When last we left these cute kids, Yuki had a lead on a job and Itsuomi did his best to deal with Oushi. How will their relationship evolve in these last two episodes?
Yuki finally has a job interview! Kinda!
First, Rin is showing off pictures from her dates with Kyouya. Despite their time together, she’s not sure they’re girlfriend-boyfriend. She blames Kyouya for being older and asks how Itsuomi brought it up. The memories cause Yuki to turn bright red, but luckily Itsuomi appears and rescues her.
Rin is the Best Best Friend and leaves the two of them together. Itsuomi thinks Yuki is nervous about her upcoming job interview, but really she’s shy from remembering his confession. When she asks him about a time he was nervous he tells a story about nearly getting shipwrecked on a cruise ship. Okay then.
Itsuomi gives her encouragement by teaching her a phrase in German: “Ich drücke dir die Daumen.” Which in English translates to something like “to squeeze one’s thumbs” or “keep your fingers crossed”. He also gives her a good Japanese “頑張れ・Ganbare”, which means something like “go for it!” Yuki feels like his encouragement is like a hug.
Yuki eventually gets nervous about her job interview but repeats the German phrase to gain strength. Thankfully, the job is with her high school friend’s aunt, and the interview is more of a chat. Afterward, Yuki texts Itsuomi to tell him she got the job.
Oushi gets to play hero
While at the grocery store, Yuki gets led by a cashier to his line. The cashier is wearing a mask and doesn’t realize Yuki can’t hear him or see his lips. Ugh, those masks make it so much harder to understand people even when you can hear.
Oushi appears and translates. Outside, he offers to help anytime she needs it, confusing Yuki with his kindness. What a guy.
Yuki learns that Oushi knows she’s dating Itsuomi and they went drinking together. Our dear, kindhearted Oushi offers to deal with Itsuomi for her since he hates him. Yuki tries to explain that Itsuomi is kind but Oushi grabs her hands to stop her. He apologizes but still, rude.
Oushi remembers seeing Yuki on a train that had made an emergency stop. She couldn’t hear the emergency announcement and he wasn’t close enough to her to explain. That’s when he learned more sign language, to make things easier for her. But he never told her this.
This is very different from Itsuomi, who’s learning sign language so he can be a part of Yuki’s world and know more about her. And honestly, how much easier has Oushi made things for Yuki? Most recently he asked her boyfriend to dump her.
Anyway, when they reach her place, Oushi explains that he’s trying to be less prickly. Yuki tells him how much it helped to see him and sign with him when she started college and was overwhelmed. Yuki feels he’s kind deep down inside. Sure, deep, deep, deep, deep, down.
She tells him not to worry and to be sincere. As he leaves she realizes she doesn’t know him that well, but hopes he cheers up soon.
Jobs are a drag because they cut into romance time
Yuki hasn’t seen Itsuomi much since she started working when he shows up outside her place at night. Standing on her balcony and signing down to him, they both have trouble seeing each other’s hands. Yuki runs down in her PJs, allowing Itsuomi to share his sweater.
Yuki is focused on making money but Itsuomi doesn’t want her to pressure herself. He suggests they can do cheap things together. Also, they’ve never really gone on a date together. This takes us nicely back to how the episode started, with Rin showing Yuki pictures of her dates.
So Rin is the one Yuki consults about where to go with Itsuomi. Rin continues to win at being a friend by urging her to relax and enjoy herself.
Yuki and Itsuomi’s first date
It starts on the train, where Yuki remembers their first meeting in the middle of winter. Time has passed and it’s warmer now. Yuki takes Itsuomi to a flower garden, and as Rin suggested, Itsuomi is happy watching Yuki be happy. He learns that she likes taking pictures of flowers.
Yuki asks Itsuomi about his meeting with Oushi. Itsuomi acts like he’s friends with Oushi and they should all hang out and learns the sign for “difficult” is similar to their “kiss” signal.
There’s some confusion over kissing, and I like how they work through their communication on issues. It ends with him saying ‘if it’s her, he’s okay with everything’, which she said earlier about him. Aww. I like these callbacks.
Then Yuki repeats an earlier question, wanting to know why he travels. He sends her a long explanation via text but tells her to read it later.
Then I die of jealousy as they go on a swan boat together. I love those swan boats.
Yuki learns why Itsuomi travels
In his text, he explains that he always loved airplanes and traveling as a child. Then his family moved to Germany and he struggled with not knowing the language. When he was finally able to communicate he found it thrilling.
I feel this way about languages too. It’s hard but rewarding and I think it’s amazing when people can speak more than one language. I love that this show has such a positive spin on it.
Itsuomi wants to travel to learn about the world and share this knowledge with the children he meets. Yuki remembers the pictures she’s seen of him with kids and realizes this is his dream.
Ending things on a nice note
Yuki gets embarrassed when he sends pictures of her that she doesn’t remember him taking. Itsuomi texts about how much he likes being with her and wants to see her. Because he loves everything about her. Yuki is overwhelmed! As she should be!
They both feel that the more they know each other, the more in love they will be. Yes, that’s how it should work.
We get a nice ending montage: Yuki at work, Oushi buying another sign language book, Shin taking Emma on a date, and Yuki with her passport!
Yuki feels like her world keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Not signs of affection so much as a few final notes
So this takes us to somewhere in volume six of the manga, of which there are currently 10 in Japanese (and 9 available in English). The manga is still being published.
A big problem I have with anime/manga is how it goes on and on and on. (I mean, One Piece anyone?) Since there’s more manga there’s more story to tell, but they managed to end season one in a place that felt satisfying.
We see our couple meet, get together, go on their first date, and affirm their feelings. We also see the side characters making progress in their relationships. It doesn’t feel like an ending, but it feels like a positive place to leave everyone knowing they’ll be okay.
Which doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to season two if there is one!