#Shibamura Tsukiha

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A Condition Called Love Episode 4 Review - Why's He So Rude To Her Friends?

Hananoi’s biggest flaw is that he only cares about his girlfriend and no one else; he doesn’t even have any friends and refuses to make any. If he was a real person, that’d be a huge turn off for anyone. From a realistic stand point, I’m sure anyone with a male or a female partner would hate it if they were rude to their friends. However, this is fiction, so Hananoi gets away with his rudeness, which could be seen as that to some people’s eyes. I see it as one of his biggest flaws and I hope that it changes later on because if he keeps being rude to Hotaru’s friends and Hotaru doesn’t catch on that, then that’s bad writing (to me) because she is a character who wants everyone to get along because she’s thoughtful and rather mindful of others. She is respectful to her friends and to Hananoi, so I believe Hananoi should do the same if he wants to stay in a committed relationship with Hotaru. If anyone who reads the manga, can you tell me if Hananoi does become nicer to Keigo later on?

It’s nice that Hotaru wants to get to know Hananoi a bit more hence why she chose to work at a bookstore because she knows Hananoi’s hobby is reading and she always sees him reading whenever he has time to himself. While Hananoi keeps waiting for her outside before work ends, she doesn’t seem to mind too much because she knows that Hananoi cherishes the time he spends with her. While being forthright is Hotaru’s strongest aspect, I do think that her biggest flaw is that she’s too mindful of others, mostly herself. When she told her story about how a friend played a prank on her by cutting her hair, she worded in a way that it was her fault for letting it happen. It feels like she’s gaslighting herself so that she doesn’t hold it against her friend and that it’s just her being socially awkward. It doesn’t seem like she’s not bad at understanding others’ feelings, it’s just that she believes herself to be after she hurt someone. She uses it as an excuse to herself in a way. It’s rather sad. Because no friend would play a prank on their friend by cutting their hair. That’s just straight up bullying.

If I had a nickel for every brown haired love rivals Ryohei Kimura plays, I’d have two nickels. It’s not a lot but it’s funny how it happened twice from My Happy Marriage as Arata to now Yao. Given that Yao was in Hotaru’s elementary school picture, he definitely was a reason why Hotaru had a falling out with her friend. I can sense it. My guess is that her blonde friend liked Yao but Yao liked Hotaru, so the girl got jealous and cut her hair out of jealousy. When Yao is formally introduced, I bet the whole incident will be told because Hotaru doesn’t deserve to be bullied just for being the person her ex-friend’s crush liked. Now, the question is, will he put that incident against her? I don’t like where this is going.

Also, is it just me or is the animation quality going down? I don’t know how new East Fish Studio is, but given that they cancelled the Ten Count movie and is flubbing with this rather popular shoujo manga adaptation, I do wonder what’s going on over there. Is it budget issue? Like, in some scenes, I see Hotaru’s eyes in different shapes. The shot below has it to where the right eye is rounder and the left is angular. Hananoi also looks a bit wonky in some shots. I know that not every animation studio is perfect and that animators in Japan are super overworked and underpaid. A part of me feels a bit relieved that they cancelled the Ten Count movie because if this is the sort of quality a super popular BL manga adaptation would receive, I’d rather not watch it; it doesn’t deserve this. Heck, this story deserves better if this keeps up!

I do wonder what next week will bring. Will Yao be in the picture or will that have wait? Will we see a glimpse of Hananoi’s childhood? I can’t wait. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[anicastes]

😳

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A Condition Called Love Episode 10 Review - The Season Of Changes

*gasp* They’re second-years now? *gasp* Hananoi is getting solid development, albeit slow? *gasp* Hotaru’s homeroom teacher is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa? Man, this episode was actually really nice in terms of progression and development for the couple and for Hananoi. However, I just can’t help but to be worried about the Yao portions…

Why I was surprised about Hananoi getting development is that he’s actually hanging out with people now. He’s eating lunch with Hotaru and her friends now and he’s not hating it. He even acknowledges that the him from the past would’ve hated it, but he wants to change for the better. Hotaru is being a good influence on him, seriously. However, him getting along with Keigo is a whole other hurdle for him to jump. Another hurdle for the couple to jump over is getting Hotaru to be on first-name basis with Hananoi. He’s a bit envious that Keigo and Hibiki are close and on first-name basis with each other and wanted Hotaru to call him by his first name, Saki. When Hotaru actually does call him Saki out of the blue, they both get super embarrassed. I think that was super cute, honestly.

Regarding the second half, it focuses on Yao and his feelings about Hotaru. He liked being around Hotaru when he was in sixth grade. It’s not until recently that he realized that what he felt for Hotaru wasn’t platonic, but romantic. To be honest, I did have a feeling that he might’ve had feelings for Hotaru given that he calls her Hotako and invites her to his house without a second thought. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy since he’s very nice and considerate. Is he going to be a thorn on Hananoi’s side? I don’t know. I do wonder why he’s so caught up in his feelings for someone he liked back in elementary school. He can’t do anything about it since his crush has a boyfriend and a very possessive one at that. I just hope things don’t go messy for Yao. Also, why is he so fixated on Hananoi being a schoolmate back in sixth grade? What is your deal here, Yao?

