My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex

Episode 12

OK there is a lot to unpack here, but I think that one of the great things about this finale is that it ends on an open note for more seasons to come while having the main emotional arc more or less come full circle. At the beginning of the series, Yume and Mizuto were stuck between wanting to rip each other's throats out and make out passionately on the bed. They were in a state of confusion, mourning, lust, and anger over the fact that they weren't allowed to move on from the relationship due to being forced back together by external circumstances. Then again, life doesn't always give you the ideal circumstances with which to process major changes, and sometimes you just have to kinda make the best out of a shitty situation. The irony is that these two being forced together after breaking up might've been one of the healthiest things that could've happened to them, because if they never interacted again, there's a good chance that they wouldn't have confronted the problems that they brought to the relationship, which were what they really needed to improve on.

The lesson that Yume seemed to take away from her initial breakup was that she needed to reinvent herself. Instead of being the shy bookworm that needed to rely on others, she wanted to be an outgoing overachiever with a bunch of friends. Mizuto, on the other hand, just went in the opposite direction and decided to not interact with anybody at all – after all, you can't get hurt if you just keep to yourself, and considering the unfortunate circumstances of his upbringing, it makes sense that his default would be to just withdraw into books since they are a lot simpler than people. Those are two understandable reactions but they're also very selfish ones. You can tell that at no point these two asked themselves what it is that they contributed to the relationship and whether they are responsible for how it ended. They spent so much time being bitter that they didn't realize that the relationship should've been a lesson in what they needed to improve upon with themselves and how they both cope with loneliness.

Yume was very much someone who wanted to be taken care of. She saw Mizuto as this knight in shining armor that would always know what to do, subconsciously putting him on this pedestal. But once he started showing emotions that didn't match that image, she reacted negatively. Now she sees that Mizuto is just a sarcastic, socially-withdrawn kid who would rather read a book than even talk to his own family. He could also be childish and jump the gun on things that he's not used to. Mizuto, inversely, wanted someone that he could take care of. He wanted a project to keep himself distracted and he took comfort in seeing Yume as this person that needed him. I think it's very mature that he could admit to Yume that any person would have technically been able to fill the role that he wanted. I'm sure he's happy that it ended up being Yume, but a lot of the childish glamor that these two projected onto the other ended up doing more harm than good.

So where do they go from here? I think the main thing we can all agree on is the fact that this is supposed to be a fresh start for the two of them. Their former relationship is over, there were lessons that they learned from the experience, and as a result the two are extensively different from how they were before. Now that the shackles of that burden are lifted, they are free to define whatever relationship they want between each other moving forward. The main ambiguity comes in what type of relationship these two want to have from this point onwards. The kiss could be seen as an indication that they could start back up romantically again, or it could be seen as a final parting gift from their previous relationship. Will they continue to interact as siblings, lovers, or maybe something in between? The show leaves that open and while it doesn't necessarily address the obvious complications that come with some of those routes, I don't think that matters. However, just because I can't predict the future, that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate what I was given in the present, and what I got from this show has been an absolutely splendid surprise. I'm curious what a second season would do but I don't necessarily think it needs one at this point, and maybe I'll revisit the series when I myself end up entering another transitional point in my life. But for now, I'm content with calling this show probably my favorite of the season and if you end up stumbling across these reviews, I hope you'll take the plunge like I did and find that there is something more here than just what the title implies.

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My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.