saori

alright, here it is. once again, these are messy, mostly-unedited, and assume you've watched the episodes/have them open while reading. i could have written a more coherent post, but that would've taken an annoyingly long time... and honestly at this point i just want to be done with all this lol. i at least hope y'all get something out my hastily-scribbled thoughts lol

episode 3

• something something the very idiosyncratic way mahiro's feet were drawn in ep1 were the result of the staff's particular tastes (and i'd also assume imamura corrected those cuts, but iirc he said that he didn't do much in the sundress scene? sorry i lost those tweets. but that stuff matches his MO in figure illustration, so his mindset might've had some impact on the other animators). anyway, mahiro's feet here... don't look as good. which unfortunately foreshadows that the remaining episodes of the show (except for maybe the last one, haven't seen that one yet) will not be as consistently impossibly perfect as the first two were. well, that'd be an absurd bar to clear on every episode, and it's not like 3 through 11 are bad or anything; this one definitely has quite a few highlights. but yeah

• the cartoony "lol walking into the bathroom while someone else is there" thing quickly gives way to that weird vibe you get when someone who's a friend of a family member, but who you don't know personally, is in your house. or, from the other direction, of being in a friend's house and running into one of their siblings? i'd gotten quite used to only mahiro and mihari being in the house, so this is a nice way of shaking things up

• lol, mahiro worrying about kaede finding her deal out when the chance of that happening is roughtly zero...... is pretty relatable too, huh.........

• also lol at how mahiro's behavior just makes her look like an endearingly shy little girl. though there was some of this in the previous episodes as well, like in the lingerie shop or the bath

• ahh, this bit about the phone game. you can quickly tell that kaede is not just an extrovert, but also somewhat used to trying to approach shy people like mahiro? she brings up a general topic, immediately hones in on the part of mahiro's answer she might be able to use to break the ice, and then only spends like half a second processing things when it turns out it won't work... oh, and afterwards she perfectly capitalizes on the opportunities she gets (mahiro's stomach growling, and her saying she doesn't know how to cook)! perfect performance

• i know, right mahiro?? it's almost like you can't judge people by their appearances

• mahiro overthinking things etc. etc. but you know, from the way people were talking about kaede, i thought her boobs would be breasting boobily the entire time she's onscreen... and yet, you'll notice that this only happened just now because mahiro's brain was momentarily in the gutter, lol.

• something something comparing the kinds of "big sister" that mihari and kaede are, because yeah kaede is extremely good at playing the role compared to mihari, huh?

• oh i love Lifeline (2003, PlayStation 2)

• now look at this fucking "kirara-kei anime adaptation"-ass shot of the mall where almost all of the extras are women and girls, lmao

• there's also something to be said about how much clumsier mihari's strategies for making mahiro open up are, compared to kaede's. hmm

• again, kaede's boobs only breast boobily when mahiro is eyes emoji-ing them... but damn they sure are boobing the hell out of it here

• ok, so, mahiro peeing herself. if you were expecting me to explain how this actually connects to the trans themes and isn't just a piss fetish thing... well i CAN do that, but it'd definitely be reading too much into it lol. yeah i'm pretty sure it's just a fetish thing. it does serve to demonstrate kaede's proactive concern and care, and how this makes her the ideal big sister to mahiro, but surely there were ways to do that that didn't... you know, involve piss

• magic trans girls will go through their period once and think they're hot shit

• mmm, mmm. this entire final sequence does a good job of putting the episode together... even if i have a hard time summing up exactly what it's about, it's still coherent, right? something about what it means to be a big sister or whatever, how our siblings can end up influencing us, etc. we see this in how mahiro is inspired by kaede to take care of mihari by herself, the reveal that mihari worked so hard in her studies precisely because she wanted mahiro's praise, and the way kaede is kind of a big sister figure to mihari too... but also in the offhand comment kaede makes about her and her own sister not having much in common (implying that's where her experience dealing with introverts comes from), and of course, in mihari's academic overachieving being what ended up causing mahiro's inferiority complex.