I do wonder what the second year of high school will be like for Hotaru and Hananoi. There are only two more episodes left so I wonder how this Yao conflict will be resolved. What are your thoughts on this episode?

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A Condition Called Love Episode 5 Review - Genuine Love

Why does all of this friendship talk feel like a buildup for Hananoi to actually make a friend in the future? While his logic for not wanting friends is understandable, it does give off loser vibes in a way. He said that in a disaster, people would usually choose family or lovers over friends, which is true, but at the same time, lovers aren’t forever either. I know that Hananoi is someone who puts everything into a romantic relationship, but he’s still young, so his feelings or Hotaru’s feelings could fizzle out in the future. It’s unknown if Hananoi would even actually feel the same in the future. Given what he had said about giving it all for others but how they choose others over him does hit home on the fact that he’s actually a really lonely person and looks for a romantic relationship because he lacks love in his life—he just wants to be needed and wants to feel needed in a way.

Though, it’s nice to see Hananoi be all attentive towards Hotaru. He’s very observant, so he knows if something’s wrong just from her lack of appetite or her unusual spacing out. However, I didn’t like that he lied to her about the door being locked. I would’ve at least berated him for doing that, even if there was good intentions behind it. I don’t think it was manipulative of Hananoi to do that, but the fact that he lied means that there could be a day where he could be hiding something and a possible lack of communication because of that.

Hotaru is rather understanding of Hananoi. I think it’s a rather strong quality for her to have as everyone else would’ve seen Hananoi as weird or would only approach him due to his looks. Hotaru can see the good and bad in Hananoi and still is accepting of that. However, I do wish that she was a bit more confrontational with what he should and shouldn’t do around her like lying about a locked door and such.

It’s also nice to see that Hotaru does develop genuine feelings for Hananoi. The fact that she was fretting over introducing Hananoi to Satomura shows that she is a bit possessive of him, but she isn’t aware of that. Fortunately, Satomura doesn’t have bad intentions, but it was nice to see Hotaru be conflicted. If she hadn’t felt anything for Hananoi, she would’ve just said “okay” and called it a day. I do like this little detail in the story. However, Hotaru, maybe not confess your feelings when your trial boyfriend is suffering a minor concussion from getting his head bonked by a soccer ball? Will he remember this when he gets better?

Despite that, their date was cute and I do think the progression is nicely paced. I’m glad that Hotaru’s feelings are genuine and that how she falls for Hananoi genuinely does seem understandable too. Also, Hotaru’s sister Kagari is hilarious because she gave relationship advice yet never had one too. It reminded me of how Tsuge from Cherry Magic gave advice to Adachi but was never in a relationship himself. Where does this advice come from?

I apologize for getting this review out so late. I’ve been busy with my personal life and that I’ve been trying to lessen my screen time, so my reviews have been popping up a bit later than they usually are. What are your thoughts on this episode?

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A Condition Called Love Episode 2 Review - To Be More Like A Girlfriend

I’m amazed that Hotaru hasn’t gotten a cold from wearing a short skirt and only wearing a glove and scarf in super cold Japanese winter. Maybe there’s something wrong with her as much as something’s wrong with Hananoi. Well, hey, they both can be weird together.

The episode is mainly about Hotaru and Hananoi trying to get used to the trial dating. It’s mainly told in Hotaru’s perspective as she wants to put in effort into this relationship by wanting to do something girlfriend-like for Hananoi after seeing him do so many things for her like waiting for her, offering her gloves and taking notes for her. So, she decides to wait for him, but it turns out that Hananoi waits for her for two hours in the cold. Hot dang, boy. He’s lightly dressed too! I’m surprised both haven’t gotten colds from the weather. Hotaru then decides that they should write down what they want to do as lovers in a notebook, which actually does work out. Hotaru wants to eat together and Hananoi wants to hold hands; however, he is holding back on what he wants.

Hananoi does seem like he’s holding back a lot despite still being intense as he was last episode. As a boyfriend, he’s extremely devoted and is someone who will disappear from someone’s life if the person he’s dating decides to go back to being friends. He even thinks about the ultimate end game—dying together and being buried next to each other. There’s some information about Hananoi presented in this episode. His parents are abroad working as doctors and he has a collection of cut out pictures of them, which could mean something later on. His grandmother checks up on him every weekend, so he’s not a neglected child. Despite that, the reason why he’s super into love is still a big mystery, but it could stem from loneliness. He also has a Hotaru shrine. What does it contain? I don’t know and I don’t want to know.

I do like that Kyo-chan (actual name is Hibiki) and Shibamu are supportive of Hotaru dating Hananoi. Instead of saying “don’t do this” or “don’t do that”, they just hope for the best for her and try not to interfere too much. Kyo-chan’s boyfriend Keigo appears in this episode and his segments are just comedy with Kyo-chan getting embarrassed from his oversharing. I like how Hotaru yells “Kei-chan-san” when Kyo-chan punches him square in the face. I also did NOT expect Ryota Osaka to be his voice actor. I guess I was so used to him voicing calm and collected pretty boys that him voicing an energetic guy threw me off guard.

I do hope nothing bad happens to these two next episode. I also feel like they might actually date for real after the trial period ends. I just hope Hananoi doesn’t do extreme things to get Hotaru to keep on dating him or what not. What are your thoughts on this episode?