Folks, the moment has arrived. At last, we’re gearing up to explore the final episode of Bloom Into You, and see how this charmingly on-the-nose theater production plays out. Last episode saw Yuu experiencing a crucial and long-awaited turn, as she at last went against Touko’s overt wishes in order to try and make her friend embrace her own identity.

Through doing this, Yuu also neatly managed to embrace her own identity. Yuu started this series unsure of either who she currently was or who she wanted to become, with the twin pressures of her lack of romantic inclinations and lack of professional aspirations embodying each of those feelings. Touko, someone who has made a willful point of not embracing any personal selfhood at all, likely saw a lot of herself in Yuu, thus prompting her initial combined declaration of “I love you” and “please, never change your feelings for me.” But while Touko has spent this season doggedly defending her non-identity, Yuu’s insecurities were never based in any permanent or chosen truth about herself – they were just things a lot of people feel as a high schooler, and things she’s subsequently started to grow past.

While Touko was once able to use her confidence and ultimatums to make Yuu obey her (something Yuu accepted more or less willingly, given her own desire for direction), Yuu has at this point gained such confidence and determination that she’s willing to potentially sacrifice her relationship with Touko in order to help Touko grow. Though Yuu herself describes this instinct as “selfishness,” we in the audience can clearly see it as a combination of selflessness, strong determination, and love. If you really, truly believe you are working in someone’s best interests, trying to help them against their wishes is never “selfish.” If your desire to help someone is greater than your desire to stay by their side, congratulations, you’ve found love. Whether Yuu realizes that or not, I’m thrilled to see her embracing her own desires, and can’t wait to see how this performance plays out. Let’s explore the finale of Bloom Into You!

Episode 13

A roar of engines across a blue sky, smoke trails, and then Touko’s hand appears, shielding her from the sun. Once again our episode opens with a tonal barrage, but this one combines the show’s consistent “sounds of summer” with the imposing sound of plane engines and a humbling angle straight up at the sky. The result is both the usual tonal table-setting and an added sense of dramatic urgency and foreboding, as if Touko is surveying a great beast she’ll have to overcome

Touko is at her sister’s grave. “I’ll pull this off in your stead, and then I’ll…” Her words trail off, as she truly doesn’t know what she’ll do when she finishes play-acting her sister’s life. And then we cut to dried cicada wings flowing down a stream, a clear metaphor for the end of summer that here doubles as a metaphor for the end of Touko’s pre-written life, along with a menacing hint at where her thoughts might go next

Koyomi and Yuu stop by Miyako’s cafe. This story has such a steady, established collection of main sets that it could probably work as a stage play in its own right – you could probably “perform” this whole story with the classroom, the student council office, this cafe, Yuu’s home, and the train crossing

It turns out Yuu the nurse will end up with a lot more lines in the revised play, unsurprisingly

I always get a little giddy when characters talk about the craft of writing, since that’s my deal, but Koyomi’s play is pretty much entirely designed as a metaphor for the main crew, and so this story unsurprisingly doesn’t really engage with Koyomi’s active writing choices

“I want to see Nanami… I think. But I can’t be the one to…” This feels like a shift, if only a slight one. I feel like earlier, Yuu would have been genuinely afraid for her own sake to ask Touko to hang out. Now, I think she’s more considering Touko’s feelings than feeling anxious in her own right

Cute beat as this perspective shot “nods” in response to Koyomi’s question

The writing process is long and involved and often extremely boring, so I’m not surprised that a lot of media properties shorthand the creative essence of writing a story into “I just need to come up with the perfect title.” Titles can be serendipitous sudden realizations, but most of writing is just banging your head against the page. Not so much romance there

(I’m exaggerating, of course. You can check out my Princess Tutu writeups if you want my real feelings on how much writing rules/sucks)

As Yuu and Koyomi exit stage right, Touko and Sayaka enter from the left

I really love Sayaka’s dialogue. It’s always so clear how gently she treats Touko, and also what she truly wants to know

The camera focuses in closely on Sayaka’s physical movements as she pushes further, and asks what Mio was like. The focus on slight movement emphasizes the delicacy with which she’s proceeding

All of the cast can’t help but frame their thoughts in terms of the play now, which means they’re basically actively discussing the themes of their own show

Oof, killer shot as we see Touko retreating in Nanami’s eyes, then Nanami’s own hand briefly reaching out to her, only to fall

This show’s sunset sequences are always so good. I love the array of burnt orange colors they use for the sky

With the play so close, Touko can’t help but consider what she’ll do after Mio’s script has been played out. The episode consistently expresses her lack of direction through a sequence of shots portraying her face from several angles, as if these were the paths she’s choosing between

And this reprise of the opening scene again ends on an icon of menace, as she focuses in on the train tracks while a train approaches

In the end, it’s Yuu who has the courage to actually text Touko

Miyako’s insecurity about Riko working with her male theater associate prompts a casual discussion of Riko’s feelings on her own bisexuality. This show is so damn good, and so maddeningly ahead of the curve. Other character dramas have a lot of catching up to do!

