Sasaki to Miyano brings us more blushes and sparkles as we progress another month in the story of these two adorable characters. With time passing we have white day where Miyano gives Sasaki a return gift after the Valentine chocolates from episode 2, and the closing ceremony for the school year but all of that is really background noise on a character driven episode that couldn’t have been more adorable if it tried.
This week it is Miyano’s turn to realise he’s not just thinking of Sasaki in the way he thinks about other friends. He blushes remembering how an off-hand comment may have been misinterpreted, gets worried about how Sasaki will be seen by others, and has the realisation that unlike so many other boys around him, he doesn’t really consider Sasaki in BL situations.
Diagnosis – Definitely infatuation, may develop into love.
Sasaki to Miyano makes it clear both boys are struggling a little with their own feelings.
Rather than recount every blush, smile, sparkle and eye widening moment in this episode there are a couple of things I’d like to focus in on. The first is the use of background music in this episode of Sasaki to Miyano.
Now possibly this has been the same in the last two episodes and I just didn’t notice it, but this week I’m going to say the soundtrack was outright distracting to each situation. There was scarcely a sideways glance that didn’t get its own swell of music and honestly a lot of it felt like it came out of a 1940’s movie and really didn’t feel like it fit the soft, pastel look of this anime.
While a good and powerful soundtrack can cause an average story to swell into something larger than life that leaves a lasting impression, here I was nearly tempted to turn the volume down so I could just focus on the visuals and character expressions while reading the subs because the music was bumping me right out of the episode. It just felt like it was working so hard to make me feel emotional in the moment and it didn’t always quite gel with the emotions I was actually feeling.
However, where the music kind of felt like it wasn’t working so well this week in Sasaki to Miyano, visually, this episode sang. Admittedly, it is definitely relying on softer colours, lots of lit backgrounds, and a lot of close ups on character faces and expressions, but it definitely works and it crafts the mood and tone of this story very well.
There were also some stand-out moments in the dialogue. Okay, a lot of it is your usual tropey lines you get a lot of in romances but Sasaki declaring that BL is what made a story possible when challenged about whether or not the story could have just had a male/female couple was pretty solid. As was Miyano’s realisation that Sasaki was actually always pretty cool (or at least looked that way to him).
My favourite moment from Sasaki to Miyano came when Sasaki received Miyano’s gift and dashed back to his classroom. He crouched in the doorway and wondered if his heart had stopped to which Hirano pointed out would be bad because he’d be dead. It was such a well delivered retort and it just made me smile. Okay, Sasaki’s whispered confession on the train was pretty cool as well but given Miyano was either asleep or pretending it doesn’t quite count.
Anyway, with the exception of the music this week, I really enjoyed this episode of Sasaki to Miyano. I’m really enjoying watching these two boys grow closer together. And okay, they are both adorkable but I’m having a lot of fun watching them realise their feelings and hopefully we’ll see them grow a bit closer as the series progresses.
Images from: Sasaki to Miyano. Dir. S Ishihira. Studio Deen. 2022
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Karandi James
The funny thing? I don’t even remember the music. I’m not sure if I noticed it.
I hadn’t noticed in episodes 1 or 2 but for whatever reason I was finding it intrusive during this episode.