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Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Sasaki and Miyano
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MagicPolly
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I absolutely love the manga and I've been loving the anime just as much, but I agree that there's really not much to talk about because of how ridiculous of a slow burn this is. I mean, reading the manga itself I didn't have many thoughts aside from "that was really cute" or laughing at the BL fan culture in it.
Maybe once it gets deeper into spoiler[Miyano's denial of his sexuality] there'll be a bit more to talk about, since at the moment that's just another gag. |
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MCAL
Posts: 182 |
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Was surprised that Sasaki and Miyano got enough votes for review since slow burn queer boys romances tend to not be the general ANN viewers thing, but I'm glad it did. We've already finished the first volume as of this episode and at the rate its being adapted, it will probably end with the seventh volume which also doubles as a perfect stopping point (In fact you'd be forgiven if you thought it was the end of the series itself).
So far the adaption has been pretty good and I thought the events in the second episode even improved on it in some parts. The only real concern I have is a change from the manga this episode that would make a subsequent chapter impossible to adapt, which would be a shame as its one of my favorites of the earlier chapters. And I suppose that it being a slow burn could be a problem, though only having to watch 12 episodes for the span of three months instead of waiting nearly five years would alleviate it somewhat. All in all though, looking forward to a comfy, gay couple of months. Also, the animators totally knew what they were doing with that pocky scene. Last edited by MCAL on Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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wolf10
 Posts: 928 |
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The first episode was kind of a jumbled mess, but as of episode 2 this show seems to be finding it's feet. There's a much clearer display of cause and effect than there was in the manga (or maybe I've just had enough time to clear my head). Miyano's friends ask him a completely honest and innocent question, he assumes it must be teasing and retreats further into his shell, those feelings then come bubbling up when Sasaki catches him in a vulnerable moment, and Sasaki is just left in stunned silence, unsure how to interpret any of it.
Soma-kun's Miyano is also growing on me (which is a huge relief). He's absolutely nailing the "funny but sad" needed to make Miyano work as someone you're actually supposed to like (and see that Sasaki likes) while also not letting you take his words at face value. That does become a plot point. It's also really hard to overstate how good the direction is. Shinji Ishihara has a long and storied portfolio, but most importantly: he directed Heybot! The show bounces between art-styles and color palettes with confidence as we bounce between the perspectives of our two leads, and the shoujo sparkles seem to have a tangible relationship wish the environment. (While I don't expect an original finale in which Miyano's refusal to confess to Sasaki causes a shoujo-sparkle blizzard that threatens to destroy the city unless he gets his head out of his ass, it is really funny to think about.) |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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I second your opening sentence! But it's funny you should mention a blizzard, because as I noted in the Preview Guide thread, all the hearts and bubbles and sparkles and flowers and dandelion poofs and triangles needlessly flying around cluttering up the screen makes me feel like I'm watching it through a snowstorm. Or that it's about to trigger an allergy attack. I looked up some scans of the manga to see if this was an artifact of the source, but from what I could see from a few pages, the mangaka uses these and other designs as background. They add to the mood but don't intrude on it the way they do in the anime, where they too often obscure the characters and distract from their expressions and body language. I really hope they rein that in and relegate it to the background where it belongs, because aside from that I'm enjoying the hell out of this. |
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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I feel like the particle effects allow the quieter moments to breathe more naturally than the manga, which has a bit of a pacing problem, being simultaneously too slow and too fast for its own good. If you've ever found yourself staring at dust floating in a sunbeam in an empty room, it feels a bit like that to me. Minus the sudden sneeze that ruins it.
Clearly, they just need to market SasaMiya snowglobes. 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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Yeah, well, there's dust motes floating in a sunbeam and then there's dust storms that dim the sun, and they seem to lean toward the latter here.
 Love the snowglobe idea!
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MCAL
Posts: 182 |
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There were still a lot of things I liked though. Some examples: -The tongue scene. -Definitely felt the need to squish Miyano's cheeks when he laid them on the desk. -Speaking of touching, Sasaki pulling himself back from hugging Miyano from his shoulder. My man takes his vow of consensual touching seriously. -"Sasaki-senpai is so cool!" The show's thesis statement. -While I disliked the way it happened, Sasaki covering his face in embarrassment after Miyano gave him White Day chocolate was still so good. -Black-haired Hirano! I was with Miyano there. -There he is! Ogasawara! The Man, the Myth, the Absolute Dumbass. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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Oh good, I'm not the only one. I thought we spent a whole ending scene on him regretting not giving them to him, and then the next episode started with Miyano finishing them up, leaving me scratching my head. I just figured it was me being your mom watching tv with you ("Why is he doing that?" "Who is that guy?") as usual.
