Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun Episode 7 Discussion

Lelouch22 said:
Although it was quite good and mostly enjoyable, this was probably the weakest episode of the series, since the elevated drama isn't working as well as it did in episodes past. Combine that with a slight decline in the comedy, and it's inevitable that this episode would be a bit worse than the others. The most noticeable flaw in this episode was that the interactions between Haru and Shizuku, the best element of the show, were disappointingly diminished, in favor of an unsatisfying, unenjoyable heightening of Oshima's interactions with Haru and Yamaken's utterly terrible interactions with Shizuku.

The obstinate, contrasting emotions that Shizuku is struggling with seem relatively insubstantial, so there's a lack of necessary weight and believability to her difficulties, thus creating a largely unconvincing, yet predictable, scenario, in which prior development within the relationship is temporarily forgotten and partially erased, much to the immediate detriment of the story. My favorite scene by far was the ending, since Haru and Shizuku finally had a relatively beautiful moment together, which was missing from the rest of the episode. That particular moment fully portrayed how significantly beneficial their relationship is to the story.

The intermittent infusion of flashes to Haru's past with his aunt were great, as they created another layer of depth to his character, while providing a nice parallel to his current troubles. Haru is really easy to sympathize with, now that Shizuku has temporarily become so unreasonable and stubborn. I consistently love how well the show manages to capture the inherent awkwardness and socially bizarre nature of his eccentric personality. Shizuku's still one of the best characters and exceptionally likable, but, though somewhat understandable, her naive, thoughtless decisions regarding her relationship with a Haru that she clearly has deep, romantic feelings for appears quite childish and, at times, more then a bit contrived. Thankfully, despite the self-inflicted, awkward distance between Haru and Shizuku, their interactions remain wonderfully fantastic, due mostly to their immense chemistry.

Natsume and her superb humor really carries the show whenever it slips into a rare mediocrity. As such, the constancy of the excellently effective lighthearted tone is largely due to her random, but often insightful appearances, especially throughout the last two episodes, since Haru and Shizuku's relationship has become needlessly complicated. She's gradually becoming my favorite character, even elevating past Haru and Shizuku, which is quite unexpected. Though I did like her helpful advice to Haru, this episode essentially solidified Oshima as my least favorite character, aside from Yamaken, who's infinitely worse. Though somewhat likable, she's not nearly as engaging or interesting as the other characters, and her interactions with Haru, for the most part, aren't that enjoyable, due mostly to the hindrance placed around her development, since she's artificially forced into this awful "love triangle". All of this causes her to effectively feel like a supremely secondary and considerably unimportant character.

Yamaken, in his brief appearances, continues to be the only unlikable character, so the show's definitely at it's best when he's not involved. Unfortunately, it seems abundantly clear that he'll be an eventual "rival", constantly manipulating and aggressively interfering, which will certainly be far more insufferable and aggravating than his momentary scenes with Shizuku already are. I was unfortunately correct in my assumption that he would conveniently appear as soon as Haru and Shizuku have distanced themselves from one another, which, for this show's typical excellence, is far too predictable. Of course, every romantic comedy, for whatever reason, needs a ridiculously contrived triangle to "spice" things up, but I'd rather this show didn't fall into those genre-specific cliches.

The solid production values continue to be one of the best, most consistent elements within each episode. The visuals complement the atmosphere wonderfully, creating a brightly colorful aesthetic that assists in illuminating the true nature of the show. The animation was, as usual, really good throughout this episode, as it's able to illustrate the exaggerated movements and embellished humor exceptionally well.

All in all, even with a less impressive episode, Tonari is still one of the best shows of the season, as it excels with it's compelling characters, plethora of humorous moments, and the superbly engaging character interactions. I'm hoping that the story will return to it's best aspects though, most notably the relationship between Haru and Shizuku, since the absence of their mutual happiness slightly diminishes the quality of the show. As such, I'm really looking forward to the development of their relationship, since it should only improve from this point. I'd also like to think that more woefully bad triangles won't be added to the narrative, but it's practically a foregone conclusion that this show, for all it's greatness, won't avoid these conventional missteps.

Kyobotte said:

I saw this guys in Zetsuen no Tempest. Are they jobbing part-time in Tonari Kaibutsu?

QuiGonJon said:
Ehhhh..... this whole back and forth "i love him"/"No I don't" thing is getting kind of old :/

HauntingShock said:


lol now where's that hairclip.

Hikarusuke said:
Why can't Shizuku accept the fact that she loves Haru. She is so denial about it.

hannaharif said:
WHEN DOES THE NEXT EPISODE COME OUT.

hannaharif said:
WHEN DOES THE NEXT EPISODE COME OUT.

AiCon said:
LOL @ Haru naming the barricade after Shizuku.