Just Because

Hmm… We have a normal high school romance that needs to be adapted into anime. It isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Just some plain ordinary romance drama and perhaps a love triangle among the characters. So what shall we call it? Hmm… How about The Normal High School Romance Drama Anime Show? Why? Well, no reason in particular. Just because. I see. Okay then. But I think I have a better name for this show. What is it, then? Well, let’s call it, Just Because. Why? Well, just because ;p.

Episode 1
Ena Komiya is upset that her teacher, Watanabe is going to shut down the photography club. He has valid reasons. With only 3 members, they failed to recruit new ones or achieve any accomplishments. But she won’t take this lightly as she protests so loud that the next room can hear. She vows to achieve something to make him eat his words. She then remembers a transfer student in a discussion in the next room. Eita Izumi walks around and stumbles upon his old friend, Haruto Souma. He is shock to hear Eita is going to transfer in less than a month since his dad’s job relocated. They vow to contact each other every day but that soon become infrequent and they stopped. A few months down the road, Eita is back to this school again but only for the third semester since his dad got relocated again. So they chill out by practising baseball. Eita pitches while Haruto bats. All the while, it caught the attention of Ena as she snaps photos of them playing. And then Haruto hits a homerun. He celebrates like as though he won the championship. Later as they rest, Haruto drops the shocking news that he plans to confess to someone and hence this game was some sort of a prayer.

Episode 2
Haruto is getting nervous as he dashes to the classroom. Too bad Hazuki Morikawa has left. Better find her before she leaves school. Meanwhile Eita bumps into Mio Natsume. The latter didn’t know he is back. They are interrupted when they hear nearby Haruto calling out to Hazuki. He might be screaming but the right words didn’t come out. Instead he asks if she is free tomorrow. And when he realizes the duo are watching them, he also asks if they’re free then. Back home, Haruto regrets being lame but keeps positive because there’s always tomorrow. That’s the spirit. Mio wonders why Eita came back and if he still remembers that. Because she totally forgotten about it. Next day, the guys meet up early and wait. They talk about things as Haruto knows Eita has a crush on Mio although the latter denies despite he knew it because he personally told him that in middle school. The girls finally arrive. Haruto’s joy turns to shock because Hazuki brought her younger brothers. Sorry, they insisted in coming along to the aquarium. Even their friend, Yoriko Inui tags along. Because of the little ones preoccupying Hazuki, Haruto can’t get the right chance. Especially one of them being so whiny. So I guess Haruto has to play his big brother and in no time, they’re like best friends? When Mio spots Mayuko Satou among the crowd with a guy, she takes Eita away to another place. This somewhat allows the respective parties to be alone with each other. Apparently Mio is avoiding Mayuko because she turned down all her invitations to hang out to concentrate on her exam. So it’ll be bad if she catches her here. Mio thinks Eita didn’t recognize who she was at first sight yesterday despite they talked a lot in the committee. Does he still remember about that? About what? Never mind. It’s okay if he doesn’t. Once all of them regroup, they create a chat group for this outing. It makes Haruto’s day when Hazuki personally thanks him for this outing. But for Eita, looks like Mio has to remind him again as she ‘threatens’ to kill him if he tells. It’s bugging her, isn’t it? As Eita walks home, he is suddenly pulled aside by Ena who is just ecstatic to see him.