• overall, the message seems to be... uh, still really hard to pin down, but that's maybe the point? each of these three are simultaneously big and little sisters, in their own ways... yeah, even kaede, who's the most big sisterly of the group, is still humanized in little ways... and she's still in high school while mihari's in college, after all.

• yep, pretty good episode if you ask me. a little bit clumsier than the first two, in... more ways than one, but i think it still gets the core of the series.

episode 4

• you've heard of the toku rock quarry, now get ready for: the precure grass field in the middle of the city

• aaaauughh, there's not much to say but man look at this whole part where mahiro decides to party hard while she's alone in the house... and the entire time, the cute outfit she switched out of haunts her from the corner of almost every shot. they even go away for a little bit after she orders all the food, but instantly come back when she chokes and realizes that mihari's not there to help her!! pretty nice.

• yeah the comedy is unfortunately no longer as pointed as it was in eps 1/2. like what is this lol

• ah, yes. so a natural first reaction to seeing mihari fantasize about mahiro finding a guy and getting married is, of course, (monotone) "oh no, heteronormativity. i knew i couldn't trust the lolicon genderswap show etc. etc." and really, yeah i can't blame anyone for thinking that at this moment in time. HOWEVER you will notice that this happens in THE SAME EPISODE where mahiro meets momiji, kaede's boyish little sister who she indeed thinks is a boy at first, and folks: there is absolutely no fucking way this is a coincidence

• mahiro's trip to the market! truly incredible how girly she defaults to acting when put on the spot like this. it even makes her big brother persona feel like the one that's an act, huh.........

• oh my god these potatoes are so detailed

• these two have just barely met and an unusually specific random passerby has already identified momimahi as a powerful ship. what did i say folks

• ah, and the way mahiro becomes so adorably flustered upon realizing that she's a Girl with a Boy right now... honestly, the thing that could point towards her being straight now is that she mostly stops acting like this after learning momiji is a girl

• at the same time, though, look at how momiji seems happy to hear that mahiro thought he was a boy?? it really makes you think, huh????????

• and as she says in this last scene: yeah what the hell does this mean for her sexuality anyway. hell if i know

• sure enough, momiji doesn't his uniform's skirt very much. what could this mean. there's no way we could know, except for everyone who's noticed i'm using he/him for momiji

• oh he totally has a crush on mahiro lmao. you could kinda tell from how he apparently insisted on coming with kaede, but blushing that much when mahiro calls him cute...

• OH my god the tickling scene is so cute and innocent and basically yeah, this isn't really the kinda thing you'd expect from a show like this, but what else was realistically going to happen, really?

• ahhh, and once again the funny music stopping indicates a moment that we're supposed to take seriously. even though it follows from mahiro's stupid excuse that this is her brother's room, when she says that she "couldn't throw out all his stuff" because "they remind [her] of him"... blah blah still thinking of herself as a dude on some level

• holy shit check out this fox girl's thighs

• ok yeah you know momiji is the male protagonist of his own romcom in the making because he's the one who got the lucky pervert moment, and also lmao he was just as relieved as mahiro when kaede didn't read too much into the situation huh... haha yeah just grabbing each other's boobs like besties

• verdict: gender?? gender relations??? in much the same way the previous episode just said "fuck it" when confronted with the question of who's the big sister in mahiro and mihari's relationship... what can we say about mahiro and momiji right now? they're simultaneously friends of the same ago who are getting along well, a boy who has a crush on a cute girl he just met, a cute girl who ??? a boyish girl...?? and it only gets more inexplicable if you factor in mahiro's actual age. yeah i don't know what to call this, but one thing's for sure: they're VERY cute together

• also, regarding me using he/him for momiji. while i do think he's also trans, i'll admit the evidence for reading him as such is not as unassailable as the same for mahiro... but i'll do it anyway because i think it's likely i'm right. also, it'll make some sentences a bit easier to read than if i were having to use "her" multiple times to refer to different characters each time lol

episode 5

• (04:00) mahiro's VA is pretty good, huh? there's a noticeable difference between her tone while in "guy mode", and her cutesy instinctive reactions. really brings out the script changing how she talks, too, and her body language and etc. etc.

• (07:15) lol, this is a cute joke. we have the outer layer of mahiro overthinking things, as usualy, but then the added layer of her having underthought going to the arcade on a weekday during school hours...

