pretty big event on that front by the end of the episode, but in the meantime we get a change of pace by focusing more on our supporting cast. Much as I like our central couple, it's always nice when romance shows take time to explore – or at least give more jokes to – the secondary characters. Besides, there are as many different ways to fall in love as there are people, and getting different views of romance from other couples can contextualize your central one in surprising ways.

First is Ogasawara and his unabashed fujoshi girlfriend. The other characters describe her as “wearing the pants” in their relationship, and outdated language aside, they're not wrong. She's a steamroller of a personality and, for all his objections, our blue-haired dummy seems positively smitten even when she's getting on his nerves or he's freaking out over finding her porn. She also feels like the show lightly poking fun at its own (presumed) audience, which is rather charming. Miyano certainly gets caught up in his BL interest at times – like when he spends all night rereading a particularly engaging story – but he's decidedly restrained compared to Emi. There's not a ton to glean from their segment, but it's a welcome bit of levity in a show that can tend to drown in its own angst at times. And Miyano being conscripted as the resident “Fujoshi Interpreter” is just hilarious.

While the girl herself doesn't make an appearance, we also get a closer look at Kuresawa's relationship with his girlfriend. It was briefly mentioned before that she's currently in the hospital, and while we don't know exactly why, the way he talks about it makes me think hospital stays are at least a semi-regular occurrence. Whatever the situation, it's sweet to see just how much he's always thinking of her. He's also remarkably chill about the cross-dressing thing, and seems to enjoy trying to make himself look as cute and girly as possible, so good on him. In general he's just a pleasant guy, and while I don't know if or when we'll see more from his side, I'd like to. I also dig that Miyano ends up going for a totally different look – variety's the spice of life, and there are lots of different girly outfits to put your cute boys in, so might as well embrace them all.

Then we get to the Big Thing that caps off this whole episode. After mulling it over and desperately trying to not let his brain go there, Miyano finally admits to himself that yes, he like likes Sasaki. In classic anime fashion, he comes to this revelation right as the other boy is pinning him to the wall in an empty classroom at magic hour, but whom amongst us hasn't awakened to first love while crossdressing? It's the moment pretty much every ounce of atmosphere was building up to for this whole episode, and it's sufficiently intense. There's a palpable electricity when they're alone together, and all the unresolved tension from the past weeks just spills over into a rush of reckless action and confusion. It's another example of this show's excellent direction and pacing.

My one real hangup is that the preceding conversation again brings up Sasaki's more possessive attitude. I get that he's a kid figuring out his feelings just as much as Miyano, and insecurity can push people to act in less than graceful ways, but it's still off-putting when he broaches the topic of the beauty pageant by not-so-subtly “asking” Miyano not to do it because he's not comfortable with anyone else thinking his not-boyfriend is cute. It's just a form of romance I've never identified with, and while I get its place in the story, the sooner the character (and show) can move past it, the better.

Rating:

Sasaki and Miyano is currently streaming on Funimation.