And I thought that most of the OP was symbolism.
Last week, I predicted that this episode would give the push that the narrative needed, but I didn't expect that it would give so much to mull over about both Hazuki and Shimao's characters. We still haven't done the extensive backstory for Hazuki like we have for Shimao and Rokka, and I doubt the show ever will, especially after this episode. He's being strongly characterized as the young person living in the present; he can still make mistakes because he has the time and ability to do so. What he's come from doesn't matter so much as what he's doing now, and that's living a life wrapped up in his idea of love.
Of course, Shimao stands in complete contrast to this. His time is already up, and one of the first things he does in Hazuki's body is give his wife flowers. His strange supernatural situation has made him realize what was really important to him. On the other hand, this is the first episode where I'd call his actions childish. Before this point, the way he acted seemed logical given his situation, yet after getting his wish granted he continues to sabotage Hazuki. He cuts his hair, spends all his money on glasses, and generally acts strange around Rokka when he's not being genuine. I'd be a bit more upset by his actions if it weren't for the other part of the episode running alongside it that puts it into a better context.
While Shimao is running around in Hazuki's body, the real Hazuki (I'm assuming it's his soul or spirit, something that makes Hazuki himself) is in some sort of pastel fairyland with a Thumbelina-sized Rokka. She claims that they're inside one of Shimao's sketchbooks (we see Rokka flipping through it at the end of the episode) but it doesn't seem to be that simple, especially with the backstory we're presented. It looks like Shimao never really had a childhood and expressed it through drawing instead, to the point where even in the adult flashback he's sketching a scene from Jack and the Beanstalk. He's clearly meant to be the "prince" of whatever world Hazuki has fallen into, which makes me wonder if this is the afterlife he rejected in favor of becoming a ghost.
Despite claiming that she's "not the manager you know," sketchbook Rokka seems to be caught up with what's happening in the real world, even though she doesn't imply as much until later. Taking the Thumbelina analogy to the next level, at one point she asks Hazuki what his intentions are and he very quickly turns into the scorned suitors from the story--the frog, the beetle, and the mole. This has a whole slew of connotations attached to it if you're familiar with the fairy tale, but the one that seems most relevant to the story at this point is that they desired Thumbelina for selfish reasons, not caring about her opinion. Making this even more interesting is that we're not really sure who cast Hazuki in this position. Is it just the result of Shimao's fairy tale? Does Rokka actually see him this way? Or does Hazuki realize how insensitive he's been acting, despite his declarations to the contrary?
In any case, introducing fairy tale logic into a show that's deeply rooted in the realism of it's relationships is fascinating. In fairy tales, the happy end is getting the prince/princess. In real life, it's not nearly as clean cut. Even assuming that you find your prince/princess, that doesn't mean that you're suddenly immune from life's problems, which may be what Shimao is struggling with. If his ideal world is a fairy tale, his childishness makes more sense since in his perspective his princess is being stolen away. However, few things are ever as black and white as in fairy tales, and its the gray that makes this show as good as it's been.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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