• ......but also, now i'm really curious about what exactly she said to the truant officer?? the show doesn't really concern itself with mahiro being, in the eyes of the government, a person who's basically appeared out of nowhere and doesn't officially exist... i wish it did though, it'd be interesting to see her having to get new documents and so on...

• (08:55) though it's also interesting to note that... for as important as you'd imagine having documents would be, no one even thinks to care, lol. on top of mahiro just naturally coming across to strangers as a shy girl, nobody's going to suspect a little girl like her of being in the country illegally (?)

• also can i just say i love how specific these minor characters' designs have been! there were those JKs in the arcade earlier, and now the hair salon lady here... the theatergoers in episode 3, too. stuff like this always makes the world of a story feel more alive — and in onimai, it also gives the impression that mahiro's been missing out on the outside world

• and we can further note that the way this lady is happy to just keep talking even with mahiro not answering is like, a completely different kind of "making small talk" from kaede's, lol

• (12:43) oh!! this little pause where you can tell mahiro liked how her hair turned out...... these moments where she unwittingly lets her true feelings show are so good.

• (14:18) lmao. mihari found a new weakness

• (16:32) "well saori, you're using he/him for momiji, but—" yes, yes, i noticed it in the previous episode's post-credits scene. let's see... hmmmmm. hmmmmmmmm. yeah, i'll admit it: momiji apparently having some boob envy towards kaede does complicate things a bit. it's obviously nothing a critic of my caliber can't explain though, heh [flips hair] but i'll leave that for later.

• (17:37) dude these two are completely hopeless if this is all it takes to create a mood lmao. i don't think kaede's going to pick up on it anytime soon, but i wonder how she'd react if she noticed...

• (19:55) ah, and now mahiro's not even thinking twice about going to a hot spring... she's come so far in just three episodes!!

• mm. cute episode and all, of course, but quite disjointed thematically, and rather lethargically-paced/directed on top of that... well, these were some "episodic manga where nothing really happens"-ass chapters, so perhaps that's to be expected. things will pick up on the next one, though

episode 6

• first: mahiro going to school!! remember how i said in the ep1 post that reliving school "correctly" is also a trans fantasy? uh wait i said that right. yeah i think i did. well it is, so of course this was going to happen! we'll have quite a bit to dig into here.

• second: every single one of the students here has a unique and specific design!! wonderful

• third: LOL THE BACK WINDOW SEAT

• (02:44) well done onii-chan, but you were too slow. now i am the one who is behind you

• wow look at these pigeons, of which there just so happens to be exactly four, hanging out together

• (03:37) of course, nothing gets past a professional. good taste, miyo... although she's yet to notice the real good onimai ship

• (03:48) yeah i want to talk to whoever did these subs. just a little bit

• (04:17) "This is better than having to pretend to be something I'm not." YEAH? YEAH? YEAH? YEAH? YEAH?

• yeah. so there's the obvious there, but also... something about the girly way she acts around others still being a facade on some level — especially when compared to the kind of girly she is when spooked, or while no one's around, etc.

• (06:43) ok. this part is actually important, but i'll get to it in a bit. for now, just keep it in mind

• (08:43) aw look at these lil birds, of which there also just so happens to be exactly four, and also how one of them approaches the one that's furthest away from the others

• (10:59) "Asahi's pretty friendly, huh?" "Yeah, she can get pretty touchy-feely sometimes." oh, remember this one too

• (14:30) okay so i was gonna make a joke about the piss scene, but then i went to the bathroom myself, and while i was there a major breakthrough in onimai piss scene studies occurred to me. i guess i'll have to explain my original theory for how this connects to the trans stuff after all

• alright, so. back in high school, my physics teacher was a goofball who's often make jokes and stuff, and one of his recurring was that, whenever one of the boys would ask to go to the bathroom, he'd say no and tell them to hold the tip instead (before letting them go anyway). and you will, of course, realize that you can only "hold the tip" if you have a penis.

