Highlights
- Despite some disappointing moments, significant moments shine through in the fourth episode of Girlfriend, Girlfriend’s festival outing.
- Nagisa and Naoya have a heartfelt conversation about the difficulties of their relationship, showcasing Nagisa’s ability to see things through.
- Saki’s irritation with Naoya’s other girlfriend hinders their romantic moment, but the episode ends with Saki expressing her love for Naoya.
The following contains spoilers for Girlfriend, Girlfriend Season 2, Episode 4, “Fireworks With the Girlfriends”, available to stream on Crunchyroll
The fourth episode of season 2 of Girlfriend, Girlfriend was the conclusion of the festival outing, and Saki’s biggest chance yet. A good portion of the episode is dedicated to her quest to finally kiss Naoya, but Girlfriend, Girlfriend falls into the same pitfall that many romance anime have in the past. Despite the disappointing conclusion to the episode; however, a number of significant moments do shine through.
Where one old trope would go on to hold the series back, another would showcase the uniqueness of the series, and Saki might not get another chance this good for a while.
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One Fell Swoop
Nagisa tells Saki that she’s got an idea related to them finding Naoya, and in episode 4, it’s revealed that they agreed that if Nagisa found him first, she’d spend a bit of time alone with him before Saki shows up. They designated a nearby park as their meeting point and split up, with Nagisa and Naoya finding each other first. They have an enthusiastic reunion before remembering something quite simple: it’s a festival, so their classmates and schoolmates are bound to be in the area, and they can’t let their guard down when it comes to preserving the secret of their relationship. The moment was insignificant as Nagisa and Naoya were able to quickly slip away without interrogation; even though they were spotted by one of Saki’s friends, and the encounter could very likely have no effect whatsoever on the story.
Naoya’s mentality for this outing has been to maximize – make the most memories, and spoil both girlfriends in various ways, so he’s rather bold in his advances. He holds Nagisa’s hand as they watch the fireworks, with the situation becoming something like turn-based combat as they try to one-up each other’s advances, leading to a quick evolution from hand-holding to Naoya literally holding Nagisa in his arms. Realizing that they’re not really watching the fireworks like this, the two sit back down and have a heartfelt conversation. When Nagisa tells Naoya that she’s happy to be there with him, he feels guilty because of the shroud of secrecy he’s put on their relationship. She acknowledges the inherent difficulty of their dynamic, but she assures him that she thinks it’s worth it if she gets to be with him going forward, showcasing her ability to see things through. Saki arrives not too long after, asking about what Naoya and Nagisa were up to, but he promised Nagisa that he won’t tell Saki about their time together. In a sense, Nagisa’s relationship with Naoya progressed several leaps and bounds from that single moment.
Mood Killer
When he suggests that they start fresh, set the mood, make some memories and cap them off with the kiss they’ve been working so hard to facilitate, Saki’s irritation at the progression of the relationship between Naoya and his other girlfriend makes her less receptive to his affection. Naoya is his usual, intense self, focused on the goal that is achieving the “right mood” for the kiss, so he’s unable to see things from Saki’s perspective. After some silly arguing, Saki takes things into her own hands and sits down to watch the fireworks; however, instead of the romantic atmosphere that Nagisa and Naoya cultivated organically, the interactions of Naoya and Saki are doused with comedy as she can’t help but smell other girls on him, and wonder.
Saki could hilariously pinpoint the source of each scent, except for that of the lost girl Naoya helped in the previous episode, and her earlier attempts at calming herself down crumble at the wafting of these foreign scents. She remembers that this is their first festival since they started dating, even though they’d attended countless together as childhood friends, this is different because they’re also older. With the fireworks in full-force, and the couple getting cozy, it looks like the kiss is finally going to happen, but Girlfriend, Girlfriend does what many romance anime would do in this kind of moment, creating a means to back away from the intensity of such a romantic moment through humour. With Nagisa’s scent still fresh on Naoya’s shirt, Saki is reminded that she no longer has him to herself, and with that, the fireworks show ends.
Try Again
Naoya jets off to buy fireworks and Saki is initially disappointed at the clichéd situation, but somehow this seems easier for her to deal with without getting overwhelmed. Naoya tries to open some dialogue about how Saki feels, given that he’s always inconveniencing her with the two-timing, which stands to be a good emotional moment for them, but humour punctuates their scenes in a way that keeps interrupting the deepening of their emotional connection. Even when he asks Saki if she’s in pain because of it, his simplistic response to her asking hypothetically what he’d do if she were in fact in pain undercuts the seriousness of the conversation.
The sadness in Saki’s expression is palpable, and her realization that she can’t have Naoya to herself is paralleled by the dying of the sprinkler firework she’s holding. She tells Naoya that she loves him, and lights a new one when talking about the uncertainty of their polyamorous relationship, but claims that she’s certain that he will continue loving her as he has been. Despite the difficulty of the conversation, Saki tells Naoya that she’s content, and he’s driven to tears as he promises to make her happy. They share a short hug, which would’ve been the perfect moment for Saki to kiss him, but she pushes him away, using the others as an excuse to cut things short. When Shino asks about it, Saki uses humor to deflect once again, leaving her best friend wondering if she really is serious about Naoya. While getting two vastly different fireworks scenes, the lack of follow-through from Saki took away from what was a good episode overall.
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