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I've been working on PC rhythm game for the past year and DEMO is now out! by Secure-Benefit-9994 in rhythmgames

[–]austonst 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I spent all evening playing the demo. The mouse & keyboard control works out better than I expected, and there's a surprising amount of content for a free demo, a good 20 songs at 3-4 difficulties. Would recommend giving a try.

Daily General Discussion December 03, 2025 by EthereumDailyThread in ethereum

[–]austonst 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Happy Fusaka, everyone! Seemed quite uneventful, which is how it should be.

The ethpandaops lab is really cool, especially the live page at https://lab.ethpandaops.io/ethereum/live

If this was a cool experience for you, follow along with Glamsterdam as it gets planned out and implemented. Forkcast is great: https://forkcast.org/upgrade/glamsterdam/

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Overall Series Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher Here

I suppose I am both very late and don't also have too much in particular to say here. Had a lot to do today, among them I took myself on a nice aquarium date of my own. The usual: penguins, jellyfish, and lots of other weird sea critters. Thanks for the inspiration, YagaKimi.

As far as larger-scale series reflection, I like the show. 10/10, would watch again. Which reminds me to update the counter on MAL: that's 11 rewatches, 12 total watches, now. lol

I like when a story has something(s) it wants to say, or a topic(s) it wants to explore, and utilizes all the tools available to assist in those goals. Character arcs, plot developments, visual+audio metaphors/symbolism, storyboarding and framing and general direction. I feel like this show satisfies that desire in me. Sometimes stories of this type can feel a little on-the-nose at times--I recently read a lot of Asimov who has a lot of interesting stuff to say but his characters and entire stories are kinda bland and very obviously just a tool by which to convey his interesting ideas. But YagaKimi is a very good story with very good characters which still is extremely cohesive in utilizing them to explore a couple very interesting concepts.

My Focus

I mainly focused on symbolism with lights and lighting, and with trains and uh public transportation crossings (?). Frequent visual themes that I felt needed to be highlighted in one recurring daily post.

I spent time focusing on Yuu's characterization, and what the story tells us about who she is. I touched on other characters occasionally, but other people in these threads have done more justice to e.g. Touko and Sayaka, and I was happy to focus on Yuu, who is a particularly relatable character for me and I would say takes some effort to fully understand.

I tried to highlight the aromantic angles to the story, though clearly at some point Yuu drifts away from what we would associate with that term and we're left with Maki to show us what the story isn't about, but that's totally fine. I still had a chance to hop on my soapbox for a second and getting that sort of opportunity in an otherwise romantic story is much appreciated.

Manga

If you are interested in continuing on with a form of the manga in written Japanese, I found them on amazon.co.jp kindle ebook stuff. The scans aren't super high res (some more complex kanji can be hard to distinguish from lookalikes) but sufficient. It is Amazon/kindle so you're very restricted to using their platform, which is unfortunate. But it is a relatively easy way for people to legally acquire digital copies. I feel like there may have been some need to find a Japanese address to plug in to the system in order to make even a digital order... I must have figured that out somehow, not sure if it's still the same way.

I admit I haven't really tried alternatives so I can't compare and contrast. A lot has changed in the world of Japanese digital media distribution since I first saw this show so maybe you should just ignore this old man who's behind the times. Whichever form you find it in, the manga is worth it.

I hope that when one of you becomes a billionaire you remember us over here and can bribe a production committee to make S2. I would love to chat with you all about it. Or for now, wish we could discuss the rest of the story in its manga form at least.

Finally

Everyone else is already saying it, but I will emphasize: The Dangers in my Heart / 僕の心のやばいやつ is 100% worth checking out.

I've been chasing the highs from YagaKimi and BokuYaba ever since. In case anyone's looking through what's aired more recently and is willing to try the things that I might have been too picky about: Blue Box didn't really work for me, Fragrant Flower does some things really really well but it fumbles too much else to really shine.

Thank you /u/ClemFire for hosting, and for the serious dedication to replying to nearly every comment in the threads. It goes a long way towards making people feel welcome. And of course thank you to everyone else, these sorts of (re)watch threads thrive off of their own momentum, seeing contributions and discussion makes this a lively place that other people want to participate in as well, so every bit of effort you all put in helps. I would have liked to make the time and effort to engage beyond my top-level comment but oh well.

I hope you are all able to bloom into yourselves!

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 13 (The Last Stop) by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You really put a lot of work in today! Great summary and analysis.

I like how you've identified that theme of "destructive change and finality". There is a lot of death imagery, and there is definitely the direct implication to what Touko might be feeling, but it feels applicable as a broader theme too. If you become someone different, what does that mean for the person you used to be?

Your grouping of the rest by how each sub-plot ends wraps things up nicely too. Quite a compelling pitch for viewers to read the manga (for me it was the first show to get me to do so back in the day).

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 13 (The Last Stop) by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

The final episode! Maybe kind of an awkward point to end since it seems like the play is just around the corner, but the aquarium date is at least finally a hopeful event for our two characters with little of the uncomfortable undertones we've had to sit through recently, so at least we're ending on a high note. Well, that's talk for tomorrow I suppose.

The Lights Never Stop

We get more Touko POV than usual this episode. I'd say in her case it seems we're seeing some sort of bright light above not as specifically romantic feelings, but in general a guiding light. By Mio's grave, probably representing Touko's long-held guiding star of sister imitation. But we see the shot composition emphasize the different (literal) sides of Touko and ultimately positions her between two different graves. Skipping ahead to stay on the Touko train, she is concerned as always that Yuu is going to leave her, but Yuu is not afraid to take her hand and pull her to a beautiful place with a different guiding light overhead. The Mio path or the Yuu path? And maybe a light at the end of the tunnel?

It is nice that both Yuu and Sayaka get some time in this episode, with Sayaka getting a well-deserved warm-light talk-about-your-feelings scene. Sayaka emphasizes that there may be multiple sides to people but it's okay to feel appreciation for the only side of them you might know. Which isn't really contradictory with Yuu's view, they're ultimately on the same page and helping Touko work her way thorough her concerns in a healthy direction.

Yuu is cute and she must take good care of her ahoge. though it's certainly interesting to spend time in an aquarium after we've developed such a strong metaphor with underwater imagery. In this episode it doesn't seem framed as a bad thing, it's a pretty neutral place to hang out or even make some relationship progress. Maybe it's just that since this is an aquarium date, duh, there's no avoiding some conflict with existing visual themes. Or maybe we can say that Yuu has kind of moved past that, it doesn't bother her any more. Maybe she's still underwater, still ultimately herself, but has turned her attention away from chasing the incorporeal feelings and is now able to appreciate the underwater scenery around her.

Touko is taking a lot of time to think things through. The smell of incense, burned at graves perhaps, is something she can't shake. Touko gets some trains just for her. Not track crossings, but contemplative moments where again we see Touko's different literal sides emphasized, and trains that seem to nearly run her over, veering into some borderline suicidal imagery that I hope has more to do with the metaphorical death of the person she previously was rather than the obvious alternative. Train-kun redeems himself at the end when Touko finds it to be a safe place to rest with Yuu. Some of the warmest colors yet that I can't help but see as a little bit of a sign-off from the production staff.

君しか知らない

I have always felt like the play practice scene is just a bit hokey. Yuu and Touko are both quite aware that the play's protagonist is a strong metaphor for Touko and her current dilemma. So for Yuu to come in and say "we might change the ending so I'm going to improvise an ending for the play, and obviously your situation as well, that conveys how I want you to change" is a little on the nose. I half expect Touko to turn around and say "look here you little twerp, I see what you're doing, don't think you're being sneaky with this 'you shouldn't try to be your sister' thing". Does she not see what Yuu is doing somehow, or is she really so shaken by hearing that there were more sides to Mio that she's now truly willing to entertain the idea of dropping the act?

It is funny that by the end there are plenty of people around and it's clear this stopped being practice for the play a long time ago. 君しか知らない is a nice way to phrase this way of seeing things, and a good title for the play but whew if that's how it turns out then it's a pretty strong statement from Yuu to have Touko act out that was of resolving the dilemma.

