Today we return to the so-far excellent Bloom Into You, and take another stab at surviving the teenage experience! The show’s first episode demonstrated a variety of unique strengths, from its attractive backgrounds and purposeful direction to its fairly convincing characterization and dialogue. Yuu’s insecurities and overall personality already feel reasonably well established, though she’s still mostly been characterized in terms of her feelings towards romance. Touko is a bit further away from us, but that’s expected and intentional – episode one was largely from Yuu’s perspective, and Touko is a mystery to Yuu.

The show is also demonstrating an extremely welcome sensitivity when it comes to gay relationships. I’m used to the inherently salacious “this is such a scandal” approach of shows like Citrus or Love To-Lie Angle, but here, two girls potentially being in love is treated with genuine sensitivity. Not only are Yuu and Touko’s feelings treated with respect, but the show has already naturally illustrated the inherent social pressure to conform to your assumed sexuality. Scenes like Yuu’s friends lamenting that her lack of interest in boys means they “can’t have girl talk” demonstrate how young gay people aren’t just beset by out-and-out bullies and bigots; the base assumptions of a heteronormative society can leave us isolated even from our closest friends.

Finally, I’m also very intrigued by Bloom Into You’s fractured relationship with shoujo storytelling. The show opened with Yuu outright declaring her fascination with love as depicted in adolescent fiction, and the first episode constantly presented a negotiation between interrogating shoujo storytelling and outright embracing it for its own purposes (like for Yuu’s fairy tale introduction to Touko). I’m fascinated by the uneasy relationship between not just our lives and our expectations, but also reality and the fictions we make of it, so Bloom Into You’s restless dance with fantasy is also very compelling to me. With all that said, let’s dive into another episode!

Episode 2

We open with Yuu’s friends chatting about incidental stuff. Bloom Into You has so far been very good about including lots of idle conversations that both naturally flesh out the relationships between these characters and enhance the solidity of the overall world

And now we have Yuu lamenting the duties of a campaign manager, pulling us right back to the ongoing conflict

An extremely teenage moment. Yuu: “Why does she like me?” Her closest friends: “No idea”

Yuu raises a point that was naturally implied by the last episode – why didn’t Touko choose Saeki to help her, since Saeki has already declared she wants to keep supporting Touko. Well, there’s an easy source of drama

And our last pre-OP shot lingers on Saeki herself. There we go

The OP imagery takes the title very literally, with vines and flowers literally growing above Yuu in the classroom. It’s not much of a metaphor, but it does echo the aesthetic of the student council building

Granted, I’m sure this would all have more resonance if I knew anything about flower language. Fortunately, my friend Emily happens to be an expert on this subject, and has already written an excellent post engaging with the imagery of this OP

The imagery is direct enough when it comes to Saeki, though. Looking up to Touko and reaching out to her, only to be rejected. Presumably she’ll take her frustration out on Yuu, which would be a pretty standard place to take this show’s conflicts

Ooh, gorgeous shots in the hallways, seriously abusing the golden hour

Saeki’s first name is Sayaka. We catch up with her sulking in gym class. I’m glad they’re not drawing out the reveal of her antagonism

“Aren’t you being a bit careless about this election?” Personal interest aside, Sayaka’s critique is perfectly reasonable. Touko barely knows Yuu, and Yuu probably has her own concerns as a first year – Touko’s choice just doesn’t make much sense

Touko offers a genuinely reasonable counterpoint – if the elections are in May, the first years will have had no time to gain an impression of the candidates. By making her representative a first year, Touko can catch their attention

I’m liking Touko’s characterization here. Yuu sees her as this incredibly refined, elegant lady, but with Sayaka she’s coming across as approachable, crafty, and a bit of a tomboy

Touko talking about establishing a greater trust with Yuu while Sayaka literally tends to her ponytail. Her maiden in waiting

“Both you and Touko are awesome! You’re so in sync!” This scene is laying it on a little thick

“Don’t you feel our trust in each other is deep enough already?” Touko is a smooth one. Her quick, well-chosen answers here form a stark contrast with her confession to Yuu

Sayaka offers Yuu a draft for her speech

“I’m sure if it was you, you’d do better.” “That’s probably true.” Sayaka with the mercy kill