Episode 3
Apparently Ena is having trouble which photos to use for the competition. That baseball one looks the best when Eita crossed her path. Too bad her prints are left at home. She expects him to wait while she goes back to fetch them? Not a chance. It dawned to her too late that she should have just got his contacts. So Ena calls Mio if she has Haruto’s contacts in which of course she lies she doesn’t. Yoriko visits Hazuki and asks about her future plans. She plans on going to college and get a job after graduation. But one day she is still going to help with her family business. When Hazuki takes her dog for a walk, Yoriko messages Haruto to come pet it. Obviously he won’t since he isn’t good with animals. But Hazuki’s there. That’s the main motivation needed. So he peddles all his might to come down there as fast as he could. Too bad he got a bit lost at first. Meanwhile Mio meets up with Eita and wants him to give Ena the contacts of Haruto. Weird, right? Excuses, excuses. It gets weirder when Ena is here. Now she won’t let Eita go. After learning about Ena’s plans, Eita will not allow her to use that picture of him for her competition as he doesn’t want to stand out. This infuriates Ena but she doesn’t give up. Okay, she does. For now. What does her club disbanding has got to do with Eita anyway? Haruto must be in heaven when he arrives because Hazuki serves him tea. When he tries to pet the dog, it barks at him, scaring the hell out of him. Yoriko laughs her ass off. Later Haruto calls Eita to complain about this. Not that he wants to hear it either. But I’m sure it couldn’t be more a pain in the ass as Ena once again is here to bug him. Bug him to add her to his contacts. What choice does he have?

Episode 4
Ena also helps with the curing of Haruto’s animal phobia. But a cat? Not as bad as Haruto gets chased by Mio’s dog! It’s so funny that Ena couldn’t stop taking pictures. But at the end of this, Haruto is determined to confess to Hazuki when they visit the shrine. On the way back, Haruto asks Mio if she has a crush on anyone. Although she is always giving that exam excuse, she does hint someone so Haruto guesses it is Eita. She doesn’t appreciate him being too nosy. At the same time, Ena asks Eita if he likes anyone and she can guess it is Mio. His reaction says it all. An unauthorized shot of his face has he ‘blackmail’ him to tell the reason why he likes her and she’ll delete it. It’s her awkwardness. Seriously? Awkward… During the shrine visit, obviously there is some conspiracy going on when the friends all pull out and only leaving Haruto and Hazuki together. So they meet up elsewhere as Eita recognizes Mio’s older sister, Mina. This makes Mio a little jealous because he recognized her. Eita says it’s because she never changed. You mean she didn’t get prettier? And Mio is ‘upset’ Eita didn’t compliment her? When Yoriko arrives, the girls try to tease Eita that Ena is a powerful person and how many boys like girls like that. Haruto is spending a few nice moments with Hazuki but he has to take her and leave as he spotted Mayuko who is there with her friend, Momoka Suzuki. Unfortunately she has spotted them too and doesn’t like what she saw. They wonder if Mio is okay with this since they think Mio is always concerned about him. Mayuko personally doesn’t like quiet girls like Hazuki. Eita doesn’t like how Mio is always citing her exams as an excuse not to go through with things. It causes them to argue for a while as Eita hints he always cared for her and known about it since middle school. Meanwhile Haruto prepares to confess to Hazuki. Thankfully he says it all out before the damn train passes (usually a cliché cue to cut out the sound, right?). But unfortunately Hazuki rejects him. She can’t go out with him. He walks away dejectedly.

Episode 5
It’s the first day of school and the guys feel so lousy they don’t want to go. Don’t want to be late on your first day. Mayuko and Momoka give Mio a charm from the shrine for her exams. Ena actually searches the whole school and manages to find where Eita is hiding! Then she follows him around and can tell something has happened because Eita and Mio are avoiding each other. Then they see Haruto leaving the dumpster. Looks like somebody too is in a lousy mood. He has thrown away his baseball glove. Yoriko talks to Mio and Hazuki and seeing how awkward things are going, looks like their chat group is going to be dead. I suppose for guys to handle this, Haruto brings Eita to a baseball game since his baseball senior invited him. He is made to pitch but doesn’t feel comfortable using someone else’s glove. Well, Eita returns the glove he ‘dropped’. On the other hand, Hazuki and Mio talk things out. Hazuki regrets not putting in much thought to Haruto’s confession. It was her first so she it caught her off guard. However even if she has time to think, the answer will still be the same. Though, it’s not like she hates him whatsoever. She is busy with her own stuffs and they don’t talk that often. It’ll be even less once she leaves town. Mio suggests she tells him that she wants to answer his question again but properly. She thinks it would be good news for him since it will probably be tough for him to be rejected again. Hazuki agrees and would give that a try. Things are looking up for Haruto. He became the MVP of the game. He thanks Eita for the glove. Is it bad luck or fate that Eita and Mio had to bump into each other at the bus stop? They apologize for going overboard the last time. Mio says she would like the make things clear with Haruto not because Eita told her to. But her exams are coming up and she would like to focus on it. This isn’t an excuse or anything. Though, she did feel hurt when he said that excuse thing. Eita is confused over what she meant and if she realized it or not.