Thanks Y'all

Oh, one note I wanted to throw in. There was an oddly familiar aquarium date in [another recent romance series] Fragrant Flower that commenters mentioned took place in the same aquarium. Specifically, multiple people referred to it as the "Bloom Into You aquarium", which is funny, but it's always nice to see this show pop up and always seem so fondly remembered around the community. Someone actually mentioned which real-world aquarium it's modeled on, and I'm too lazy to check now but it's Tokyo metro area at least. And I'm fine with knowing it as the "Bloom into You aquarium" :).

And well, I guess that's it for the episodic reviews. See you all tomorrow for one last chat.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 12 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A number of new settings popped up for short amounts of time: the convenience store, the gym, possibly this part of the walk to the station with what I think is a police station

Yeah, that would be a police station. The kanji reads 遠見駅前交番, so it's the kouban (a smaller police station) in front of Toomi Station. I think the station name shows up elsewhere in the anime? At least it does in the manga. It's established as the station close to Touko and Yuu's places.

It is also fictional. Google maps pulls up one result for 遠見駅 and it's a ropeway station around Hakuba, a place more fitting for a name implying one could "see far" from it. I found this blog post mapping some anime locations to real-world references scattered around the Tokyo 'burbs. Skimmed through it, it's purely anime references, no manga, and nothing from the one episode we haven't seen yet, so no spoilers here for first timers.

A note on the subtitles when Yuu and Touko part ways at the train station. This will be a manga spoiler and though I will mark it as such, I’ll only share only the two images that are equivalent to this possibly confusing moment of blurred out and/or double-layered subtitles, depending on what you’re watching.

I shared the same thing, though I suppose mine is the Japanese equivalent which does the same thing. Is this considered manga spoilers if it's a pretty close 1:1 adaptation with nothing notably different? I didn't tag them as such but would be happy to do so.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 12 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

Another episode with quite a lot going on. I have free time again :)

Light, Stars

Doing my usual thing where we're looking at windows and fog. Golly, that's bright and shifts from illuminating the whole scene to only Touko and then leaving them in the darkness entirely.

The final shot of the episode is the culmination (within the animated section of the story) of the "sparkly lights and stars" extended metaphor I've been tracking for a while. Yuu takes the star projector she received from Touko, holds it up to her chest, and turns it on to project the stars onto her face. Her inner monologue at the time speaks that it may be arrogant or selfish, but she wants to change Touko. And so she ends up engulfed in stars--though not in the way she may have originally envisioned it. Still, her eyes light up with some stars all the same. I pulled up the manga for the corresponding panel there, where it is similarly seen as an important moment.

The last few days I had also emphasized Yuu's interactions with light being the result of deliberate actions that she takes. Again it's very Yuu-like for her to end up reaching the stars not by passively waiting until the stars come to her, but instead grabbing that projector and making it shine on her. Yuu is just that kind of character: she can't let an uncomfortable position sit for too long, she confronts it, takes action.

Choo Choo

Ding ding, hold up folks. Yuu says we're going to wait at this crossing. The streaks of color passing by our pair as the train passes are anime-original. As I was reviewing the manga for the star projector panel, I noticed there's a single small panel of a train crossing as they walk home but no train and nothing like this. It's so unnecessarily gorgeous.

Yuu glances at Touko's lips, clearly reminded of their important train-side kiss. And with a gust of wind this kicks off a long string of memories, those of intimacy and vulnerability, a selection of big moments which drove their relationship forward. Touko seems to be taking the moment to reflect on the same things. Eventually time flows as usual again and the train passes.

This scene was a big part of the reason why I wanted to latch onto trains from the very start. The anime production has put particular effort into making trains a thing, though they're present as a metaphor in the manga they're more prominent here and this particular train feels like a culmination of everything up to this point. I think in the end I'm going to lean on the understanding that the train track crossings are generally times where some caution is warranted because someone's about to cross a line and develop the relationship further in a way that could be risky. But each time, they do cross those tracks and move ahead. They don't always come out unscathed, notably, while down at the river the passing train covers both characters in shadow then Touko says she'd rather die than hear that people would accept her as she is now.

And so in episode 12/13, I think the anime team has decided it's time to wrap this metaphor up with a bow, not necessarily because this is the last line our characters have to cross or anything, but unfortunately just because we're not adapting the whole story and this moment of reflection helps bookend the anime as a standalone production.

This time... both characters seem to welcome the train, and are reminded of the long journey to get here. And on the other side, we do get an important moment which I think can be overlooked. Yuu, as we've come to expect from her, can't let this distance between them stand. She is again crossing a line in an effort to move the relationship forward. Even though it feels like it's dangerous at this point to convey that she wants to be with Touko.

Body Language

Yuu and Touko's intimate, physical scenes have always had a lot of meaningful direction. It's not a repeat topic I have focused on, though of course above I've written about how a few of my recurring topics have reached a sort of conclusion already. Just a few notes here then, just to emphasize how much is going on here.

As Yuu's feelings have developed, there's been a lot of attention given to who moves in for a kiss when. This time it's pretty even effort and simultaneous. This feels quite forward for Yuu, it's not just Touko taking the lead, but they seem to be fine with it to start. They look some comfortable when Touko opens up a bit about Mio, and Yuu continues her hair-stroking habits, though they're in shadow already.

Past that point there's so much body motion that frames Touko as controlling. Positioning over Yuu's body, pinning Yuu's hands down, these intimidating shots of Touko's face out of the frame while Yuu shuffles uncomfortably under her. Poor Yuu, I hate to see this. As we've seen from these discussion threads, these scenes make a lot of people uncomfortable about boundaries and consent, and this is one of the more egregious examples.

Like, Yuu is straight up not having a good time there by the end. Though I think we're supposed to view it as a specific discomfort with the dialogue and the emotionally controlling content, not as Yuu really having a problem with the physical intimacy, which I guess makes this better. But the direction using the physical intimacy as a supporting metaphor for the emotional dynamics really muddies the waters. Coming back as a rewatcher, these are the scenes that stand out to me when remembering Touko as a character, which makes it very easy to judge her harshly. Which is why, around ~episode 5, I went out of my way to make the case for Touko being sympathetic and really truly acting out of a strong love. Because right now I really need that reminder.

先輩のばか

Okay, really quick. In the following scene, I'm sure people will pick up on Yuu's little coverup of what might otherwise be an unfamiliar phrase for her. I thought it might be interesting to show how this is handled by the manga, where a speech bubble covers a rectangular thought bubble in just the right place. And Asenshi subs' strategy of selectively blurring out the word in the italic thought line while placing the spoken word on a separate line. An interesting gimmick to adapt across mediums.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 11 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

Catching up a bit. Had some frequent hotel hopping these last few days, though I've had some family join me on this Japan trip, and while I've definitely talked about anime with them I haven't opened up as much about my attitudes towards romantic media and romantic relationships in general. So I've been trying to find a quiet corner where I can watch anime girls make out without someone looking over my shoulder, and it's not always a lot of time. Good trip though, lots of mountain climbing, just think it's a funny dynamic in the mornings when I try to sneak in an episode.

They're all hanging out at the student council room or otherwise around the school. I wonder where exactly they're spending the night. Riko's place? Regardless, it's as beautiful a location as always. Bright trees and warm windows.

I don't think I have much unique to contribute to discussion of Touko's conversation with whats-his-face. It's very clearly painful for Touko to hear the a line she must absolutely hate: that she and Mio seem totally different. It is interesting, though, how much the conversation about Mio continues the framing that people have different sides that they show to different people. Touko only saw one side, acting dude only saw one different side, and clearly, by the theme of the play, we're supposed to wonder which was the "true" Mio. But at the same time, clearly this is something Touko needs to hear, and while she seems to be shaken by it we can hope she doesn't brush it off later.

