[DreamSword]

Just got done watching episodes 31 and 32, and, look, I'm not doing this on purpose.

But I really did not like these two episodes for the most part. The Shotaro stuff is great, for sure, but I did not care at all for everything surrounding it.

The catalysts for everything going on are things that I really just found to be stupid. Bito and his romance are things that the show portrays sympathetically when if I anything it just makes think of how stupid everyone involved is.

Where it really got aggravating was how characters note how kind Sokichi was in handling the situation, when I'd argue otherwise. Sokichi outright went "Not my problem" on the whole thing which is not kindness, it's letting his client, someone he was portrayed as being obsessively caring about, go and ruin his own life over something not even remotely worth it. "Hell of a man" my ass.

Meanwhile, when Shotaro tries to spare people's' feelings over the entire scenario, he's regarded as an idiot. It's an incredibly infuriating double standard made even more annoying by how I did not like Bito at all and wanted him to just get lost rather than learn any sort of lesson.

Adding even more to the overarching plot of the show not being the best, Wakana is now back to her old self suddenly, making the whole drug trip ordeal pretty pointless. And if memory serves, the scenes with her here are the point in which she fully turns to the side of Sonozaki's', which makes even less sense. Either she's in her right mind or not, and the show sure as heck isn't about to take responsibility either way.

But, it's not all bad. I did like how these episode very blatantly spell out how Shroud is being manipulative and always has been for anyone who didn't get why she does why she does, and again, Shotaro is wonderful here. His inner strength is on full display throughout this arc, wherein despite everything beating him down, he still does his best to do what he can, and keeps moving forward. That's one of the big lessons of the franchise as a whole, ontop of just being a wonderful character trait regardless.

It's just such a shame that all the negatives really detract from the great scenes these episodes otherwise have. Sokichi singing "Nobody's Perfect" is, on paper, something that's really emotionally powerful. But in the context of the Bito stuff it's a lesson that really falls flat at best and is an incredibly problematic viewpoint to have in regards to active abusers and criminals at worst. Heck, I'd almost forgotten that these episodes actually contain one of my favorite scenes in the show: Philip telling Shotaro that he loves Shotaro for who he is regardless of anything. Whether one reads it as platonic or romantic, it's wonderful.

Just... yeah. I really couldn't get past the negatives on this rewatch. Sorry.