Recap

Yutaka gets another text from family about visiting and flashbacks to when he was first brought home to his adopted family.

Still contemplating the text at work, Yutaka needlessly flashbacks to the first episodes. 

He meets with Minoru on his lunch break. Minoru thinks Yutaka will be disappointed that Tane isn’t there, but Yutaka is happy to see him. This makes Minoru happy too.

Minoru has brought food a neighbor made, and they sit and enjoy lunch together. Is this a first date? Minoru invites Yutaka over for a “curry rematch” since they never made it the first time. They bump fists in solidarity and then feel silly.

Yukata eats another supermarket dinner at home, and a sad sausage sends him back into more needless flashbacks of previous episodes. 

He meets with the brothers at the supermarket to get ingredients. They have fun talking about vegetable preferences when they run into Yutaka’s older brother. He coldly gets on Yutaka’s case for not visiting and leaves before Yutaka says anything. 

Another flashback, this time we learn something new: The older brother never wanted a younger brother and was the one who was cruel to Yutaka at the dinner table.

Yutaka spaces out while working on the curry and doesn’t answer questions. He perks up a little to mention chocolate as a secret ingredient. Minoru keeps watching in concern and does most of the cooking.

They eat all the curry!

Since they just used a box, Minoru is embarrassed when they compliment his cooking. He tries to ask Yutaka about his brother but Yutaka is quiet. 

The Dad shows up and is so upset there’s no curry left that he tickles Tane. Yutaka apologizes and the Dad says to be like family and consider this place home.

As he leaves, Minoru tries to find out what’s up with Yutaka one more time, but Yutaka is still quiet. Separate in their own homes, our guys brood.

Thoughts

No, that isn’t really a first date but it is part of this slow progress of our guys relationship: their first meal just the two of them! 

Minoru has been all smiles whenever Yutaka expresses any warm feelings towards him. I think Minoru knows that he likes Yutaka in a romantic way, and Yutaka is totally oblivious. 

With the insight we get into Yutaka’s past here, it’s easy to see why. First, he was orphaned, then he joined a family that didn’t make him feel welcome, so he’s very used to being isolated and alone. It doesn’t occur to him to think about his relationships with others that way.

They don’t explicitly say it, but I think it’s because Yutaka is so distracted that Minoru does so much of the curry cooking. Or maybe it’s just another sign of their overall progress. But also, it’s curry NOT cooked from scratch, but from a box like you can get at Japanese markets or online. I love their low-pressure dinner lifestyle. 

I also loved their discussion of what vegetables they like to use. Also, apparently chocolate (and other unexpected things) in curry is really a thing in Japan.

I like that while we see the changes in Yutaka’s life, we also see that he still eats sad supermarket meals alone at home. Change isn’t always fast.

Though, it would have been faster if they’d cut out some of the flashbacks in this episode. While I do love this show, it would be even better at 1 or 2 episodes shorter. This is one where it feels like they were padding out the time.

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