Twilight Out of Focus

Episode 10

One of the features of romance fiction is that we'll oftentimes get the perspectives of both halves of a couple. (Or all sides, if it's a poly romance.) That's always a nice touch and very often helpful but rarely have I felt it's as necessary as it is in this week's episode of Twilight Out of Focus when we finally get inside Rei's head. He's come across as a sort of fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants guy when it comes to his relationship with Yoshino—like he's just dating him because it seemed easy and maybe interesting. Yoshino was painted as the more invested of the two and that contributed to my lukewarm feelings about them as a couple.

Now, however, we get the other side of the story. It turns out that Rei did just sort of fall into their relationship on the spur of the moment. Yoshino was interesting and not unattractive, so why not give it a try? There's a sense that that's how Rei ended up in all of his previous relationships, too, which may be where the idea that he's a garbage human being came from. All of his partners were much more invested in their relationship than he was, which led to him coming across as cold and uncaring, or possibly just in it for the sex. With Yoshino so fervently throwing himself into things, Rei just looks worse. But unbeknownst to even himself, this time things are different for Rei, and the unthinkable has happened: he's fallen for his boyfriend.

This seems to be a first for him, given the difficulties he's having sorting things out. When he starts to get the uncomfortable feeling that maybe he's been dumped—Yoshino has abruptly stopped being clingy—he at first thinks he's just sorry that he didn't sleep with the guy. But like many a romance hero before him, he's likely confusing sex with emotions, as in, he thought it was just lust, but whoops! Looks like he may have accidentally gone and fallen in love. It's one of romance's greatest hits and this episode plays it particularly well. Rei moping around school while his buddies look on with fascinated concern demonstrates just how out of his comfort zone he is—and the fact that he's utterly shocked to realize that Jin and Ichikawa are dating jolts him more than anything. He's said repeatedly that he and Jin have known each other since they were little and it's been established that Rei's one of the few people who sees through Jin's veneer. That he didn't notice that Jin was in love speaks volumes about how stuck in his own head Rei has been—and that's what really snaps him out of his stupor. The fact that Jin immediately recognizes that Rei is in love can only be lemon juice on that particular paper cut.

We've known that when Rei is interested in something, he devotes his whole being to it, and boy, does Yoshino learn that quickly. Rei's sudden realization of his feelings opens the door for their relationship to heat up very quickly, and many, many kudos go to Takuya Eguchi's stunningly resonant whispering, which makes several scenes. The culmination of this arc is less about the sex and more about how Yoshino and Rei have finally both put it all out there: Yoshino's poems, Rei's emotional neediness, and how both of those admissions help them to become stronger as a couple. Rei recounting all the things he did to prepare for their night together is simultaneously very him and a little bit funny because he's trying so hard to make sure that all eventualities are covered. Now that he's got Yoshino, he doesn't want to ever lose him. While that could be a problem later on down the road, the beauty of romance fiction is that the stories usually stop at the height of happiness. We'll save the worries for tomorrow.

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Twilight Out of Focus is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.