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Originally Posted by homurabu
same here. i hope the conversation with Dera and with Midori's encouragement, he would at least intereact with her normally like how friends do. because i don't really like the current Mochizou. it kinda turns me off tbh.
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I really don't think Mochizou normally acts as flustered with Tamako as he does in this ep. He even teases Tamako a bit when she's yelling slogans to sell mochi, and it's clear they were close when they were younger (and when he wasn't so self-conscious). He's obviously helped her with swimming in the past, and he's familiar with the potential downsides to her general airheadedness--even though he probably finds it more endearing than anything else. The Mochizou we saw filming the commercial strikes me as more his "normal" self. As Dera puts it, his heart is boiling over from the season, and he's a bit overwhelmed.
While I normally dislike indecisive male characters in anime, I'll cut Mochizou some slack here. It seems fairly certain his confession would probably go nowhere at this point; Tamako would probably be mystified by it. I don't think it would really cause any sort of serious problem; it wouldn't be like a rejection, and they would still be friends, but it would be a lot of unnecessary awkwardness (mostly for him). Conceding defeat to Midori so easily is harder to excuse, but the reality is she has the advantage of being one of Tamako's female friends, making their regular interaction less socially awkward (however one wants to interpret the real meaning of Midori's feelings). Like other posters, I think some commentators are using too much of a western lens that emphasizes decisiveness in these sorts of situations.
This series obviously wants to avoid real romantic conflict, and the open ending with Midori and Mochizou coming to an understanding with each other, but maintaining the status quo with Tamako seemed to strike the right tone. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how the series ends, but I do want to see another episode where we see Mochizou as less a lovestruck and shy teenage boy, but someone with dreams and goals of his own.