With Chihiro out with the flu, Yamada has to sit on Sekine, who puts her hands on Yamada’s chest and pays the price. A discussion ensues and eventually a diagram is drawn on the board indicating which parts of Yamada can be touched and which ones spell instant death. Ichikawa makes sure to study this diagram closely … just in case.
When Chihiro returns she’s worried about upcoming exams, so Yamada invites her to the library where Ichikawa helps her with some problems. Chihiro notes that Ichikawa is talking more naturally to girls now, and also mentions that Yamada talks about him a lot lately. She also shares an adorable antidote about Yamada trying to remove whipped cream from her face with more whipped cream, and Ichikawa can’t help but smile.
Neither can I, because Chihiro is gradually getting used to the fact that Ichikawa is becoming a persistent presence in Yamada’s life now, and it’s good to see them getting along. A lesser anime might have drummed up some kind of rivalry.
When parent-teacher meetings arrive, Ichikawa spots his mom sitting with Yamada and her mom. Yamada’s mom is continually correcting her daughter’s legs and posture, and Ichikawa’s mom finds herself also correcting hers. When she introduces herself as “Kyo-chan’s” mom, Yamada lights up, and in telling her how she talks with him a lot, she bashfully uses his first name, Kyoutarou.
Ichikawa’s mom and Yamada even swap candies. As mother and daughter-in-law, they’d surely be BFFs. After the meetings, Ichikawa’s mom asks him about the stunning girl she met who’s in his class, and he says without hesitation “Yamada.” Little did they know she was walking right behind them! Hearing Ichikawa identify her from “stunning” turns her beet red, and she has to beat a hasty retreat.
The next day, Ichikawa notices Yamada is closer than usual … yeah, he’s gonna have to get used to that! Inspired by him helping Chihiro out, she asks him if he’ll tutor her, and he wisely accepts. When she takes out her notebook that’s half history and half science, she says Chihiro playfully called it “a history of how dumb I am”, inducing another smile and chuckle.
When the librarian appears, disaster almost strikes, as the throat drop Ichikawa’s mom gave Yamada is right there on the desk. Remembering the diagram, Ichikawa taps her on the shoulder. But when he draws close to whisper in her ear to hide the drop, she gets flushed and leaps up, unprepared for such close contact, but also not hating it. She merely revises the diagram later.
On another rainy day, Ichikawa forgets his raincoat, and it rains more than he predicted. He crosses paths with Yamada, who shields him with her umbrella, admires his exposed right eye again, tenderly touches his face, then tries to fashion a rain hat for him with her shopping bag.
When that doesn’t work, Yamada hops on his bike for another ride, but they’re going in different directions: her to work, him home. So they part ways in the cold rain, both of them a little disappointed they couldn’t stay together a bit longer. You can really feel the yearning emanating from both of them in this scene.
It isn’t until Ichikawa gets all the way home that he realizes Yamada left her bag in his basket. When he sees that among the snacks is a box of what he thinks must be tampons, he races to the train station with all due speed, hoping to track her down.
Luck is on his side, but Yamada leans in to his ear this time, whispering that she bought the box for her mom and they’re “not the ones for periods.” Ichikawa bikes home, and when he’s in bed, he looks up Yamada on social media, but it’s clear all that riding in the rain took its toll.
After a bizarre fever dream in which he is confronted by both a mini-Yamada and a kaiju Yamada, Ichikawa wakes up with a temperature, and stays home from school for the first time in a long while. This sets up one of the best home visit scenes I’ve ever seen, as there’s a ring at the doorbell, and it’s a concerned Yamada.
He answers the door to greet her, and she’s come bearing extra serving of strawberry Bavarian cream for him, in part because she feels partially responsible for him getting sick. The two part ways, and there’s that same sinking feeling as when they parted in the rain … but then Ichikawa invites her in for a cup of tea.
He can’t believe Yamada is in his house, on his couch, about to drink tea with him, and he gets sloppy. There’s also the matter of him still running a prestigious fever, so his focus is in and out. He suddenly realizes he’s in his PJs and heads upstairs to change into something “more stylish”, but when he doesn’t return Yamada finds him passed out and shirtless in his room.
Yamada carefully carries him to the bed and helps him get his arms into a shirt, but his strength fails again and his head comes to a rest right between Yamada’s breasts. And even though this area was clearly marked as restricted on her diagram, Yamada lets him linger there, and even puts her hands on his bare back and draws him closer to her. It’s an astonishingly heartwarming, beautifully storyboarded and animated sequence that took my breath away.
When Ichikawa comes to again later that night, he calls Yamada’s name, but it’s Kana instead. She has the strawberry cream Yamada brought, as well as a hastily written note wishing for him to “cheer up” (rather than “get well”) soon. Kana assumes a friend stopped by, but if she only knew what kind of friend!
The next day Ichikawa’s mom tells him she found Yamada outside the house, and we thankfully get to see what transpired. Yamada is such a bashful, adorable mess around his mom, and when she learns his fever broke and he’ll be back to school tomorrow, tears well up in her eyes. She turns about and leaves in such a hurry she bangs into an electrical pole.
Yamada can’t wait to see Ichikawa at school the next day, so surprises him well before he gets there to say good morning with a sore voice that indicates she caught his cold. He admits he doesn’t remember much from when he had his fever, and had some weird dreams.
She wants to hear about them, as she can apparently interpret dreams, but they’re interrupted by Chihiro, who reveals that Yamada didn’t eat her strawberry dessert. In fact, she only ever had one, and she gave it to Ichikawa. If you need incontrovertible proof that she’s down bad for this boy, look no further than that gesture!
During their small talk outside his house before inviting her in for tea, Ichikawa infers that she must have walked a long way from school. But in one of her more poignant lines, Yamada says “it’s fun walking new roads.” Well, she and Ichikawa are certainly walking new roads together! I daresay there’s no turning back, and they are absolutely mesmerizing to watch.
Commercials Cooperation Advertisements:
(1) IT Teacher IT Freelance
立刻註冊及報名電腦補習課程吧!
电子计算机 -教育 -IT 電腦班” ( IT電腦補習 ) 提供一個方便的电子计算机 教育平台, 為大家配對信息技术, 電腦 老師, IT freelance 和 programming expert. 讓大家方便地就能找到合適的電腦補習, 電腦班, 家教, 私人老師.
We are a education and information platform which you can find a IT private tutorial teacher or freelance.
Also we provide different information about information technology, Computer, programming, mobile, Android, apple, game, movie, anime, animation…
(2) ITSec
www.ITSeceu.uk
Secure Your Computers from Cyber Threats and mitigate risks with professional services to defend Hackers.
ITSec provide IT Security and Compliance Services, including IT Compliance Services, Risk Assessment, IT Audit, Security Assessment and Audit, ISO 27001 Consulting and Certification, GDPR Compliance Services, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Penetration test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerabilities scan, IT Consulting, Data Privacy Consulting, Data Protection Services, Information Security Consulting, Cyber Security Consulting, Network Security Audit, Security Awareness Training.
Contact us right away.
Email (Prefer using email to contact us):
SalesExecutive@ITSec.vip