Words Kept Repressed/Words Used To Repress
What They Say:
Yuu has always loved shoujo manga and awaits the day she gets a love confession that sends her heart aflutter with bubbles and blushes, and yet when a junior high classmate confesses his feelings to her...she feels nothing. Disappointed and confused, Yuu enters high school still unsure how to respond. That's when Yuu sees the beautiful student council president Nanami turn down a suitor with such maturity that she's inspired to ask her for help. But when the next person to confess to Yuu is Nanami herself. Has her shoujo romance finally begun?
The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review will contain spoilers)
Makoto Katou, you brilliant bastard. Who would have ever expected a guy with only one other major directorial credit (Beautiful Bones) to come in and impact a series the way Katou has done thus far? Without over-summarizing the episode in just the first paragraph, I will still say that this particular installment of Bloom Into You features one of the most beautifully executed scenes I've seen all year. In fact, everything about this episode goes against the grain that the series has grown accustomed to over the last month, and every second of it is nothing short of astounding. From the sudden shift in character dynamics to a rather heavy post-credits sequence, episode six is the best this series has been so far- and that's saying a lot.
From start to finish, this week's episode is filled with shocks. The first of these comes in the form of Sayaka's personality doing a complete 180 when she realizes that Yuu might be getting a bit too close to Touko. In borderline-menacing fashion, she tells Yuu to essentially leave her senpai alone because she already has someone else looking after her. The whole scenario sort of blindsides our protagonist, the same way it does us, and Sayaka simply exits the frame and leaves all of us wondering what the hell just happened. Sure, we all knew there was a little more to her character than meets the eye, but a complete tonal shift was still pretty spontaneous and it doesn't lessen the impact at all. In fact, I'd say it even goes on to amplify it given the circumstances Yuu has fallen under. If last week's episode wasn't enough to weigh on her psyche, now she's got a whole other monster to deal with in the form of a jealous upperclassman. All things considered, there is a lot going on for Yuu right now, and what she's about to find out doesn't make that any easier.
You see, before Sayaka stormed off, she also made it a point to drop a major hint that Touko has been hiding something rather huge from Yuu. This "something" concerns the student council of seven years ago and, in case you've forgotten (Which you likely have), that was the last student council to propose having a stage play. Well, after digging around the library and seeking some help from her sister, Yuu discovers that the name of the student council president from seven years ago was Mio Nanami. But why was Touko following in the footsteps of her sister instead of just trying to do her own thing? Well, the answer is rather simple when it comes down to it.
Touko's sister died in a car accident seven years ago.
We were already aware that Touko went through some major social reconstruction in order to become the person she is today. What we didn't know, however, is that she wasn't turning into a different version of herself. Touko Nanami was attempting to become her sister entirely. The pressure of those around her, the people who looked up to Mio, pushed Touko into a position in which she would feel insignificant if she didn't follow in her sister's footsteps. Now, I'm normally rather good at predicting things like this, but this episode completely threw me for a loop. I'd like to once again give a shout-out to Makoto Katou for being able to pull this off. If I had been caught up with the manga, I'm sure this episode wouldn't have been nearly as impactful as it was, so for the first time in my life, I'm actually glad that I was behind on something. Especially since it went on to make the last scene one of the best I've seen in quite some time.
You know those moments where you really want to say something to someone but fall into despair trying to figure out how to say it? Great. Now, mix the essence of that feeling with a gorgeous sunset and some heavy-hearted symbolism. The end result winds up being an incredibly intimate scene where Yuu, for the first time thus far, has her feelings bust straight out of her heart and into the air as she essentially begs Touko not to become someone else. I use the term 'beg' loosely here as Yuu is still Yuu, but even that doesn't detract from the emotional intensity of the scene. There's clearly a lot more to Touko than any of us understand right now and Yuu gets that. She makes it clear that she's willing to do whatever it takes to stay by her senpai's side and, to us, she even admits that she wants to try falling in love with her. She never says it's impossible, just that it's unlikely. And if we continue to follow the trend of the last few episodes, I'd say it's more than possible.
However, this raises a huge problem when it comes to the post-credits scene. Up until now, I never thought that Yuu's inability to fall in love was the reason Touko grew so attached to her. But now that we've actually caught a glimpse into her thought process, this might not be the case at all. Will Touko continue to feel the same if Yuu does change? And how will Yuu feel if Touko changes in response to this? These are just two of many questions that episode six poses, and I'm looking forward to their answers more than anything else this season.
In Summary:
As the most well-executed and important installment thus far, episode six turns the tables on this entire series. With character dynamics changing drastically thanks to one simple discovery, the future for Yuu and Touko immediately becomes significantly more uncertain. The addition of Sayaka's new 'attitude' certainly adds an interesting element to the series as well as it continues on toward being one for the yuri history books. With beautiful direction and a gorgeous overall tone, Bloom Into You is not something you should even think of skipping out on. It is completely and utterly fantastic.
Episode Grade: A
Streamed By: HIDIVE
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