• now. i realize that's an extremely stupid theory, HOWEVER it does point us in the right direction. think back: what, exactly, was it that made mahiro piss herself in ep3? that's right: the line for the women's bathroom being too long. and what made her piss herself in this one? her not being able to use the boys' bathroom, and getting too embarrassed to go in the girl' bathroom with momiji and miyo!!

• what does this mean, then?? WELL, i have no idea. i'm gonna have to think about it, and it's probably primarily a fetish thing anyway. but it makes you think, doesn't it? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

• (16:38) what is mahiro's reputation among the boys even going to be like after all this

• (17:26) ah, notice how momiji clearly knows what mahiro's talking about here, but asahi doesn't? and also, both mahiro and miyo are embarrassed to be here; mahiro because she doesn't want to perv on the other girls, and miyo because... she has a complex about her boobs being big? hmmmmm

• man, last episode was that disjointed, and then this one has all this stuff that i need to talk about at the same time. i'll get to it!! it's just that we still have...

• (20:48) the crucial moment. damn, it really does say everything about these three's roles in the narrative that 1. miyo is the one who sees how mahiro is acting and thinks she's on her period, and 2. momiji can tell what's going on afterwards, but 3. asahi can't

• and finally, we have mihari suggesting that mahiro not try to use her period as an excuse for getting out of class... very much like she's seen someone end up in trouble for it, haha

• so... did you notice that mahiro, miyo, momiji, and asahi are all at noticeably different stages of their respective puberties?

  • obviously, mahiro Knows About Sex the most out of the four, having been originally an adult... although hers is a funny case, because as i said before, she's kinda going through a second puberty right now, and is having to learn some things from scratch, too! the most obvious is menstruation, but sexual gender relations is another; the way she's caught off-guard by how the boys ogle her when she carelessly starts undressing in class, and is then hyper-aware of it afterwards, strikes me as pretty similar to what happens when you know about sex...
  • ...which is where miyo's at! crucially, she's the one who assumes mahiro's on her period during P.E., implying that she's started having it as well, and her embarrassment at having her boobs stared at in the changing room mirrors mahiro not wanting to perv on the other girls... which you'll notice HEAVILY implies miyo is gay!! and that, in turn, recontextualizes both her obvious yuri fan tendencies, as well as her comment to mahiro after they first met. she could tell right away that mahiro and momiji already have a bit of a thing blossoming.
  • speaking of momiji, my impression is he's just started thinking about that stuff. recall the adorably childish kind of embarrassed he got after finding mahiro's porn, or how he clearly knew what mahiro and miyo were talking about at the end there but decided to let them talk alone. and his gender identity comes into play here too — with the above in mind, it's easy to assume he still hasn't thought that deeply about wanting to be a boy or a girl, and has only noticed that he likes boys' clothes and dislikes skirts... which could also explain his boob envy towards kaede! given that she's such a perfect icon of femininity, i can imagine momiji feeling like he's not good enough at being a girl compared to her, despite his preference for boys' clothing, hobbies, etc. honestly, i'd be really interested in seeing how she works through that.
  • and then there's asahi, who seems to have weirdly little going on in comparison to the others. but that's the point! as someone who is visibly 100% clueless about anything sex- or gender-related, she contrasts with them, and accentuates the subtle moments that show what they already know. not noticing momiji's crush on mahiro and hugging her, being blissfully ignorant of mahiro's comments about boobs in the locker room, and even how she just calls mahiro a slob without thinking twice about it lol. not to mention the way she can't tell at all what happened in P.E., which implies she hasn't started menstruating yet.
  • as a bonus, mihari's comment about not using your period as an excuse to get out of class positions her in this spectrum too, since it hints at life experience the other girls haven't had the opportunity to go through yet.

• yeah this episode was crazy good actually lol. it's not like it has anything in particular to say, but having a story about schoolgirls that knows how children are affected by learning about sex and gender is really cool! it's not something you see in anime often, i don't think... the only other example i can think of is araoto. and that one is fantastic, of course, but i'm enjoying onimai being more low-key about it. (plus it just immediately gets me excited about seeing how these girls' relationships will change as they continue to grow... will asahi someday start seeing momiji differently? will momiji turn out to be a trans guy, or not? will miyo ever come out to the others? oh baby the fanfics write themselves)

episode 7

• i find it pretty interesting that apparently momiji was/is ok with some of mahiro's posters and figures staying out. the posters are pretty normal so that makes sense at least, but the figures...

