The Dangers in My Heart Season 2

Episode 21

Love can be dangerous. When The Dangers in My Heart first came out, it gave the impression that the "danger" in the title refers to something more tangible, like a threat of violence. However, it turns out that the series's danger was our main characters' insecurities. That anxiety of being uncertain about the future, change, and growing up can make you feel like your life is in danger when you're a dramatic teenager afraid of everything. But by overcoming that fear, you may realize that what you thought was very dangerous was a necessary step to grow up.

This episode deals with two types of "danger" specifically. One is the actual potential danger to a person's well-being. Anna is a model, actress, and idol. The show has touched upon the real-life issues of those industries in Japan, but this episode goes into it with more detail. If you become familiar with Japanese idol culture at all, then many of Kyotaro's concerns throughout this episode feel very real, and the Internet can be a terrifying place with people sleuthing out details about their private lives. Anna sleeping over ended up inciting an incident because Kyotaro got an authentic taste of what it's like to be the boyfriend of somebody who is going to be dealing with online trolls, harassment, and potential stalkers. I also like that Anna's manager didn't suggest they break up when he assumed they were dating, but this is an unfortunate reality that the both of them will have to work with as they get older. I think the resolution to the troll situation was handled a little too neatly and conveniently. It's remarkable that the stalker just happened to be a fellow actress, but narratively, that was a little bit too easy.

The second "danger" confronted this episode was fear of distance. There's always been the underlying idea of Kyotaro being insecure about Anna existing in a different world from him. This episode started with Anna's friends and the rest of the side characters commenting on the same thing. This isn't something that only he's worried about, but it's worse for him because he also feels that added pressure to be there for her even when he's not physically there with her. Anna leaves to travel, their main line of communication gets abruptly cut off, and there is that looming fear of the stalker. But by the end, they both inadvertently prove to each other that they'll do whatever they can to bridge those gaps that their insecurities stir up. I especially love how both of their solutions forced them to come out about their feelings to Anna's parents.

Anna had to use her mom's phone to draw a map to Kyotaro's place to assure him that everything was okay, which also meant she had to come clean about lying to them about whose place she was staying over at. Kyotaro stood outside in the cold and had one-on-one time with Anna's incredibly awkward yet intimidating father. Neither of those actions are actions you carry out for a simple friend. It was scary, but continuing to confess their love for each other in different ways was their method of tackling that fear little by little. Now, if only they could confess to each other!

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The Dangers in My Heart is currently streaming on HIDIVE.