Episode 6
Eita and Ena exchange lunch. So when Haruto steps in, he misinterprets she is feeding him. After resolving that misunderstanding, looks like Haruto has a bigger issue to deal with. Hazuki texted him to meet up and talk and he got nervous and didn’t reply. So Eita plays a baseball game with him. If he hits homerun, he will reply her. After a few hits, he nails one. Not too sure why Hazuki was watching this, she rushed down all the way to the music to try and play her trumpet but never got to. Did she lose motivation? Later, Mio wants to talk to Haruto. She gives him an eraser. During middle school, he lent it to her. So she’s giving it back. Huh? Me no get it. The guys either. Since Hazuki is watching from afar, she might be misinterpreting the situation. Haruto replies Hazuki’s message and now it is her turn to feel awkward on whether to meet him or not. Mio’s friends are wondering if that was a confession but that is all to it. Just returning an eraser. Mayuko warns if she is too slow, a certain girl make take him away. She wants to confirm if Mio likes Haruto or not otherwise they can’t help her. Mio seriously doesn’t know. She was just happy doing that. Haruto and Hazuki meet. She plays her trumpet. At the end of the song, he says he likes her. He means her trumpet play. And of course her too. Argh. Super awkward. Hazuki clarifies that she wants to give him a proper answer because what he asked then was too sudden and she reacted on the spot. She needs some time to think about it. But all that matters to Haruto is that he has a second chance so he doesn’t really care if she is going to study faraway because he is screaming like has won the lottery. On her way home, Mio is surprised to see Ena hugging Eita (he saved her after a guy got mad on her taking unauthorized pictures of him).

Episode 7
Ena claims she wasn’t taking photos of that man. Everything happened so quickly when he accused her that she didn’t have time to react. Ena is really gloomy. Then she blames Eita’s fault for not allowing her to send in that photo. Asking why the photography club is so important to her, it is the only thing she has. It’s a place where she belongs. So when Eita gives her the green light to use that photo, she instantly turns into joy like as though she won a million dollars. She starts hugging him and that’s where Mio saw them. Eita also spots Mio walking away. Mio can’t distract herself with this now as she concentrates on her studying. Since it snowed heavily last night, it wreaks havoc all over the area. This means all transportations are disrupted. And today is the day Mio is supposed to take her test. Of all days. She panics that she will not make it in time. Eita is seen rushing to her aid as he narrates this always happens to her on important days. She is about to give up but look who is just ‘passing by’? He picks her up and they manage to get into a train. She still thinks she is already late and forgotten all she has studied from this inconvenience so Eita asks her a few questions in which she can easily answer. Still there, thank goodness. Of course she makes it in time since the test centre has also delayed the exam time. Eita gives her a good luck charm. Mio hopes to ask him something once she is done. After Ena posts her photo, she goes to bug Eita and complain about her stomach discomfort? WTF… I guess the rest of the day she is being grumpy thinking about him… Mio remembers Eita used to not convey his thoughts properly. He alleged her for her weird thinking process when he never said the most important things like when he suddenly had to move away. She gets a message from Ena to meet up. She is asking her permission to date Eita! That shock look on Mio’s face… Her answer? No way.

Episode 8
The friends converge at Hazuki’s place to celebrate Mio’s exam. Meanwhile Ena is having sleepless nights thinking about Eita. She is trying to figure out the right words to ask him out. While deep in thoughts, her cat then ‘accidentally’ hits the send button. Ena in misery. After a while, Eita replies back and agrees to meet up. Now she is thankful for her cat. Is it me or does her cat look and sound evil like some devil in disguise? Eita hangs out with Haruto. The latter teases if he is okay with Ena. Because they seem to be connecting well generally. Haruto knows Eita who doesn’t mix well with girls before so Ena is like somebody different. Eita tries to change the subject of him and Hazuki. He is being honest about it so Eita envies his honest disposition. On the day Eita goes to meet Ena, he bumps into Mio on her way to cram school at the train station. Apparently she knows about their date as she hints she saw them hugging. A silent awkwardness between them. It gets even more so when Ena arrives and joins in. So as not to be a bother, Mio gets off. Hope she isn’t lost at this stop. It seems this ‘date’, Ena is bringing Eita around as she takes photos of stuffs. He snaps a pic of her taking a photo. The ‘date’ isn’t over since there is a place she wants them to go. Back in her clubroom, she shows him a photo album of the past photos of the seniors who graduated. Ena tells Eita to just confess to Mio if he is desperate and not wait just because he too is studying for an exam. It feels odd because it is as though the reason he is taking this entrance exam is because he can’t confess to Mio. Ena has decided. If she wins a prize from the photo competition, she will confess to him. That’s bold. He is left in shock that he probably didn’t recognize Hazuki coming up to talk to him. Well also, Hazuki did a makeover and is almost unrecognizable! Double shock indeed.

Episode 9
When Hazuki enters her class, everyone is in shock over her new makeover. Who’s that girl?! She becomes the talk of the school. At least those who know her. Haruto texts to Eita about this and the latter teases he didn’t tell him beforehand is because he wanted to see his reaction. Later Mio and Natsume talk about their respective reasons to enter college. Mio is feeling lost right now as she doesn’t even know if she wants to go to college. When Mio compliments her new hair and how Haruto likes it, Hazuki thinks she got the wrong idea and asks if Natsume likes Haruto. More awkwardness between Eita and Ena. In a bit to avoid each other, they copy each other’s moves?! Mio seems to be aiming for a higher ranked university and buys the sample questions just to try for size. Souma and his baseball team are preparing to play when Hazuki and Yoriko come by to watch. The teammates get jealous of his beautiful girls and start ‘abusing’ him. Haruto asks Yoriko if Hazuki is in a bad mood because he couldn’t talk to her after her new look. Yoriko sets it up so he is forced to go talk to Hazuki himself. He manages to compliment her hair. Mio reflects about Hazuki’s question asking if she likes Haruto. She once did in middle school but realized nothing came of it and didn’t let anything come of it either and stopped. She is satisfied with that. When her friends ask about it, she will admit that as it will enable her to take part in a conversation. Besides, she has somebody else she likes.

Episode 10
Mio tells Mina that she will be taking a different and harder entrance exam of another higher ranked university. Eita too is studying for his entrance exams despite already being accepted. Ena is happy to see Eita. But then it all turns to heart break when he sees her talking to Mio. Mio sees that Ena wallpaper in his handphone. She too gets heart broken and leaves. When a girl cries, it is like the ultimate sign to say don’t you say or do anything. It’s like a stun weapon for guys. Ena saw what happened and has a hunch what transpired. She takes a look at his handphone and feels guilty about it. Haruto thought he is the happiest man in the world when Hazuki calls to meet up. So after she plays her trumpet as he practices his shadow baseball, she drops the bomb she can’t go out with him. Haruto sounds desperate as he argues he can make things work out. No, you can’t. She will be moving far away and they will be in different levels of society. So when he is just about to accept fate and reality, Hazuki finishes her sentence that she hopes he would wait till she settles down in college life and if he still likes her, they can go out. Thank you God, right? Similarly, Ena calls Eita to meet up. She gives him a tiny chocolate as obligation for Valentine’s Day but also doesn’t want to poison his stomach with her homemade chocolates before his exam. But the real deal is all the different charms she got from different shrines and temples for him to pass his exam. If he passes, Ena will root for him and Mio. He has been studying hard so do you not want him to pass? He gives back one charm in hopes she would win the photography contest. She thought he didn’t care. Now he does. Having said that, looks like Ena has a change of heart. In spite of everything, she still likes him. Uhm, so not giving him up to Mio? Speaking of her, she is somewhat frustrated a certain guy doesn’t know her feelings. She makes a vow to pass her tests and then lay bare all her feelings.

