It’s a new year and lots of new possibilities, though Manaka is mostly hoping for a healthy relationship.
What They Say:
It’s New Years and Tojo comes over to Manaka’s house to tutor Yui before her exams. Manaka and Tojo end up being alone for an instant. While Manaka talks with Tojo, he remembers the days when they had just met…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the majority of the holiday’s behind them and all the frivolity that it entails, it’s a quiet time to start off the new year and that means it’s time for a quick prayer or two and then relaxing a bit. For Manaka, he’s pinning his prayers on a good school year and a healthy relationship, which is amusing considering the relationships he does have on hand that he can work towards. With Kitaoji really interested him and outward about it, Nishino wanting to go all the way with him and then the admitted interest from Tojo, he certainly has his choices. And it’s not that he’s wishy washy but more that he’s definitely more interested in Tojo than the others, but has ended up in an awkward situation.
It gets even more so when Yui gets the offer from Tojo to help her study for her entrance exams and to do it at Manaka’s place. It’s littered with insults along the way about how unusual it is for Manaka to have such a smart friend but Manaka doesn’t care since it means more time with Tojo at his place. Yui’s pretty slick though in that she boots him out and keeps him in his room, but that has him overhearing the things that girls talk about. Yui’s pretty forthright about things though she Tojo even admits that she really likes Manaka, which leads to Yui talking about how he might have already broken up with his girlfriend based on the things she’s heard. And with Manaka just listening on, it’s a pretty awkward moment that at the same time is highly endearing to all involved.
Where the show takes an unusual turn is later when pretty much the whole cast outside of Nishino accidentally meets up at a street corner and find themselves with nothing to really do. So in an effort to have some fun, they go with Yui’s suggestion of playing a little Hide and Seek. The offers up plenty of silliness along the way and it’s actually refreshing to see them playing and having fun. Though they’re in high school, a lot of shows somehow forget that there is a playful side to most people at this age and beyond and though they’re grappling with their sexuality, they also have their innocence to some extent as well and enjoy having simple fun like this. There are challenges to be had here as Yui gets a bit conflicted about her feelings for Manaka, but it’s handled in a rather good way that makes you want to see how it will play out more.
In Summary:
As an episode that cements a bit more of the relationship dynamic and some of the fluidity of it, since we initially really saw Yui as no “threat”, Strawberry 100% has a decent fairly quiet episode overall. The characters continue to be a lot of fun to watch and I like that they don’t shoehorn Nishino into every episode just so she gets some screen time regardless of whether it makes sense. Yui is pretty much the lead here but we do get some really nice sweet moments when it comes to Manaka and Tojo, alone and separately, that helps to build their budding relationship even more. Strawberry 100% has its goofy and silly moments, but it’s also building more and more of a really good high school romance.
Grade: B
Originally Streamed By: Hulu
