Given how infamous my deep-rooted hatred for fish is, you might be surprised to learn that I genuinely find aquariums pretty romantic. Maybe it’s because I married my wife in a gorgeous aquarium, or maybe I find an incredibly satisfying sense of satisfaction in lording my freedom and intelligence over the stupid little ocean demons trapped behind all that steel and glass. Either way, aquariums are cool, and you can bet that I was basking in all of the glorious nostalgia from Taiki and Chinatsu’s lovely little date.

As has been the case since the get-go with Blue Box, this adaptation is so successful in how utterly and completely it manages to represent the earnest, all-consuming emotions that take over kids when they’re in love. It isn’t reinventing the wheel in any way, shape, or form. It is taking these classic romantic drama tropes and executing them with such precision and empathy that it becomes impossible to not get swept up in everything. There are so many little moments that I could highlight about how well Blue Box gets you into the head of (most of) its protagonists: Taiki’s goofy little push-up spree outside of his own house to hype himself up; the overwhelming mix of anticipation and fear that he feels when he considers that Chinatsu might actually like him enough to ask him out on a for-realsies date; the simple joy of discovering that Chinatsu looks exactly as beautiful in that summer dress as he imagined. I have been there, and it’s a great feeling to reminisce with the power of sappy young adult romance cartoons. The badminton is even more exciting and well-directed this week. It seems like Blue Box is determined to be the show I want it to be!

Except, perhaps, for one thing. We’re five episodes into this season, now, and “Aquarium” has helped me articulate the only real criticism I have for how Blue Box is handling its story. The show has demonstrated that we’re not completely locked into just Taiki’s perspective, and the excellent emotional cliffhanger that we leave Hina on at the end of this very episode shows just how good Blue Box can be when it gives the narrative reigns over to other characters. Still, even over a month into its run, I feel like the story is keeping us at a noticeable distance when it comes to Chinatsu’s emotions. She’s a great character but feels ever so slightly out of reach in a way that makes sense for how Taiki might see her. However, that’s not the case for a more removed omniscient perspective like ours.

For everything the show has done to put us in Taiki’s shoes when it comes to his feelings for Chinatsu, we hardly have any understanding of how Chinatsu feels about, well…anything, really, but especially her feelings about Taiki. We have plenty of context clues and words left unsaid but she comes across as so detached from the heightened romance-anime scenario she’s found herself living in that it’s harder to accept her as the “real” teenager that Taiki so easily comes across as. Maybe she’s not as romantically or intimately inclined as Taiki, but we’ve gotten enough stray blushes and sideways glances that I’m not sure we’re supposed to read the character as being uninterested in or unattracted to Taiki. Does she truly not feel anything weird or tempting or frustrating about suddenly sharing a living space with a boy who is so obviously in love with her that even Garth Marenghi would tell the kid to tone it down a notch? I’m not saying that I need her to be falling over herself like Taiki but I’d like to see some kind of interiority and potential conflict within the character.

Given how good everything surrounding Chinatsu is, I can forgive this anime if it falls short of literal perfection. For all its cheesy anime contrivance, the moment where Hina is suddenly left shocked and confused by learning that Taiki and Chinatsu live together still hits so damned hard. I just wish that every female character in Blue Box was given such great material to work with.

Rating:

Blue Box is currently streaming on
Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.