Say, I Love You Part 2 Episodes 5-8

Mei Tachibana has done the impossible: she has become the girlfriend of the most popular boy in school, Yamato Kurosawa.  For a girl who hasn’t had many positive friendships in her life, this is a brand new experience and Yamato seems keen to show Mei at every chance that he is in love with her and her alone.  That’s not to say there aren’t challenges ahead for these two.  Yamato’s popularity paints a target on Mei’s back, with almost every girl wanting Yamato for themselves.  And when a beautiful model transfers in, with her sights set on Yamato, will a steamy photoshoot between the two of them
cause Mei to abandon her new romance just as its beginning?

Any kind of story about Romance is bound to be a roller coaster of emotions.  Mismatched couple meets, falls in love, have some fun, run into trouble, nearly break up because of trouble, ends up staying together stronger than before, it’s a tale as old as time.  It only makes sense that Say, I Love You is headed into the middle portion of that story outline in it’s middle third of the series.  But while this all feels very familiar and thus a little predictable, the progress Mei is showing because of it is what’s keeping me invested, that and the actual revelation that not every single person in her school is an absolute asshat who’s always against her.
 
The real meat of this second set of episodes was Yamato being poached by popular model Megumi Kitagawa to become a Male Model to help her with photoshoots.  I’m not surprised Yamato was pushed to this, given he is a handsome guy and definitely someone the camera would love.  But Yamato again shows why he’s the biggest hurdle of Say, I Love You.  His “Yes Man” side has threatened him in a way he never thought possible because, as Mei realizes at the end, the two of them are both very “new to “love”.  So yeah, him going to hang out with Megumi and have dinner with her on multiple occasions might rub Mei the wrong way, especially when the school finds out and everyone just finds another excuse to gossip about why Mei is the wrong choice for Yamato.  I understand why Yamato doesn’t want to say “No” to anyone who needs help but the truth is that attitude almost lost him Mei and it would’ve been mostly his fault.
 
You can fault Mei for being quiet about her true feelings but remember, she’s still new to having friends much less an actual boyfriend.  But she does have friends and some of this sets best moments came when Asami and Aiko (who i guess everyones cool with now?) recognize her seriously troubled Mei is and come to her to talk.  It’s a far cry from earlier flashback scenes where Mei was surrounded by kids and belittled and ostrasized for no reason.  Now she’s embraced, by both Asami and Aiko, both of whom have come to care for Mei in their own way.  Aiko most certainly stepped up, not waiting for Mei to come forward to Yamato, and confronted the idiot personally.  The look of shock on Yamato’s face as Aiko laid it all out for him was excellent and he should know better.  The girl who once saw Mei as her biggest rival for his affections actively sides with her to keep her romance going.  It’s good stuff.  The question now is will all of this help keep Mei and Yamato together?  Cause right now the ground is shaky but if the old trends and tropes are what they are, yeah they’ll be fine.
 
There were two other big developments in this set.  The first was Mei meeting Yamato’s little sister, Nagi.  Turns out Nagi and Mei have plenty in common: Friends who aren’t really friends.  Although in Nagi’s case, everyone just wanted to hang out and Nagi’s place but never with her…even elementary school kids are jerks in this show.  It was a perfect starting point for the two to bond over and wow it was magical.  Mei and Nagi slowly brought their walls down and it was Mei who initiated most of the conversation, making another genuine friend and giving a little girl hope for her future.  Honestly, it was probably my favorite episode of the series so far.  Also helps that this show loves showing adorable Cats and they became a focal point of that episode, the tiny kitten Kuro meeting Mei’s cat Marshmallow.  Seeing them curled up, napping together next to Mei and Nagi was so cute.  The other development that didn’t get a whole episode to it was the introduction of Kai Takemura, who could very well be Yamato’s old bff who left him after Yamato never watched his back in Middle School.  He’s an eccentric one who catches Mei totally off guard…but that’s about all we get from him in his brief scene with Mei at the bakery.  Is it Mei’s turn to be charmed by someone who wont have many female distractions like Yamato?  At this point Yamato deserves a dose of karma but maybe I’m being too mean.
 
We’ve got one more set of episodes left to go and chances are love will prevail in the end.  Kai and Megumi might pose a threat to Mei and Yamato’s romance but Mei’s got official friends in her corner and Yamato…is an idiot but Mei loves him so he’s got that going for him.  We’ll close out Say, I Love You this Monday, Valentines Day, followed by a special debut review of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.  See ya then.