Impression:

I love childhood friends. Now that is out-of-the-way, we can talk about what really mattered in this episode which is the childhood friends. Masuzu wants Eita to continue getting information out of Ai in the attempt to find her weakness. Well, Eita and Ai, as well as Kaoru and Chiwa, go on a “double date” to watch a movie. There, two female characters in the movie fight over a man. One is a childhood friend and the other made a promise to the man long ago. I would say that such a situation was far too coincidental if it wasn’t for the fact that this was an anime and it was purposefully written like that. Chiwa and Ai proceed to get up and cheer for their counterparts in the middle of the movie as they throw Eita around. I almost forgot to mention that both Ai and Chiwa grabbed Eita’s hands during the film for different reasons. Ai spent most of the episode hinting at the fact that she met Eita in kindergarten and that they watched the fireworks together. “It sure would be nice if someone had a secret spot to watch the fireworks.” Well, that was a little subtle. “Do you remember anything from kindergarten?” Not there yet? “NOT ALL OF US GET THE CHANCE TO BE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS!!!” There we go. Ai is officially my favorite character and my top choice to end up with Eita. Her forced tsundere and crazy levels of irrational excitement make for a very entertaining character. Also, the fact that they met as children and made a promise while watching fireworks from a secret spot is really pulling at me heartstrings.

The mushroom cloud in the movie was very fitting.

Current Opinion of the Show:

Every time I think that Mondaiji is going to separate itself as my favorite new anime from this season, Oreshura pulls something like this. Childhood friends and bonds formed as children are things that really get to me. I am sorry Chiwa, but Ai’s character finally hooked me. That moment in the theatre when Ai was talking about how not everyone gets the chance to be childhood friends was very powerful. I assume that she has been moving around for a while because she went to kindergarten with Eita, elementary school with Kaoru, left for middle school, and found her way to this high school. Bouncing around from place to place really hurts your ability to make friends, so this bond with Eita must mean a lot to Ai. Eita better remember her in the next episode which looks very promising from the preview. I am really looking forward to seeing Eita and Ai together at the festival.