It’s been a while since my last post and I’m starting to fall behind with a lot of anime I’m watching this season. College and sleep have been priorities for me and while I’m sure those are reasonable excuses, I do still feel bad. I’ll try my best this Fall season but don’t be surprised if my posts are coming out very sporadically.
To be straight to the point: I really enjoyed the second episode of Just Because!, perhaps a bit more so than the premiere. Here, we’re presented with Eita’s little reunion with Mio though that event plays out within an even larger one: Haruto’s unsuccessful attempts to confess to Hazuki Morikawa, one of the brass musicians we sat last episode. Actually, that’s somewhat unfair because while Haruto does screw up his first attempt in typical teenage fashion, he does salvage it a bit by setting up a group hangout at the aquarium with Hazuki and a friend of hers invited (and Eita and Mio dragged into it). That plan probably could’ve worked but unfortunately for Haruto, Hazuki gets pressured by her two little brothers to take them to the trip as well.
It becomes virtually impractical for Haruto to make a private confession though one surprising development does occur when Haruto befriends Hazuki’s brothers. It’s a pretty cute scene especially considering the amount of patience Haruto musters when interacting with these two. This could certainly lead to Hazuki and Haruto growing closer (and you do see something begin to bloom by the end of this episode). Getting a girlfriend does seem to slip into Haruto’s subconscious however and I like that he was able to just enjoy his time at the aquarium in spite of his master plan going awry.
As for Eita and Mio themselves, they’re an interesting pair for sure. It’s pretty darn obvious that these two hook up at some point in this show though it did surprise me that the one Mio has a crush on is actually Haruto and not Eita. How Eita falls into the picture is simply that he’s the only one who knows Mio’s secret and him coming back into the picture somewhat displeases Mio. In general, the whole relationship is pretty awkward, maybe even one-sided. You see Mio throw some threats to dissuade Eita from ratting out her secret but Eita just looks like he’d rather be anywhere else and feigns ignorance about the secret.
These characters sure have different priorities too. Mio appears to be very focused on getting to a good college; the amount of studying she does makes it harder for her to hang out with friends. Meanwhile, Eita already has an offer to a good college (a detail that bothers Mio a ton) and for all I know, he’s probably just waiting for high school to end. One thing these two do share in common is that they could care less about romance right now. Despite Mio’s feelings for Haruto, she seemed keen on letting his “date” with Hazuki play out, perhaps because she feels romance would interfere with her studying. Meanwhile, Haruto hints that Eita used to be interested in Mio (and even roots for him) though it appears that Eita is avoiding as much interaction with her as possible. This is all likely to change but all things considered, it’s an interesting starting point Eita and Mio’s relationship.
OP: “over and over” by Nagi Yanagi
ED: “behind” by Mio Natsume (Karin Isobe), Hatsuki Morikawa (Yuna Yoshino), Ena Komiya (Lynn)
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Blend S is officially available on Amazon.
For all of my Just Because! Episode Reviews, check out the show’s archive page!
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