I was going to start off this post by complaining how this was yet another development episode for Urabe and Tsubaki’s relationship, which shows just how much that mega Korra post has drained me- every single episode of every show focusing on the relationship between two characters ought to be a development episode, lest the show begin to stagnate. That’s why this post is so uncharacteristically late (well, that and because I’ve been on a sort-of-but-not-really-’cause-it-wasn’t-abroad-or-even-somewhere-I-was-unfamiliar-with-holiday with the boyf)- I poured my entire heart and soul into writing about that Korra finale, so now all I’m capable of at the moment is uninspired drivel… sorry…
So now that I’ve got you all excited about this post… heh, heh…
So what was it that was being developed in this episode? Well, it seemed to me as though this episode built upon Urabe’s physical attraction to Tsubaki. Sure, Tsubaki may have been the one envisioning his partner naked almost the entire episode, but (how to phrase this…?) it was Urabe who seemed to struggle the most in dealing with her pent-up sexual frustration! It was suggested that getting physically closer to her boyfriend by hugging him- something she’d never allowed before- was what helped remedy this frustration, after all, Urabe believed her dream (for which we hardly need confirmation to know it had sexual content) was what was causing her inaccurate aim, and hugging Tsubaki seemed to cure that right up! This was all very well and good, but we’ve already had an episode dedicated to developing Urabe’s physical attraction to Tsubaki, episode 9 where she allowed him to touch her, so this was all very samey! I think this is actually one of Nazo no Kanojo X’s main flaws, its tendency to back-track and explore the same themes over and over, that is! I mean, it’s not as though they are literally repeating the same episodes over and over, but even though each episode may seem different, on the surface, you don’t need to dig very deep to see that they’re almost constantly re-working previously used themes. To illustrate my point, we’ve had at least 2 episodes that focus on the theme of possessiveness, 2 episodes that focus on Urabe’s physical attraction to Tsubaki and 4 episodes that focus on the bond between the couple. This means the show gets majorly repetitive, a lá Hell Girl which, although the story varies, also has many of its episodes follow similar order of events. And everyone knows that once a show becomes too repetitive, it gets boring! This would explain why my excitement about Nazo no Kanojo has dipped significantly since starting it!
Another problem with Nazo no Kanojo X, one that I’ve only really noticed this episode, is that it is uncertain who its target audience is, which has implications for the relationship between the show’s viewers and its characters. Whilst watching this episode I couldn’t help but think that Tsubaki not being able to handle having seen his girlfriend naked was a bit juvenile, but hey, I thought, he is just a kid! Then I began to wonder how old he actually was (something I really should have checked out before the penultimate episode!), so I searched Tsubaki on MAL, and guess what? He’s 17!! I was horrified- I was convinced he was only around 13 or 14! At 17 his sister still makes him snacks, he’s only just started to look at girls in a sexual way, he hides the fact he has a girlfriend out of embarrassment (?), he and Ueno, his likewise 17 year old friend, muse over how the upper arm feels like breasts, he imagines breasts make a honking sound when squeezed, and he self-destructs over a little nudity!? What kind of 17 year old boy is he!!?? Here I was thinking his juvenile behaviour could be explained by his young age, and that it would help other young, equally as juvenile, boys just discovering girls to identify with him, but was kind of 17 year old male viewer is going to identify with a boy that probably still thinks farting is hilarious!? In a way I’m glad I’ve only just discovered Tsubaki’s age now, I don’t think I would have been able to take him as seriously as I have been had I known and perhaps would have seen the show as being more of a comedy than a coming-of-age-story… I dunno, maybe all 17 year old boys are like Tsubaki (meaning that they can, and do, relate to him after all!), but are just really, really good at hiding it when in front of others!
Something I did take enjoyment from in this episode though was the scene where Ueno revealed to Tsubaki that Oka had attempted to cut his fringe, with disastrous consequences! It was a fairly unimportant scene in the grand scheme of things, but imagining how confused Ueno must have been, and being made privy to the knowledge that she was simply imitating her friend’s panty-scissors battle mode made it a pretty funny scene!
Hmm, interested to see how they round off this series. I’m half expecting the show to pull a cop-out finale and have the real, juicy finale (possibly involving Tsubaki and Urabe losing their virginity to one another, as suggested in episode 1) in the OVA that’s to be bundled with the 9th volume of the manga- as OVAs are not broadcasted on TV, what’s being shown is allowed to be a tad more explicit…
