The final episode doesn't feel like the end at all. Shun's been pushed into a backup role for most of this season, so it was nice that the final episode focused mostly on him. I honestly completely forgot about the tea club, since it only appeared in the first episode of the first season. There were a lot of interesting "closing the circle" aspects while the episode still felt like it could've taken place at any point in this season. It was subtle, it was sweet, and it was a great send-off. I was really pleased that the show decided to directly address Shun's concerns about what will happen after high school that have been alluded to for quite a while. This season did a much better job of encapsulating the themes of change and growing up in mostly stand-alone episodes, and this one was no different. While this probably isn't the end of Shun's concerns (the New Year's episode showed some underlying fears that the group's friendship will not stay the same) the realization that most people do not have their lives completely figured out in high school may help him worry a little bit less. There was also an underlying message in the episode to enjoy the present and not worry about the future. I really enjoyed the final scene between Shun and Yuta, using the line "How is your bowl?" and the expected answer to get Shun to realize that despite his worries, life right now is pretty good. That scene also seemed to speak for Kimi to Boku as a whole; no, it is not what people expected it to be, and yes, it does portray an idealized world and characters, but there are moments when it strikes the right cord and it's easy to enjoy it for what it is. Overall, the second season is far better than the first one, tightening up on character and theme so that the meandering finally has a purpose. I was a little disappointed that the preschool flashbacks reappeared in the final episode, since I still think that they don't act anything like kids that age would, and I still don't know what they accomplished aside from time padding. But that's my only complaint for this episode. There was an episode where I felt the series was completely wasting it time and backsliding into the bad habits of the first season, but thankfully that only happened once. For any fan of slice-of-life, I highly recommend this season for the things that it does right, especially when it comes to theme within episodes. Final tally: Current tally: Nine (9) Episode(s) without Shun in drag, four (4) consecutive (record five [5]), one (1) where he does not appear at all. This season also did not abuse feminine Shun as much as I thought it would. Whether that's a step up or a step down is up to you. Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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