©じゃのめ・講談社／ 「黄昏アウトフォーカス」製作委員会
I admit it: as a manga reader, I was curious to see how Twilight Out of Focus would handle its two-volume finale, since as of volume 10 it had already gone through the basic romance plot of the main story and two side story volumes. Turns out, the answer is that it plans to go back and cover some of the Mao and Hisashi material that was left out of their allotted volumes. It's an interesting choice, since we've seen some of the music video footage they were hired to shoot this weekend; Yoshino was chosen over her roommate Kirito to do it in previous weeks. Going back and presenting that plot would mean deliberately telling the story out of order.
The thinking behind that actually makes some sense. With three couples, all with their own storylines, the adaptation becomes a balancing act. Yes, the anime could just feature Hisashi and Mao, the main couple from the original, but that would risk upsetting fans of the other two couples, including myself, who like Ichikawa and Jin much more than the other two. All three bring something different to the table, and the choice to do an anthology series feels solid. But Hisashi being asked to star in a music video made by the rest of the second-year group is a crucial step in Hisashi and Mao's story, as we see Mao trying to hide her relationship and what the future might hold for them.
Mao tries to brush off his worries because Hisashi is his first boyfriend, but the truth is probably a little deeper than that. Yes, it’s fair for him to wonder if maybe he shouldn’t try to be more proactive with his partner sometimes, but not all of that stems from never having been in a relationship before. A lot of his worries would be similar if he were just worried about graduating and leaving his best friend behind – Mao has found a relationship that he cares about and wants to maintain, but the reality is that they’re getting closer (if not starting) in their junior year and their senior year is approaching. He knows that they don’t have the same career paths in mind, which is probably part of the reason he’s been putting off making the switch to his career form; once he does, it’ll all be real. Mao loves cinema and creating from behind the camera, but there is no guarantee that he will be able to continue doing so with Hisashi, who may not even choose to study acting. A terrible uncertainty covers him and manifests itself in fear and jealousy. As Mao begins to think about how the drama club took Hisashi away from him, he doesn't realize that this is also him trying to face the fact that after they graduate, everything will change and someone might take Hisashi away from him for something. good.
Choosing to end with the music video's plot makes sense when viewed in this light. It's an outside project, not something the film club did on its own, and it speaks to Hisashi's aspirations as an actor as well as the expanding world all the boys are facing. Jin and Ichikawa are now staring into that world now that Ichikawa has moved home, while Yoshino and Rei are too new to think about it. But the future is coming for everyone, and Mao will have to figure it out, no matter how much it worries him.
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Twilight Out of Focus is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
