Nazo no Kanojo X episode 6

So now that the show’s done enough establishing of the characters, strengthening the bond between our two love-birds and indicating an obvious attraction between them, I wanted to see a substantial amount of progression in their relationship with this episode, something like their first kiss, or whatever. It just feels that, providing the show is going to culminate in the pair losing their virginity to one another, (as suggested by episode one) it ought to start heading in that direction now that it’s half over. But, of course, Nazo no Kanojo X- always eager to buck the trend- was not quick to cater to this viewer’s expectations of it!

This was quite a strange episode in terms of its structure- I wasn’t quite sure where it was going for almost the entirety of it! Towards the beginning of the episode when Tsubaki and Oka were having ice-cream and it appeared Tsubaki got all wistful over the fact Urabe and himself hadn’t been calling each other by their first names yet I had a panic-attack that this’d be another episode of “Baa~ Why aren’t we doing what everyone else is doing yet?” but, that terror was short-lived as it emerged that this scene’s ultimate purpose was to emphasise the void that had suddenly sprung up between them. Despite the fact they’ve been a couple for quite some time now, Tsubaki still can’t bring himself to call Urabe by her first name, (whilst she was among the living, that is) something which caused him a lot of frustration. This, combined with the fact he’s hesitant to even touch her and Urabe’s completely unwilling to compromise and smile whilst Tsubaki takes her picture, (something he stated would have meant an awful lot to him) made it seem as though their relationship had found itself in a rut. It was something which frustrated the hell outta me so goodness knows how Tsubaki must have felt, bless him.

This void between the couple only seemed set to become more pronounced with the appearance of Tsubaki’s old crush, Hayakawa, however, in typical Nazo no Kanojo X fashion, this actually had the complete opposite effect to what I’d envisioned- it actually brought the pair back together. When Tsubaki confronted Urabe as to how she would have felt if they had gone off together she actually opened up to him and shared with him her feelings for what must be one of the first times. It was quite a touching moment- Urabe’s always been a closed book when it comes to how she feels, it says a lot for the way she feels about Tsubaki! The moment was made even more touching by the use of that theme I mentioned during my post on the third episode of the show, you know, the one I liked but got all pissy about ‘cause it was played during a moment with little emotional significance? Anyway, though the show didn’t place much significance on Tsubaki’s stating he loved her, (Urabe displaying more happiness over his exclamation he’ll always treasure his photo of her than over that) it didn’t go unnoticed this end! Successfully coercing her into sharing her feelings with him must have breached the void between them, making Tsubaki feel as though he could actually connect with his girlfriend. It also added fuel to the fire of my theory that Tsubaki is in fact the hidden puppet-master of this relationship as, once again, he threw aside all of his fears to enable some kind of progression. So, although I was completely puzzled as to what the mysterious development mentioned by the title of the episode could be, especially as the couple seemed more removed from one another than ever for nearly the whole episode, it was that they began to share and understand each other’s feelings, aw…

So the fact Urabe still wasn’t willing to smile for Tsubaki’s photo after all that was kind of a bummer as it seemed to undermine all of that development but, Tsubaki seemed content with it so, eh…

Right, now for some real, meaty progression during next episode please- I can only take so much fluff before I begin to lose the will to live!