Blue Box

Episode 7

The title of “Can I Have One?” is a giveaway to its lowkey ambitions. Blue Box has always skirted more towards the slice-of-life end of the storytelling spectrum, with the biggest sources of “conflict” so far being things like potentially sprained ankles, cute aquarium dates, and that one time there was a few seconds of Hina wondering whether she should confront Taiki and Chinatsu about their living situation. Here, the title of the whole episode revolves around the seemingly innocuous where both Hina and Chinatsu ask for a bit of some of Taiki's chicken snacks. Between this and DAN DA DAN's monumental seventh episode, I don't know which one is more riveting!

I'm kidding, of course, and I don't necessarily think that the lack of high-stakes melodrama in Blue Box is a bad thing. However, “Can I Have One?” is the first time that this show has given me occasion to check my watch a couple of times before the end credits finally hit. There's still good stuff, to be sure: Chinatsu deals with some mild trash talk on the court after a game; Taiki has to balance his desire to ask Chinatsu out with her need to avoid any distractions during this critical time in her high-school sports career; the Chicken Tenders Incident goes down. It's all cute, fluffy, feel-good entertainment.

If I sound down on it for any reason, it might just be because the show is lacking in visual dynamics this week; the episode's key story beats are spread rather thin across a lot of scenes of quiet conversations, all of which are composed mostly of back-and-forth medium shots of characters heads. The brief sports sequences during Taiki's badminton play are fun, but there's little of the cinematic flair that has given all of Blue Box's non-sports scenes their own sense of style.

Also — and this is a matter of my personal preferences on romance stories — I seem to be reaching the point where my jaded, old-man heart need at least a little more drama to keep the momentum going. Don't get me wrong, I can empathize with the silly, butterflies-in-the-stomach excitement that comes from wondering if the girl you like might have been jealous over more than just that other girl's access to your nuggets; I once lost two days of sleep because my soon-to-be girlfriend in high school gave me a 15%-off coupon for the pottery store she worked at. Still, my least favorite thing about traditional anime romance stories is how long the kids spend pining after each other and dancing around their feelings.

I don't expect Taiki to follow through on his daydreams and pop the question to Chinatsu or anything, but I would love it if we didn't have to wait too long before these two…I dunno, hold hands, or something? If that's too much to ask, then at the very least I am hopeful that all of that wistful pubescent pining can be given a splash of color and style in future episodes. If I'm going to sit around for months waiting for these two goofy kids to finally kiss each other, the least Blue Box could do is make all of that pining look really pretty.

Rating:

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.