Episode 5 begins with a flashback set during Sakuta and Ikumi’s third year in middle school, in which Sakuta fails to convince his homeroom teacher of Kaede’s case of Puberty Syndrome. The moment causes everyone to ostracize Sakuta, ultimately turning him into the anti-social “rascal” that we the audience are more familiar with. While Ikumi appears to be more sympathetic towards him, she refrains from interacting with him at all.
Back in the present, Ikumi approaches Sakuta about an upcoming middle school reunion that’ll happen in a few weeks. As Ikumi figured however, Sakuta isn’t terribly interested in awkwardly reuniting with any of their old classmates. Even the incentive of bragging to everyone that he’s gone on to date the famous Mai Sakurajima isn’t worth it for him (let that sink in). I’m realizing that with Ikumi’s arc, we get to explore one other loose end with Sakuta’s past: the poor treatment that he got during his last year in middle school. That was brushed over in Bunny Girl Senpai and that was understandable since Kaede’s character development mattered more. With Kaede’s arc accounted for however, it’s nice to reexamine the ripple effects that whole ordeal had on Sakuta.
Aside from discussing the reunion, Sakuta questions Ikumi about her believing in the supernatural and why she’s playing hero by preventing those #dreaming posts from happening. It’s not explicitly confirmed in this episode but I think Ikumi believes in that stuff and tries to do something about them out of guilt. Like, maybe she regrets how she did nothing for Sakuta and this is all her way of making up for that. It would explain why she believes in the supernatural now when she didn’t believe in Puberty Syndrome before and why she feels the need to act so selflessly. Sakuta also advises Ikumi that she should address the #dreaming trend in moderation, explaining that changing the future could result in something worse. What I love about this advice is that Sakuta isn’t even making it up. Given the events of Dreaming Girl, he is absolutely speaking from experience here.
I neglected to mention it in the last episode but there’s a scene there where Rio warns Sakuta about Sara, who appears to gotten a fellow cram school teacher in trouble. In this episode, Sara shows up to observe one of Sakuta’s lessons. The two then meet up at an elevator and at one point, Sara accidentally bumps heads with Sakuta. A pretty funny moment though there is one peculiar shot that looks romantic out of context. It’s hard not to think that Sara is up to something. Whatever the case might be, she’s definitely going to have her own arc in the future.
At home, Sakuta enjoys dinner with Mai, Kaede, Nodoka, and (oddly enough) Uzuki. Considering my concern that Uzuki would get shoved to the wayside, I’m elated to see her return so quickly. I love how Uzuki acts like she’s a part of this household. For starters, you have Uzuki referring to Sakuta as “Big Brother”. Uzuki used that term before but in reference to Sakuta being Kaede’s older brother. I didn’t think much when she started to use the term again in Episode 3 but now that I think about it, it has taken on a more endearing meaning after Sakuta helped her out so much. Other than that, Uzuki is the only one besides maybe Mai who seemingly gets Sakuta’s dry humor and her presence kind of brings back that goofy energy Kaede used to offer to the table. I wouldn’t want this to happen all the time but it is funny to think that Uzuki appearing at these family gatherings is just the norm going forward.
After dinner, Kaede gives Sakuta a letter from Shoko (Inori Minase). It continues to bum me out that Shoko has been effectively written out of the spotlight but the girl does deserve it after Dreaming Girl and I’ll give this show credit for keeping tabs on her. Mai being torn from being happy for Shoko to worrying that she’s becoming the future version that Sakuta fell in love with is pretty funny. The scene transitions over to a discussion about Sakuta’s last year of middle school. Sakuta explains to Mai that he’s less bitter and more indifferent towards his old peers. Not having Sakuta feel so strongly about those people might risk undermining this arc but it does check out. Sakuta was busy taking care of Kaede and he went on to meet Shoko, Mai, and all his other friends. Of course he’s moved on. Also noteworthy is Mai asking Sakuta if he’d be willing to forgive Ikumi. An interesting question considering that Sakuta himself acknowledges that Ikumi hardly did anything to him. If I’m right about Ikumi feeling guilty herself, I can see this arc putting that question on his head. Like, it’s not Sakuta’s forgiveness Ikumi needs but rather, she needs to forgive herself.
The next day, Sakuta and Mai attend a festival held at their university. After attending a Sweet Bullet concert, the couple head off to buy food for the idols and along the way, they run into a food stall run by the nursing majors. Apparently, Ikumi’s friends really like the nurse outfit she wore last episode for Halloween so they decided to adopt it for the festival, much to Ikumi’s chagrin. Funny that, like with Mai, Ikumi would like to bury her most noteworthy outfit. I wonder if Touko will feel the same after she stops being Santa Claus. Sakuta notices that Ikumi now has her right arm in a cast, prompting him to talk to her after he and Mai finishes their errand. Ikumi explains that she sprained her arm trying to help someone. In other words, she’s already failed to follow Sakuta’s advice. Despite her injury, Ikumi still intends on continuing her efforts to help others.
Probably the most intriguing bit of dialogue here is when Ikumi asks Sakuta about their middle school graduation essays. Ikumi reminds Sakuta that he wrote that he’d like to one day “reach kindness” and it’s implied that she wrote something similar. There’s something really wholesome that even after a really tough year, Sakuta still opted to write a positive resolution for himself. It also indirectly speaks to how much of an impact Shoko left on him. If you think about it, Sakuta has already achieved his resolution. He may act indifferent but he’s proven many times throughout this series that deep down, he’s a kind soul. Meanwhile, I’m awfully curious about the fact that Ikumi remembers Sakuta’s essay. That just makes me think even more that she feels guilty about how she treated him in the past. There’s also the implication that Ikumi thinks she hasn’t achieved her resolution and that feeds into her current demeanor. What Ikumi is trying to do is noble but there seems to be an obsessive aspect to it that isn’t healthy and is reflected by her lack of self-preservation. It’s concerning to say the least.
Ikumi heads off to check on another #dreaming post though Sakuta confesses that it’s one that he had made up and will therefore not happen at all. Honestly, that was pretty dumb of Sakuta to do. I guess he wrote it to show Ikumi that she’s on a bit of a wild goose chase with trying to follow up on all of those posts but all that actually does is make Ikumi’s endeavor harder. At least, Sakuta tells Ikumi the truth and recognize his error. Things then take an ominous turn when Ikumi collapses in pain and Sakuta notices something moving underneath her clothes. Most likely, this is a manifestation of Ikumi’s Puberty Syndrome. The shock factor is lessened a bit by Touko admitting Ikumi has Puberty Syndrome last episode but coming off of Uzuki simply gaining awareness, it’s rather refreshing to see more surreal imagery again.
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