Yuu and Touko’s designs are each well-chosen to emphasize their initial roles in this narrative. Yuu’s tiny pigtails imply youth and vulnerability, while Touko’s long black hair implies regal authority

Yuu at last asks the question. “What was that thing the other day?” These conversations about “why she chose me” are entirely dishonest without putting that on the table, so I’m glad to see her willing to address it. Ironic that the Yuu of episode one, who hadn’t been given confidence by Touko, likely wouldn’t be able to bring this up

Touko, to her credit, doesn’t deny it. She instead simply admits she blurted it out in the moment

Excellent sequence here, as Yuu’s denial of any potential romance mingles with the siren for the approaching train, implying Touko’s far more heated thoughts

God DAMN this moment is good. I love their illustration of time stopping as Touko kisses her – from the rich golden hour oranges, we jump instantly to light pastels, implying that this at last is a moment that feels like it comes from a romance story. Along with the color work, the shift from the sirens and rush of the train passing to the silence here naturally implies how the rest of the world fades away in a moment like this

Hah, I love this one guy who just briefly glances over at the pair of them as he passes, and then goes back to minding his own business

Ahaha they’re so awkward now. Beautiful

And we jump to their first campaign meeting. It appears Touko’s ultimate answer to “why did you choose me” was “you’re cute and I want to kiss you”

They emphasize the male student Maki’s presence both at the beginning and ending of this scene, so presumably he’ll rise in importance eventually

Touko apologizes. Good. I’m glad she (and this show by extension) understand she’s been overstepping her bounds with Yuu, and putting her in consistently uncomfortable situations

Yuu agrees to continue being the campaign manager. In truth, this should probably be the moment she steps out, but Yuu’s insecurity, need for this friendship, and general desire to please her superiors makes her agreement here feel totally in-character

The backgrounds feel even more beautiful this episode than the first. Bloom Into You’s rich colors and consistent soft focus match wonderfully with the suburban sprawl of this town

Yuu reflects on her first kiss: “I didn’t feel a thing.” That feels very true to a lot of adolescent experiences – we expect them to be given the momentous fanfare of great emotional theater, but oftentimes stuff just happens and oh, I guess that was my first kiss

It’s interesting that her recollection of the moment doesn’t really match at all with the actual portrayal of the moment itself. Is she lying to herself, or was that all Touko’s perspective?

Also interesting how the assumption here that girl-girl relationships will be platonic is likely allowing them to maintain a “normal” friendship, which Touko facilitates by never mentioning her feelings outside of those rare moments. Instead of existing in perpetual romantic tension, they can fall back into the relationship that’s actually expected of them

“That face was so calm, the same as the day I first met her. It was that face that made me think she was the same as me.” Yep. Touko is extremely good at putting up a professional mask

Yuu notices the mask fail when she brushes Touko’s hand

She even grabs her hand, but still feels nothing. In a show so rich with color, it makes sense that Yuu’s lack of feeling is presented as a fade to grayscale

And now Yuu is alone again. She’s not even mad that Touko confessed to or kissed her; she’s just lonely because Touko doesn’t share her own feelings of emptiness

Touko acknowledges that Yuu won’t love her before Yuu can even say it. Touko is in general a much more emotionally intelligent person, it seems

Yuu agrees to let herself be loved. “This girl really is unfair.” Yeah Yuu, I’m glad you grasped that, at least

And Done

Hot damn, that episode was even better than the first one! While the first episode had to dedicate a great deal of its running time to simply establishing Yuu’s condition and situation, this one was absolutely brimming with well-illustrated little conversations that did a great job of building on both her and Touko’s personalities. While Sayaka’s rivalry doesn’t really seem all that engaging yet, I felt this episode did a terrific job of illustrating Touko’s many-faced personality. It’s no surprise that Yuu can’t fully read her; Touko is very good at concealing herself, and Yuu just doesn’t seem that gifted when it comes to reading emotions. On top of that, I also liked how this episode directly acknowledged that Touko’s persistent actions were an unfair imposition on Yuu. People often push others in unwanted ways in situations like this, and Bloom Into You acknowledged the reality of that while also stressing that Touko’s actions were a genuine burden to Yuu. Bloom Into You remains as thoughtful and well-observed as ever in its second episode!

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