At this point in the story, JELEE is either in or would be in their third and final year in high school so in this episode, they all discuss their plans after the end of the school year. Yoru is more undecided at first though she does eventually decide to apply for an art university. More on that in a bit. Mei has decided to keep up with her musical training and she plans on attending a university affiliated with the school she attends. Kiui can’t graduate due to a lack of attendance but she plans on getting an alternate certificate so that she can apply for university. I figured Kiui would study in something related to her Vtuber career so imagine my surprise when she reveals that she wants to become a teacher. It does make a lot more sense later in the episode, when Kiui explains that she hopes to help students from ending up like her.
That leaves us with poor Kano, who has no plan for the future outside of her goal of getting 100k followers for JELEE. I figured Kano would eventually decide on getting a certification and study music at a university but such a moment doesn’t occur in this episode. It’s possible that Kano thinks she has no shot at it since she didn’t keep up with her studies like Kiui has. Even though it can be argued that Kano brought this upon herself with her past actions, I feel bad for her here. She doesn’t deserved to be in such a bind.
As part of her plan, Kiui decides to get a motorbike license. Kano joins her as a way to occupy herself for a bit while she wonders about her future. Parallel to that, we see Yoru and Mei hanging out together. I can’t help but be suspicious of this arrangement. Like, it really feels like a deliberate move to show everyone being friends with each other before Yoru and Kano’s ship sails and the potential love rectangle between all four girls kicks into full gear. Putting my paranoia aside, it does make sense to split the group like this. Kiui and Kano are the two girls who more or less dropped out of school. Yoru and Mei are the two with the more straightforward and traditional path. Since the episode is about the four discussing their future, having them bond in these pairings is fitting.
At the school, Kiui meets an older woman and a fellow otaku named Koharu (Asami Seto). Not much is revealed about her though she does tell Kiui and Kano that she’s had breast implants and facial surgeries and it’s implied that she changed her appearance to get out of a bad situation. What really perplexes me about Koharu is the sexual tone of her scenes with Kiui. Throughout the episode, Koharu flat out asks Kiui about her breast size. In one particular scene, she shows off her breasts to Kiui and Kano before they bathe together and she lets the two touch them. I suppose we don’t know the age gap between Koharu and Kiui or if Kiui is already 18 but given that Kiui is still in high school, I think it’s fair for anyone to feel weird and/or uncomfortable at seeing an adult interact with her in this fashion. The only explanation I can think of for this direction is that the show is setting Koharu up as a potential love interest for Kiui. I guess if you want to build a ship, this is one way to telegraph that to the audience. It sure is daring, though. There are even some non-sexual scenes supporting that angle, especially towards the end where Kiui feels comfortable enough to reveal that she’s Nox to Koharu and the two exchange contact info.
Naturally, Mei is a bit jealous that Kano is hanging out with Kiui at the driving school. Yoru helps Mei assuage her worries which is kind of rich since there’s clearly something going on between Yoru and Kano. I’m very curious about how Mei feels about Yoru’s relationship with Kano. There were a couple of times in previous episodes where Mei gets a little jealous with Kano gives Yoru attention but there isn’t really a hint of jealousy in this episode. Even Mei and Yoru talk about how much Kano means to them, Mei doesn’t get envious or suspicious. It’s possible that Mei’s feelings towards Kano aren’t actually romantic but I don’t know. You’d think she’d still have a reaction of some kind towards Yoru and Kano. There’s also this one scene where Mei confides in Yoru that she once got upset when someone once took her place as her school’s top student and that helped her realize that she loves music. It’s nice to know that Mei’s interest in music doesn’t revolve around Kano but I do wonder if this is setting up Mei becoming okay with Kano and Yoru becoming a couple (assuming that is the direction we’re going).
After some trial and error, Kano gets her license shortly after Kiui does. With no real destination in mind, Kano decides to give Yoru a ride. It’s later revealed that this is exactly the reason why Kano decided to get a license. I suppose Jellyfish‘s OP gives that away, there’s a brief shot of the two riding on a motorcycle together, but let’s be real here. Even without that hint, any of us could tell from a mile away that Kano is getting her license to up her flirting game. Really, the real question to ask instead is whether or not Kano would get in any legal trouble for driving Yoru around. Fortunately, and hilariously, the show later answers that in the post-credit scene.
The ending of this episode certainly adds more fuel to the shipping fire. Kano and Yoru settle on heading towards the beach. While there, Yoru tells Kano about her plan to go to art school and she says that she’s doing it so that she can impress a certain someone with her art. Kano admits that she still doesn’t know what to do going forward so Yoru suggests that she sings for her. I’m amazed at this show’s ability to give me a romance without actually confirming that it is a romance. Like, everything about this scene is borderline romantic, coming across as Yoru reciprocating Kano’s feelings towards her (the subtitles even use “reciprocate” for one of Yoru’s lines). There’s also Kano calling Yoru by her actual name for the first time, which suggests a desire to be more informal with her friend(?). And yet, both girls do everything except say that they like each other so I still have an iota of doubt over whether or not the show is actually going in this direction. Perhaps I’m being too skeptical here, watching a lot of CGDCT anime will do that to you, but would it kill this show to finally confirm the ship? It can’t keep teasing me like this.
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