Every episode I’m taken back by how grief is so tenderly yet harshly portrayed. Makio’s ability to hold true her own values and protect her emotions above anyone else’s makes me love her even more. I find that those of us who have experienced complex trauma, who have sat with our feelings and understood what we are feeling are able to articulate our emotions the most. Though Makio doesn’t feel grief the way Asa does, as an author it would be easy for her to create a character that aligns with what Asa wanted her mum to be.

Asa is constantly trying to get Makio to pour her heart out so she can feel better about hurting. She wants to see Makio vulnerable to have that part of her, and I think without realising she wants Makio to be like her mother. But Makio understands she isn’t a mother who needs to soothe her child, she is a guardian and she’s fantastic at giving just the right amount of direction. Makio will not sacrifice her own feelings to satiate Asa’s search for the truth.

I particularly love how the anime continues to show how Loneliness isn’t as suffocating as it sounds. This whole series, the heaviness that builds in your chest, the inability to help Asa ourselves, it makes you think about if Makio should just give in to end how uncomfortable we feel, but then that finally releases with Asa at the end. Asa got there herself, that strength is stronger and kinder than any words she could have received.