More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers

Episode 8

This episode is broken up into two contrasting halves, which I found pleasantly surprising. The first half focuses on our main couple's mostly low-key down time at home, and it's where the fanservice felt the most egregious (I counted maybe three fetishes that are being catered to). But that isn't to say that this half is devoid of substance; after all, it's been a while since we've gotten a glimpse of the duo's domestic life, and it's nice to see them just interacting casually at home. I like Akari's question about what would have happened if she and Jiro met outside of this incredibly contrived circumstance. Jiro brings up that they probably wouldn't have interacted at all because they don't really have a lot in common, but Akari seems interested in the idea of a relationship with Jiro outside of their married couple life. I don't know about you, but I just took that as her acknowledging that while their current situation has helped them get closer, they still have the capacity to get along the way that they currently do even if things were different. Not to mention that Jiro hasn't stopped subconsciously entertaining the idea of legitimately being with Akari.

In contrast, the second half of the episode is a rather depressing bundle of unrequited love and feelings. I'm glad that the show focused a little bit more on the side characters who have been a bit neglected lately, especially Minami. But here we get a little bit of flavor text and dialogue that does give us a better idea of who these characters are outside of the labels they've been given by others. Minami and Shiori genuinely come off as friends to each other, and it's good that she has a guy friend that she can rely on outside of Jiro. We didn't get a lot from Minami, but it does make me wonder how that's going to tie into his relationship with Akari as the show goes on. Apparently he's not really interested in falling in love because his former love was taken away by his brother, which had to have been a bitter pill to swallow. Will one of the main cast help get him out of that mentality, or is it safe to assume that he's content with where he is?

I know Mei isn't content with where they are and that a lot of this pushing she's been doing for Shiori to get together with Jiro is her projecting. I do feel bad for her, especially during that scene where she genuinely seemed to want to share a space with Shiori for a sleepover but couldn't bring herself to do it because it's clear that the two of them are not on the same wavelength in terms of what they want from each other. Doesn't matter what gender you are, that's a difficult situation for anyone to stomach. I also empathize with the confusion Jiro feels at the end when the kiss with Shiori is addressed. He's so close to giving into the idea that she has a thing for him but everything just stops short. It's nice to see more of these interactions between characters and how they continue to progress their romantic relationships despite all their insecurities.

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More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.