What’s the show? Bloom Into You, Episode 12.
So how’s this episode? I feel like there was a cohesiveness to this episode that felt very satisfying, not that other episodes haven’t been but with the emphasis being on the play they are rehearsing for and the fact that the play is mirroring Touka’s real life made for richly compelling viewing.
Okay that’s good. What specifically happens in the episode? Yuu feels a distance growing between her and Touko, whether it’s just Touko doing so intentionally because she doesn’t want to smother Yuu with affection or unintentionally because of the revelation about her deceased sister last week—she feels it nonetheless. After the study camp is over Yuu takes the initiative and invites Touko to come over to her house and up to her room. Touko is hesitant, saying if she comes up she won’t be able to “hold back” but Yuu doesn’t care because she wants exactly that, she wants to be closer to Touko in every sense of the word. The scene with them on the bed goes from insanely sensual and intimate to heartbreakingly honest as Touko once again repeats her plea “please don’t fall in love with me” before adding “because I hate myself and I couldn’t be with someone who loves something I hate.”
Ouch. Indeed, but this ‘declaration’ is the impetus for Yuu to take action. After Touko leaves she gets in contact with her friend Koyomi who is writing the script for the stage play and requests that she change the ending of the play.
How’s that going to help with Yuu and Touko’s relationship though? Well Touko believes that she has to pretend to be a ~better~ person than she is and that the person she has to be is one to be found out there. Which is more or less the decision of the character she plays in the play. What Yuu proposes is that she doesn’t pick any of the personalities that her friends and family assign for her but rather be the person she is now and learn to live and grow with that version of herself.
I guess that could work, but it might also not. True, but Yuu doesn’t have many other options available to her. The only way Yuu can get Touko to accept her burgeoning love for is to get Touko to love herself for who she is.
So with only one more episode left do you think things will get wrapped up nicely? Do I think we’ll be at ‘happily ever after’? God no, as much as I’d love to see them as a ~proper~ couple, there’s no way this story is near that point. So all I can do now is patiently wait the finale and then anxiously hope for a second season!
Previous Bloom Into You Reviews:
Love Takes Time – Episode 1 Review
The Flower Blooms Alone – Episode 2 Review
Strength In Vulnerability – Episode 3 Review
The Ever Watchful Gardener – Episode 4 Review
Study Buddies – Episode 5 Review
Scenic Roots – Episode 6 Review
Garden Of Secrets – Episode 7 Review
Rainy Day Feelings – Episode 8 Review
Racing Hearts – Episode 9 Review
Playing The Part – Episode 10 Review
Life Imitates Art – Episode 11 Review
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Anime QandA 
Given how much the series has caught up to the manga, I don’t think there’s ever going to be anything close to enough material for another season. It might be better with something more like what ReLife or The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (or OreImo, since it’s more likely that you watched that) with 4 or 5 extra episodes after the series finished airing to get to the end of the story.
I think it’s a very common problem to not know what to think about yourself. Self-worth is a very difficult thing for teens (not to mention adults), and it never hurts to reinforce the idea that you are who you think you want to be. That was a great message for Tomoe from Bunny Girl Senpai earlier this season, and it’s a great message here for Touko.
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They may not have another season but it feels like there is a huge amount of character development yet to be done. There are so many balls in the air and trying to catch them in one season can only leave on unsatisfied and wanting more.
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I agree there’s not going to be many ways to wrap up the current story in the single episode they have left and have it be a satisfying conclusion too.
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There won’t be a conclusion to the overall story. You can just put that out of your head I think. The manga doesn’t have a conclusion yet at all. And I doubt the anime will concoct one just to have one. I’d say they will certainly finish the current storyline of the Cultural Festival play, but that doesn’t do a lot for the story of Yuu and Touko’s relationship directly.
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