Or maybe he’s always been in love with Teresa, but he could never admit it until now. Either way, it’s been months since they last met. Maybe even half a year. By the end of the episode, Mitsuyoshi will have finally conquered his fear of flying. He’ll even go all the way to Larsenburg to confess to the girl. But will it matter? Half a year is a long time, and in the real world, feelings can fade fast. But we’re not operating on real world logic. We’re operating on anime logic. Teresa appears for a second in the preview for next week’s episode, and she looks as happy and cheerful as always. It’s hard to tell if she still loves Mitsuyoshi after all this time, but if anime logic holds true, then maybe everything will work itself out Either way, I’m looking forward to this finale. After all, it was interesting to see how our hero never really let go of Teresa. Oh sure, he tried. We even see that shoebox of keepsakes in the trash can, so we know he tried to throw away memories of their precious time together. Luckily, his grandfather held onto it, but even Mitsuyoshi knew it in his heart that it was foolish to try to throw those precious memories away.
Our hero admits it himself that he was angry at first. He couldn’t understand why Teresa would leave without a word. More importantly, he couldn’t understand why everyone he cared for would always leave him. But ironically, this anger is what allows Mitsuyoshi to keep Teresa in his heart. It’s an emotion for a guy who sorely needs a lot of them. By the end of the episode, Mitsuyoshi realizes that his initial anger was misplaced. He wasn’t really angry at her. He was angry at himself. He was angry at himself for failing to convey his true feelings to his parents before they died, and he’s angry that he just went and made the same mistake with Teresa. She left without a word, because he never told her a single word about how he felt. So what could the girl do but leave? Teresa has her own life and her own responsibilities to worry about. If a guy shows you no shred of evidence that he is into you, then all you can do is try and get over it. That’s the mature thing to do. Sure, Teresa didn’t have to leave without a word, but she reasonably felt that she had to rip the bandaid off in one quick motion. Otherwise, it would’ve just been painful for all of them, Mitsuyoshi included.
So back to the original conundrum… Mitsuyoshi’s heart never really let go of Teresa, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s the same way with the girl. Going back to her one brief appearance in the preview for next week’s episode, I bet you she hasn’t realized at this point yet that he’s come for her. I can’t imagine she would be so calm and placid when they finally meet again for the first time in roughly half a year. If you love someone that much, and they make such a grand gesture, wouldn’t you at least tear up? Hell, I teared up when Mitsuyoshi desperately ran home to try and save that shoebox full of keepsakes. But again, I’m assuming that Teresa’s feelings haven’t faded since they last met. I guess we should feel pretty safe if we’re rooting for these two kids. After all, the show has such a happy and cheerful tone. The only bittersweet note in the entire series has been the death of Mitsuyoshi’s parents, but even then, the story has never really milked the tragedy for feels. As a result, I just can’t see a bad ending for him and Teresa. I’m tracking a lot of couples in this season of anime. We have Theo and Siluca from Record of Grancrest War, Hiro and Zero-Two from DARLING in the FRANXX, Rintaro and Kurisu from Steins;Gate 0, LLENN and P-Chan from SAO, so on and so forth. Out of all those pairings, I have to believe that Mitsuyoshi and Teresa is our safest bet for a happy ending… but this wouldn’t be the first time I’m wrong.
Misc. notes & observations:
— Kaoru always wears his heart on his sleeve, so I’m surprised that he’s never really rubbed off on his best bud. Teresa is the only reason why Mitsuyoshi is undergoing any development whatsoever. Had she not shown up, the guy probably would’ve never changed.
— Speaking of character development, I don’t really understand why the show needs such a large cast. In Dog-kun’s episode, we learn that he’s in love with an older woman, and… well, that’s it. This subplot never really goes anywhere. The same is true with Mitsuyoshi’s sister and her crush on Dog-kun. Likewise, Pin-senpai is little more than a gag character. Since he’s about the graduate, I had hoped that he would grow up and maybe even cut back on his pervy ways. And of course, he should realize that his precious HINA is standing right in front of him… but no such luck. Maybe the finale will have something in store for both him and Hinako, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. There’s something fishy going on with Pin-senpai and his college exams, though.
— Someone could potentially break a neck here.
— Mitsuyoshi gets to experience the pain of a breakup without actually having been in a relationship. Everywhere he looks, he’s reminded of Teresa. He sees her favorite coffee cup, her favorite sandwich (I think?), her last gift to him, her empty desk, so on and so forth. Hell, even the store mannequins remind Mitsuyoshi of the girl. These two lookalikes torture the guy even further.
— Aw, look how cute the cat is. Too bad you get to see a lot of Nyanko Big’s balls in this week’s episode. A lot of it. For the sake of the cat and all the stray cats in the neighborhood, please neuter it. To be fair to Nyanko Big, however, it did do a lot to remind Mitsuyoshi of Teresa.
— You can never fault Kaoru for a lack of effort… but god, he can really be annoying in these moments.
— I kept wondering who would finally clue Mitsuyoshi in on the fact that Teresa is the future queen of some random European country. I thought maybe this sweet, old couple would spill the beans. Alas, they simply remind our hero that the time he spent with Teresa was precious.
— Eventually, spring arrives, and it looks as though Mitsuyoshi will finally push Teresa out of his mind for good. He fortuitously stumbles upon her memory card, however, and the memories stored on it finally forces our hero to admit that he’s a fool. Y’know, I went through a painful breakup, and it took about six months for me to finally get over the girl. At this point, all I can remember anymore are the good times. I’m over her, but I can still appreciate the happy moments that we shared. So I think this is why seeing Teresa’s memory card finally triggered something positive in Mitsuyoshi’s heart. Unfortunately, some people tend to dwell on the negatives of a broken relationship and want nothing more than to forget everything completely. Luckily for our hero, he never even had a single negative incident with Teresa. Every single moment that they shared was positive. So what is he thinking? Even though it hurt for Teresa to leave without a word, he’s an idiot for trying to throw those keepsakes away.
— That girl sure does love rocks. Maybe that’s why she also loves Mitsuyoshi.
— But honestly, she’s the best character on the show. She’s such a goof.
— So it turns out Pin-senpai went and submitted Mitsuyoshi’s photo of Teresa to the contest anyways. Of course, it wins. I don’t think it’s a great photo, but shh, just believe it for the sake of the romantic story.
— Grandpa Tada ends up being the MVP.
— In this day and age, I can’t imagine how Kaoru can make it onto the plane in that suspicious get-up, but maybe we’ll see him kicked off the flight in next week’s episode.
— By the way, my flight to NYC costs five hundred bucks. I can’t even imagine what it would cost to go from Japan to Europe. Who’s paying for Mitsuyoshi’s romantic escapade?