Glasslip: Episode 05-07 Review

Streaming Allegiance: Crunchyroll
Reconnaissance Report by: Jessica Craven
Progress: Episode 07

Although he was likely already aware, Yanagi finally explicity confesses her love to Yukinari in episode 05. It seems that she has already accepted that her love will not be returned since Yukinari confessed to Touko, and although Touko rejected him, Yukinari is still hung up over her. However, Touko and Kakeru  have developed feelings for each other in the midst of this already-complicated love dynamic. And it is indeed quite dramatic, as Yukinari went so far as to punch Kakeru in the face. In his brashness, Kakeru yells at Yukinari that he already has Yanagi. Yanagi then slaps Kakeru; I’d say he deserved that one more. Yanagi already feels sort of worthless because two guys are fighting over Touko, her other friends Sacchan and Hiro are dating, and she is alone in the worst way – surrounded by people that really do not pay her any heed at all. Touko does try to be there for her, but its sort of a double-edged sword since the two boys follow her. Speaking of Sacchan and Hiro, Sacchan does become hospitalized as Touko envisioned, but it is just for tests. Hiro stays with her a lot, and Sacchan tells her mother that he is her boyfriend.

I personally think that this much love drama is getting a bit overwhelming. Some of the characters, especially Yukinari and Yanagi, are becoming very frustrating to me. I have never particularly liked Yukinari, because he always scowls and never talks about anything but his disdain for someone else, especially Kakeru. He is simply a moody teenager. This may be realistic, but he is the worst kind of teen in my opinion. In addition, Yanagi is manipulative and does things that do not make sense. At the end of episode 7, she angrily tells Kakeru that it is his fault that Yukinari is not attractive any more. That is a really vague statement, but I am pretty sure she meant that he is taking attention away from Yukinari. As far as that goes, it is really Yukinari’s own fault that he will not take control of his own life, and instead of trying to help him better himself, Yanagi blames other people. It is a really messed up dynamic. I think what really makes it frustrating to me is that the writer of this series keeps piling drama on and on and on, and never resolves any of it. I know that is a technique used to keep people hooked, but there is only so much of it you can do before viewers get too overwhelmed.

On top of all that, apparently most everyone except Touko hates Kakeru. Yukinari and Yanagi definitely do,  but apparently Sacchan does as well. She tried to manipulate the other friends into crashing Touko and Kakeru’s date because she thinks Kakeru is breaking them all apart. This is unlike what we have seen of her so far, as Hiro basically points out to her. And I really do not think it is all Kakeru’s fault -it’s a complicated mess of a lot of problems, mostly that revolve around Yukinari and Yanagi. But Sacchan adding her own manipulations to the mix is making too much drama…on top of already too much drama.

That being said, there are other aspects of these last episodes that I have really enjoyed. I think that Sacchan and Hiro’s relationship is still really adorable and entertaining to watch, like how red his face got when Sacchan called him her boyfriend. I have also increasingly grown interested in Kakeru, and we are steadily getting more insight into his life. His mom finally comes home and turns out she is a traveling pianist –  this was not really made clear before now, so I thought she was a pianist who had died. Kakeru also reveals that the “fragments of the future” are at least in some respects pieces of the person he wants to be, and I think it is an interesting metaphor for the process of growing up. The artwork continues to be very well drawn and colored, and reminds me a bit of the artwork of Kosuge Fujishima, which is a huge compliment (seriously, look him up). In some scenes, I think CGI is used in the background, which obviously gives buildings and such a super realistic appearance, but is a little uncanny.

Overall, I still really like Glasslip, and want to know what happens next. Touko has had a vision that Kakeru will fall from a high place, which she told him about and is trying to save him from. He says that the future can not be changed, but we still are not really sure of the nature of their visions, so perhaps it can. I hope nothing ill befalls him, at least. And I also do indeed hope that some of the drama is resolved so I can go back to enjoying the series more.

Score: 7.50