Impression:

Well, that was not what I was expecting. What I mean by that is that I didn’t expect such a serious tone to be used throughout the majority of the episode. There was a heavy focus on the relationship between Kodaka and Yozora which got really emotional. The Neighbor’s Club decides to make a movie for the cultural festival because Kobato’s middle school class is doing one and she was cast as the lead. Pretty nice for someone who supposedly has no friends, but her chuunibyou lifestyle probably lead Kobato’s class to believe that she would be a good actress. That is nice, but Yozora is put in charge of writing the script and that worries the group. The first suggestion was that there be no rape in the story, which should be a given, but Yozora obviously wanted to do it. After all of the suggestions were gathered people went home and Yozora texted Kodaka. Yozora invites Kodaka to see a movie together for research and to not invite anyone else. Way to be discreet. Things like that only work on dense protagonists. Good thing we are watching an anime. The movie that they choose is a foreign romance with a very graphic sex scene. Now that is what I call awkward. I guess you can’t learn much from that, so the two go to a cafe to cool off. When they end up at a cat cafe, which is a cafe that has cats for you to interact with, I began to laugh uncontrollably. This is because Bryan talks about these things all the time and I imagined his reaction when he would eventually watch this episode. I took two things away from the rest of the outing. First, there is the flashback to Kodaka and Yozora befriending a cat as children. When Yozora mentioned that she loves cats, but would never keep one because she can’t handle things leaving her without notice, the stray cat left their lives as soon as it entered, I was basically heartbroken. These flashbacks are really starting to pull at my heartstrings because I love the childhood friend dynamic and I honestly can’t handle sad stories very well. The second thing is a result of the first thing and that is the fact that I no longer know who to root for. The entire time that Kodaka and Yozora were at the cat cafe, the phrase “hug her already” was flashing through my mind. I can’t say that my allegiance has shifted, but this story is really getting to me. When the gang gets back together Yozora’s script is met by great approval. However, the desired cast gets shuffled which exposes Yozora’s intention to make her and Kodaka friends in the movie. When Sena tells Yozora that the past doesn’t matter and that her old friendship with Kodaka didn’t matter, Yozora tells Sena that she wishes Sena didn’t exist. Sena is really distraught after that because the two seemed to be becoming friends. Seeing Yozora run out of the room crying was quite the powerful moment. Yozora poses the question to Kodaka asking whether the past or the presnt matters more. When Yozora says that ten years ago is the time that was important, Kodaka stresses the fact that the present is important as well. Obviously, Yozora wants to be with Kodaka in the present as well. Overall, the emotion that was displayed in this episode had some heavy impact which was powerful enough to shake my established opinions.

Honestly, who wouldn’t want to go to a cafe with cats?

Current Opinion of the Show:

If you like serious drama, then you got it. Personally, I love it so I am very high on the direction that this series is taking. The group itself is getting much closer and it is only a matter of time before you get that cliché moment where they realize that they were friends all along. On the other hand, you have the romantic action getting very intense which makes for the closest thing to action that we are going to get in a series like this. I know that I love the romance and Yozora has been giving it her all recently. I can’t wait to see what will happen when the whole engagement thing comes to the light.