"In Order to Keep Saying 'We're Home'"
And here I was with a faint hope for some more comedy... I should have known better.
That doesn't mean this was a bad episode, however. While the focus was undoubtedly the drama this week, it felt far better executed than it has been lately, and thankfully the romcom triangle problems were kept out of the spotlight. What we did get, however, was a
Ryuunosuke-centered episode, something I wasn't really expecting but which makes sense in context of the situation at Sakurasou. Ryuunosuke has always been the odd one out in the dorm, and while the others definitely see him as a friend, he himself always put up a wall between them. When he hacks into the school's meeting records and discovers that
Shiina is the reason for why the dorm is getting closed down, he follows the most rational and least emotional logic: either Shiina leaves in order to keep the building up, or no one does anything and enjoys what little time they have left together before Jin, Masaki, and
Nanami leave in the Spring.
Of course, this isn't what Ryuunosuke really wants, and it takes Rita and
Maid-chan together to make him realize that he should just follow his emotions regardless of whether or not they count as wasted effort. His isolation isn't something he wishes for either; it's a result of
losing his friendships in middle school over a game project and refusing to relive the same experiences again. In a sense, he's just someone who is afraid to get too close to others, and someone who can't see the point in putting forth time and effort when it ends in failure regardless; he's cut off his feelings for the sake of remaining as rational as possible, but the emotions still lurk beneath his detached exterior. Sometimes, expressing yourself is more important than the result, and in this case it doesn't matter that Sakurasou will lose half its residents even if it doesn't get demolished; they have to fight for it anyway.
What I found most interesting, however, wasn't Ryuunosuke or even the fact that
Nanami failed her audition. The argument about whether or not art is for the sake of the individual or the masses has been a running theme in the series, and it resurfaces in the rationale for why the school board wants to shut Sakurasou down. Shiina is once again caught in the middle of this philosophical debate as the school considers whether or not having her draw manga is bad for their reputation and whether or not the residents of the dorm have been a bad influence on her art. Frankly, the school has absolutely no business meddling with
Shiina's wishes or with her art, but they seem to think that she's "squandering" her talent and that something needs to be done about it. They, like Rita and Sorata before them, feel that Shiina's art has nothing to do with her own desires, and that her work exists purely for the sake of others, in this case, to heighten the school's prestige. It's wrong and selfish for them to objectify her work like that; art is just as important to the artist as it is to the beholder, and if the artist doesn't want to do it, nobody should have to force them. For that reason alone, I want to see Mashiro trump the school board in whatever manner possible, so that everyone understands she's not a machine who doles out masterpieces for the sake of other people.
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