上伊那ぼたん、酔へる姿は百合の花

Gujo senpai is really trying everything to rizz Ibuki at this point. but sadly to no avail. This whole scene was so fucking good! Although, I do feel very bad for senpai once again, she really doesn't stand a chance at this point... Seeing a console that were there during my lifetime being called retro makes me feel old... Wtf!? An actual Yama no Susume cameo! And they even point out the similarities. lol Kamiina Botan is Pretty Fucking Gay When Drunk. Also, kissing to recover health? Why are they playing Kirby on PS1? lmao Yaeka and Akane feels like they have pretty much been a couple for a while... Dear lord, that last scene with Ibuki painting Botan's nails was gorgeous and gay. Side note: never skip the ending for this show.

Gujou you poor pathetic yearner... she deserves happiness too. This episode had a lot more environmental shots and silent pauses to soak in the atmosphere. The matchmaking paper and nail painting scenes are obvious standouts, but I also really liked the way they transitioned the scene from Gujou smoking at the shrine to smoking beside the laundry, using the hydrangeas to anchor the viewer. Hydrangeas are associated with the rainy season in Japan and in the flower language purple hydrangeas symbolize deep longing while blue hydrangeas are associated with apologies and regret, so the change from a mix of purple and blue flowers to only blue flowers represents Gujou giving up on Ibuki. Gujou and Botan playing video games was really wholesome, but **Yama no Susume** reference! And Yaeka is so funny, being moved to tears by others because her girlfriend is such an uncultured swine, while also being really possessive of her. Meanwhile, Botan and Ibuki should just get together already. Love that they have different EDs every episode just to flesh out character backstories, wonder if we'll see Akane's band senpais.

Yuri bait allegations thoroughly defeated, assuming any were left at this point. Between Botan and Ibuki doing the matchmaking offerings together knowingly using each other's names and that entire shared nail polish colors business at the end, it's pretty thoroughly text and not subtext. Good lord that nail painting scene was gay. Poor Gujo being the fifth wheel, though. Such a beautiful episode.

When Kanade's driving skills were so terrible the animators lost all motivation for work. On the other hand, the scenes where Botan & Ibuki filled the matchmaking card as well as applying the nail polish had no right to go that hard. What a contrast in quality. Botan/Ibuki and Akane/Yaeka were seemingly trying to outgay each other. While the former wrote each others' names on the matchmaking card, the former shared a nail polish. Yaeka even went all possessive, refusing to share that particular polish as she had only allowed Akane to share it. I'm guessing what Botan & Kanade meant by kissing was drinking the chuuhai as '*chuu*' is the onomaetopia for kissing. Pretty funny that the ED prominently featured Akane's band life when Bocchi & Nijika's VAs were literally on this series as well.

For a sec I wondered if Mappa did this episode with how it was starting staring down an exhaust pipe. And now my favorite OP of the season. I know I say this every week but holy shit the amount of nostalgia this song evokes mixed with the hand cam visuals is incredible. The team was cooking with jet fuel when they cooked this one up. Is... is Gujo going to learn to drive stick? (Also in a non-Yuri anime this entire conversation would be incredibly lewd). Wait does she already know how? Well she has her license but I'm betting she doesn't know stick. Which, Yuri so unsurprising! Of course Ibuki went to the shrine sake store. Good thing Gujo missed the paper offerings or she'd have done 100 of her and Ibuki... BOTAN! Girl being crazy forward without a drop of alcohol in her. So lets be real they're dating at this point. PS2 for two girls to flirt over. Kamiina grabbing hold of Gujo without a second thought. Girl gonna turn the entire dorm into her harem at this rate. And sleeping on Gujo to boot. Just me or was the animation of Ibuki looking at the copper mug _really_ smooth? This show is so gay and I love it.

