I have (and pretty much always have had) an impression with Blue Box that even as it’s gently patting your head with one hand, it’s raising the knife to stab you with the other. The equation is strongly tilted in favor of love, but I do have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. That’s certainly better than indifference, and Ao no Hako almost never elicits that from me. It definitely makes me crazy sometimes, though.
Once more we’re solidly in the world of tropes here. A high school life series, especially a romcom, is going to have a culture festival arc – it’s pretty much inevitable. The twist at the end this week is literally the twist – as in the knife in the back. But that’s Ao no Hako – it never met a cliche it didn’t embrace, confident it could spin it in an entertaining and winning way. And it’s usually right, vexing as that is. But not always. If you keep flying that close to the sun, sometimes you’re gonna get burned.
Be that as it may, there’s a reason bunkasai are so beloved by writers, as they really are fertile ground for almost any story element you could wish for. One of those is moving romances along of course, and that’s relevant. Chinatsu and Taiki both have the same idea – with the gym off-limits, sneak in a workout before school. I’m kind of with Mom on this one (just take a damn day off) but it does lead to a significant interaction. Chinatsu telling Taiki her performance vs. Yusa “inspired” her is probably the most meaningful thing she could say to him at this moment. As far as his insecurities about himself and about the pair of them, it pushes pretty much every button.
That’s not all Chinatsu says. She also tells Taiki that the band they saw rehearsing (“Samoyed“, ROFL) are 2nd-years putting on a show that afternoon at 2:00 and invites him to join her. That’s a date, whether you slice it in squares or triangles. Taiki’s attempts at self-deception get a lot harder in the face of such evidence. But that’s not until 2:00, and there’s still time for some festival hijinks beforehand (after Taiki changes out of his Smash wo Kimero!! T-shirt). And again, fish gotta swim and all that, there’s no way Blue Box can resist the lure of the maid cafe.
It’s a good thing for Chi (and Taiki) that Nagisa is around to smack down the jackals at the cafe (I wonder if that’s a major issue at culture festival cafes). Kishi-kun shows up too, thinking himself a threat but anything but, and this is all a bit too much for him. Then the concert arrives, and Samoyed (pretty realistically depicted at about the level of a high school band) takes the stage. The merry dance between Taiki and Chinatsu continues – he asks why she invited him as if there could be the slightest doubt. She pretends not to have heard. Lots of cute hand signals are exchanged. Then she answers his question, and he legitimately can’t hear her.
Probably too much to ask for them to have had that conversation yet, but as they usually do this pair have a way of slow and steady progress forward. But then, the play. After fortune-telling Nishida warns Taiki that he’s about to have a terrible ordeal, words comes that the girl playing the prince in 1-B’s play is indisposed (and in de hospital). Who can we get to fill in? This is Ao no Hako – you know the answer. In two weeks the idea of kissing Hina has had Taiki waking up screaming, and now gets referred to as an ordeal. But seriously, how does he really feel about it?
The post Ao no Hako (Blue Box) – 19 appeared first on Lost in Anime.
