365 Days to the Wedding

Episode 8

I was one hundred percent ready to hate this episode. After the bombshell we got last week, I expected a follow-up to that confession. Not only does that never happen here, but our two leads don't even see each other. Both are still wallowing in the aftermath of the painful awkwardness of the confession. Rika was so stressed out about it that her body was in constant pain, something I relate to well. I thought it would take a bit before we finally broached the subject, but the episode decided to revolve around Gonda, who wasn't my favorite character.

His whole gimmick about constantly bothering Takuya about figuring out how to get married as soon as possible was distracting at best and annoying at worst. He seemed like a shallow character who just wanted to get married. It tied into the overall theme about how a lot of people will sometimes glorify the sanctity of marriage for arbitrary reasons, but as a bit, it did wear thin very quickly. I was devastated when it looked like this guy would be the focus of the entire episode because I didn't care about the prospect of him getting married. I didn't think he earned that type of happy ending. However, I have to give massive props to the writing for this episode in how it made me feel for him in the end.

We get a little bit of insight into Gonda's background and understand why he glorifies the idea of marriage. He didn't grow up in the best circumstances and wants to make a better family than what he had. It's a case of yearning for something missing in his life, which is a relatable reason. The problem is, he's trying to rush into it too quickly. His arc is about understanding that he took the idea of marriage way lighter than he should. When confronted with exactly what he said he wanted, he froze in his tracks. I loved that scene where Kaori showed him she's a single mother. She never turned down his proposal, but she clarified that he is signing up for a major responsibility he may not be ready for. The show leaves it open that she does potentially see a future with him, but he is clearly not ready to seize it by the end of the episode. He acknowledges his weakness and says he's going to dial back his desire to get married.

I am absolutely floored at how thoroughly this episode won me over. While it didn't give me exactly what I wanted, it was mature, well-thought-out, well-paced, and emotionally devastating in all the right ways. If you're going to take a hard left turn away from the main narrative, you better make it worth my time, and this episode more than did that. I wouldn't mind a follow-up to this specific issue next week, that's how well this episode was done.

Rating: