This episode is what I needed more of from A Condition Called Love. I have been begging the show to give me genuine introspection from Hananoi’s character, only to get breadcrumbs at best and inconsistent passiveness at worst. I don’t think I was asking for a lot, but who would’ve thought a relatably simple situation would push Hananoi to reflect on who they are as a character? We get the sense that Hananoi has always had these feelings about himself, but the show hasn’t let us get into it before.

The biggest question about Hananoi’s character was how he felt about himself. We know why he feels lonely. That scene in the middle of the episode where he received postcards from his parents was genuinely heartbreaking. I don’t know what compels parents to think that being absent from their child is okay, but I genuinely hate them for what their actions have done to Hananoi. I would still like to know what role his grandparents played in his life and upbringing, but getting those reminders every single year to the point where he’s just grown numb to it all is heartbreaking. It’s gotten to the point where Hananoi ends up in a situation where he’s forced to spend his birthday alone and doesn’t flinch about it because he’s just used to it.

I also like that this complacency is melded with a genuine understanding. We could discuss Hananoi’s actions in this episode and why he keeps to himself so much. He wants to speak up and request more, and he wants people to be there for him more, but he doesn’t feel worthy of that, so he keeps things bottled up. The fact that he feels guilty about putting himself first on his birthday of all days is incredibly poignant and depressing. I was in the exact situation that Hananoi was in just last week, so I was pleased at the chance to relate to him. It’s better late than never, but this is the episode I needed to focus on this character—no possessive or aggressive behavior or situations where we’re being told things about Hananoi without seeing them. Hananoi is just a lonely guy dealing with that loneliness, and he’s dealing with it the best that he can, which arguably isn’t great at all, but that makes me more curious about what the rest of his future looks like.

It’s a shame that one of my favorite bits of character writing in the show is delivered in an episode with one of the worst presentations of any shoujo romance I’ve seen in the past decade. I cannot overstate how bad this episode looked and sounded. People have commented on the lackluster production of the show and how it doesn’t seem to capture the essence of the original manga. While many shots have looked off, there were some genuinely nice-looking episodes as well, and my biggest problem with the show is that it looks incredibly washed out. This episode ran the whole gambit of poor presentation. I caught at least one scene where lip flaps weren’t even close to matching, character models looked flat with derpy expressions, Hotaru’s walk cycle looked uncomfortable in one scene, and the concept of perspective felt more like a suggestion throughout half the episode instead of being a requirement. I genuinely feel bad for fans of the manga because you guys got done dirty in this episode. I hope that is just a one-off in animation quality, not writing quality.

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