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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The post-credits stinger last week seemed to imply that the chocolate exchange happened off-screen, as it shows that Sasaki had opened one of the bags. But yeah, credits rolled with Miyano taking a hard pass and walking out of the store.
It seems like they're making changes to even out early inconsistencies in Miyano's "fight-or-flight" response. Episode 2 Miyano probably wouldn't have accepted the chocolate exchange, and in episode 3 he's still way too insecure to literally jump to Sasaki's defense like he does in the manga. They may be saving a flashback scene for later, or perhaps they'll call back to him forgetting they didn't exchange chocolate in an effort to highlight Miyano's tenuous grip on reality. (If it seems like I'm too hard on Miyano, it's only because I'm close enough to the subject matter that what should be secondhand embarrassment generally hits like firsthand embarrassment.  )
(Also, cultural note: while this series uses the fujoshi-slang "uke", the technical term for that role used by the Japanese gay community is "neko." Now rewatch this week's cold open.) |
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Saeryen
 Posts: 979 |
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I just want all the good things for Sasaki and Miyano and it was heartwrenching when spoiler[Miyano overheard Sasaki's classmate's subtly homophobic remarks in regards to his reading BL manga].
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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I read that as he had still bought a bag to give to Miyano, but when he heard he'd gotten 36 chocolates from the rest of his class, he felt stupid, like that was too hard an act to follow with his measly bag (even though it was much more than each of the 36 individuals gave), or that at that point, his giving him more chocolate would be meaningless. If they did exchange gifts off screen, then I no longer understand why Sasaki was in such a blue funk when he came home. Like, I could see him being a little subdued that things hadn't gone quite as envisioned, but he was a mess, and it felt like he was kicking himself for a) not anticipating the class exchange, b) not having the courage to give it to him anyway (so he opened it and ate it himself (comfort chocolate!)), and c) wondering which classmate got the honor of the first exchange that he was denied. |
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MCAL
Posts: 182 |
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As for why Sasaki was upset when he came home, its simple jealousy. He's upset that he wasn't Miyano's first, so to speak. Hence why he was unbelievably happy that Miyano gave him and only him White Day chocolates. |
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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I agree that Miyano verbally refusing the exchange is an odd choice. On the one hand, Sasaki's mood makes more immediate sense, but on the other hand, there's no apparent reason to introduce that kind of confusion. Granted, the source material does like to cut things off at weird points and jump back, and that tendency in BL even gets a meta-reference way later.
To me it's especially odd because there is just no way Shinji Ishihara, of all directors, could miss that detail. (Seriously, watch Heybot! if you haven't. It is an actual masterclass in continuity.) Hopefully there will be some kind of anime-original payoff, or maybe it's an ad-lib that will get scrubbed from the BDs. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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Most of my confusion could've been cleared if we'd only gotten a shot of the tag on the chocolates in the end scene of Ep 2. Since we couldn't read it, saw Miyano refuse doing an exchange, and didn't see Sasaki give him the bag (which was tantamount to seeing him not give it to him), it looked like the bag on his bed was the ungiven gift. So I could understand his uncharacteristic don't-look-at-me-don't-talk-to-me mood, due to the several reasons I mentioned (feeling jealous, stupid, embarrassed, and disappointed). However, simple jealousy at not being the first to give him chocolate, even though he actually did follow through after all, to me seems like it would just make him a little mopey but mostly sad, which was why none of this tracked for me.
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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While I still find this whole arc more triggering than I should (Miyano uses the same logic I did back when I knew I was straight and could prove it, and it's not a fun headspace to revisit), I do appreciate the anime condensing Miyano's "but I like girls!" into two scenes rather than the seven or eight repeats we get in the manga (across three volumes!). That said, while my memory of the source material might have been redacted in some places, I'm pretty sure the epiphany he reaches at the end of this episode simply never happens in the manga, so I'm not sure how they're planning to organize the remaining material of this arc (and it gets ugly). Well, I have suspicions, but they involve a lot of loose puzzle pieces we haven't been given yet.
On to the lighter notes: - I'm glad best boy Tashiro is finally allowed to have a name. Hopefully he'll be getting more scenes going forward. We're gonna need them. - It's really funny to look back on Ogasawara's past transgressions with the understanding that he already assumed Miyano was gay and was actually perfectly okay with it. - Miyano has an alarming amount of emotional intelligence when it comes to pretty much any subject. Except himself. This week's changes might be an attempt to reconcile that. |
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