This episode was a lot lighter and optimistic than I was expecting. I’m not entirely sure whether that’s good or bad. I guess I’m still trying to gauge the tone of this show.
The cast of Love Now really get along way better than I expected. It’s nice to see that they’re all pretty supportive of one another. Although, that was one of the things that I felt was pretty optimistic about this episode. I sorta doubt that most reality TV casts are like that. Then again, I don’t really watch a lot of reality TV. I watch a lot of Hell’s Kitchen, but that’s a completely different type of show.
I do know that actors sometimes get along really well when they’re all working on their first big project together. I’ve seen happen this with some sitcoms. The actors develop a unique chemistry that they never get to replicate with future projects. It’s also worth noting that they’re all teenagers who may not get a lot of opportunity to interact with kids their age who are also in the entertainment industry. From that perspective, I guess it makes more sense that they would get along.
I think Akasaka also just really enjoys writing good friendships. That was essentially the core for Kaguya-sama with its large supporting cast. There were also characters who I thought were going to be annoying but weren’t, such as MEM-cho. I was pleasantly surprised to see she was the one who told Aqua about Akane going out during a storm. I thought it was only gonna be Aqua that cared.
I also kinda like Yuki now. I think she’s an interesting character with how she mixes her real feelings with exaggerations for the show. She even admitted to her embrace of Akane being partly for the camera. Despite this, she isn’t really portrayed as someone who’s fake the way you would usually expect for a character like this.
Akasaka also seems to have a fascination with stories where characters attempt to change the public perception for a another character—usually, without their consent or knowledge. In this episode, Aqua came up with a plan to change the way the public saw Akane by releasing a video showing how well the entire cast got along. This felt very reminiscent of something that happened in Kaguya-sama when a character did pretty much the same thing to clear up a long-standing rumor about another character.
Another part that felt pretty optimistic this episode was that Aqua was able to convince the director to release the footage showing Yuki and Akane’s embrace. I dunno, maybe I’m just an edgy sadist who doesn’t want things to go too smoothly. I was kinda hoping that Aqua’s anger towards the production for fanning the flames would go on further. Maybe even some juicy revenge stuff. But I guess appealing to the director’s conscience works too.
Yet another thing that I felt was optimistic was how quickly everyone recovered from Akane’s attempted suicide—particularly, Akane herself. The episode did state that she took a break from the show, but we weren’t really told how long. I feel like the they could’ve done a better job showing Akane slowly recover. If they didn’t want to show her recovery, we could have at least spent an episode or so without her to suggest that she’s still recovering.
I like the idea that actors in reality TV shows have to put on a character as a sort of armor. This seemed to be something that Aqua understood from the get-go. Or maybe he just thought that being himself wouldn’t be entertaining enough. Either way, I’m excited to see where the story goes now that Akane is going to be acting like Ai in the show.
Akane was apparently a very skilled and quite accomplished theater actor. I’m surprised she didn’t think to put on a character for the show earlier. She also seemed incredibly perceptive when she was researching about Ai. She was practically psychoanalyzing her. I’m curious if she uncovered anything that would be helpful for Aqua’s investigation.
This episode once again reinforces how weird Aqua’s relationship with Ai is. I wanna say Oedipus complex, but it’s so much more than that. I guess it’s best to just not think about it too much.
Final Thoughts
It’s weird that we haven’t revisited B Komachi at all yet. I guess it makes sense because the story wanted to focus on Akane, but it feels weird since we’ve been seeing Kana and Ruby make several appearances only to give short commentaries about the events.
I wonder if we’ll backtrack in the next episode and show what they had been doing all this time. I imagine they haven’t just been hanging out in the Ichigo Productions office doing nothing, right?
Akane seems like she’s being set up as a potential love interest for Aqua. She’s even modeled her new on-screen persona after Aqua’s ideal woman. I’ve already mentioned how I think it would be too weird for Aqua to have a romantic relationship with someone his age considering his “real” age. However, I kinda doubt they’ll actually give him a proper romantic story considering the show’s not a romance and he seems way to focused on his own thing to even be interested. But I guess we’ll see how he reacts to Akane’s impression of Ai.
I also want to acknowledge how I mention Kaguya-sama a lot in my reviews. I apologize to those who haven’t read or seen Kaguya-sama and may not understand what I’m referencing. It’s just impossible for me not to draw comparisons between the two, especially when analyzing the writing.
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