Episode 11
Ena hopes he will tell her when his results are out. If he fails? There is no way he would. Haruto updates Eita about his confession with Hazuki and likewise Hazuki tells the same to Mio. Eita hasn’t told Mio about the entrance exam he is taking but plans to tell her everything if he passes. One night, Mina stumbles into Eita and gives him a ride home. When she goes home, she is smiling from cheek to cheek in teasing her sister about Eita. I guess she really wants to see her reaction. Don’t worry. Big sister didn’t tell anything but Mio can’t help feel suspicious. On the day of the exam, Eita and Mio make their way to their respective exam hall. Hazuki wonder why Haruto is worried over Eita about his acceptance when he got accepted via recommendation. That is when he tells her about Eita changing his mind and is taking the entrance exam as the same university as Mio. Hazuki reveals Mio changed hers to Eita’s. Oops. Switcheroo. Exams come and go. The results are out. Mio has been accepted. That big smile on Ena’s face tells us a lot. I’m sure it’s the same case for Eita’s grin too.

Episode 12
Actually Eita didn’t get accepted! He probably smiled at the irony of his situation. On graduation day, Mio gives her speech. Then all the graduates hang around for the last time with their fellow teachers and classmates. Mio is looking for Eita but he isn’t around. Instead, she bumps into Hazuki who tells her how her touching speech made some students cry. After that Haruto hangs out with Hazuki. Yoriko snaps a picture of them. Haruto wants that picture but in exchange must treat her to an expensive curry bun. Hazuki wants one too so does she get a free pass? Eita is with Ena who shows her winner’s prize. She is quite happy she won the competition and thanks to that she gets to keep the photography club around for another year. Eita knows what she is talking about since he went to the gallery and saw the photos she displayed. She also hands him a yearbook she made. Eita wants to reply her confession despite failing because she told him upfront and he needed to do the same. In short, he rejects her because there is someone he likes. Naturally she cries her heart out alone later. Eita and Haruto play their last baseball game together. This time Eita hits a homerun. Haruto tells him to go for it and Eita runs after it. I thought it was a sign to go after Mio. And I thought it was just coincidence the vapour trails in the sky. But that’s really the baseball he hit???!!! This is crap. I also thought it would lead to Mio but apparently I don’t know where Eita ran to because he didn’t run into her. In the aftermath, Haruto settles in his workplace as with Hazuki in her college. They still keep in touch. Eita is at his college as he gets a surprise to see Mio. She claims she didn’t chase after him. That confident smile may be so. He then confesses he likes her and she does the same.

Just Be Yourself
Oh well. Here I thought Eita and Mio would never confess but I guess they leave all that stuff at the very last second. Like as though that was the entire goal of this series. Wait. It is. So it took them a dozen episodes to get their feelings across? Better late than never. Just because. I suppose it was a blessing that Eita failed because had he got accepted, he and Mio would have missed each other in college again. So in the context of this anime, I guess fate was pretty kind to them. But it is mind boggling that they never talked much with each other since their graduation day until their day at college. Strange. Because they never found out the other college they were trying for. Eventually it doesn’t matter since they’re together.

