10 Second Anime - Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou - Episode 12 [END]

 Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou - Episode 12 [END]

Ritsu escapes the "mixer" on her own. She didn't click with a new friend, but appreciates the ones she does have more. Drunk Ritsu lets it all out.

Heh.

As expected, some dude liked the picture Maemura took of Ritsu, and got real handsy with her in the karaoke box.

Ritsu does not appreciate your obnoxious elitist attitude toward readers of different kinds of books. Reading is Freedom! Reading is Justice!

I like how Ritsu was thinking of Usa trying to be a better reader, which is why she got so mad at that handsy guy.

Handsy guy is handsy.

Mitsui is quite the masher. The Rules of the Game say that if you get a girl all riled up, positively or negatively, that's when you try for some physical touching on her neutral areas.  I mean, so I've heard... Ritsu doesn't play that Game!

Poor Usa, still being affected my Ritsu's emotional responses to the books she reads. No, she wasn't crying over not getting a new friend in Maemura. At least she's promising not to read those kinds of books in public where people could misunderstand what was happening.

Ah, in vino veritas. Or in Ritsu's case, a little sip of plum wine. Apparently Ritsu is a mean drunk, slightly loud, and bit impolite. Sayaka got told! Usa got told!

Somehow Ritsu wasn't drunk enough to say why she got so mad at Mitsui at the mixer or why she doesn't like that Hayashi girl hanging out at Usa's work either. Aw, she probably can't articulate it yet anyway, but they both have to do with those two people being mean or insulting to Usa in some way. Her affection is starting out as protectiveness. Ii na... Usa-kun.

Drunk girl wants to go to your room for "snacks?" Lucky! The two mean older step-sister types want to come along too? Unlucky...

Girly and lad mags may be embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as the notes Usa has to take to keep track of all the characters in a period piece genre book. I feel your pain, Usa. I read War and Peace in high school. This guy? Wasn't he that dude from 800 pages ago? Gah!

Usa-kun telephone number get!

Geh.

Mayumi is still mai waifu.

Her and Sayaka's take on not being so upset about not clicking with new friends was very mature, but doesn't take into account how hard it is for introverted people like Ritsu to actually meet new people. Doing the small talk stuff, or worrying about politeness rules takes too much energy for someone like Ritsu, who just wants to start sharing her thoughts and feelings on what she likes. Geek culture has no need for civility.

Umm, if this show gets a second season some time soon, Ritsu could be my childhood friend love interest.

But she'll never replace mai waifu Mayumi. No way, no how.

Feh.

Wah! Last episode! Noooo! And the first one of my Spring shows to end for the season too.

Hmm.

That was quite an adult conversation to have about friendship with a couple of kids present. Especially Mayumi's "adult" take on an ex-boyfriend, calling him only by the name "17 cm." Good thing Ritsu was drunk during that bit. In high school, you're held hostage by circumstances in who you see everyday, and being emotionally immature makes not becoming best friends feel like utter rejection. But Sayaka had it right. Even if Ritsu and Maemura didn't have a fight about showing her picture to a strange boy and then making that meeting happen, they would have drifted apart anyway. If they were in a literature club together, that would have been far better for them to have fun that way.

Also, Maemura glomming on to someone because she was fighting with her other friends wasn't too cool either. That was pretty realistic for how girl friendships work as they grow up. Kind of still how it works even they're already adults, too.

Still, Ritsu seeing the near miss of a new friendship has her paying more attention to the one beside her. Usa definitely will have a different perspective on the same books she reads, and she'll want to keep seeing what kind of funny notes he makes about the story. Something to build on there, with this other new friend, who actually clicks with her.

Final Thoughts.

I didn't want to say goodbye to this show. It was just a neat little slice of life comedy with oddball characters providing a lot of material for gags and story lines. The animation and background art were amazing, and just a treat to look at every week.

I've got no complaints, except the season was too short to pay attention to all of the wonderful quirky people in the show. The core relationship between Usa and Ritsu had to be the main focus, of course, but just how the other characters' personalities and their own stories always related back to the main pair gave this show a special kind of continuity from week to week. A perfect slice of life show is one where the viewer just wants to come and visit the show and catch up with what's going on with this endearing cast.

Adding in the interest of literature for Ritsu's character also let the show delve a little deeper than mere gags about relationship troubles and issues with coming of age. Themes and references to fables, idioms, and genres in the book titles let the viewers appreciate where the creator wanted us to look at as the story unfolded. Nice little hints and decorations to an already beautiful show.

I hope we get another season soon, because I want to keep seeing what these quirky characters do each week.