[Spoilers] Journal with Witch - Episode 12

well, im pretty sure next episode im gonna cry

bar for bar my exact thought process seeing todays episode. Was really scared the girl was gonna jump and also got no clue who the hell the baseball guy is or what its trying to represent. But trying to keep up with those 5 seconds of screen time he gets every week also makes that harder too lol.

I'm so interested to see how asa and chiyo will interact together, and makio's parental nature blooming a little bit is adorable. I need more from this show! It's upsetting to see only 1 episode left.

I like aswell how they're slowly building but also displaying asa and emiris relationship in a realistic tense which just helps prove how good the writing of this show is.

Ikoku Nikki #12:
"Find"
Storyboard/Episode Director: Noriko Hashimoto 寺東克己

Can't believe we're down to one more episode of Ikoku Nikki. Has it really been 3 months already?! Time sure flies when you’re enjoying yourself. Fingers crossed for the finale next week to cap off this incredible ride, though the sheer thought of saying goodbye to all these characters already makes my heart ache like crazy. I just know this one is going to linger for a while.

I honestly have lost count of how many times I've called every episode my new favorite of the show. Well, that applies here too. The rearrangements of events feel so coherent and well-planned - you never feel like you're missing something or that the pacing is rushing you. As expected, though, 13 episodes was never going to be enough for all 11 volumes. With the finale next week, more rearrangements and original content are inevitable - but after everything they've pulled off, I have faith they'll stick the landing.

And I also have no idea who is the baseball guy we see from time to time.

I think he's used as a simple yet very telling example of the male-centric ritual they talked about in this episode. The training is harsh and joyless, yet society expects him to bear it in silence and call it discipline - because that's, sadly, what's been normalized.

Happy to see Makio and Emiri's mom together again - their convo always carries a nice depth and maturity that's genuinely refreshing to hear. But what really took the crown for me this week was the Kasamachi and Touno exchange. The male-centric ritual isn't some abstract concept - it's real, it's literal, and it's something society quietly enforces on all of us. The moment you recognize it for what it is and step outside of it, that's when you actually breathe and truly be free.

Say it louder for those in the back, Emiri's mama.

This had ROFL'ing so hard hahahah

Asa's seyiuu is blessing our ears once again with her beautiful voice.
Only the real ones are humming along during this scene lol

Just dropping this here to put a smile on your face and make your week infinitely better.

The answer to this question is something only you can find, Asa. No one can walk that path for you. And like Makio said - if there even is an answer at all. As sad as it may sound, some questions don't come with one, and maybe that's the point.

It's Bocchi Asa the rock!

You don't have to be her parents to care about her or feel sad and share her grief, Makio.

If I keep giving water to my own loneliness, could a flower bloom in the dead of night?

Others have laid out the reasons this episode was great better than I ever could, so I'll just chime in on baseball boy. As Diprivan said, he's emblematic of the male-centric rituals discussed this week, but he also plays into a lot of the larger themes the show delves into.

He loves baseball but chose to quit because he found no love in what baseball had become for him. So he made the bold, even brave, decision to quit, knowing full well it would earn the ridicule and derision of his former teammates. He's standing out by being true to himself and going against what society expects of someone in his situation. And we see him grappling with the results of his decisions. Ultimately, he's yet another character meant to mirror some of Asa's struggles, something this show loves doing with its background characters.

Booking a therapy session next sunday after I finish the last episode for whatever this finale is about to do to me

I figured I'd leave this here for others that come in looking for more info about this baseball kid and the male-centric rituals that seemingly came out of left field (pun intended) this episode:

This was a part of the original manga, but it was worded better a little better in the manga. Male-centric is a term that is meant for societal expectations that marginalize women. In the manga they call it 'becoming a man in society', it's wordy, but it clarifies that the issue a lot better.

Over all the scene was well done, but Crunchyroll has recently gotten caught dubbing and subbing things with seemingly subtle changes that drastically change the topic. In this case it's probably because the localization decided to get a little lazy and paste some vocab in there, but it sticks out because the author spends so much time ensuring that every thought and conversation is a complete one, without relying on some vocab word to sum it all up. It'd be like Asa saying: "I'm Soul-Searching!" Instead of: I'm going to be who I want to be."

Good ep

Asa really did it. Proud of u fr.

Gooning on the tablet in the cafe is crazy work.

Love how Makio and Kasamachi are learning more things abt life thru others.

Great to see Asa getting closer to her path in life and realizing that her loneliness is something that can actually help her.

Quite interesting that Asa and black hair see each other at the train station. What's gonna happen?

9/10

Yay Emiri! I love how the characters other than the main duo all get their spotlight too. I wonder if Asa is gonna get Chiyo to go back to school somehow...

Another beautifully crafted episode. I’m not sure how I will cope when this ends tomorrow :/

That convo between Kasamachi and Kazunari was interesting. But its also something I fundamentally disagree with, or atleast with how it was portrayed/said in the show. I saw that the author is a Woman, and that was pretty evident by how the entire idea was antagonized, It definitely feels like an outsiders POV, someone who's never stepped into that culture themselves. I know shows like these really like to dogpile on male stereotypes and such, presenting it as some kind of toxic cult that does nothing but sexualize and women perform reckless stunts, all while discarding all the positives. Likewise, I'm not saying that someone should lean too much into these ideas but, for dudes specifically. You do need that kind of culture at some point in your life to ig.. toughen them up a bit? To get out of your comfort zone.

That part kind of seemingly came out of nowhere, it felt like more the author pitching in her own throw instead of it being an inherent part of the story's flow

All in all, a good episode none the less