• (03:10) oh, another thing about momiji i forgot to mention is that... well, even if i hc him as a trans boy, he still has some stereotypically feminine (in anime, at least) mannerisms, such as being quite casual about skinship and such. in fact, this was already apparent from episode 4, wasn't it?

• (03:55) something about miyo too — she says she prefers to watch (as is the yuri fan stereotype), but also makes comments like this one, or like when she told mahiro she's cheering for her. so she can't help joining in a little, hmm

• magic trans girls will remember one subject from when they first went to school and think they're hot shit

• aww, and the scene where the others console mahiro over her terrible grades adorably conveys the general vibe of her new school life. she was expecting it to be awful all over again, but being more comfortable with yourself and having friends makes all the difference.

• momiji being embarrassed over asahi's old nickname for him... hmmmmmm

• (09:06) LMAO oh my god the way this contrasts with the P.E. scene from the previous episode

• sorry miyo... your mindset is a little too advanced for them just yet

• it's over for these boys... and the funny thing is, it doesn't even look like it was mahiro playing games as well that's making them like her, lol. goes to show how girly she's become

• now here's a strange joke that i don't really know what to think about. momiji and asahi mention that miyo is cartoonishly bad at baking, which is a pretty common (and bad) joke in anime, but... it's not really presented as a joke? or at least, it's not framed the way jokes have been until now. and neither is the part where it turns out momiji and asahi aren't good at baking either... i can't quite tell if this is intentional, or just a directorial fumble.

• oh? was that a case of mahiro momentarily reminding momiji of kaede right there...??

• hmmm, kaede as the authority figure on cooking, and her statement that the secret ingredient is love... well, if i want to REALLY read into it, i could say that miyo's lack of cooking skill represents her general immaturity, even as she's the most mature of the group, with the comparison to kaede being the key here. and maybe she hasn't found anyone to put love in her cooking for yet...? yeahhh i'm not sure this is intentional, lol, but hey it'd make for a good fanfic

• alternatively, the joke could be that there's no actual joke and everything turns out fine... but again, if that's the case, it's delivered significantly more clumsily than the jokes in the previous episodes (not to mention eps 1/2)...

• and unfortunately, the very basic direction makes the final scene not land as powerfully as it could have... but the strength of the writing still comes through, so it's probably fine for a mid-season episode. mihari having learned to bake for mahiro's sake had already been established, so reversing that and having mahiro bake for her instead is a pretty cute development that shows how much they care about each other!!

• ultimately though, yeahhh another pretty mid episode. had some really good moments, but the execution left a lot to be desired. ah well

episode 8

• rejoice, one and all, for we have now reached the point where mahiro will just casually have her hair in different styles

• wait haven't we gone through this before lol. i guess "just call the others lmao" is mihari's failproof weapon against mahiro being a slob now

• and... it works!! mahiro was all "noo i'm not going outside again" at first, but she sure got in the mood to play with the others fast, didn't she

• this sure is an episode of Drawings. take it in folks, you don't get cartoons this good every day

• hmm, miyo suggests bathing in pairs and that asahi and momiji go together, because of course she does, but that also means she'd be going with mahiro... and then (after mahiro goes to bathe with mihari and we get a small redux of ep2) she ends up going with both of the other two instead. now, if there was any doubt she's gay then the fact she's extremely embarrassed to be naked around them is all the proof needed to close the case for good. but: since she was apparently ok with bathing with mahiro, then... then what. what does this mean. let's see, she was shy about mahiro ogling her boobs in ep6, so... was she just not thinking about it in here lol

• "is yours gonna grow in later?" LMAO asahi......... this scene and the one that follows are a good illustration of the level of thinking she's at

• honestly i'm kind of amazed at how little is happening in this episode. like it actually feels like it belongs to a completely different show? not to mention the inconsistent (affectionate) drawings

• something something asahi seriously thinks a ghost is messing with her when she sleeps, something something momiji adorably and innocently believes that extremely stupid ghost story...

