Blue Box

Episode 12

You see, Blue Box? This, right here! This is what I've been asking you to do for the last few weeks! I never expected you to suddenly become a different show entirely and start treating Chinatsu like the show's true perspective character, or anything; I am fully aware that Taiki's headspace is the one we're meant to identify with the most. Still, giving the girl just a teensy bit more narrative ground to work with has already done wonders for my enjoyment of this story. It's all well and good for Taiki to feel like Chinatsu is this unknowable enigma that holds his heart hostage with her every passing glance because that's pretty much how every dumb, overeager, and terminally heterosexual teenage boy reacts to their first bout with capital L “Love.” The folks in the audience at least need to get the sense that Chinatsu has something to lose beyond a little bit of pride and the status quo of her current living situation. Here, finally, we have it.

The title “Girls…” feels so appropriate to me, because it is exactly the kind of bemused tone that a ridiculously naive kid like Taiki would take when describing the ladies in his life, even though they are all acting just as obvious (and oblivious) as the young menfolk are. This entire Tanabata festival adventure is overflowing with palpable adolescent uncertainty that it would be difficult to watch if it weren't so entertaining. Hina acting befuddled that everyone just so happened to “cancel their plans at the last minute” so that she ended up alone with her crush; Taiki being somehow enough of a dolt to not realize how much it means to call Hina “cute,” only to then abandon her for who-knows-how-long to help Chinatsu take a lost kid to her parents; Chinatsu assuming that Taiki must be dating Hina and getting visibly rattled by the jealousy she's experiencing, even though she's the one who just told him to not think of her romantically and forget that they ever had an uncomfortably intimate moment on top of his bed.

I don't know how many of you out there reading this are in the same age bracket as our main characters here, but just in case, please accept this piece of unsolicited advice: Girls, guys, or whoever you are into - none of them are all that complicated. Don't listen to any hacky standup comedians that go on and on about the inscrutability of the opposite sex, either, because all that means they're probably about to go through a very messy and public divorce. I promise you, when it seems like someone is going out of their way to spend time with you, be alone with you, and share in your interests and passions, that usually means something. And no, your friends didn't all coincidentally make other plans and leave you all alone with your dream date at the very last minute, either. Trust me, on this one.

To be clear, I am not criticizing Blue Box for indulging in these familiar romance tropes. What makes “Girls…” such a great episode of Blue Box is that it all feels so damned true, if not to real life per se, then the feeling of what it was like to try and figure out how you are supposed to go about this whole “love” thing. It always seems so complicated and messy in the moment, but wistful nostalgia trips like Blue Box allow us to look back on those times and enjoy how much sense it makes over time. Wherever this thing between them is going, I'm sure Chinatsu will also someday do the same kind of reminiscing over the time she just barely mustered up the courage to kind-of-sort-of-almost address her feelings to Taiki…when he was passed out asleep in the middle of the gym hallway. Maybe she'll laugh about it, or maybe it will be a more melancholy memory. Either way, we've all got to grow up eventually, and these two kids are well on their way. Just give 'em time.

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Blue Box is currently streaming on Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.