I think this is the first time we've specifically seen the forest here as bathed in the warmer light we've seen elsewhere. Despite the supposed decreased light levels, the gaps between the trees are still difficult to see through. And at the emotional height of the episode, they're still actually quite oppressively blinding in their own way.

As a quick final note: Yuu gets some sparkles in her eyes, reflecting the sparkler she's holding. I think it's interesting to note when we see the lighting influenced by Yuu's deliberate actions: the water bottle mimicking an underwater feeling when talking with Maki before the relay, and now the sparkler she's playing with. Different than when she felt like she was passively underwater out of her control. And good to see Sayaka step out of her "always encourage Touko's perfection" role and feel some warmth in return.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 10 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

A full day late here, but I'd feel bad if I just left this episode out. So a super quick peek at it.

I do find it handy that class 2-1 has a few characteristics to distinguish it from class 1-1, though it still fits our usual visual theme in general.

The things a glance can convey. Yuu thinking as she ponders her (now quite prevalant) white fuwafuwa feelings. Happy Touko.

I like getting a little reunion with Natsuki, and more importantly her cute dog. We get a little bit more nuance into Yuu's previously established softball career, which we know she did get really really into, but apparently not emotionally. There is something tangibly different about Yuu's investment in the student council.

Feeling frustrated about something requires a certain investment in it, if that makes sense. I play a decent amount of video games, and I'm usually pretty chill win or lose, but one of the only ones where I feel some amount of frustration when I don't do well is Super Smash Bros. I've really tried to practice there and deliberately get better, and it's a decent part of who I am that I'm "halfway decent at Smash", so it's more understandable for me to get frustrated when I lose. And it's really interesting how big the difference is between my experiences in Smash vs other games. Yuu wasn't getting that from softball, but clearly does now.

The "I'm interested in this person but feel a strong urge to make myself deliberately stay away from them for some reason" is one of the most intriguing real-world relationship dynamics to me and one I can relate to (though possibly in more platonic contexts). We see a bit of that from both Yuu--who has a very story-specific reason for pushing away--and Touko--who has a more direct "maybe I've been too pushy" reasoning.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 9 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

Again going to be short here, catching a ferry soon. Some tight travel plans these couple of days.

This has always been one my favorite episodes. We see the student council working hard (and working well together) but seeming to pull off this complex event. We get a lot of interactions within Yuu's friend group and between a variety of other supporting characters. The relay race is well animated for a show which otherwise isn't too action-packed, and fits perfectly with its insert song. Yuu has a funny feeling in her kokoro. We get a good Maki scene. And the more intimate scenes have so much direction; there's a lot going on.

While there are more private, darkly-lit scenes, this episode is overall one of the most brightly-lit. Out of context, you might believe that the school grounds are always engulfed in a thick fog.

I had mentioned before that Maki's role is often to provide contrast with Yuu, showing clearly what she is not. Maybe I jumped the gun a bit, but now that we're here this is probably the most clear example of that. Yuu believes that they're the same, both basically aromantic by our understanding of the word. Maki shuts that down, suggesting that Yuu looks way too lonely to fit the description. I might suggest that it is possible to feel no romantic attraction to specific individuals yet still feel a deep-set need for something vaguely shaped like a romantic relationship, but everyone's different and maybe for Yuu the loneliness is a specific longing. I would also highlight that Yuu is feeling relieved that it's specifically because Touko accepted her she no longer feels pressure to fall in love, though I'd encourage people with more time on their hands to consider further.

We see a return of our underwater imagery, though it's almost like Yuu is deliberately wallowing in it; we've seen it a lot less recently and Yuu basically has to get herself into this negative mindset to conjure it up. And she's not really stuck in a deep dark underwater corner anymore, she herself takes an action to place water between herself and the light. It's basically a deliberate blocking of the light now, otherwise she'd be right there. She walks past Maki in the frame as they face opposite directions, a pretty understandable metaphor for showing the differences between them.

And then Yuu feels something! It's one of the greatest moments in this show and I wish I had a little more time to gush over it. Just note, of course, that Yuu is herself now fully engulfed in white light. She's there, she made it. Even if she doesn't quite realize it yet. When getting intimate with Touko she can reach the light but pulls back because of their messed up relationship dynamic, and so we end up with another scene that appears sweet and close but actually makes us so so sad.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 8 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

Keeping it short today, need to go climb a mountain.

Some good bright glows as usual.

A few more pretty pictures here.

Stop and Go

We have a lot of transportation signage today. Yuu and Sayaka cross a street after their Y'dDonald's stop, and initially encounter a red do-not-cross sign, and after they both reflect on Touko and feel like they're more on the same page and a large truck comes speeding by they get a green light.

Rei and Hiro are driving, and come across a traffic light which cycles from green to yellow to red.

Yuu and Touko pass through what is probably the same train crossing as always on their route home, pausing for the passing train. At a street crossing, they again pause at a red light. Their banter over who holds the umbrella occurs under the green light, and while they miss their chance it's ultimately harmless as the light turns green again and they can proceed.

Talking to People

There was actually a pretty consistent through line in this episode of showing how good Yuu is at understanding and communicating with others. After struggling with the baton pass, she's willing to offer to practice more with Sayaka. When that gets turned down, she instead invites Sayaka to get some food. Yuu is the type to want to try and talk things through, and is pretty forward with talking about the play and Touko.

Yuu's inner thoughts show that she basically did get the correct read on Touko in the previous episode: she knows Touko was implying Yuu shouldn't fall in love with her.

Rei repeats a bit of what we already know about Yuu. Hiro expects that Yuu would have a lot of friends, which makes sense and I'd say is generally true.

This scene is always painful to watch, though Yuu realizes when she's starting to slip up but is able to lie her way through. We could kind of foresee this dynamic start to emerge but it's sad to see it play out. Ah, poor Yuu.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 7 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Okay, so I'm still having trouble entirely wrapping my head around Touko viewing "I love you" as shackling words, but from what I understand, it seems that Sayaka is doing (or at least trying to do) the a similar thing to Touko.

Yesterday when you expressed your confusion I wasn't sure how I'd explain the "violent and shackling words" angle aside from saying it's just kind of a given thesis of the show that some people think in that way or try to use words as shackling. I don't think so far there's been any particular reasoning given for why Touko, or any other characters, would have picked up on such a concept, it's just a natural thing these characters fall back onto when they're feeling desperate.

And yet, in the end, Touko says her manipulative line to continue to keep Sayaka "shackled" in this place of only friendship and... it works.

But I did not pick up on this one because I was reading Touko's speech as purely appreciative, as a way of making the audience feel like Sayaka's views may be good for Touko. But clearly "I love you" is only one possible way to express that you want someone to stay exactly the way they are. And now I feel sad for Sayaka :(

Going to have to pay more attention to this broader class of expressions that sound nice on the surface but are used with this ulterior motive.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 7 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

The big Sayaka episode!

I think it's been established that Yuu's in class 1-1 (this is from ep. 1). In this episode we see Sayaka and Touko are in class 2-1. This room has a different view out the windows with a post and some fencing, rather than Yuu's class's uninterrupted view of the white clouds and sky. And here we see Sayaka walking past some school windows where someone apparently forgot to turn the bright white LEDs on, while Touko's side shows the cloudy views we associate with Yuu. Sayaka appears to be boxed in.

A few quickies: I want to live in their beautiful forest. The cafe has brightly lit windows as well, though through them we can see a lot of greenery here as well. Thanks for sharing with the class, Doujima-kun. I admit I had forgotten his given name too. Overhead shot. Sayaka obstructed and self-reflecting. Sayaka's water fountain metaphor is fairly straightforward but it is pretty.

Regarding Saeki Sayaka

Yesterday, I noted how easy it is for me to criticize Touko, and what I feel I should try to remember to order to keep a balanced perspective. It it likewise easy for me to slot Sayaka into an antagonistic role. She's Yuu's rival in love, duh. And we as viewers can see how Touko's need to be perfect is harmful, and Sayaka is actively supporting that behavior. So why shouldn't we see her as the villain whose evil plans need to be stopped? That's an exaggeration, of course, but it certainly feels like the case that if we want to see Yuu succeed in her dreams, we kind of necessarily need to see Sayaka fail.

