Kotoura-san - 8

"It's Not A Date"

And so Manabe-kun has learned a valuable lesson this week: it's no fun teasing others if they don't know you're doing it.

Kotoura-san continues to busily trundle on through its second half with another episode that feels like two in one. I don't think the studio ever realized just how well the series would do, or it would have probably slowed the pacing down a little bit and relied on a second cour to extend the story. Still, we got what we got, and while it flew by, it was still a great episode.

I have to say I laughed quite a bit at Haruka's sick voice; it was a great juxtaposition to how cheerful she looked right before leaving the house and it was just plain fun to hear. Of course, this series never does conventional material the way other anime does, so even when it's depicting a cold, something is bound to be different. Interestingly, it seems that when Haruka gets sick, she loses the power to read people's minds, something that Manabe quickly finds out isn't nearly as fun as it sounds.

Not that there's anything wrong with fantasizing, but I think it's a mark of how nice a guy Manabe is that even without Haruka's power to keep him in check, he fights his own subconsciousness in order to take care of her while she's ill. It shows that despite his reputation among the ESP Club as a pervert, he's incredibly considerate and caring, and only human (and a teenage boy) at that; but we knew that already. What's most interesting about all of this is just how much Haruka herself trusts Manabe. Though she likes to complain about his fantasies, she believes that he won't do anything to hurt her and relies on him to stay by her side, even when she's helpless. There's a lot of unspoken feelings there; Haruka's relationship to Manabe is multi-layered and doesn't just rely on romance. Manabe is what no one else, even Kotoura's own mother, could be for her, and he's the anchor to her emotional stability in various ways, whether it's through the trust he's built up between them or through the simple act of holding her hand when she asks.

That being the case, it's nice to watch the two of them go on a date once Haruka is feeling better, though, adorable as it is, it would be nice to see, just once, a couple not freaked out by the fact that they're on a date. But I digress, and the fact that Haruka still hasn't regained her mind reading ability while out with Manabe makes things so much more peaceful for her, and for him by extension. Both of them finally have the privacy of their own minds, and even watching a movie is special for Kotoura now that she doesn't accidentally mind-read the ending from people who've just left (that would suck, I hate spoilers). However, not everyone is happy that Haruka has lost her ESP capabilities; Yuriko is upset that her one real psychic is effectively useless now, whatever her friendship with Kotoura might be like. Like Moritani (who was a total bitch this week, beating people up who she had no right to beat up), Yuriko's resolution came too soon and I'm not so sure she's ready to be forgiven yet either, though hopefully whatever she's planning doesn't go too far. Luckily for her, Haruka's powers return with a bang at the end of the episode, just in time to read the mind of a murderer walking by.

N.B: Thanks to Ivan for the screencaps! Without them this would probably be delayed another day.