©なれなれプロジェクト/菜なれ花なれ製作委員会
Between Kanata's argument with Megumi last week and her falling out with the rest of the girls, it seemed like this episode had plenty of room for some serious drama. Unfortunately, the show hasn't been particularly great at handling it, and tends to stumble when it comes to resolving whatever it's presented with. That trend continues here, and while it's not the worst the show has ever done in that department, I walked away feeling underwhelmed.
When Kanata’s extra cheerleading activities are revealed, a rift forms between the girls as no one is sure how to handle it. Nodoka in particular begins to wonder if all of this could lead to the end of their group. When she talks to Anna about it, we learn that Anna is still as dedicated to the channel as ever, but can’t forgive Kanata for acting alone when she sees her and the rest of the girls as family. I honestly disagree with this, as while there’s a lot going on between the girls individually, as a group they haven’t really had any particularly strong moments together (the closest we get is the baseball moments, and they’re hardly the focus of the episode) and it doesn’t feel close enough to warrant such a strong statement. If anything, her being more upset about how Kanata's antics will affect the channel seems a little more believable, but this is relatively less annoying than what we get about Megumi and Kanata.
When Shion and Nodoka decide to talk to Megumi about how everyone seems to be falling apart, Megumi decides to confess some of her innermost feelings to them. Last week I said that her argument with Kanata seemed a little out of place because there didn't seem to be any bitter feelings between the two, but it turns out Megumi has some resentment towards Kanata. She feels jealous that Kanata is always the center of attention, and since winning the middle school nationals was her dream, part of her hates that Kanata ended up achieving it in her place. It's the kind of messy relationship dynamic the show needs because it goes a long way in making these girls feel more like real teenagers. This is also why it's disappointing that she says all of this to these two instead of directly to Kanata, because having them confess their feelings to each other seems like it would be a much stronger way to resolve all of this.
As for the actual resolution, Kanata tries to reenact his epic gymnastics feat from the first episode, only to end up in the hospital himself. Considering how much the show has tried to ignore Kanata’s condition after the first few episodes, this accident feels pretty contrived, but since it forces Kanata and Megumi to talk things out, it’s almost worth the discomfort. Except…that doesn’t quite happen. At first, it seems like the two of them are going to start talking things out, as Megumi admits that she actually noticed Kanata pushing himself too hard but didn’t say anything about it. She also knows that Kanata always puts on a brave face, even when trying to fulfill Megumi’s dreams for her, and that doing all this is taking a toll on her. However, despite all this, Kanata can’t bring herself to express her feelings, so Megumi just cheers her on.
The animation captures how Megumi is trying to jump in her current state (even if jumping towards the end is a bit overkill) but as is a recurring theme of this show, it feels like a too-simple resolution for the emotional complexity of a scenario we've been thrown into. Sure, things end with Kanata apologizing to the rest of the girls for overstepping their bounds, but since we never really see Kanata express her emotions throughout all of this, it doesn't feel like she's undergone much of a real change. I guess I'll give the show credit for this being a much less dire conclusion than I was expecting at this point, but the fact that I walked away from it all not feeling much at all shows how fumbled it was in wrapping up all of the story arcs.
As for where the show might go from here, we’re still left with the mystery of who left that malicious post online because while Megumi admitted that she felt that way, it wasn’t her doing, meaning it was one of the girls from Kanata’s old cheerleading club. Even if all my complaints about this episode not being dramatic enough, Megumi being the real culprit wouldn’t make any sense, so I’m at least glad it avoided that particular pitfall even if it was less immediately interesting. While I’m curious to see how this plays out, it’s not exactly a mystery that’s keeping me on the edge of my seat.
Rating:
Narenare-Let's Cheer for You!-is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
