Yubisaki to Renren Anime Ep 12 Review - Love of Communication
Written by Rei Caldombra 3/26/2024
Here we are at the last episode of this wonderful anime. The main focus of the episode is Yuki and Itsuomi’s relationship, spending most of its time on their date. While that aspect of things is great, I wish things had played out a bit differently for one of our other couples.
The date gave me exactly what I wanted the most from this, which is Yuki taking the lead and showing us a lot more of what makes her her. We got to see more of her perspective that was not related to gushing over Itsuomi. And as I pointed out previously I do think Itsuomi picked up on him always taking the lead. Which is why he said she should choose where they go. I believe he desired to see this side of Yuki just as much as we did as the audience.
It’s very satisfying to have what we want as the audience fits perfectly with what the characters also want. This is how you pull the audience into your world and characters. Here we get to see Yuki do what she likes as Itsuomi watches. It’s sweet seeing her excitement for the flowers and taking pictures, showing off this side of herself that us and Itsuomi did not know about. The date does an excellent job showing one of the series’ central themes, which is the happiness you get from learning about people's different perspectives and how that expands your horizons, enabling you to appreciate more from the world.
I think this is shown most directly by Itsuomi watching Yuki lose herself in the flowers above, then doing that himself. It is after seeing the deep joy that it brings Yuki that he is able to appreciate the beauty of the flowers more. And that in turn brings happiness to Yuki seeing the person she loves appreciating what she cares about.
Moving on from the date, we along with Yuki get to learn Itsuomi’s backstory. It is not anything deep or dramatic, but it works well for his character and the story without taking the risk of making a sob story that could fall flat or try so hard to be emotional that it clashes with the tone.
Like Yuki, Itsuomi is a person who believes in the complexity and weight of communication. They both had experiences, albeit different situations, where they struggled to fit into their environment due to communication issues. They both realize the importance of connections with people who can understand them. This puts into perspective why Itsuomi is willing to put in so much effort to properly communicate with Yuki. He understands how much of an impact being understood by someone has. It is why he seeks to understand her so deeply. To expand on messages to the viewer, it is showing why learning different languages can open you up to so many new experiences. This series is about the joy and connections you can gain by learning more about the world, and sharing what you’ve learned with others.
This backstory may not give mind-blowing revelations about Itsuomi’s character that makes you rethink who he is, as much of this could be inferred based on his personality and actions. One example being the reveal that he enjoys teaching lining up with his suggestion of the sign language camp trip back in episode 8, and how he was serious about teaching them despite it being a trip for fun. A backstory reveal does not have to have massive implications or revelations to be satisfying and meaningful. A simple one like this works excellently here.
But it is very sweet and to me is a satisfying way to bring his character and the themes of the story full circle. It also gets at a point that I’m sure will be gotten more into later about Yuki not having a dream or vision of her future, and plays into how she views herself as unworthy of Itsuomi. Our time with these two ends with a lovely montage of how Itsuomi and Yuki got here and how much they mean to each other. I really feel the strength of these two’s bond and the love between them.
As I’ve said in practically every episode, everything with these two is great. They are a perfectly executed couple, excellently presenting a very healthy and endearing romantic relationship while also using them to drive home the important themes of the story. Neither of these efforts undercuts the other in any way, it feels natural. I love this couple and it makes sense to focus hard on them for the final episode. I’m really going to miss seeing these two every week.
For everyone outside of the main couple, this episode confirms where they are now standing to mixed effect. I’ll get the disappointing one out of the way first.
I certainly wasn’t expecting this either Emma.
Shin and Emma got the short end of the stick and had their development majorly rushed. I am disappointed that Shin and Emma’s side of things got so little screen time in the finale. That short scene with his confession that we got last episode is the entire scene, rather than just the start of it like I was expecting. I honestly think it would’ve been better to have not shown this at all, it feels too much of a jump forward with how little we got to see of Emma processing his confession. Not only do we not see her properly reeling with her years-long crush Itsuomi dating someone else, but we do not get much perspective on why she would date Shin after years of platonic friendship.
This point about how they had similar experiences and should move forward from those experiences makes sense, I don’t have a problem with this scene on its own. But it’s not enough for the next scene of them to be them already dating. I can absolutely buy that they could get together, but I would’ve rather seen more of that before a confirmation that they are dating. Of course with only the 12 episodes they had, and only this episode after the last to do all this, it would not be enough time. This explains why we got so little since they wanted to end the season focusing on Yuki and Itsuomi. But if that is what they wanted to do, I would’ve rather waited to see more of this than to get a sudden jump in progress. This could have just ended on the scene of Emma talking to her coworkers. When this series has had so much fluid and natural progression between the characters, this stands out so much more as a mistake in execution. I didn’t feel as much satisfaction over them getting together as I would have if this had been given the time it needed. If it is done better in the manga that is great and look forward to reading that. But if this was shown earlier than in the manga for the sake of having a more conclusive ending for the anime, then I have pretty much been spoiled. Which is not ideal. It doesn’t completely ruin the finale or my feelings towards those two characters, but it is a bit of a sour note. This just doesn’t work for me and is the only blemish on this anime’s record.
The rest of the characters ended on good notes. With Itsuomi we get reinforcement of how he has grown and has a more positive outlook. He was willing to be honest with his friends about liking Yuki, which shows how he is opening up more. And we have Itsuomi’s final note of pursuing sign language certification.
The idea of him becoming an interpreter was brought up previously, so this is continuing a previous detail while also reinforcing how he is now through being wishy-washy about things he cares about. This little bit is all he really needed for his character to end in the anime on a satisfying note. He was a great character to watch grow and the clear highlight outside of the main couple.
Rin and Kyouya also have a very short scene, confirming they are now formally considering themselves dating. It does not feel like a sudden progression to me as we already had it shown that they are considering each other romantically but not putting a label to it. With nothing but positive things from Rin about their dates, it feels like a natural progression for us to be shown this here. They were already the couple who got the least focus, so I understand them not getting much time. And I don’t feel like they needed it considering how much they got previously. What makes the Itsuomi and Kyouya + Rin conclusions feel good is that they felt well paced previously and had the right amount of time given to them for what they needed, with the finale not feeling like anything was out of place. This is where Emma + Shin’s ending note fails. They felt like there was a lot more to say that was skipped over in favor of having a more impactful final note. It ends up having the opposite effect instead, leaving me unsatisfied.
While it may not have stuck a perfect landing, I did still enjoy this episode and consider it an acceptable way to end the season. I truly loved watching this show and consider it my favorite of the season. I will definitely be following along with the manga. Thanks for reading!
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Previous Yubisaki to Renren post: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/yubisaki-to-renren-ep-11-review-talks-with-old-friends?rq=yubisaki