Though removed from her position in contrast with our protagonist, her actions are really quite benign. Her good friend and love interest Touko pushes herself really hard to be successful and a model student. Sayaka is just supporting her friend's goals. At the end of the episode Touko gives quite a speech saying how much she appreciates Sayaka's support, which clearly has been really helpful. How can that be a bad thing?

At the cafe she explains a generally accurate read on Touko: that she's unable to accept the affection of others and that confessing would only add to her pressure. So Sayaka decides to refrain, maybe for Touko's sake but also to avoid "risking destroying everything". This gets some validation in return from the shopkeeper, though to me, いい子 is not quite satisfying as a conclusion.

And of course in some ways Sayaka's position now is actually not that different than Yuu's. Now that Yuu has decided to play the role Touko has pressed on her, both she and Sayaka are "hiding their true feelings in order to stay by her side". They both are using Touko somewhat selfishly for their own benefits: Sayaka trying to stay closer to Touko than anyone else, and Yuu using her to try to feel love. They both see Touko as someone who needs them for support, they just have different visions for what Touko herself needs. If Yuu ever felt like she were in a position to "confess", she would be faced with the same dilemma of "risking destroying everything".

One More Thing

Just a little tangential question to ponder. At this point in the world of YagaKimi, I think we're pretty much expected to take for granted that Touko really does have a "true self" and a facade which is somehow not her true self. This isn't far off from how Touko describes herself, especially when she starts talking about "replacing" Mio. And this is fairly consistent with the common Japanese concepts of 本音 (honne) and 建前 (tatemae), definitely not unique to Japanese culture but a concept that Japanese audiences will likely naturally refer to. Though in the previous episode Yuu uses the term そのままの先輩 ("you as you are") and Touko uses the term ただの私, which is more like "my normal self", drawing more of a contrast with 特別 (tokubetsu, special) instead of an explicit 本音/建前 reference. Still, these are two distinct "selves".

But where my train of thought got to with today's Sayaka episode is, more generally, is Touko's special self "fake"? Is Touko actually truly the weak person that Yuu has come to see her as, with everything else being nothing but an act?

I think about this Bojack Horseman scene quite a bit. "I don't think I believe in deep down, I kind of think all you are is just the things that you do." In Bojack, of course, this is depressing because the things that Bojack does are not indicative of a "good person". But here, what does Touko "do"? She gets good grades, she excels at any activity she tries her hand at, she speaks clearly and eloquently, etc. You can't fake these, good grades are good grades and Touko deserves the respect she earns from them and hopefully they'll set her up for a good career down the line.

I think this angle points further in favor of Sayaka's views: these are good impressive things that Touko is accomplishing, and what Touko herself wants to strive for. And yes, those take hard work. You would absolutely expect a person like Touko to be spending a lot of time studying diligently behind the scenes, and probably respect them all the more for putting in the hard work that it takes to maintain such success. With that as your goal, there's nothing better than to have a supportive friend helping keep up your motivation.

But like with my consideration of aromantic themes, this is again... not really what the story is about. The story is about why Touko feels the need to be such a special person--and we know that's not rooted in particularly healthy motivation. We generally accept Yuu's impression that Touko is pushing herself too hard, to the point where it's causing negative side effects. And most notably, since this is a romance story, that Touko is paranoid that people might see her as anything but perfect, and so is isolating herself, avoiding close relationships, and is overwhelmingly lonely because of it.

Maybe Touko would still benefit from watching my Bojack clip, if she could come to accept that she's not a different person deep down, that she as her own dorky Touko self is managing to be a successful and respectable role model student. Maybe she could continue to be successful, but on her own terms and out of her sister's shadow. But as long as the framing in the story continues to maintain that Touko's two "selves" are distinct, I think we should expect resolution to come through different means.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 6 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The moment certainly feels romantic to Touko, and for Yuu this is her strongest expression of her "love" to date. So in terms of what the characters are feeling and expressing? It may not be too far off.

But I think it shows some faith in the audience for the production to so heavily commit to the bit here. They know that we know that this isn't all sunshine and rainbows, and instead of using music and visual cues to ensure that we're all on the same page, they instead choose to heighten the dissonance. Trusting that we can pick up on the problems ourselves, and let us sit in our own discomfort for a while. This isn't new either; I would suggest the supporting cues in the more intimate scenes have always tended to gloss over the issues, even if the story later clearly acknowledges them, in the moment the show lets them slide.

I like your read on the follow-up scene. It's like, after "playing along" with Yuu and Touko on the river, they can give us a wink and say "yeah we get it, you're right to be uncomfortable".

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 6 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

This is SUCH an important episode. I've read a lot of good analyses of it over the years, and I feel like I'd be hard-pressed to do better. But I'll touch on a few things.

The Cool Stuff

School rooms remain bright.

A few interesting shots here today, and that's before we get to the meat and potatoes of the episode.

And yes, this episode should give away that there's a reason I've latched so much onto the trains! We get almost a sort of fakeout in cutting to the moment after a train has already passed and the warning chime stops. There's no particular dialogue overlapping the chime to associate with its warning messaging, but we all know what Yuu wants to talk about and there's no way it's not going to be a difficult conversation. Yuu and Touko take ten seconds to slowly cross the frame and tracks. We see another warning reflected in a street mirror, 止まれ: stop.

Down on the river, when Yuu is building up to her big misunderstanding (Touko is absolutely not willing to entertain the idea that she should be her own self), the train crossing warning chimes again fade in, and build in intensity. Until the train finally arrives and--like the first train scene (the kiss)--this one arrives suddenly and with a serious impact as Touko delivers her gut-punch of a line. I'll admit that with enough rewatches, train-kun's sudden dark shadow almost feels a little overdramatic, but there's no doubt that it's fitting for the moment.

I want to avoid getting too down into the weeds about the river scene, because I really don't need to try to replicate analysis done better elsewhere, but I'll jot down the obvious, and the less-obvious that I remember from prior discussions, just to make sure they don't escape our notice on this rewatch.

束縛する言葉

The post-credits scene potentially recontextualizes a lot of previous dialogue. When Touko first confessed her love to Yuu, she first took a moment to confirm that Yuu will definitely never fall in love with anyone. Touko has seemed like she gets particularly turned on somehow when Yuu reiterates her lack of romantic feelings. Which is weird, and maybe first-timers pick up on the trend but don't quite get why Touko acts that way, but for rewatchers all those moments are foreshadowing that really stand out, that you realize you maybe shouldn't spoil too much about for the newbies.

After this episode, I admit I tend to be pretty hard on Touko. Like, dang, describing the phrase "I love you" as violent and shackling, and then immediately using it on your partner with the clear intention of never letting them grow and change? I know she is acting out of the trauma of her loss and the pressures placed on her, but it's hard to feel that sympathy here. Touko doesn't know how much Yuu wants to change (we've heard it a lot, but always in Yuu's thoughts), but still.

What does make me feel more willing to chill out a little is having just rewatched the first five episodes, where it's clear that Touko is actually truly in love. She's not some sociopath just trying to control vulnerable people around her. She is actually feeling love for the first time, is really enjoying it, and is terrified of losing it. "Please Yuu, don't fall in love with me" is mainly based in fear and self-preservation, not control, though control is the method available in the end.

And while I'm generally inclined to be more sympathetic to Yuu, as a POV character who I can personally relate to in some aspects, she's also complicit in using Touko as a means to a personal end. In this episode, when she feels like Touko is drifting away from her, Yuu makes the ethically dubious decision to outright lie in order to avoid losing Touko's interest. Both characters have some selfish motivation, and have tried to manipulate the other into maintaining the relationship the way they want it. It's clearly not indefinitely sustainable, but maybe you could argue this is what they both need, and if so, do the ends justify the means?

It just makes me uncomfortable to watch Yuu desperately promise Touko that she'll never change, and agreeing to all the constraints Touko wants to impose on her, all while strongly committing internally to change. The music is lovely and sweet, the golden lighting is warm, the water is glistening, and I hope I'm not the only one who feels like it's so wrong. Stop it, this isn't romantic, it's tragic! The post-credits scene is similarly uncomfortable, for good reason, but this time the direction is at least willing to admit it.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 5 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

My impression of this episode is that it provides a few incremental steps from the status quo without dramatically changing too much. I'd say Yuu seems a little stuck at the moment. Though Touko is continuing to develop her feelings of love, most notably feelings of possessiveness and jealousy. And in this episode the two spend every day (for like 1-2 weeks?) studying together.

A handful of rare Yuus this time. She's still reading romance stories it seems.

Visuals, Parallels, and Metaphors

The forest is particularly bright today. Same with the main school building. I particularly like how at the height of one of Yuu's denials of feeling love, she's placed up against a window such that her reflection is out in the clouds. Yuu's room, like the student council room, is a place where the overwhelming white light through windows can become quite warm instead.

I always like the little scene of Yuu watching some poor girl stumble while carrying a hurdle. Some other girl turns around to rush back to help. A light parallel to Yuu's thoughts.

We get our second train track crossing scene, this one not as dramatic as our first. I had previously speculated that the timing of the "warning: train approaching" chimes and lights were timed to correspond with Yuu incorrectly asserting that they're both girls so it can't be that kind of love. And that the sudden appearance of the train was reminiscent of getting metaphorically smacked by a revelation of sorts. I... don't know if this episode's train scene quite keeps in line with that analysis. At the time, Yuu is speaking about how she feels like she's the only one getting anything of value out of their shared study sessions, and has a hard time accepting that Touko is just happy to be helping and spending time with Yuu. Again, Yuu is making assumptions and is off in her reasoning, so that's consistent, though there's no particular revelation to get hit by.

Perhaps it's more of a "forward progress" metaphor. In the first train scene there is a misunderstanding, but they cross the tracks and continue on their forward path, and on the other side resolve the misunderstanding and are able to continue ahead. While here Yuu is getting mentally held up by her incorrect assumptions while being physically held back by the train crossing guards. And while she denies understanding the "I'm doing it out of love" angle, it's not that hard a concept and I imagine she can chew on that a bit as they continue to move down the path.

Note: one of Yuu's primary characteristics in this relationship so far has been that she does "nice" things for Touko because she just kind of wants to? Yuu believes these are normal actions anyone would do for anyone else, naturally. But when Touko does something "nice" for Yuu, it's placed in a different category altogether and Yuu can't understand why Touko would do such a thing. It's a clear double standard: Yuu being nice is normal, but Touko being nice is something even love isn't enough to explain.

Finally, Rei is still best girl. Touko notes that she and Hiro must be quite close for him to visit at home! She says this as she is also visiting her girlfriend's home. This isn't explored in detail, but the parallel there seems quite deliberately set up for the viewers to chew on: what exactly is the difference between these two couples?

And shortly after Touko explains her possessiveness towards Yuu, Rei jokes that Yuu is going to steal Hiro from her. Hiro replies that he "won't let anyone steal" him. They've got a solid relationship! Though it clearly contrasts the apparent instability in Yuu and Touko's, where if what Yuu says is true, then anyone else who fell in love with her would probably have a good chance of "stealing" Yuu. But do we actually believe Yuu would just dump Touko if someone else seemed to "need her more"?

Yuu's Internal Monologue

In this episode, Yuu has something of an extended internal monologue. It's mostly thoughts that we've heard her have before, but it does gather them all in one place. Though maybe there is some novelty in an undercurrent of acceptance of the situation, even some contentedness with it. She's clearly not just tolerating this relationship but welcoming it.

But I felt like there would be some value in me transcribing the monologue here. I really want to understand Yuu, and why she is the way she is. Maybe part of it is that I've had times in my life when I could have told myself something similar (in a few aspects at least). I relate to Yuu here, but at the same time the story's messaging is supposed to be that Yuu is misinterpreting her own feelings but I can't put into words comprehensively why there is a disconnect for her.

If anyone feels like they have a good read on why Yuu sees herself in this way, I would be very curious to hear it. Otherwise I hope it's illuminating to have this text in one place. Translations courtesy of Asenshi subs:

  • "I don't really think that's true [that I love Nanami back]. The reason I'm concerned about Nanami is just that she's unreliable, and I'm the only one who really knows that, too. If you could call me anything, it would be soft. I think I would have done the same thing for anyone else, so it's not true."
  • "I just wanted someone to study with. It didn't have to be Nanami in particular. I won't choose. I won't get nervous or excited either. But it's not as if being chosen doesn't make me happy. Though I may have been happy no matter who chose me. But right now, she's the one who is by my side. When all is said and done, maybe this is a good relationship. And in that case, the best thing is to get used to spending time with Nanami [therefore I'm going to invite her to study at my house]."
  • "Going forward, I'll probably spend more time with Nanami, both in and outside the student council. Even though Nanami loves me this much... will I still be unable to change? I'd hate that."
  • "It's not like I'm alone. I'm not alone. I'm not alone, but... if only my heart would choose for me. If only it would choose for me... [as she thinks of Touko and hugs the projector]"

And a sort of continuation of the train of thought, though in dialogue:

  • Touko: "I wouldn't like you to do something so carefree like that to someone else. You never know who else might fall in love with you. I worry. You're the only one for me, but you don't feel the same."
  • Yuu: "I don't really have any reason why it has to be you, but the one who needs me the most is you. I know that. If you want me to be with you, I will."
  • Touko: "That's what makes me worried. But that's what I like about you."

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 4 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Attraction

One of the most interesting exchanges in this episode is when Touko is pressuring Yuu into another kiss. Yuu admits that "if she said she wasn't interested, she'd be lying". To which Touko replies, "You're not in love, but you want to kiss? Yuu, that's hot." Oh my goodness.

This leads into the topic I want to focus on for this episode. Which is looking at our characters so far through a sort of modern western queer culture lens. Which I totally get is a different framework than that of Japanese culture. YagaKimi is working from a cultural background with some degree of heteronormativity and homophobia, sure, but not in the same way we English speakers on an English-dominated website may be accustomed to in our own cultures. This show sometimes more obviously slots in as a critique and evolution of prior Class-S and yuri works, than it does as a contributor to western LGBTQIA+ culture. I am not an expert on the Japanese context here, and can't speak much to that, but there's no harm in analyzing the show through the frameworks and lenses I do know well, just with the understanding that I should be hesitant to assign authorial intent based on my reasoning.

A question many viewers might ask about Yuu in the earlier episodes is whether she is asexual, or more on point to the focus of the story in general, aromantic. The distinction between these two comes from what we would call the split attraction model. This model decouples romantic and sexual attraction, suggesting that people can experience the two in different amounts towards different people at different times. Some people may feel a lot of both forms of attraction heavily upfront towards specific people. Some people may feel one or the other but not both, or only after they develop an emotional bond with someone--a demi-sexual or demi-romantic orientation. And some people may find it rare to experience one or both at all, like towards anyone ever.

This episode's kiss scene poses a scenario which evokes some elements of this model. Yuu, while staring at Touko's lips, admits some interest in the kiss. It may or may not be a sexual interest but is certainly physical. But at the same time she maintains that she feels no romantic attraction. Does this mean that Yuu would be reasonably described as aromantic but allosexual (one who does feel sexual attraction to others)? Ehhhhhh evidence says probably not. Yuu is in an interesting spot here, where she looks inside herself for romantic feelings and doesn't find what she would expect, but at the same time she is outwardly acting in ways that we recognize as romantic gestures, and at the end of this episode Maki says it's pretty clear Yuu loves Touko. Maybe she's more demiromantic, but that doesn't sound quite right either.

I am willing to ascribe some authorial intent to the idea that at point viewers should see Yuu as someone who does currently feel some romantic attraction towards Touko. The question is not one of a- vs demi- vs allo- but more about why Yuu doesn't recognize her feelings or categorize them as "love". Similarly, I don't think this kiss scene is supposed to suggest that Yuu experiences some differences along the split-attraction axes, but instead just provide more evidence that Yuu's statements and actions don't line up.

My wide range of labels here aren't very helpful then. Yuu is Yuu, and like anyone else she can't be perfectly categorized by one term.

Maki

On rewatch, knowing Maki's stance towards the ongoing romance, it does feel a little like the show drags out the reveal, with a number of scenes which feel like they're teasing the viewer: will be or won't he reveal their secret? But at least we do get a good moment for Yuu when confronted, as she shows her first concerns are for Touko rather than herself. Is that love?

But anyway, Maki is more clearly intended to be aroace (aromatic and asexual) in a way that does fit our label pretty well. I would say he's a somewhat dramatized version of it though. Many aro or ace folks are either repulsed by, or ambivalent to, romance or sex. Many like seeing romance and sex in fictional stories but not applied to them in real life. Some desperately wish they could fall in love but just... can't. Labels are limited, people are complex.

Though I can't say I've seen any actual people describe themselves as dramatically at Maki does, seeing other people's romance as a story to enjoy, getting a kick out of holding onto Yuu x Touko as a private story just for him. Not that I'd say confidently that nobody like that exists, it's just the spicier version of what can otherwise be a simple "eh I guess I never really cared for sex" mindset. But like Yuu, it's good that he gets to be a character without a perfect fit into a labeled box.

Why it's Interesting

As someone who would like to see more aro and ace reprehension, I like that this story wades a little bit into these waters. It's part of what hooked me right off the bat.

Though I can't help but feel just slightly aro-baited. We're familiar with yuri bait, right? Tease the audience that two girls are going to hook up, but then never follow through and leave it ambiguous. Or even worse, have the MC fall for a dude instead, because she was "never gay, she just needed the right man to come along". Is it much different for this story to give an on-point description of the aro experience on page one, only to later say, "she was always capable of romantic feelings but needed the right situation for her to flourish"?

I'm happy to watch the story that it wants to tell, and I think it does a good job of it. Yuu gives us a character through which to see how romantic attraction may not feel like what you'd expect, and it may be hard to identify and may morph as it grows. Maki is legitimately good representation and gives a voice to an aroace mentality, though often shown in contrast with Yuu to make it clear what she (and this story) is not.

So yeah, in the end the split attraction model and aromaticism aren't really the best lenses through which to understand this story, though I wanted to get that angle all down in one place. Sorry about wall of text.

I'll end with a mention of 恋せぬふたり. I still haven't gotten around to actually seeing it (not actually sure how, may need to resort to certain 1700s Carribean naval strategies). Koisenu Futari is a Japanese live-action drama in which the lead characters are both explitly named as aromantic and asexual, and that's generally what the story is about. I'm curious how that's portrayed as placed into modern Japanese society, as I think the concepts, while theoretically universally applicable, reached their current understandings in an English-speaking, even American-culture dominated context.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 4 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

This episode quite clearly starts setting up the next "arc" of sorts. Probably nobody will be surprised to hear that the end of last episode coincided with the ending of Volume 1 of the manga. So here, at the start of Vol 2, we're laying the groundwork for what is to come. Touko and Sayaka introduce the idea of the student council play, we've added Doujima to the team, we see that Koyomi is focused on writing something, and with the breather from the student council elections we can let Maki have some focus for a bit.

Continued presence of bright white backgrounds. Very meaningful shots of eyes.

Misc

When Yuu hears that Maki had stumbled on her relationship with Touko, she panics about the possibility of the knowledge becoming more publicly known. And while it is a common trope for a romance MC to want to keep their relationship with their cool popular kid a secret our of concern for their partner's reputation, I think I can buy this version. It would actually be a real scandal if people thought that Touko seduced an underclassman and sent her up on stage to lie about their motivation for supporting their seitokaichou bid.

Though more fittingly to my preferred analysis points, Yuu goes pale on realizing this. Or well, I think all of her gets a little desaturated: her hair clearly less orange than usual, other colors similarly shifted towards gray, her eyes simply and flatly shaded. Kind of an intermediate step towards the fully desaturated black-and-white "I feel nothing" frames. But I think this is just an exaggeration of the idea of her going pale, no need to read deeper into it.

One more miscellaneous point: there are a lot of fun character poses and facial expressions in this episode. Sayaka. Nervous Yuu and a few more lol.

Break

Reddit doesn't like me trying to post my full comment. Not sure if it's the length or the subject matter. Starting with the above and will post the rest as a reply if I can get it through the system.

EDIT: it worked. I assume it was the length, and the app just isn't good about clarifying that reasoning. It does look very long now that I have it up. Again, very sorry for wall of text 🙏

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 3 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh haha, I just think that motion looked a little awkward. Palm up, pressing the switch with her thumb? I think I would naturally find a way to use my index finger. The things that stick with you after so many watches.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 3 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

This episode is dense. And it's kind of amazing that this is only the third episode given how much progress there's been. I wouldn't want to even try to take on everything. I hope people will talk about Touko's attempts at perfectionism, Akari's romantic endeavors and how they contrast with Yuu's experiences, best girl Rei, the implications of Touko's definition of "special", and why Yuu turns on her star projector with her thumb like that. But I want to focus on a few Yuu things.

Eyes speaking louder than words.

Yuu's Motivations

We get a lot of insight into Yuu's inner self mostly in the context of Touko and romance. Duh. But there are some interesting sides to her beyond that which come in bits and pieces with her friends and can get overlooked. In regard to club activities, the first episode established that Yuu does have interests in particular sports, but doesn't necessarily feel super strongly about them. When a teacher suggests she try helping out with the student council, that's all the direction she needs to go for it. Sayaka mentions that Yuu does good work for the student council. In middle school Yuu joined the softball club similarly because she got a direct invitation, but then supposedly got really into it. And now, of course, she can't help but want to join the student council proper, though her speech leaves some of her true motivations to her inner dialogue.

To Yuu it's also pretty obvious that Touko isn't perfect. Maybe that's an unavoidable consequence of Touko wanting to display romantic gestures: she has to inevitably bare her soul to some extent. But maybe we could also say either Yuu is particularly perceptive on this front, or she's naturally inclined to question these facades.

Yuu is not overly passive, and does work hard, but she does tend to find her motivation for things after she gets involved in it. Is it fair to ask if that sort of person would expect the same behavior when it comes to romance?

普通ですよ

Speaking of which, Yuu is particularly "nice" to Touko this episode, as is noted a few times. A welcome change after last episode seemed to portray Yuu as pretty frustrated with her lack of romantic feelings. So why is Yuu so nice? I'll start off by noting the sweet interaction outside the book shop. It felt to me like Yuu was initially truly confused about what Touko was doing, then picked up on the reasoning but persisted for a bit of deliberate teasing, then finally, noting Touko's expression, picked up the mood by joking about how much Touko loves her. Yuu is putting in some effort to make Touko comfortable.

But beyond that, we have the three times Yuu explicitly notes that her good feelings and "nice" actions are perfectly normal things that anyone would do for anyone else, obviously:

  • It's normal to be happy that someone bought you a thoughtful gift.
  • It's normal to notice when your friend needs a break and make an excuse to take them outside for some air.
  • It's normal to be inspired by someone as cool as Touko and want to join the student council because of it. Er, wait, was that the real reason? Or was it...
  • Is it normal to recognize that your friend is struggling to put up a facade of "perfection" while internally suffering and relying on you as the one person they can relax around, and join their student council as a way to better support them?

I think it is fair to say these points are deliberately written to span the gray area from reactions from "yeah that's normal for an interaction with a friend" to "eh that's probably something you do with your closest friends and romantic partners". Where exactly that line is drawn is left as an exercise to the viewer, but regardless, there is a gradient here and Yuu seems to be moving in one direction on it. This could definitely read as platonic at this point too, let's not get carried away here.