The story would “work” without these two, but they’re such a welcome, refreshing counterpoint to the heightened insecurities and general melodrama of the teenage characters. They are the ultimate assurance that as real as Yuu and Touko’s anxious feelings are now, there is something waiting on the other side

Touko and Yuu go on one of the most classic anime dates, the aquarium trip

Touko doesn’t know what a flapjack octopus is, what a loser

We’re over halfway through the finale and our leads are debating getting splashed by dolphins. This is not the finale I was expecting!

Warm pinks and yellows for the montage of this idyllic date sequence. This show is always on point when it comes to colors

Touko starts gushing about how much she’s enjoying yourself, ending on “I love you, Yuu.” And after hesitating for a moment, Yuu uses this line to reset both of them back to their general neutral, replying with the expected “I’m amazed you can say that out loud.” Yuu has very quickly learned to hide her true feelings, and play the part she once accepted naturally

Touko says she feels relieved when she says she’s in love with someone, and then clarifies that her relief is at being able to love someone. And then she further offers the natural analysis of that feeling – that she feels relieved because this is something her sister never did, something that is emotionally true to her. Touko doesn’t know who she herself is in an intellectual sense, but when she feels something strongly, she has the comfort of knowing that that feeling is a part of her true self

“Even if everything else about me is a lie, I can say, without a doubt, that the part that loves you is truly me.” God, what a line

This is a contradiction relative to her central desire to emulate her sister, but Yuu offers “isn’t it alright to be contradictory sometimes?” That is the message of the play, after all

More of Bloom Into You’s classic symmetrical layouts, with Yuu and Touko pressed close together and contrasted against a blank wall, as if they were already on stage. Are we seriously not going to get to the actual play performance by the end of this episode?

Granted, it’s not like we need the actual production – the lines and these two characters are the crux of it. Still a big surprise, though

Instead of saying “all we know about you is your girlfriend’s birthday,” Yuu just offers a vague “I don’t know.” No cheap narrative setups implying a cheap narrative conclusion this time

And in the guise of the nurse, Yuu asks the question she’s truly wanted to: “do you have to choose between these selves?”

But before she can really press Touko, their solitude is broken

As Yuu walks away, the screen shifts as if she’s disappearing into a sea where Touko can’t reach her. It’s an echo of the imagery this show initially used to illustrate Yuu’s sense of emotional distance from her friends, here demonstrating Touko realizing that Yuu may actually be growing past her

Wait, what, credits? CREDITS!?!

I kinda love that Yuu’s actually a pretty big geek when it comes to marine animals. Nice bit of personal color

And now that metaphor reaches a positive fruition, as Yuu reaches back and takes Touko’s hand, leading her personally into this unknown sea

We also tie up the title-deciding thread with Yuu’s “I Only Know You”

And Done

NO. I REFUSE. UNACCEPTABLE. THE SEASON IS NOT ALLOWED TO END THERE!

Well crap. I’ve spent so much time gushing over how smartly constructed this narrative is, I almost forgot that it was an adaptation of a continuing manga, and that there was no way it’d actually resolve all of its dramatic threads here. Instead, we basically got a placeholder ending, with little concessions like finding the title, Yuu’s renewed resolve, and the resolution of that ocean metaphor standing in for a fully satisfying ending. Maki still hasn’t really been used by the story, Sayaka’s in limbo, and we didn’t even get to the play. THIS IS INTOLERABLE!

And yet, in spite of my chief reaction to this conclusion being a loud WHERE IS SEASON TWO, this was still a pretty great episode in its own right. Yuu’s newfound personal conviction is already shifting the dynamic between her and Touko in a variety of compelling ways, and it’s looking like we’ve finally reached the point where Touko, inspired by the upcoming conclusion of her sister’s legacy, is starting to accept Yuu’s help. This didn’t really feel like a finale, because it wasn’t really one – at I guess, I’d say we stopped about two thirds of the way through the “play arc,” and the show simply had to do its best instilling that particular moment with some finality. But inconclusive season endings aside, this has been a wonderful journey from start to finish, and one of the most consistently incisive character dramas of recent years.

I suppose it’s a credit to this show’s character writing and general narrative crispness that I’m so friggin’ furious right now, and so desperate for a continuation. Bloom Into You’s first season explored the messiness of discovering your identity with uncommon grace, directly interrogating the social pressures exerted on young queer people engaging with their feelings, as well as how your own self-image and familial pressure can exert a similar pull. It was smart and pointed without being didactic, poignant throughout, and beautiful. I dearly hope we receive a second season!

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