Orange continued to rally this week, offering an episode that felt even more sharp than last week’s shrine visit disaster. Actually getting inside Kakeru’s head made for a poignant and claustrophobic experience, giving a real tangible weight to his feelings of guilt and hopelessness. Naho can’t tell Kakeru the truth because she’s Naho – Kakeru can’t tell his friends the truth because he’s trapped in a cycle of self-loathing that only isolates him more and more over time. Orange is handling its heaviest elements with some real sensitivity here.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my brief notes below!

“Even if someone dies, the world doesn’t change”

This framing from Kakeru’s perspective is very nice. His guilt is understandable, even as it’s misplaced – his mother was the one who made his life difficult

“She kind of reminds me of me. Maybe that’s why I’m so curious about her”

“Every day I think ‘I’d be better off dead.’” Kakeru confesses to his old friends, but they just laugh it off. They can’t deal with his pain

The music and lighting are really good in this episode

“Just living is the most painful thing”

This sequence puts Kakeru’s efforts to hide his pain in the most stark and understandable terms. He doesn’t want people to hate him, so he hides his feelings, and then lashes out, and that makes him feel even more guilty

“I never considered your feelings.” In the end, Kakeru and his mother were alike – they ended up hurting the people they loved while trying to be considerate

“If we hadn’t made a mistake somewhere, Kakeru would still be alive!” We want to believe the world follows a pattern we can influence