• ah, here we are — the long-awaited third piss scene. but in a major twist, this time it's not mahiro who pisses herself, but momiji!! and you'll notice that this is a direct result of miyo suggesting they do some girls' talk, followed by asahi telling the ghost story... also, remember the "hold the tip" thing my teacher used to say? well, if there's anyone other than mahiro who'd feel that, then wouldn't it be momiji...??

• ok yeah that does feel like i'm reading too much into it lol. so this one doesn't cohere cleanly with the other two... yet at the very least, surely momiji – the other character who has gender going on – being the perpetrator this time is not a coincidence? much to think about

• yep that sure was an episode from another show entirely lol. but you know, i liked it! it's nice to see mahiro just having fun with her friends without any of her usual genderswap problems coming up. you could probably say something about how it means she's gotten really used to living as a girl.

episode 9

• flashback to ep1, with the OP waiting juuuuust long enough to kick in that it makes mahiro's reaction here look silly

• sooo mahiro doesn't know momiji has a crush on her, right? it doesn't seem like it. but she could tell that miyo is gay so easily that... oh wait, i just realized that she probably had some idea of what the yuri fan stereotype is to begin with, so that part actually makes sense

• on the one hand, mahiro dismissing the possibility that mihari and kaede could be in a relationship comes across as kinda bad... but on the other hand it's understandable she'd think that, because uh yeah they obviously don't lol. however, on the third hand... hello?? why is that the first thing that comes to momiji's mind as an excuse for them to stay around......

• and then mahiro decides to keep going, not because she's convinced by momiji's arguments, but because she just doesn't want to have called him all the way out here for nothing. mmm... you smell that, folks? there's momimahi in the air

• oh? and this is the first time since ep4 where mahiro's embarrassed while with momiji, and notably, both then and now it was over being seen as a couple with him...

• "your coolness is giving me fits!" i've worked on this for months... and... she just... she just said it out loud.

• yeah of course momiji's gonna be into chuuni stuff too. Much To Think About

• and OH GOD the montage with all four of them is so completely and utterly perfect that it actually makes me cry!! momiji is so adorable!!! honestly it kinda makes me feel bad because (spoilers) (not really) i actually ship miyo/mahiro instead...... hmm... maybe some adjustments...

• bro even mihari and kaede are shipping momimahi. it's over

• faced with the question of "how do you follow up that first half", the second half of this episode bravely answers: "not very well"

• there's very little to talk about in the temple visit that i haven't already mentioned, so let's skip to the one noteworthy part of it at (16:30), where mahiro makes her wish for the new year... and we don't get to hear it!! instead, we're treated to the show's most heavy-handed use of hanakotoba yet. i've been mostly ignoring this stuff so far (because i don't really know anything about flower symbolism, and most of it seems to be quite non-specific anyway) but this one was obvious enough that it made me go look this flower up. i don't remember what this flower's name is, but what do you know, apparently one of its meanings involves bad memories... really makes you think......... lol ok you don't really need this to know what mahiro was generally wishing for there, but, yeah

• (writes down "transphobic miyo??" and underlines it twice)

• (19:07) let's skip ahead again, specifically to the scene where they're eating the osechi at kaede and talking about what the various dishes in it mean. let's also think about how mahiro eats an egg roll without first hearing what it means. an egg roll. an egg roll. oh my god? it's probably a coincidence, i mean seriously it's almost definitely unintentional but LMAO

• anyway, you can tell that this second half of the episode is pretty carelessly-assembled because none of the pillow shots of birds fit what's going on at the time

• you can also tell that from the amazake scene, whichhhhhhhhhh isssss not surprising at all. and unfortunately, that's just about the worst thing i could say about a scene in this show

• well that's a depressingly unfortunate note to end on after that fantastic christmas scene, isn't it. i mean, it's not like that scene single-handedly ruins the entire rest of the series or anything, but it's handled so monumentally poorly compared to even the worst of the other episodes?? sigh. at least i have this very nice endcard to cheer me up. i wonder who this "okorinashiyo" person is, their work looks pretty good

episode 10

• alright, we're starting this one with a classic "mahiro is troubled by a girl thing" setup, and it quickly segues into another display of kaede's mastery of her own femininity — although in this case, it's light-heartedly framed as not really a good thing!