If you think about it, this series is actually nothing more than one long drawn out romance between the characters. They are unsure about letting know their feelings and drag it out, giving excuses. Even for the bolder ones or that certain pair to have confessed, it feels like nothing much. Just another ordinary day. Life goes on. Yeah, so what. Thus the dozen episodes we got here are just a big boring wait-and-see game among the characters. If it turns out like that, we’ll go with that. Otherwise, we’ll go like… Uhm, never mind, it didn’t. Had they been themselves and not be so roundabout, we could have avoided lots of drama and saved time. That of course defeats the purpose of this series had everything ended so fast and well. And we always blame love for making us do silly things. Why love? Just because.

Something tells me that this show is similar to Tsuki Ga Kirei. It is most probably the slow pace and very normal high school romance that both shows similarly have. There is also a small love triangle inside but didn’t turn out into the biggest drama or scandal for the series. Also, the art style of both series is quite simple although Tsuki Ga Kirei is so much simpler that it might look a bit cartoonish at times. But then, it could be just me feeling so. Perhaps it is the use of the chatting service where they use really lavish emojis and the likes.

Character wise, they aren’t anything special. Ena being the most memorable because of her daring and bold personality. Compared to the rest of the main characters, she is the liveliest and the rest feels so ‘dead’. Not sure why she was adamant to keep her photography club. Saying it is her only place of belonging then doesn’t sound so convincing but at the rate where the series was going, it didn’t matter. Mio is a character whom you will remember is one who always uses exams and studying as an excuse just for almost everything. Want to hang out? Can’t. Have a test. How about after your test then? Can’t. Need to study some more for another test. So then, we make it after all your exams are over? Can’t. I am a study nerd and I must study 24/7 or else I will shrivel up and die as I made a pact with the devil with my soul. Just kidding about that last bit. But you get the idea. Therefore one can only imagine the procrastination she would put in had she failed her exams. Another bunch of moral demoralising reasons.

Using the results of the exams may be one’s motivation to confess but sometimes I feel that it isn’t all that great either. Aside the chances of failing or not getting accepted, sometimes I feel that the need to pass puts another unnecessary pressure. But I don’t see them under pressure whatsoever because Eita and Mio as just being poker face that I can’t tell. Also, when they pass and then confessed, it’s like saying, “Hey look, I passed. Now I am as smart and have the right to declare my love to/for you”. Well, technically not wrong because naturally we are attracted to people who are of the same or higher intelligence for reproduction purposes but I’m not going so far into that for this anime. Eventually, exam results or not, you can’t make that as an excuse for your confession because there needs to be some sort of closure before they move on as seen here. So I’m glad that even though things don’t work out for everybody, at least it does for some. Hey, you can’t have it all.

Eita, Haruto and Hazuki, I can’t think anything about them in particular. I only remember them as the transfer kid, the baseball freak and the soft spoken brass band member. Initially I thought there was going to be some sort of big drama between Hazuki and Mayuko. The latter somewhat disliking the former to a certain degree that you would think that something big on the cards would happen and spice up this boring drama. Nothing. So I guess we get no b*tch fight for Haruto’s case. I mean, Eita already has Ena and Mio for his love triangle equation, why doesn’t Haruto get one and is more straightforward? After all, Mio did once like Haruto and is totally over with that since Haruto also didn’t return the favour. I guess that’s your little drama that didn’t amount to anything. So maybe Haruto-Hazuki-Mayuko love triangle would have been something interesting? Maybe not. But then again, Mayuko did have her own guy (assuming it is her boyfriend).

