[Aquifina]

I thought this was a fun episode, even if Rikka's serious case of denial seemed a bit odd to me at first, considering how the previous episode ended. That being said, Nibutani's explanation that Rikka just couldn't reconcile her romantic feelings with her fantasy world struck me as a plausible enough explanation.

Yuuta was dense, but not overly so. His error in thinking that Rikka was simply embarrassed at him finding out about her past was believable, and most importantly, he tries at various points to deal with the problem--only to be further perplexed by Rikka's behavior. But, in the end, he found a way to break through, even if it required some prodding by Nibutani.

Nibutani was great this ep. While obviously more mature than the clueless Rikka, she's not as savvy as she thinks, relying on manga for romantic instruction. But she certainly deserves credit for being willing to help Rikka out, and knowing exactly how to deal with her, as opposed to being just infuriated by her chuunibyou.

I'm curious as to how the rest of the season plays out. I get the feeling a lot of viewers see this ep. as a de facto confession on both sides; I'm not so sure of that.

Rikka clearly has come to terms with what she feels; Yuuta may be still clueless, though. He is by no means the frustratingly clueless male anime lead, but his actions toward Rikka has been more akin to a protective older brother than a romantic love interest--indeed, he seems to be filling the role Touka ideally would fill, but who seems unable to do so due to a mistaken view of what her older sisters should be like.

Furthermore, Rikka has done a terrible (i.e. nonexistent) job at getting him out of that mindset. Towards Yuuta, Rikka has had moments of jealousy, episodes of almost painful embarrassment; and times when she's been emotionally vulnerable--but we've never seen her flirt with Yuuta, since that first enigmatic scene where they met on the balcony and Yuuta was too surprised to notice. Aside from that, there was the dere-dere moment at the end of ep. 8, but Yuuta wasn't aware of it, and even the hug she gives Yuuta at the end of ep. 9 might be interpreted by Yuuta as the type of thing Rikka would do if she were reunited with her father. Compare this with the way Chitanda invades Oreki's personal space, and how she shows off her kimono in Hyouka.

Indeed, I think the novel dealt better with the issue of how Yuuta got interested in Rikka, because in the anime, we don't see many signs of Yuuta being attracted to Rikka, who after all is quite cute. We see him frustrated; we see him helpful; we see him sympathetic; we see him fiercely protective, but I at least can't recall any moments when we see Yuuta abashedly admiring Rikka for her looks. As a couple, of course, Yuuta should be the level-headed one, but the writers have made him too level-headed in my opinion; I wish we'd see him at least somewhat nervous and excited in Rikka's presence. He's disappointed he doesn't get a kiss in the last episode, and he makes a note of how they're both alone at the start of the evening, but that's it. Indeed, Touka points out that Yuuta's preferred body type in women is actually rather different from Rikka, judging by his reading material.

In other words, while they're definitely closer, are they really dating? I'm not so sure about that, and the good thing is that may give the series some room to work with in terms of further development.

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A few more points, partly because I thought my last post might have come off as too negative.

I really did find this episode a delight to watch. The balance of comedy and romance was extremely well done, especially Rikka's comic attempts at using Nibutani's advice, with zero success. As was Rikka preposterous attempt to blame her feelings on some kind of villainous aura emanating from Yuuta. The fight scene was also hilarious, seeing as it ended yet again with Rikka's simple incompetence. And while most of the side characters continue to have almost zero effect on the main plot and pairing, they still got fun comic moments.