• after the OP, another class scene much like the ones we've gotten before. mahiro is careless, the boys are horny, asahi doesn't think about what she says... and probably the most interesting thing here: that miyo doesn't think girls should show off their legs during winter? of course, she's right... but i was low-key not expecting her to say that, considering it doesn't quite fit the stereotypical anime lesbian she's been comedically portrayed as so far. good! good!! surprise me again, onimai!!!

• well i am definitely being surprised by this massage scene

• there was even a very conspicuous shot of mihari and kaede with a glass of juice or something between them, immediately reminding me of the amazake scene. am i supposed to be shipping kaemiha right now. is that what's going on here

• OKAY FINE i'll take the amazake scene seriously. just a little bit. alright, so assuming it's not just thoughtless bad comedy (which for the record is 100% what it's presented as), then the biggest question i have about it is... why kaede? why did drunk mihari decide to go and make out with kaede. hmm, if we consider this alongside her going all brocon on mahiro, and remember that kaede is portrayed as a big sister figure to her as well... then maybe her affection for mahiro comes not from her being a brocon, but rather from... her enjoying being a little sister...? hey this kinda sounds like it's going somewhere! except that it's not because she also went after miyo and that doesn't fit with anything here lol. yeah i think it's bad folks

• at the very least, the massage scene (as well as any of the innuendo moments in previous episodes) does make me wonder... kaede knows how what she says comes across, right. like she's consistently presented as the most mature member of the cast, so she has to know. hmm?

• MOMIJI MADE HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE FOR MAHIRO FOR VALENTINE'S DAY WHEN JUST THE OTHER DAY BAKING WAS BEING THEMATICALLY ESTABLISHED AS A WAY OF TELLING SOMEONE YOU LOVE THEM

• another case of mahiro learning about how fucked up gender relations are!! honestly i actually really like the boys, and this is why; it's just very evocative to watch mahiro go through these things as a girl, when she surely went through them as a boy before...

• OH BABY HERE WE GO THIS ONE IS GOOD

• ok so first there's that bit with the boys, and it's very cute lmao, but then. she runs into miyo, who says she "thought [mahiro] might be a BL-loving fujoshi", and. i just. hey... huh??? oh my god?? this line already says so fucking much???? like, recall the part of my ep1 post about that one's BL scene, and it's just. bruh. i mean, i'm still not sure i got that scene 100% right, but even then. EVEN THEN we have the second mention of BL in the show by miyo, the most lesbian-coded member of the cast. and she thought mahiro is into it??? AND she tells mahiro that she's into yuri in a way that very much implies the reason she doesn't want other people to know about this is because they might think she's gay... which is of course something that you'd only worry about if you are gay and trying to hide it. like, in the exact same way mahiro would, in the early episodes, overthink things and get scared that people would find out she used to be a guy even though no one would think that. in miyo's case here, this is happening from the other direction — that is, mahiro already knows she's gay because she's really bad at hiding it if you Know, but you can still tell that she's doing that same kind of overthinking. so uh yeah miyo is gay. like actually for real. this scene is as clear about it as ep1 was about mahiro being trans lmao

• mahiro just says she's open to yuri manga, completely unprompted. girl

• AND. DUDE MIYO'S RECS. wataten?? WATAOSHI??? ok nevermind that all of these run on yurihime WHILE ONIMAI DOESN'T, and just focus on wataoshi. wataoshi. you know, the manga that explicitly talks about the protagonist's sexuality in real-ass LGBT terms, discusses social issues like economic inequality and class conflict, etc. that wataoshi.

• mahiro wonders why miyo would bother disguising herself when she wasn't buying anything weird, and miyo is glad mahiro wasn't weirded out......

• "you've got nothing to be ashamed of!" OH my GOD mahiro has no idea how much what she just said meant to this girl

• miyo treats mahiro to a crepe in what just so happens to be the episode where we were reminded of the "giving someone sweets as a way to tell them you love them" thing. and then mahiro offers her a bite of her crepe, which miyo is CLEARLY reading way too much into and WHAT the FUCK is this shot that looks like they're kissing?????????? hello??????