Some of the lesser known minor characters are more interesting compared to these main characters. For example, the couple of guys that Haruto and Eita are friends with. One of them only wants to fool around and hang around instead but is often a ‘loser’. Then there is the other more responsible who looks like a book nerd. What an odd pair. Is it me but does he look more like an adult than teenager? Must be his bigger size. Then there are Ena’s photography members. The 2 guys are sometimes funny because like that Valentine episode, when Ena left them some real chocolates, they get suspicious if it’s some sort of trap she’s trying to prank them and start looking for tapping devices! They aren’t really dedicated to their club work and only pretend to do so whenever Ena is around. Otherwise, it’s like they have this I-wish-I-wasn’t-here look on their faces. They only do so probably they have no life and girlfriend so it probably sucks to be alone by themselves as Ena is the only girl who interacts with them. Can’t complain… But hey, at least they are loyal. Because looks like Ena is going to appreciate their company now that Eita has left. They too are considerate in their own ways. Not bugging her while she was crying her heart out and choosing the same university she plans to attend. Last but not least, Hazuki little brothers are just brats… I can imagine them getting in the way of Haruto and Hazuki’s romance if they are ever around.

As for the visuals department, while the character designs are just pretty normal and constitute your typical modern Japanese anime standards, the one that attracted me are the sceneries and backgrounds. I am not saying that they are a masterpiece but sometimes they feel surreal enough like as though I can’t tell if they are from paintbrush painting or taken from still photos. Taking a closer look, it looks as though they are from the former but then again, my video hardware isn’t that power and I didn’t watch this show in super high resolution. Because, it’s all just drama, right? Who would want to watch romance drama in HD?! So from my perspective, if the drama ever gets boring and draggy, taking a look at the sceneries and background takes away my boredom. After all, it is not that this series is very bright and vividly coloured anyway. Therefore the mundane and sometimes monotonous feel of the overall atmosphere has the sceneries and background blending in quite nicely. There are some CGI too (like the monorails) but it isn’t as obviously bad. Okay, some are. But not so much as it overwhelms the traditional 2D art style.

One thing I noticed and would like to point out is the camera brand called Canon which makes its cameo as frequent as possible whenever Ena is in snapping action. My guess is that they are the biggest sponsors of this series (they are among one of the many listed in the credits and the only one I recognized). Because you see how detailed the camera models that Ena has in her hand and if you want to call it blatant product placement, it’s up to you. Because there are other brand names that were spoofed to avoid infringement like Yatao. WTF is that?! Uhm, based on that spoof logo too, I figure that’s Toyota… After all in today’s modern world where your handphone now works more as a camera than making calls, it is somewhat time for Canon to remind us that true photography passion still lies in using dedicated photography equipment.

Voice acting is rather okay. It’s just mostly drama so no very dramatic voice acting whatsoever. The main casts are Aoi Ichikawa as Eita, Carin Isobe as Mio, Lynn as Ena (titular character in Fuuka), Taishi Murata as Haruto (Matsugo in Kyoukai No Rinne), Yuna Yoshino as Hazuki (Niina in Gamers), Arisa Sakuraba as Yoriko (Satan in Sin – Nanatsu No Taizai) and Sayaka Senbongi as Mayuko (Morina in Piace: Watashi No Italian). Both the opening and ending themes as sung by Nagi Yanagi. Over And Over as the opener is quite a fast paced anime pop. Sometimes I feel that this is the most dramatic section compared to other parts and rest of the series. The ending theme is Behind and goes to a slower pace but still has its own dramatic feel.

In the end, nothing really extraordinary or special as already ‘hinted’ in my opening paragraph. If you really like slow romance dramas that really drag it out, this one is definitely for you. Because in some ways, this show is the romance drama version for the action series of Dragonball. What do I mean? Guess how many episodes that series take to fight an enemy? Yeah… Don’t even mention the number of episodes they take to arrive on scene, scream at the top of their voice and charge up to their maximum power and forms. Oh, that’s not even counting the flashbacks of flashbacks while they’re at it. Sheesh. I suppose the lesson of this series is that if you have something you need to say or get it done, don’t procrastinate. It will be all over by the time it comes. Though, some things can wait and some can’t. So next time before you’re thinking for a reason or event to pass just to confess, better do it right now on the fly whether you’re unprepared, nervous or scared. Why? Well, just because. Are you mocking me? Yeah. Just because. I blame this series for making me make stupid puns of its title. Oh, no reason. Just because.