”Yes, I look forward to many years of looking at the triangles.”
– George Costanza
Ao no Hako is an interesting test case of how much upside a series can have despite being completely conventional. I think the simple answer is “a lot” – it’s very good on the whole. But I think its lows are more Death Valley than most series simply because it is so beholden to tropes. When it works, great. But when it doesn’t it can really be an emperor has no clothes situation. In short there’s nothing to hide behind, and as an audience you probably see more than it would be ideal to see.
This is kinda sorta one of those times for me, though again, one of those qualities I referenced last week – restraint – does serve to mitigate the effect. We’re going down the triangle rabbit hole and we get the fireworks festival/yukata routine on top of that. It’s not even Hina’s fault, and you know how I feel about her – apart from the comic violence it’s not like she’s doing anything especially obnoxious here. It’s more tied in to Taiki filling the clueless male lead role when the plot calls for it. That in itself it kind of believable (he is a 15 year-old boy), but it seems to come and go as needed.
In point of fact there’s another kid making a move on Hina, the heretofore little-seen Itou-kun. He puts a move on her at the library study party, which catches Taiki out only in that he never thinks of Hina that way – not with anyone, never mind himself. Taiki is not being remotely disingenuous or cruel here – he just absolutely, positively has never had a romantic thought about Hina. And her hesitancy in making things clear to him is doubtless in large part because she knows she has no no shot as things stand. Sure, she’s slow-playing because she knows his feelings for Chinatsu – waiting it out and circling until that gives up the ghost and she can pounce. But the main issue is simple practicality.
Meanwhile, Haryuu-sempai invites Taiki to a practice session at a nearby university. For a first-year high school kid this is a huge opportunity to assess his skills, and Taiki is naturally thrilled. And one of the participants is Hyodo-san, Haryuu’s white whale, who’s attending the school the following year. And he, despite his visage, turns out to be a very nice guy. He probably helps Taiki more in a minute than Haryuu has in their entire partnership, at least as far as practical advice is concerned. He sees something in the lad, just as his coaches and seniors do – his talent is a slow burning type, but inextinguishable.
The culmination of all this drama is off course the hanabitaikai. That, as it happens, was the stage on which Taiki first made an impression on Hina as middle schoolers – thoughtfully buying her the last candy apple when she was running late to their group meetup. Nothing more to it than Taiki being considerate, which he usually is, but it’s natural for Hina to misinterpret that when coming from a middle school boy. Of course when she invites Taiki to reenact the event she intends it as a date; of course he doesn’t see it that way. Kyou does of course and helpfully uninvites himself (the trope dictates that the wingman be savvier than the lead).
Again, this is handled with some dignity and it’s fine. But boy, have we seen it all before. I knew this was coming this time of course, but when the manga started going down this road I have to admit I was pretty close to the edge there for a while. What Blue Box is in this mode is everything conventional about it- what it is when it focuses on Taiki and Chinatsu is everything exceptional. But with this dish, you have to take the bitter with the sweet.
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