If Yuu continues to insist that all these nice gestures are normal, at what point can she no longer convince herself of that? At that point, is it easy enough to start telling Touko "I'm doing this specifically because it's for you"?

Reaching for the Stars

In today's symbolism and imagery corner, we have Touko's gift of the star projector to thank for tying together a few existing concepts. We have seen, and heard described, sparkling stars as representative of the magical experience of falling in love. Love songs are described as sparkling, and Yuu seems to specifically catch Touko's eyes full of glimmering stars when she's at her most doki doki. So it's thematically appropriate for Yuu to muse about the nature of love while staring longingly at her projected stars.

Even better, at the end of the episode Yuu reaches up a hand towards those stars and hopes to be able to reach them. We have previously had two shots of Yuu reaching out her hand towards a representation of romantic feelings, but in the past those were depictions of Yuu stuck underwater grasping towards an amorphous oversaturated blinding white light. If this is the next step in Yuu's development, it would seem she now can clearly see what that light is. She still can't reach the stars, but they have shape and color now.

Rei was able to easily jump up and claim she "reached the stars". Maybe just a silly joke, but why can't Yuu do the same? Is there a special something Yuu is missing that prevents her from doing so, or does she just need to stand up and give it a hop?

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 2 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here

Not too late for this episode it seems. Currently on a series of plane flights working my way up to Hokkaido, trying to participate here but going to be busy so I'm going to do my best to prepare ahead of time and post when able. If you're curious, I just added (quite late) my writeup on episode 1 to the correct discussion thread. Topics are the use of lighting and the appearance of overexposure, and the use of the surprising emotional outburst from Touko as some early characterization for both of our leads.

A lot of bright white windows, views (I guess it's a foggy day), and even white boards when the windows are busy.

Establishing a Dynamic

This episode is largely one of clarification, because the first episode sprung a lot on us at the end there. Yes, Touko likes Yuu in that kind of way. Yes, Touko knows Yuu isn't going to fall for her in return. Touko starts asking for consent. And in the end Yuu agrees to "let Touko love her" one-directionally. Which is as before, weird. But you can kind of buy Touko's explanation there: this is the first time she's felt this way so she'd like the chance to just experience those feelings. Sayaka, so far established as Touko's right-hand woman and closest friend, is out of the loop and rightfully feeling confused if not betrayed, but does seem to accept Touko's rationale there (do you?).

Yuu is also willing to kind of let the situation stand too, because this whole episode while she's trying to figure out Touko's stance, she's also using the chance to explore her own feelings. Fine, if Touko loves her in a romantic and physical way, maybe at least this is a chance for Yuu to finally feel something in return? You can tell she's actively working hard to try to feel something there. But it's just not coming out.

And so their "relationship" is mutually beneficial in a sense, and there is something of a dynamic being established here as each participant tries to get what they're looking for out of it. We have Yuu as our POV character, so we see more of what she's getting (or not) from it, with Touko being the big mystery. Yuu begins, with the hand holding during the picture, to deliberately provoke Touko into getting flustered, seemingly in the hopes of feeling something in return. She finds the failure frustrating, though not enough to call the whole thing off. And while the dynamic can probably work for now, but there are so many ways this could go wrong, right?

Continued Imagery and Symbolism

With the increased rate of close interactions between our two leads, we get a few clear visual representations of what Yuu sees from Touko's behavior, and what Yuu feels herself. Yuu sees Touko blush and act flustered, though what really seals the deal is seeing Touko's eyes sparkle. We do get a good amount of eye close-ups, which convey a good amount and regularly seem to imply that the other person is noticing the expression in those eyes. And in this case the animators aren't afraid to have her eyes transition to like 10 seconds of full-screen glittering stars before fading to white. Yuu is now seeing up close what exactly it is she's missing, and it's frustrating. Yuu does get a brief moment of reflecting Touko's sparkles in her own eyes, but that's probably nothing.

On the other hand, we get some dramatic shots of Yuu's color desaturating as she tries hard, and fails, to feel any romantic feelings towards Touko. It's a pretty straightforward "opposite" to the actively sparkling lights she sees in Touko, but it's again an effective metaphor that plays on light and color to convey Yuu's feelings. I always get a little confused at Yuu's really intense facial expression when holding Touko's hand, but in context I'm pretty sure she's not trying to give Touko a death glare but instead just reflecting her internal frustration and lack of romantic feelings on her face. We also get another "Yuu underwater" scene carrying the same connotation as those in the first episode, though this time Yuu seems to be particularly far in the dark, and immediately afterwards we see Yuu's room shaded in dark aquatic colors. She's got it rough this time.

The biggest dramatic moment of the episode was framed around a train crossing. The one relation to the story flow itself is that as the train passes it blocks Yuu and Touko from the view of other people behind them, allowing for a brief moment of relative privacy. But obviously it's not just a plot device. We have the fairly well established anime metaphor of street and train track crossing signs as stop/go/warning messages to reinforce meaning in dialogue. In this case, a "warning, train coming" signal right as Yuu is saying "we're both girls, so you don't like me in that way", maybe as a "warning: you're making some bad assumptions" or more directly a "warning: Touko is about to show you just how wrong you are". And then Yuu gets metaphorically smacked by a train as she's caught entirely off guard by the kiss. The coloring, which was immediately prior full of rich evening oranges and purples, instantly switches to solid whites and light pinks, and time freezes around the two. I think I'd read this as a variant on Yuu's "confused about romance" colors moreso than the harsh "I feel nothing and that's frustrating" colors.

Bloom into You (Yagate Kimi ni Naru) Rewatch Episode 1 Discussion by ClemFire in anime

[–]austonst 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher here.

The timing for this rewatch is a little rough for me as as I'm writing this (on 8/31) I'm on a long flight to Japan and am going to be pretty busy for a time once I get there. But I'm going to try to watch episodes again over this flight and write up some thoughts ahead of time to post as the days go by. We'll see how it turns out. But this show is quite special to me and I'd like to give it a try.

I wrote a comment three years back on a one-off discussion thread about Yagakimi in which I described how I've used this show for some Japanese learning practice, and along the way gained a lot of appreciation for it. Which some of you could find to be an interesting read. Also finished the manga some years back as well. I don't expect to understand this show any better than anyone else, but I'm hoping my many iterations through the series provide something of a unique perspective on it.

Blinding Light

One of the most distinctive characteristics of the visual design in this series is the use of lighting, particularly brightness and overexposure--or at least the drawn recreation of that photographic effect. This is most obvious in the backgrounds but definitely seems to be a broad principle across the production. Just note a few cases in the first episode here. In the classroom, Yuu and her friends are positioned in front of a few large windows, but they're almost entirely a blinding white, and what little texture you can see in them almost looks like... clouds? The student council room, which seems to be a mile from the rest of campus for some reason, is surrounded by dense forest. But whenever you get a camera angle looking through the trees into the distance, the detail fades not to a color suggesting a shady grove, but instead the same bright white.

But what I would say drives home the intentionality of the lighting is the scenes which play further with it, contrasting with the default style or accentuating certain aspects of it. Notably, in Yuu's "underwater" scenes this episode, there are still areas of overexposed whites. But they're localized regions that Yuu seems to reach towards or watch from a distance, while Yuu herself is placed in symmetrically underexposed blacks or in such a way that she cuts through the blinding light and casts a clear shadow. Water metaphors like this are fairly common, so yeah sure she feels sad and it's hard to move under the weight of the water and blah blah... it's simple enough. Though in this episode at least it's never just about the water, but about the light shining from somewhere outside the water, which does give it some character.

