Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2

Episode 4

Did anyone else feel like this episode was very meta? There's something about the side characters commenting on the romantic progression of our two leads that just struck a chord in me, and I don't know why. It's actually kind of impressive how I was so in tune with Ami in particular that when she was about to yell at Uzaki for her passivity, I was right there on the edge of my seat with her. While I do think the pacing is a bit slow, I like that we had a proper follow-up to the main couple's emotional development from last week. We get better contextualization for Uzaki's approach to the whole thing, and at long last a small fire is lit under her butt about why that might need to change.

Uzaki and Sakurai seemed to react differently when it was shoved in their face that they would make a good couple. Sakurai ultimately pushed it to the side because it didn't seem to him like Uzaki was much affected, whereas Uzaki seemed to be overthinking it to the point where she deludes herself that she doesn't have anything to worry about. Despite her posturing, she is terrified about going against her pride and be the one to put the moves on Sakurai, so she uses this revelation as an excuse as to why nothing needs to change. In her mind, Sakurai likes her and that's why they spend so much time together, so obviously things will just keep progressing the way that they are. However, that is the very definition of taking things for granted and if Uzaki is too confident, then she'll just keep letting opportunities slip by.

I've never been a big fan of these teasing shows, but when I do actually take the time to watch them, I like the moments where it's sort of revealed and broken down where that attitude or relationship dynamic comes from. Then, when that dynamic gets challenged by outside forces or circumstances, it's up to that character to react because they're arguably the ones that put themselves in that position of driving the narrative. The episode ends with another setup to such a situation: Sakurai calls Uzaki's mom by her first name in order to make things easier, but this clearly bothers Uzaki because she hasn't been called by her first name at all up until this point. It's a little convenient that this happens right around the time that Uzaki is thinking about these things, but I'm curious to see how it will be resolved. I just hope that the show doesn't walk any of this back for the sake of keeping the status quo.

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Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.