“We Were Always Like This”
What They Say:
Renge, Natsumi, Komari, and former big-city-girl Hotaru live a quiet life in the Japanese countryside, but things get a lot more exciting when newcomer Akane Shinoda moves into the house next door to the Koshigaya family!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s a hot day and Natsumi is bored. Luckily for her, Hikage has just come back from Tokyo. She excitedly asks Natsumi to play. You bet she does! Both girls are very energetic right now. Natsumi grabs a ball to show Hikage her Surefire Kill Shot. Bring it on! Natsumi throws the ball at Hikage who isn’t able to catch it. The ball ends up knocking over and breaking a planter. Well, that sucks. Hikage just got back from the city and this is what happens!? It’s all Natsumi’s fault! Also, Natsumi’s mom is going to be so mad! So, what now? Natsumi has a few suggestions. The first one is for them to come clean and apologize. That’s an unusually reasonable idea coming from her. Even Hikage is surprised! We all have to learn from our mistakes, right?
But just in case of an emergency, they better have some backup plans. They could always destroy the evidence. It doesn’t solve the problem and only stalls the inevitable. Natsumi also has another creative proposal. They could collect clay from the ground and recreate the planter from scratch. Ah yes, now that’s the Natsumi we all know and love. The girls decide they should just apologize and get it over with. However, they’re informed that Natsumi’s mother isn’t home. Emergency! A sincere apology loses its effect the longer you wait. Who knows when she’ll be back!? They go with Plan B. Time to destroy some evidence! Unfortunately, they’re caught red-handed by Natsumi’s mom. Womp womp.
As you can probably imagine, Hikage isn’t pleased about how the day turned out. It was a mistake to see Natsumi first. Natsumi did not enjoy being yelled at by her mom and Hikage. At night, both girls realize that they fight all the time. Cue flashbacks! The first flashback features a young Hikage and Natsumi playing a game of Komuso Man. Hikage is forced to play the villain while Natsumi plays the hero. Hikage dodges all of Natsumi’s attacks. That’s when Natsumi kicks her in the shin. It’s super effective! Also, ouch. Natsumi runs away and Hikage spends most of the day trying to find her. Eventually, she finds her eating popsicles with Komari. What about the game? She’s over it. Natsumi offers her a popsicle but it ends up falling to the ground. Poor Hikage.
Onto the next flashback! Natsumi wants Hikage to take her to the secret base but she refuses. She has shopping to do. If Natsumi wants to go to the secret base, she can go alone. This is payback! Natsumi does go to the secret base alone but falls down and scrapes both of her knees. At night, Hikage is told by Natsumi’s mom that she’s missing. Hikage finds her near the secret base. Natsumi is in no condition to walk and she’s crying. Awww. Hikage carries her back home. On the way, they both apologize to each other. Adorable. Back in the present day, Renge and Natsumi want Hikage to take them to the secret base. It seems like Hikage is going to refuse but Natsumi adorably pleads for her to go. She reluctantly agrees. Natsumi then proceeds to kick her in the shin, haha. Hikage probably regrets her decision now.
In Summary:
Another week, another chill episode. Have I mentioned that the scenery in this show is beautiful? I have? Well, consider this a friendly reminder. Every time I see these gorgeous shots of nature it makes me want to go to the countryside and just walk around. I wish I could do that but we’re still living in troubled times. Anyway, this episode was dedicated entirely to the interesting friendship between Natsumi and Hikage. Sure, they may fight with each other all the time but that just means they’re really good friends! I think it’s obvious that they both cherish their friendship even if they won’t admit it to each other. Heck, the first thing Hikage did when she came back from Tokyo was going to see Natsumi. And they were both super excited to play with each other! It was quite adorable. Adorable moments like these really warm the heart, you know?
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, HiDive, VRV
