The focus shifts to the mangaka as he finally realizes what’s going on around him.
What They Say:
The triangle between Yoshino, Tori, and Yuu is coming to the tipping point. Who will be the first to speak their heart?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After a couple of good episodes involving Takano and Onodera, Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi shifts its focus elsewhere and it’s not exactly the storyline I wanted to see. While the original work and other works by this author favors this kind of shift in narrative, it’s not one I care for all that much since it can make for a few annoying episodes if you don’t care for the characters involved. Whereas other series mix things up episode to episode, letting the storylines blend across each other, this series prefers to make its connections and then focus on those characters exclusively. And the character of Yoshin is just one that doesn’t do much for me since he comes across in a fairly whiny way.
The focus on Yoshino as he struggles with a deadline mixed in with personal problems is fairly standard material, but I did appreciate that Takano at least makes an appearance here and apologies for what he’s requesting out of him. But the personal problems are making it difficult as he’s unable to focus as well as he wants to and doesn’t seem to be able to draw as quickly as he needs to. There’s the fear of dropping the project itself, but there’s at least a bit of a saving grace when Yuu arrives in the office and gets things organized in a way that lets the work proceed even more quickly, even if it does tire everyone else. Yuu’s personality is the kind of hard-assed one that Yoshino needs at times but it puts a real crimp in their relationship just as people because of it. You have to appreciate his whipmaster like ways, but that’s not always what Yoshino is looking for.
The whole effort starts to put a real strain on Yoshino and it also puts one on the slowly simmering triangle that’s evolved as well with Hattori in the mix. There’s various feelings all around between them but with Yoshino being somewhat oblivious and the other two keeping to themselves, it’s all been building up to a point where it’s going to boil over. And with each of the men wanting Yoshino’s attentions in all ways, giving one something over the other, especially for Yuu, just sets him off even easier. Yoshino just wants to focus on work since he can’t imagine either really being into him and that just exacerbates the whole situation.
In Summary:
What kills me about Yoshino is that he is just such a child in so many ways. While Onodera is trying to figure things out, including what he really wants, he holds his own and doesn’t want to make any rash decisions. But Yoshino is all about emotions, though a lot are in the kind of inward and almost cowardly way because of his oblivious nature. When he snaps, it’s almost comical and out of character, but it’s the kind of thing that he needs to do even if it reaffirms his childish nature. As a character, he’s just bugged me from the get go in a way that makes me want to slap some sense into him, but it’s what he’d actually like. Not that that’s a bad thing, but he’s just so blatant about it that it drives me nuts. There’s some nice moments here and there in the episode, but the main trio of characters simply aren’t appealing to watch.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
