10 Second Anime - Ore Monogatari!! - Episode 17

Takeo and Rinko try their hands at matchmaking during a Christmas party.

Episode 17 - "My Christmas"

Heh.

Takeo and Rinko should keep their scheming to surprise parties.

 

It's nice to see that these two groups of friends are starting to partner up.

 

I wonder if all the guys at Takeo's school have given up on the girls there because of the Suna factor.

 

I've never seen such a realistic portrayal of young attraction in an anime before. The awkwardness, the self-consciousness, the going too far in trying not to be obvious about mutual feelings. Gah. It made me sweat thinking of my own teenage years.

Not just any old indirect kiss for Takeo and Rinko. A spicy indirect kiss!

 

Oh, Nanako. Do you know how much courage it took for Kurihara to ask you out on a date and hold your hand? Jeez. The poor boy was head over heels for you after your first glare at him during the ice skating get-together.

 

Takeo and Rinko are getting better at holding hands.

 

This is still shoujo anime, so having the guy make some big stupid gesture while confessing an attraction to the girl is a must. Thankfully Kurihara had a safety net in Takeo to keep throwing him back at the tree when he fell.

Why, yes. In a karaoke setting, someone has to sing the anime's opening credits song.

 

All's well that ends well for Nanako and Kurihara. You go, Afro Dude! Just like any new couple, they're the super experts in love now. First kiss and everything! Racing ahead of Rinko. Well, she's already kissed Takeo on the cheek, but he doesn't know she did that. They've slept together (sleeping), so beat that, new couple!

Hmm.

I liked the lesson that Takeo and Rinko learned from their matchmaking - not every couple is the same. For sure, Nanako had her idiosyncrasies, like that cold stare for when Kurihara was openly playing the clown, or Kurihara being genuinely demonstrative when people weren't looking. Rinko was bold from the beginning and Takeo never cared what anyone thought of how he showed his feelings. They're the odd ones in this show about love; Nanako and Kurihara are the normal adolescents.

 

Also, Takeo almost figured out Suna's way of supporting friends by not interfering. It's not that Suna doesn't interfere, but that he offers the right observations at the right time so Takeo could get that piece of information he didn't have to make sense of his feelings and then act on them. Takeo just needed to figure out his own way of offering advice without interfering. Grabbing a guy by the collar and telling him he's a man is a good start, but the relevant observation was that Nanako wanted Kurihara to fight for her against those thugs. Even if he lost the fight, he would win with her.

 

This is shoujo anime, remember? Even if it is a deconstructed comedy, these seemingly meaningless big gestures have to be attempted to force a catharsis. Climbing a tall tree and making a present of a star on Christmas was a big deal for a young maiden in love, just as taking on three toughs in a sure loss of a fight would have been.

 

The ending, though, with Suna witnessing it, proved where the real love story was. A private moment shared between Takeo and Rinko didn't get cheers from the crowd, but it did get the full attention of their best friend.