Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi Season 2 episode 12

And now it is Takano's turn to be emo!

So far behind!!! X__X Many things to do and not enough time to do them with my crazy broken eye. So please enjoy my fairly late Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi Season 2 episode 12 post. Spoilers for Takano taking a trip down memory lane!

So does that make you a stalker too?

Episode Summary: Takano and Ritsu are riding the train to work. Takano is not feeling 100 percent but Ritsu won’t share his spot so Takano can sit next to him. Takano is banished to the other side of the cabin where he falls asleep. Before he dozes off though he thinks about how cold Ritsu is and how in high school things were totally different. WEEE to high school time. Takano thinks to himself that he knew who Ritsu was before the little kid even confessed to him. Takano comes from a broken family and would hide out in the library after school to avoid going home. He would recheck out some of his favorite books again and noticed that Ritsu checked out…all of them. Now Ritsu is acting uncomfortable and nervous around him, asking if Takano meant it when he said they should go out. Now Takano is so unhappy with his situation at home the thought of Ritsu being this happy and genuine pisses him off and Takano just wants to break the boy. The only comfort Takano seems to have in his life are books and the random cat he found. His parents bicker all the time and neither go to Takano’s school in regards to his future plans.

Maybe Ritsu will be sneakier next time?

Despite this Takano helps Ritsu out when the boy can’t order a sammich from Subway and they bond big time over books and authors. But after a particularly bad day with his parents Takano cannot handle Ritsu being nice to him. Takano snaps and basically says he hates Ritsu and tells him to leave him alone. Ritsu runs off all hurt while Takano thinks about how he sucks and maybe it is better this way. But when Takano goes to leave school and finds that it is raining….Ritsu has returned with an umbrella. Takano asks why Ritsu came back after he said all those things. Ritsu sorta puts the blame on his stalker ways and says that Takano seems stressed out lately. Ritsu offers to listen to Takano if he needs help. Takano is touched by how Ritsu keeps on giving without expecting anything in return. He even tries to hold Ritsu’s hand but Ritsu runs off all embarrassed. Takano catches Ritsu being all cute during school and realizes….MOG I love that kid?! Takano is able to turn down a girl gently and admits he has someone he cares about. That is when he asks Ritsu to come over to his house. Back in the present Takano misses the caring and sweet Ritsu. But when Takano pretends to be sick Ritsu rushes to his side. Despite the fact that Ritsu is a little different Takano is happy to be with him. THE END!

So….where is my lovely sweet almost sex scenes with flowers and sparkles? Yeah I didn’t see any of that. What I did see was Takano acting like a jerk and Ritsu acting like a pushover. Maybe Yokozawa should have been with Takano after all….

Did I say nice? I meant that I hate Takano!

However…it was nice seeing all of this from Takano’s point of view. Not that it was a LOVELY point of view but I guess that makes it more real. Or something. Is real the new word for HORRIBLE yet relatable? We saw Ritsu and his sparkle relationship in the first episode so I guess it is only fitting that we see Takano’s perspective on the events.

Also it was nice to see it wasn’t just a OH HI let’s have sex because you like me relationship. Which is what I thought happened. That poor Ritsu was so swept up in Takano giving him attention he allowed the sexy times to take place before any “dating” went on. So that was a nice surprise, that they actually did other things before getting all hot and heavy.

There are barely any scenes with the family so...have some Ritsu freaking out over hand holding.

I feel as if we learned nothing from Takano’s rough family life. I guess we can just imagine what all the tension was about as no real reason was given for the parents acting like that. Did the “father” just find out Takano wasn’t his real son? Or was it just them growing apart? Or had they always acted like this? No doubt the atmosphere was horrible and would make anyone have relationship issues later in life but no concrete reason was given to WHY the fighting was taking place.

TOO ADORABLE!!!! And sad for words.

I think the cat played a very important part in this episode and it makes me sad that Yokozawa took him (her?) away from Takano. But maybe that was the point. Takano only had this cat to care about and obviously the cat cared about him. Waiting for him to come home from school and being there for him in an empty house. Maybe Yokozawa thought taking away the cat would be a wakeup call for Takano. Too bad the cat stayed with the one who could really take care of him. :( Maybe the episode should have ended with Yokozawa giving the cat to Ritsu and loving him more.

Just a little stalking going on....

Now….I do think that Ritsu was being kinda stalkerish. And Japan seems to be the kind of place where you keep your feelings to yourself. And Takano is the kind of guy who is so far removed from companionship I am surprised he rescued the cat. So I can see how at first Takano would be freaked out by Ritsu. Like MOG too bright he happiness blinds me!

What an unhealthy way to go through life YAY!!!

But Takano being so cruel to Ritsu….just no. Him thinking about wanting to break Ritsu’s spirit is so sad. Ritsu was genuinely missing part of his brain and sparkling all over the place and all Takano wanted to do was make him miserable like him. And of course I thought the homophobic stuff was pretty harsh. He wanted to break Ritsu’s spirit right, not be a bigot? If you don’t want to be with a guy then don’t. Simple as that.

Are you sure you don't want to hit him with one or something?

Ritsu being able to forgive him instantly…that was a bit much. I mean….maybe after a while Ritsu could have realized Takano was speaking from an extreme place of hurt and late forgiven him. But to run back and give him an umbrella 5 minutes later. There is love and then there is….well something that makes me sad. Poor Ritsu. No wonder he grew up to be so bitter.

Ordering food is very hard folks!

This is not to say Takano was a complete asshole. These feelings were new to him and he grew up in a broken family. But there were tiny pieces of hope throughout the episode. Like eating at the restaurant with a confused Ritsu/Mugi. Talking about their favorite author. Laughing at Ritsu having a spaz attack. It was nice to see Takano having fun. Just wish he had taken out his aggressions on the people who were hurting him not the person trying to make his life better.

Ritsu is not so sparkly anymore though...

Of course we all know how the story ends which makes Takano realizing he is IN LOVE even more bitter sweet. Such a small misunderstanding makes them lose out on ten years with each other. X__X Maybe that will make me rethink arguments I get in with people. I wouldn’t want them to cause 10 years worth of problems.

Ritsu just needs to give in already since he said the magical words!!!

Takano and Ritsu on the train….well I wish Ritsu would be a little more friendly with Takano. I can see how he wants to be discrete in public but sitting next to Takano would make him happy. Looks like Ritsu is still protesting too much. But he shows how much he really cares when Takano pretends to be sick. So they don’t have the sparkle relationship of high school nor did Takano get his way in breaking Ritsu…totally. Instead they are slightly jaded adults willing to open up their hearts. Just not their bedrooms because of the censors.

Being an adult is fun. Sparkle on.

Overall this was a pretty interesting series to watch. I fear for manga artists everywhere now. X__X One couple had too much focus while another barely got any screen time at all. And Ritsu needed to stop living in denial a little faster. But overall…..yeah working for a manga company is scary. THE END!