365 Days to the Wedding

Episode 9

Rika is doing everything in her power to ensure she doesn't become the protagonist of this show, but little does she know, the wheels are already set in motion. We get a proper follow-up to the confession from two episodes ago and our protagonists are not taking it well. Takuya is at least trying to make an effort to reach out and communicate, even if he is still painfully unequipped to handle the situation and unaware of what he even wants to say. Meanwhile, Rika is doing everything she can to avoid the situation under the guise of logic. We saw this before, but now this episode puts it into full swing with some additional context given the introduction of Rika's mother.

As a child of divorce, it makes sense that Rika would already feel as if most of life is already outside of her control, thus leaving her with the impression that she doesn't have a lot of agency. Considering that her mom is well-meaning yet overbearing, Rika didn't make many major decisions when she was younger. She was either left alone while her mom was traveling or her mom decided everything for her. It's no wonder that Rika ended up being as passive and distant as she is. While the flashback about her dealing with a potential confession in high school was funny, it was also a little bit sad because this girl has crippling anxiety when it comes to any type of confrontation. I can relate to that even if it is played up for extremes.

The problem with this situation is that it is one of Rika's designs. Rika was the mastermind despite being incredibly unequipped for it, and she had to deal with the responsibility of creating a situation where a member of the opposite sex wanted to engage with her more. She's also incredibly in denial about the situation because just a few episodes ago, she longed for more from Takuya and now that she got exactly what she wanted, she doesn't know how to handle it.

She's so confident that there is no future between them that she actively invites Takuya out on a date assuming that he will get so bored with her that the situation will take care of itself. It might seem like she is taking a proactive approach, but still leaving it up to outside forces and other people to decide the outcome instead of just expressing how she feels about it. If I had to guess, I think Takuya will have a fantastic time on the date and Rika will be left with even fewer options for denial which will probably build up into the season's climax. It's an interesting approach to social anxiety that I don't see in many romances, and I'm curious to see how this resolves.

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