Err.. meh, honestly. This is the first episode where I was just bored, there was no twists, no surprises or interesting developments, just 20 minutes of my least favourite character.

This week's asa desu yo scene didn't even do it for me.

Bunny Girl Senpai E08]: Of Being Comfortable With Yourself

So in this episode we learn that loneliness has been par for the course for Futaba for basically forever. Her parents are constantly abroad and she had no friends in middle school.

It was then that she began to develop a sense of self-loathing, maybe even body dysmorphia, caused by her developing through puberty faster than her peers and getting unwanted, creepy attention by boy gawkers. The distance created by likely gossip among her female peers might have been a contributing factor in her loneliness through middle school.

But, the situation did not get better when she entered high school and gained Sakuta and Kunimi as friends. The pain of loneliness was gone, but she now became anxious about being alone again in the future. Because of Kunimi and Sakuta both getting romantically involved, this fear came true, from her perspective. She felt she would be left alone on the wayside while Kunimi and Sakuta forget her.

That fear was so big that she started the lewd selfies on her Instagram account as a measure of feeling desired and getting attention. Regardless of whom the attention came from and how stupid the idea was, it was one way to numb the anxiety.

It was then when the split into two distinctive Rio Futabas happened though the Adolescence Syndrome; both of which share that sense of self-loathing but are still different in how they went about loneliness and attention and fixing that problem.

The ponytail Futaba values the end of avoiding loneliness and basking in attention above the means. During the summer break in E07 she cleverly combined visiting Kunimis basketball training with the excuse that the gym is on her way to the science club room, which is under threat of being disbanded when she won't pursue activities during the break. But faced with the perceived threat of being abandoned by Sakuta because of Mai, and Kunimi being unattainable to her, she started the Instagram lewds.

This is in total contrast to the glasses Futaba, which fell back into her behavior of middle school and being contempt with the desperate loneliness. She went out of her way to hide from everyone, even Sakuta in a net-cafe when the split began. And left with the impression that the world can go on fine without her after seeing the pictures Kunimi, Sakuta and Ponytail had at the beach, she reven retreated from Sakutas place to "disappear" from the world.

What is going on between Glasses and Ponytail is basically just an internal conflict of the real Futaba, warring between a side of her that is contempt with her desperate loneliness and self-loathing, a feeling which exacerbated by the lewd selfies advertised by her other side, using the exact female traits that caused that self-loathing to begin with to reach out for any reaction and attention she can get from that. It is just this shows way of visualizing this conflict through means of the Adolescence Syndrome and splitting them into two persons.

But in the end it is for the fact that both Glasses and Ponytail learn separately for themselves that they are not alone, with both Kunimi who comes to the rescue without question and Sakuta who promises to have her as a friend by his side, that they are able to reconcile the conflict with the other.

Only after Ponytail showed to Glasses that she stops using her body that caused them to loathe themselves in the first place to reach for attention, by deleting the Instagram account, and Glasses showed her express desire to spend time with both Kunimi and Sakuta and breaking her reclusive behavior, is Futaba comfortable with herself again, resolving that "internal" conflict and collapses back into one person.

Futaba.... is definitely my favorite character of this anime season so far. I loved this episode. Kinda sad her arc is over, but I'm looking forward to any smaller scenes she may have for the rest of the show. ♥

Second episode of the Futaba's arc "Rascal Does Not Dream of Logical Witch". This episode starts with the second through-the-bathroom-door therapy session between Futaba with glasses and Sakuta. This Futaba doesn't quite appreciate this arrangement, unlike her counterpart later in the episode. It's interesting that despite Sakuta saying that both of them are Futaba, the Futaba in the bath keeps calling the other one "fake", while Sakuta doesn't do it.

When Mai-san watches the TV [spoilers for the next arc]: there is a short clip of her half-sister Toyohama Nodoka, who is the central character of the next arc. Already in her first appearance she talks about admiring Mai-san. Sakuta's reaction to Mai-san saying that both of them need to decide about the ban on dates is cute. He seems to not have expected it at all. Later in the season: they fail miserably at not showing up in public together.

As during the previous meeting with the ponytail Futaba near the end of the previous episode, Sakuta continues insisting that both of them are Futaba, and neither is the fake one. Futaba with glasses thinks that the two versions of herself have diverged and cannot be merged again. This is directly contradicted by what the anime is showing at that moment: both versions of Futaba break the cracker in the exact same way.

The ponytail Futaba gets a scary message while they are standing at the railway platform. All three arcs so far had an important scene of Sakuta protecting the corresponding girl in some way at this platform. He stepped in front of the guy trying to sneak a photo of Mai-san. For Koga, he fought the jock. And now with Futaba, he takes over responding to the creep online. The dialogue just before:

Sakuta: Until you stop doing what you're doing, I guess? [...]
Futaba: That means your goal is growing more distant by the day.

makes an interesting contrast, since Futaba wants the account deleted immediately after she says that. It was August 2nd at the start of the previous episode, the railway platform scene is on the 12th, so the split has lasted for at least ten days now. Sakuta knew that posting lewd photos will lead to a dangerous situation eventually. As I pointed out in the previous episode's review, she showed way too many identifiable things that made her easy to dox.

When they come to Futaba's house, we're told that her parents often leave her alone at the giant house – quite a fertile ground for her insecurities about friends leaving her. The ponytail Futaba is so scared that she needs reassurance from Sakuta that he is still with her when she is taking a bath, very unlike the Futaba with glasses as I mentioned in the first paragraph.

I'm not quite sure why, in the flashback, Futaba starts talking to Sakuta. Sakuta says that's because her "head isn't screwed on right", but I think it has to do with her no-nonsense attitude, which allows her to go against the "flow" of everybody at school avoiding Sakuta. As they continue talking, Sakuta reassures her that he will remain her friend for life, and demonstrates how good of a friend Kunimi is – he reacted immediately to the phone call, which he asked Sakuta for in the previous episode.

During the storm, Futaba with glasses repeats the line "This world isn't big enough for two Futaba Rios." that the ponytail Futaba said to Sakuta earlier. Four months ago when watching the first of these scenes, I realized that the first syllables of Futaba Rio = futari = ふたり, which means "two people" in Japanese.

Then why'd you take that photo?! I would've killed to be in that! What else am I supposed to think after seeing it?!

With this line, this Futaba's half highlights the very root of the problem. Sakuta has already declared both halves to be Futaba, and Kunimi doesn't even know about the split. Both versions of Futaba could have been in the photo. It was basically a coincidence that the risque Futaba got to be in it – Sakuta just happened to be with her when he had the idea to call Kunimi. That Futaba knew that Futaba with glasses will have the same fears of losing her friends, and used the photo to demonstrate to her how loyal they are. By staying with Sakuta in the hospital, Futaba showed how loyal she is herself.

When I was watching this episode for the first time, for some reason I assumed that Futaba with glasses would be calling Kunimi to confirm that she will be going to the fireworks show. Why was she calling from the payphone anyway? She should have still had her smartphone at this point. In one of the flashbacks in the first episode, we saw how wounds appeared on Sakuta and Kaede. Futaba with glasses disappearing was the second clearly animated/visual way of showing the Puberty Syndrome "in action". Everybody "ignoring" Mai-san and Koga's time loops aren't something that was animated in a specific way.

I think I can the minuscule difference between the voices of two Futabas. It's hard to put into words, but Futaba with glasses sounds ever so slightly more timid. Though it might be just me convincing myself that I hear two different Futabas differently. I'll keep praisingTanezaki Atsumi's voice acting regardless.

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