Bloom Into You – Ep. 5

Apparently, the possibility of the student council putting on a play for the culture festival will have to wait. Midterms are on the horizon so all extracurricular activities, including the student council, are on break. Originally, Yuu is hoping to study for the tests with Maki but the latter passes when Nanami runs into them. That obviously is him playing matchmaker but he is in the right that Yuu might enjoy studying with Nanami more.

Of course, since this is Yuu we’re talking about, you’re treated with the usual. She still isn’t feeling attracted to Nanami but again, she doesn’t hate spending time with her so she keeps going along with it. Meanwhile, Nanami continues to try to enjoy any opportunity she has to feel closer to Yuu. It’s the usual shtick for Bloom Into You but to be fair, it still remains to be compelling. I particularly like how the interplay between the girls shifts as they change locations. At the school library, it is 100% Nanami taking the initiative. She opts to sit right next to Yuu so that she can better help her study but it is partially excuse for her to give head pats. Of course, there’s head patting in an anime. As the library gets too crowded, Yuu takes Nanami to her place instead. It literally is Nanami stepping into her friend’s turf. Suddenly, a lot of her initiative vanishes and she can’t contain her excitement of being in Yuu’s room. Yuu naturally notices this and despite her best efforts to play it cool, Nanami keeps getting flustered. All in all, it’s really interesting how the dynamic is always changing depending on the circumstances.

One subtle development that arises from this episode is how conscious Nanami is of Yuu. Let’s take the bookstore scene at the very beginning of the episode for example. Nanami buys a romance book and Yuu knows that it’s actually a girls’ love story. She assumes her upperclassman buys it to elicit a reaction out of her but the next day, Nanami reveals that she genuinely had no idea. She’s flustered and concerned of Yuu’s judgment. Later, Nanami warns Yuu about her forwardness, arguing that it could give a lot of the people the wrong idea. She uses Maki as an example, having noticed how him and Yuu have become buddies. While her assumption is very much far from the truth and Yuu will likely take a million years to feel love, it is noteworthy that Nanami is developing a sense of jealousy. I wouldn’t go as far as call it an unhealthy obsession (at least not yet) but it does appear that Yuu is weighing a lot on Nanami’s mind.

A new and curious development that happens in this episode involves Yuu’s sister, Rei (Mikako Komatsu). I have to ask: did she become aware of Yuu and Nanami’s relationship? Her boyfriend actually brings that to light and while Rei dismisses, her facial expressions suggest that she is still going to keep that in mind. By the time, Nanami asked Rei for the recipe for a cheesecake Yuu really likes, I wonder if she started taking a hint. For crying out loud, she sends Nanami a picture of a sleeping Yuu after texting the recipe. She has to know, right? Whatever the case may be, she does seem to recognize that Nanami is becoming an important person in Yuu’s life and having a family member pay some amount of attention to that has a lot of promise.

The only thread I’m completely unsure about is Koyomi and her privately working on a novel submission. As someone who loves writing, I do think this character is really appealing. But I don’t know, what kind of relevance does this subplot have? Maybe her choosing to ask Yuu for a feedback is telling of their relationship but I frankly buy her decision being based on Yuu avidly reading a lot more. Saeki potentially complicating the relationship chart is maybe enough; I don’t know if we need to throw in more characters. I suppose time will tell where this leads.

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