• "it's so unlike me to do something like that", miyo thinks, and i just have to wonder what, exactly, she thinks she did here, because this was all pretty BRO MOMIJI WENT TO BUY A CREPE BUT ASAHI DIDN'T LMAO

• and then another good scene with the boys that shows how good mahiro has gotten at being a girl, and also how godawful she still is at being a girl

• that's what i'm talking about!!!! this!!! this right here!!!!!!!! the picture that entire scene paints of miyo??? it's so easy to imagine her as having very recently gone through her own version of this show, where she suddenly discovered that she's gay (probably through yuri manga) and ended up going through an identity crisis similar to mahiro's. and of course, you can tell she doesn't have everything figured out just yet... oh my goodness. such a simple scene, yet one that managed to humanize her to an absurd degree. this is on the level of episode 1. fantastic job everyone

episode 11

• (11:04) yes i'm skipping this far ahead because this episode is another one of those that kinda feels like it's from another, simpler series lol. but it's good! it's really good! the animation is almost back to its full power, and the direction is pretty good too. the setup is great as well — mahiro self-awarely recognizes that she usually overthinks things and gets owned for it, but then guesses what's going on with the others correctly! ...and then she starts doubting herself again (which the direction conveys with the lighting language from eps1/2!!!) before it turns out she was right all along and everyone was just preparing a surprise party for her. which leads us to this shot... and it's so simple honestly i don't even know how exactly this one is doing what it's doing, but you can really feel just how much she's come to sincerely care about her friends...... so when she says she just wants them to keep being her friends, yep, that's a certified Sincere Mahiro Moment...!!

• waitwaitwait the cake part just made me realize...... the themes of the baking/sweets stuff... and miyo having been previously shown to be bad at baking... yet that didn't come up in the last episode, because she bought the crepe for mahiro instead of making it herself... in that case, then her being bad at it could also very well be pointing at her non-normative sexuality...??

• when momiji feeds mahiro the cake, she gets a little bit of it on her cheek... just like she got a bit of the crepe on it last episode......

• if this counts as the fourth piss scene, then it's easily the most stupid so far. thanks asahi

• let us take a moment to appreciate this moment, where mahiro is putting on makeup of her own accord. also that said makeup was gifted to her by kaede of all people, and that the energy mihari has in this scene is basically "happened to see her brother crossdressing and thinks it's adorable", and ohhhh man yeah i think this episode is really good actually

• and the scene in the classroom is a perfect crystallization of how far mahiro's gotten, between her enjoying the attention from the girls, and being frustrated at the boys completely failing to notice...

• "i understand the desire to make yourself look pretty, of course. you're a young girl, after all. but you don't have to worry. you're a pretty girl just as you are, oyama-san." and then mahiro gets pissed that she can't wear the lip balm. what else can i even say

• finally, there's the ending, which begs a comparison to the scene in episode 2 i think it was? where mahiro also asked mihari "well why don't you dress up, huh??" of course, back then she was just trying to get mihari off her foot, but here she actually means it!! and then kaede tells mihari she wishes they could've done more teenage girl things together... before bringing mahiro into it too and all of them having fun dressing up and stuff together!!

• if episode 2 was the best possible episode 2 this show could've had, then i think this was the best possible episode 11 it could've had. i've heard that... nekotofu (the author of the manga), i think it was, said that as per the work's genre mahiro can never completely accept being a girl, because then onimai would stop being a genderswap manga. and i wonder if they said that somewhat facetiously, but in any case: this episode did such a perfect job of communicating how much time has passed since the start of the story, and how much more comfortable mahiro has become with thinking of herself as a girl. like, with how she was in the first couple episodes, almost every single part of the sentence "mahiro gets publicly angry over not being able to wear makeup at school" would've been unthinkable, and yet here we are!! of course, not to mention her being afraid that her friends don't like her anymore and all that... yep, we're fully back in business, folks. next up is episode 12, boarded and directed by series director fujii just like ep1 was, and oh god my expectations are through the roof y'all