It’s been a while since I last blogged about Adachi and Shimamrua. In fact, the show has recently finished airing. Sorry about that. Work kept me busy as usual and my top priority this month was the Laid-Back Camp episode re-reviews so any time and energy I had went to that. Truth be told, my motivation is a bit sapped (as is generally the case with shows I’ve fallen behind on reviewing) but there’s three episodes left to review so screw it. Let’s go.
Considering the heartfelt ending of the previous episode, it comes to a bit of a surprise to see Adachi and Shimamura drifting away from each other. A new school year has started and while both characters are in the same class again, things get awkward when Adachi sees new classmates ask Shimamura to hang out with them. Before long, Adachi skips school again and her and Shimamura stop spending time together. Though definitely a sudden development, the idea of the two characters’ friendship fizzling out during a new school year is realistic and I’d rather have this than the usual infighting cliché.
I buy that Adachi would start to avoid Shimamura. Despite her feelings, she isn’t one to mingle with people she barely knows. It’s really Shimamura’s decision that raises an eyebrow. On one hand, Shimamura feels little affinity to her new pals. Hell, she can’t even remember their names. You also have moments where she clearly longs for Adachi’s company, contemplates over paying her a visit, hopes that she’ll contact her. On the other hand, Shimamura ends up doing nothing about her situation. I can’t fault that as out of character. Shimamura has gone on record that she tries not to feel too attached to the people she befriends in fear of such bonds falling apart. That she goes with the flow here makes sense. Perhaps she also wants to avoid being rude to these classmates she doesn’t care about. Fair enough. Still, I would’ve liked for her to be more proactive, considering how attached she is to Adachi and is aware of that fact (which ought to be a huge dent to her line of thinking). Thank goodness Adachi decides at the end of the episode to seek out Shimamura herself, it’s always nice to see her take a stance.
For the second half, you have Shimamura hanging out with Tarumi once again. The “date” is noticeably an echo of some of the Shimamura’s past “dates” with Adachi. You have the restaurant the two eat at be similar to the one seen in Episode 3 and Tarumi leaving right as soon as Yashiro crashes in, just like how Adachi would. In terms of personality, Tarumi is similar to Adachi in that she desires to be closer to Shimamura in some way and is conscious of how she’s perceived by her. There are some slight differences. Tarumi attempts to be more outgoing and those efforts don’t immediately result in embarrassment like it does with Adachi. She’s also much more upfront about her feelings towards Shimamura; at least according to the subtitles, she flat out calls her friend sexy at one point. Differences aside, there’s a clear parallel going on between Tarumi and Adachi and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I suppose this serves to set up a possible rivalry between them but I worry that having her be Adachi with some details changed here an there, it might make her less unique and more pointless.
At this point, the only relationship that shows any potential for progress is Hino x Nagafuji (well, that and Yashiro and Shimamura’s sister). It’s certainly the most upfront at least, what with Nagafuji letting Hino grope her bare breasts during bath time (oh how the tables have turned on Hino). I suppose these two are still locked in a stalemate as Hino hasn’t exactly reciprocated Nagafuji’s increasingly obvious feelings. But if there’s a pairing that’ll bloom past the platonic stage, this one frankly seems it.
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