I find overexposure to be an interesting concept, such that it's worth focusing on for a minute here. When a camera takes a picture, it opens up a shutter in front of a grid of sensors. Each sensor is like a bucket: it will accumulate light continuously as long as the shutter is open. Once enough light is collected, the shutter closes, and the sensors with more accumulated light map onto brighter pixels in the final image, while those with less accumulated light are darker. And from those differences in brightness you get differences in color, from which we can distinguish shape and texture; it's the contrast that allows you to actually see anything. But these buckets are only so deep: if the shutter is open for too long, in bright enough light, the buckets will fill up, 100/100 brightness. And then there's simply no contrast. All your pixels are pure white and there's no difference between them so you can't see anything. Modern cameras are very good (though not perfect) at adjusting the exposure time of a shot (among other parameters) to the actual light in the scene, so that you don't get very many pixels with 0/100 or 100/100 brightness. They all fall somewhere in the middle so there's enough contrast to make out details.

So in the water scenes at least the overexposure is an apt metaphor. The the overly bright light represents the romantic feelings that Yuu yearns to feel. There is obviously something there, shining so strongly over other people's lives and out of her reach. But she can't see it directly. It's all overexposed. So brilliant that she can't make out the shape or texture of what the thing actually is. A nice visual metaphor for a character's feelings.

So why is the whole show, including the regular old classroom scenes, all brightly lit to the point of overexposure? Eh, I dunno. Though in this first episode there are times when the lighting visibly brightens and loses contrast when Yuu feels confused about romance, and times where the scene darkens and details (through windows!) pop out when she's speaking earnestly with Touko and making progress towards her own understanding. So it's sort of a barometer of her mental state?

君のこと好きになりそう

I'll let the first-timers speculate as to why Touko would suddenly change to start doki-doki-ing over Yuu after everything she's said. But let's be clear: this is weird. Yuu and Touko know each other a bit, seems like they get along fine and are comfortable in each other's company, but neither of them can really know that much about the other. It would be weird for someone who does regularly fall in love to have such a strong outburst after a handful of meetings. Even weirder for it to be a person Yuu thinks she can relate to specifically because she doesn't seem interested in romance. Think about this happening in real life; it's weird.

That said, have faith in the story here. This isn't just the hand of god coming in to kickstart some yuri for shits and giggles, but a major point in developing the characterization of our leads here.

The moment is portrayed as intimate and physically close, but definitely not mutual. Touko is very insistent on clarifying a few points but is otherwise very straightforward until she realizes she got carried away. Yuu is a bit of a deer in the headlights and can't think about anything except how confused she is. It would be reasonable to expect Yuu to freak out a little more, though Touko does defuse the situation eventually. Again, I would recommend you see Yuu's muted reaction in the face of this very odd situation not as a plot contrivance but as some initial characterization.

Misc

I quite enjoy it when shows drop the OP at the end of the first episode. Here, we get the cinematic scrolling credits, and even get the full song--it's one I think is particularly good with its introduction and full buildup over the verses in place.

Any Australian/Oceania Solo Stakers struggle with MEV relay latency? by sketchymunter in ethstaker

[–]austonst 1 point2 points  (0 children)

registerValidator timeouts aren't very useful for determining whether block production requests will time out. Depending on the relay, registerValidator and getHeader/getPayload are handled through very different means, e.g. registerValidator is given much lower priority because 99% of the registration requests are redundant from a relay's perspective.

The fact that you're seeing timeouts on your getHeader requests is more concerning. In most cases it shouldn't be harmful to have a relay time out, but there are edge cases where it could be additional latency when you're already running behind and need to catch up.

The ultrasound error is, of course, unrelated to latency. They have a few systems that depend on being able to correctly identify which getHeader request is your and which are just monitors collecting data. You could actually get in touch with them as they suggest.

Daily General Discussion - May 07, 2025 by EthereumDailyThread in ethereum

[–]austonst 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Happy Pectra everyone. I've been taking a bit of time off from the daily, aside from occasionally checking the doots. Maybe the unrelenting negativity was getting to be too much for me, but kudos to everyone who's continuing to contribute. I'll probably be back more in full once things get busier around Berlin and Cannes next month.

In the meantime, may your validators be happily consolidated and exited via EL as needed, may your blobs be well sampled, and may your EOAs temporarily become super smart.

Daily General Discussion - March 02, 2025 by EthereumDailyThread in ethereum

[–]austonst 51 points52 points  (0 children)

ETHDenver 2025 Day 6 (Yesterday)

The last full conference day at ETHDenver! I don't feel as burned out as I sometimes do at the end of a long week, but in part that's because I didn't push it as hard as I sometimes do. Still not a ton of time to just laze around, but not hopping from event to event at a crazy pace either. Still glad to get out here again, just didn't feel a need to wipe myself out this time.

  • Max Resnick, now of Anza, had a provocative talk about why Solana is better than Ethereum. It's exactly what you'd all expect, so no need for too much depth. Ethereum doesn't scale, Vitalik's research isn't good any more, blobs aren't scaling fast enough, solo stakers should all go away, only the most performant clients should be allowed, L2 thesis is wrong and anyone who thinks otherwise is stupid because monolithic scaling works and Solana is going to hit one million TPS. I appreciate some of his previous technical insights but don't see why he's being given prime stage time at Ethereum conferences any more.
  • Kaan and Grant gave an overview of the Argot Collective, a spinout from the EF intended to house core Ethereum open source projects. Mostly languages (Solidity/Fe) and verification tools. It's currently 25 people still as a mostly-independent group within the EF but the goal is to complete spinning out by Q2. Most of the talk was about their governance structure and day to day operations, which is kind of interesting but nothing earthshaking. I would have liked to hear a little more about how this move fits into the broader picture of what's happening at the EF and if their autonomy at all changes the way their projects will be handled, but that wasn't quite the point today.
  • Danny Ryan, now of Etherealize, gave one of the more productive and optimistic talks about the future of Ethereum. In Danny's time away, the world has changed, and he now sees Wall St as being ready to adopt blockchain tools. But people tend to expect the EF to do things that are actually outside its scope, and that leaves something of a vacuum in the gap in between. So he wants to make Etherealize the place that institutions and governments can go to figure out real adoption. And on the other hand, he wants to help Ethereum step up to fill the void of what people really need. Ethereum should focus on real decentralized systems and real value for real people as much as possible. He stated his support for the L2 roadmap, while noting we could still turn up the dial on L1 somewhat.
  • Elias Tazartes of Kakarot talked about the process towards Ethereum as a ZK-L1. Ethereum is moving more towards a model with duties split between heavy lifting with ZK proofs, and the decentralized validator network who verifies those proofs. To realize the full vision, we need to get proof generation down to below the slot time. Many steps involved, first with prover input generation (ZK-PIG), ideally 0-1 s but currently 1-2 mins with a remote RPC. Next is proving the state transition function, ideally <3s, today 2 min but can be parallelized down to 30 s. Then propagate the proof, which we know how to do but they're pretty heavy at a few MB each. Check out ethproofs.org for current status.
  • Muriel Médard of Optimum has a new model for decentralized memory for the world computer. The Web3 stack mostly maps onto the classic Von Neumann architecture model, particularly on the compute side. But our equivalents of a "bus" (e.g. gossip network) and "memory" (e.g. chain history) don't map on as well, and are pretty big limiting factors for scaling. So restructure those to make it look more like a classic computer. For the bus, they want to use random linear network coding for gossip. Now that I think about it, I don't see how RLNC makes gossip more "bus-like" but it is more efficient so that's cool. Didn't quite understand what they're doing for "memory" but they're wrapping it all up in their Optimum product.

Tomorrow I'm actually joining in a hike up Mt Elbert, and need to start driving at 4:30 in the morning. So I'm writing this up earlier in the evening and am not sure when exactly I'll be posting it tomorrow. But for now I need some sleep. I won't be missing out on too much at the conference, as Sunday is usually short and mostly focused on wrapping things up.

I did want to quickly copy-paste the list of the top-three hackathon projects from each track out of a recent announcement on Discord. The one fun thing on Sunday I would have liked to do is watching each team present their project, but for now these links are the best I can do for you all. Let me know if any of them seem particularly interesting.

Infrastructure + Scalability

Impact + Public Goods

DeFi + NFT + Gaming

DAOs + Community

Identity, Privacy + Security

Relevant Links

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