It looks like the car Akane borrowed from the auto club is a Suzuki Swift Sport. I seem to recall hearing that it’s a small but sporty car. “Getting a manual transmission license” might be a phenomenon unique to Japan. In Japan, driver’s licenses are divided into “automatic transmission (AT) only licenses” and “manual transmission licenses” (which allow the holder to drive both manual and automatic vehicles). The former has advantages such as requiring a few fewer hours of driving instruction and being slightly cheaper. This system was introduced in 1991. In 2019, automatic transmission vehicles accounted for 98.6% of new cars sold in Japan, which is a higher percentage than in the United States that same year. I recall that when I got my license about eight years ago, roughly half of the people were getting an automatic-only license. It’s kind of cute how Gujou-senpai is in a situation where she has a driver’s license but can’t actually drive—something unique to urban areas in Japan. In Japan, this is called a “paper driver,” and it’s particularly common in urban areas where the train system is well-developed. (Even in Japan, once you step outside the city, you can’t really get by without a car, so this is rare in the suburbs or countryside.) That said, there are so many people who say, “I have a manual license, but since I only drive automatic cars these days, I’ve forgotten how to drive a manual,” so I’m not sure which is the case. This one feels even more like a yuri anime than the last episode. The animation is beautiful and amazing. I was surprised to see the PS1 being treated as a retro game, but considering that the original manga for this series began serialization in 2019, Botan—who is 20 years old in the first episode—was born in 1999, making her five years younger than the PS1, so perhaps that reaction is understandable. The chu-hai that Gujou took out of the fridge is Takara Shuzo’s “Shochu Highball.” It’s a great, tasty drink that you can find just about anywhere. The video explaining the definitions of chuhai and highballs is a parody of “Yukkuri videos” and “Yama no Susume.” In Japanese online communities, there are many videos posted in the “Yukkuri video” format that explain various topics, such as general knowledge and historical events. I couldn’t help but laugh at Senpai Gujou’s comment: “Ibuki doesn’t seem like the type to drink the kind of alcohol you can buy at a convenience store.” It’s true, Ibuki does have that kind of vibe. I’ve heard that Kawagoe’s “Koedo (Little Edo)” has become popular among foreign tourists in recent years because “it’s not as crowded as Kyoto and is close to Tokyo.” Now that it’s been featured in this anime, the number of tourists might increase even more. By the way, Kawagoe City is also the hometown of Kirito from "Sword Art Online". I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene where Botan pointed out, “Kitamori Senpai’s pedicure is the same color as Yusa Senpai’s.” It reminded me of that scene in the BBC’s "Sherlock" where Holmes figured out the connection between two people just because “they used the same shampoo.” Even though the final foot bath and pedicure scene didn’t have any explicit or sexy elements at all, there was still something alluring and a bit risqué about it. The ending was really interesting. It showed that Yusa had met two women in the past, formed a band with them, and was handed something by a man in a suit—so she probably made her major-label debut? But perhaps there was some kind of trouble around that time, because the person who invited her to join the band threw their CD into the ocean… And in the end, there was this intriguing footage of him cheering them on from the TV. Yusa was smiling and cheering them on, so it seems their relationship is at least on good terms for now. The on-screen caption on TV read, “「海がきこえるサウンド　山形から世界に発信！噂のガールズバンド」(The Sound of the Sea: Broadcasting from Yamagata to the World! The Talk-of-the-Town Girl Band)". Considering that the her name, Yusa, is derived from the place name “Yusa” in Yamagata, the band members must have been from the same hometown as her.

I much prefer the art direction of this episode to the one from last week if I’m completely honest. The characters’ unspoken feelings landed much better in my opinion. Gujo’s sadness was clearly visible through her body language, for example. Though, all of this can perhaps also just be contributed to some masterful cinematography. Like how Ibuki got showered in sunlight right after Botan’s request concerning these matchmaking cards. This could be interpreted as either (1) Ibuki’s happiness or (2) the start of their romance.

I prefer this cleaner art style. Less distracting from the content. The lighting change after Botan suggested they write each other's names was perfection. Also, I find it funny that the title says that Botan blossoms when drunk, but she was being pretty gay when she wasn't drunk, too. Not really seeing the change in actions between her being sober and her being drunk anymore like in the first episode.

> The other characters seem pouty and jealous about this development, but why? It's pretty clear Botan really really wants this. Would've been cool had the writers provided coherent enough relationship dynamics between each of the supporting cast members so that we could see multiple couples or something. > > > > Or maybe the rest of the cast just want to be drinking buddies? Maybe they don't want anyone to pair up lest they lose an opportunity to drink sake or beer or wine or a mixed drink or absinthe or I don't know (moonshine? malort?). As I said before, I don't really know what's going on anymore. But I'm in. agree with you on the production stuff, but i'm not sure how the show could get clearer here. Gujo's also after Ibuki and is straight up jealous, but she's also kind at heart and treats Botan well even though she's firmly in the cuck chair. Yaeka is together with Akane and wants to keep that special bond they have via their nail polish. But she's also down to chill with the others too, especially when she gets pouty about Akane going to band practice.