It’s quite fitting that on the week Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu goes full shounen, it pays a little tribute to Toriyama Akira. Nice tracksuit, Moriya-sensei. It’s also fitting that during this celebration of GAR it’s also the week it broke the record for consecutive wins at Anime Corner, with a season sweep both there and at Anime Trending looking increasingly likely. We’ve come a long way from those early days when Norio was fooling newbies just as she did when the manga first came out.
This was also the week that confirmed the path this season will take in adaptation. We’re looking at three chapters each for the final three episodes, which gets us to where I always figured we had to end up. This episode was self-contained enough that it would have been hard to combine it with another, and as for the final two, well – let’s just say this is the way. From there who knows – a live-action perhaps, maybe an original movie with Norio’s involvement. And then, hopefully, a third season sometime around 2026. We’ll see how these crazy rankings translate to disc and volume sales very soon.
Adachi-kun is very much at the heart of these events, and he’s probably the one character who hasn’t been rehabilitated in the eyes of the most fans. It’s sports festival time, and the kyoujin in Class 3-1, Kugenuma Nao, asks Ichi to be the “knight” in the cavalry contest. Once again we see a huge name in a small role as Kaji Yuuki takes the stage, and while Kaji in BokuYaba was my worst nightmare when the anime was first announced, as a goof in a cameo I’m good with it. Kyou initially declines, but after an interaction with Shou at the urinals (an anime-original question about his pubes is discreetly ignored) Kyou has a change of heart.
Adachi takes a lot of abuse from fans, but I see him as in many ways the most “normal” middle-school boy in the cast (which I guess tracks). He’s crude, he’s airheaded, he’s sex-obsessed – all the things most boys his age are. But as with Kyou his instincts are fundamentally decent. He’s just a nice guy with no tact and no filter, and he deserves massive credit for being among the first at his school to see through Ichi’s barriers and realize he was a “great guy”. But of course Shou also likes Yamada, and even being in a different class now and not being the quickest on the uptake, he’s picking up on all the signals with Kyou and Anna (not to mention Oota blabbed about the Sweets Paradise date).
A man-to-man challenge is offered, and Kyou feels compelled to go against his nature and accept. Not so much because it’s a fight for Yamada, which is a fight both boys know has already been won, but as an acknowledgement that Adachi is indeed his friend. Kyou reflects back on the centipede race at the last undoukai, (mis)remembering it as their his interaction with Yamada (it was the first – of many – times he would take a bullet for her). He then sets about training for the big day (all the while arguing with himself about whether to keep going) when he bumps into Yamada at the park having a conversation with Wantaro. She invites him up for a quickie, and hijinks ensue.
This scene is purely for the fun and awkwardness, a very low-key moment in what’s been an increasingly intense season. Kyou is a smart kid, but not smart enough to realize how dangerous it is to lift a weight that’s too heavy for you without a spotter. Wantaro always manages to move things along (don’t worry Anna, it was him, not Kyou). Anna extracts an answer from Ichi on what sort of flavor he likes in his eggs (sweet) and orders him not to pack a bento on the day of the sports festival.
The day arrives – ushered in by a gloomy weather forecast and a characteristically ecchi opening statement by Shou. Panda-san has made up some fans, and cheats in the scavenger hunt with a forged request to find a couple (you’ll never meet a more dedicated shipper). She ends up with Yamama and Yamadad, who easily win but end up being disqualified (much to Goku-sensei’s irritation). Yamada has a little entanglement, Ichi runs interference, and that’s the final piece of the puzzle for Adachi to put things together. The truth is out in the open now, but Shou has known it deep down for a long time.
I can only imagine the thoughts of Kugenuma and the other horses in this cavalry battle, as their knights have their manly though mostly verbal joust. The key point of disagreement here is really the nature of each guy’s attraction to Anna. What offends Kyou is not that Adachi likes her too (who wouldn’t?) but that he likes her for superficial reasons. If he’s anything at all Kyou is a serious man, in every sense of the word – serious to a fault (as he’d be the first to admit). Anna and the others can’t hear what the boys are shouting for all the rain, but it’s clear from their reactions (apart from dear Bayashiko of course) that they know the gist of it.
Adachi acknowledges Ichi with his trademark bluntness but surprising self-awareness – it’s his respect for Ichi that keeps him from resenting Anna. He’s ready to concede, but Ichi likes Shou too much to let it go at that – this is his first real guy friend in the post-1503 era. He urges Adachi forward, and the latter responds with characteristic poor judgment and takes a flying leap off his own mount and onto Kyou’s. He captures the bandana and wins the game, Kaji Yuuji gets an original line, and both boys wind up in the infirmary. Thank goodness Shou’s mama is a nurse…
Finally, Anna stops in for a visit (a role-reversal from the first season). Overhearing this Onee cuts short her planned visit and discreetly exits, though not before making her irritation (“What a brat!”) with the guy who put Kyou there clear. Adachi is the odd man out, though Moeko (hmmm) does offer him some condolences and a wet towel. Anna has made Kyou a lunch fit for a yokozuna (karaage onigiri are seriously underrated) and managed to get the taste just right. How much help did she get from here papa? I’m guessing quite a lot. And she makes it very clear to Kyou – he may be disappointed about losing the battle, but he’s absolutely winning the war.
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