DID MY GUY TACHIBANA REALLY JUST EAT SEVEN ORANGES
You know I was enjoying this as expected, but was still getting ready to say that Tsukasa still had the best part of SS+ Plus as she did with SS. But f*ck me sideways, the end of this episode had me smiling like an idiot. Tachibana finally gathering the courage (thanks to some pretty hardcore manipulation from now-goated character JESSICA) not only to propose to Haruka, but to freaking YELL IT OUT in front of the WHOLE SCHOOL like some cheap heart throb rom-com was just awesome. Mad respect to the dude. He's the kind of guy that gets flustered at first, but then embraces whatever comes his way and full sends it. Girlfriend wearing revealing see-through clothing? Looks away.... *thinks a little*... NO I'M GOING TO LOOK!!!! Girlfriend wants him to propose? NOPE.... *Jessica plays with his feelings* .... MARRY ME RIGHT FRICKEn' NOW!!!!
What a great scene. But honestly the two kissing in front of the whole school was not the best part for me, that had to go to Tsukasa, being annoyed after Tachibana performing such a huge stunt when she unwillingly gave up the speech for him, putting her to her tipping point and almost unleashing REAL TSUKASA!!! I just love how they gave another nod to her arc, just like in the last episode where Tachibana said that the room suddenly felt cold. Yeah it's either Tsukasa's little moment or sensei Takahashi yelling at everyone to quiet down, but not before letting it slip out that they were making her jealous... someone get low-key best girl a man.
Hibiki was a goat in the previous episode, but her attempts at getting Tachibana to propose unfortunately yielded no fruit. Then now Jessica steps in and performs a rather low but ultimately goated move that makes this episode imo the best one out of both S1 and 2. They really did save the best for last. Or maybe the ACTUAL best is the actual last episode in those hot springs...
So yeah here in SS+ we didn't really get any ORGASM INDUCING scenes like some BACK-OF-THE-KNEE-SUCC or some BELLY-SUCC or FISH-SUCC-FEET-MOANING like in the first season (inb4 hotsprings episode probably), but what we got were more emotionally impactful moments; particularly with Tsukasa, Rihoko, and now Haruka. And what a way to end it all, after all the playing house, with an actual wedding. Give me more of that. Put it in her ova, please.
Tsukasa undoubtedly had the best arc in the first season. But here it's between hers and Haruka's; it's pretty close imo. I'm just glad they saved the two best for first and last again, with Kaoru's to give us a burst of energy halfway through lol. This second season was once again pretty good, but not noticeably enough better than the first imo, so it'll probably get another 7/10 from me. Unless this last hotsprings episode performs some absolute wonders....
...although now that I think about it, just a little communication between the two with Haruka telling Tachibana that she was only going to England for but one week, a lot of the misunderstanding would've been avoided. Now it's because of that misunderstanding that we got such a great episode, but had it been a bit more realistic and they actually were a bit more transparent with each other, Jessica wouldn't have had this chance to goad Tachibana into proposing. I'll SOMEWHAT buy it if: she and Haruka planned this all along. Because she stated that she came Japan to bring an unwilling Haruka back with her. But if that was not the case, then why did she come? Was it really just to do some sight-seeing in Kyoto or wherever it was? Or was Haruka really that unwilling to go back to England even just for one week? And yeah screw the whole "planned-it-out" thing, Haruka kind of has a heart of gold and would never play with Tachibana's feelings that way, I think. Unless I missed an important point about their grandparents' proposal, which was brought up a couple times over the course of these two episodes. Perhaps their proposal happened also because one thought the other was leaving for good.
Why was Haruka acting sad before though? Was it simply prolonged sadness after Tachibana failed to "propose" to her after Hibiki tried to coax it out of him? Or was it part of the "plan" to make him think that she was indeed leaving for England for good? If she "planned" this out with her sister Jessica, then I'll somewhat buy it. Although I actually don't because when Tachibana called their home and Haruka asked Jessica who it was, Jessica just brushed it off. So I'm going to conclude that they were NOT in this manipulation-game together, Haruka was fully unaware of Jessica's plan. So in that case, why was she sad then? She was never leaving for England for good. Don't tell me she was sad because she wouldn't be able to see her boyfriend for ONE WEEK. I mean sure that's cute but still that's stretching it a bit too far for acting down in the dumps.
I liked how Tachibana was completely open with Haruka after he got the call from Jessica, who stated that Haruka had several boys after her in England. Immediately after, he takes Haruka by the hand and leads her to that infamous shed where the hot steamy act of back-of-the-knee succ went down. Right then and there he tells her he'll outmatch any man who comes for Haruka, who then clears it up saying that those were boys that Jessica mentioned were just from when she was just a young child. I loved that transparency, the misunderstanding that got instantly cleared up (although it has to be like that when there's only 2 episodes to work with). So where was that transparency when Haruka said that she'll be going to England? Was she not aware that she worded in a way and in a tone that could be easily misinterpreted that she'd be leaving for good? Sure it was at night and it was dark, but did she not see Tachibana's downtrodden face after saying that? Or was she, like Jessica, trying to give Tachibana a little push into proposing to her this whole time?
Just as was stated in a post on this same page above, we only got the good stuff that we got because no one has cell phones during this time. Tachibana could never contact Haruka directly had had to go through the Morishima home phone, which Jessica seemingly guarded like a guard dog. The manga STARTED publishing LATE 2009, but surely HIGH-SCHOOLERS were having at least a FLIP-PHONE then right? I mean I wouldn't be surprised if we rewound back to that time and found kindergarteners with iPhone 4s. ANYWAY whatever, I'm making too big a deal out of it. Sure this episode leaves some questions on the table, but other than that, idc. I still loved it.
Sorry for the wall of text. This is kind of what happens to my brain when I watch anime at 5am |