TL;DR Version:
Nekoyashiki is depressed that he will not be at the wall for the next comic convention. Issay shows up to cheer him up and motivate him. Unfortunately, Issay can’t come this time and even Nekoyashiki’s new art style isn’t enough to get his sales back up. Meanwhile, an evil news guy is interested in Issay and Nekoyashiki’s relationship.
Recap:
Nekoyashiki is depressed from the previous episode’s revelation that he will not be at the wall. Apparently, his first comic convention was the first time he felt okay with being gay, and from then on he became determined to be at the wall. Ultimately, it made his need for approval worse.
Nekoyashiki’s sulk is interrupted by his assistant, whose name this whole time has been Yamada and I should call her that. She barges in with food and sees his Issay shrine.
Yamada doesn’t understand why Nekoyashiki hid the shrine from her. Oblivious to the full story, she doesn’t help Nekoyashiki’s self-esteem by agreeing that Issay is well, well beyond him. Nekoyashiki glumly agrees while finishing the food she brought. There’s another knock on the door, and this time it’s Issay.
Nekoyashiki yanks him in so he isn’t seen, Yamada starts screaming, and Issay is delighted to see the shrine. Issay’s approval of Nekoyashiki’s new art style does nothing for his mood. A suggestion from Yamada that he model has Issay stripping and Nekoyashiki desperately stopping him.
Issay is there specifically because he saw Nekoyashiki wouldn’t be at the wall and knew he’d be depressed. Nekoyashiki is hard on himself and knows using the wall as motivation is wrong. Issay is his usual positive self, saying Nekoyashiki’s motives are good enough. Nekoyashiki’s conviction is what Issay loves about him. In the kitchen, Yamada whimpers.
Issay has also brought food, and is going to leave that and go. Yamada asks him if he was just there to cheer Nekoyashiki up, and Issay ends up repeating her own “arrogance” thing from episode 4 back to her. She’s stunned. Once Issay is gone she comments she might be the side character in a BL, but Nekoyashiki says it’s not that kind of love. Still, Nekoyashiki is newly motivated.
This whole episode the news guy has been creeping after Issay, including snapping a picture of Nekoyashiki. He complains to the other news guy that Issay is constantly sending him food.
Issay is so popular now that he keeps getting booked, and is upset about one particular shoot. I’m guessing it’s the same day as the comic convention. The other idols encourage him and Tsubasa berates him and he agrees to the shoot.
Nekoyashiki sets up, not along the wall. He has a nightmare vision of moving away from the wall and Issay. Framboise shows up to give him more food. With Issay and Yamada earlier he’s the third person in this episode to try and fix Nekoyashiki’s feelings with food. He also gives him a painful hug and some encouragement. Nekoyashiki’s thanks send his heart beating again.
Takkun, the fan from the last two conventions, is there with his debut comic and set up right next to Nekoyashiki.
At his computer, the news guy has a high school picture of Issay up and realizes Nekoyashiki and Issay know each other from the past.
Meanwhile, at the convention, Takkun is the one with the big line this time. Yamada runs off to get someone to help with crowd control, and Nekoyashiki stands there completely alone.
Thoughts:
Normally I’d think Nekoyashiki’s arc would be to stop worrying about approval and make the comic he really wants, but he already did that earlier with “Please Suck on my Enormous, Manly Tits 2”. Then again, when he did that, he was still looking for others’ approval and the lack of sales started him on this downward spiral. I think expecting someone like him to not seek approval is unreasonable, but I wonder what the end game will be here in the next two episodes as far as his comic output and popularity. Maybe Issay really needs to become the model? Will it be an autobiographical story? His own fantasy?
It was interesting that again, and this says something about the nature of BLs in general that I’m not used to this, Nekoyashiki explicitly mentions being gay. I liked the inside into his past and what the comics mean for him, normalizing his own sexuality. That his self-worth is so tied into it now though, does feel like a problem.
Nekoyashiki seems to think Issay doesn’t love him that way but I’m pretty sure he does given the genre of this drama. Are we going to get a kiss in the next episode the way the previews are hinting?