Recap
Yoh is obsessively watching Mizuki’s show and VO’ing that Mizuki only smiles this way on camera, not with Yoh.
The autobiographical manga he created with Manju (though let’s be honest Manji really created it) is out. Yoh thinks Mizuki’s been avoiding him because he’s unhappy about it. Manju thinks Mizuki should read it because their love there. Yoh instead plans to hide it.
Mizuki is caught in his own anxiety loop about smiles. He remembers Yoh’s with Maju’s husband, who he still thinks is Yoh’s editor.
These guys are ridiculous.
Now we get a Mizuki flashback! College again!
When Yoh took an interest in Mizuki, he took an interest in return. Mizuki was hanging out with people he didn’t like but thought Yoh’s loner behavior was cowardly.
Seeing Yoh’s drawing of him changes things. Mizuki carefully hides his true feelings around people, but Yoh seems to see past it. Mizuki is uncomfortable with this.
Because of his uncanny ability, Yoh realizes when Mizuki doesn’t look well, rescuing him from his oblivious ‘friends’. Mizuki has a fever, and Yoh takes care of him He makes the earlier referenced terrible curry. It’s crunchy, but it cheers Mizuki up and he gets possessive about the curry and Yoh.
After that, Mizuki hangs out with Yoh and encourages him to draw him. In VO he encourages Yoh to expose the real him.
Present day Mizuki wakes up and thinks Yoh has left him, panicking. But he finds him pulling the laundry down in the rain. Mizuki is having a moment, and tells Yoh he needs him and kisses him. Then he wipes his eyes and drags Yoh back to the house.
Mizuki apologizes, which delights Yoh. Then Mizuki ties Yoh’s wrists together and tells him that he needs to keep him from going outside and throws him on the bed, which confuses him.
Thoughts
Random Note #1: Yes, in the first episode it’s mentioned that it’s been 3 years since Mizuki made his co-habitation offer, but in this episode Yoh says it’s been 4 months since they’ve been living together. That makes some sense considering it would have taken Mizuki time to get a job and a career. Still, it confuses me about what they were doing in the in-between time and I could have done without these time references throwing me off.
The terrible curry story is even funnier because Mizuki is sick. I like curry okay, but a plate of brown spiced food on a fever does feel a bit unappetizing. On the other hand, having seen 9 million rain-sick drama characters eat porridge, it’s nice to have variety.
Random note #2: The recently aired If It’s With You has a character recounting making a sick sibling Pork Cutlet, so maybe this is a trend away from porridge?
I almost feel bad for Mizuki here, as he works himself into a crazy tizzy over Yoh because of one smile.
Realizing that Yoh is the one who sees the true Mizuki puts an interesting spin on all Yoh’s angry ranting VO’s about Mizuki. It’s easy to get annoyed with him for missing all the signs that Mizuki really likes him — but this is actually a sign of his perception. Mizuki wears a charming mask with everyone. Yoh is the only one who sees the tyrant lurking underneath the surface.
No wonder he has trouble trusting Mizuki’s kindness, when he knows what’s really underneath.
It’s interesting, because these two don’t communicate well with one another — but I think they communicate better with each other than they do anyone else. Yoh pretty much refuses to communicate and is a loner in his own world while Mizuki shows the world this fake nice-nice version of himself. At least with each other they’re trying.
That’s how you do the mis-communication trope right, make it an essential part of their characters. Again, this reminds me of Hira and Kiyoi and My Beautiful Man. Another duo for whom the inability to communicate with others is all encompassing.
Manju is our best communicator here, with her excellent husband and sound advice that gets ignored. I suspect she’s pretty OK with Yoh not listening to her because it means she can enjoy their ridiculous antics too.
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Our Dining Table is currently available in the US on Viki