This week Sasaki to Miyano addresses Miyano’s issues from middle school where he grew tired of people noting his more feminine face. Admittedly, this comes about after his class votes for him to their representative in a cross-dressing competition and could have been handled quite tackily. Instead, in true Sasaki to Miyano fashion, Miyano’s friends rally around him and Miyano slowly realises he doesn’t really object as much as he used to.
Of course, he has other problems still to mull over given he still hasn’t quite worked out how he really feels about Sasaki and whether or not he’s ready to step into his own BL experience. Admittedly, this week did feel like it was starting to stretch this plot thread about as far as they could without it snapping the patience of everyone watching. Episode 6 managed to ride feels and carry through but episode 7 is definitely pushing the limits.
Sasaki to Miyano needs to reach a turning point soon.
Fortunately, salvation came from the will I / won’t I drama as Miyano runs into the girl from middle-school that he had a crush on, and who crushed his tiny ego when she asked him to wear girls’ clothes. Turns out, like most anime romances, this whole trauma was actually a misunderstanding caused by appalling communication skills. She actually wanted to paint him as a model for her art class which is naturally why she just blurted out ‘wear girl’s cloths for a bit’.
Also convenient that her art class just happened to be buying supplies in the same shopping street that Miyano was walking down with Sasaki and that Sasaki just happened to go get a drink at that precise moment. Coincidence is kind of the cornerstone of most romances in the end but the trick is making them not feel too awkwardly shoved in. This one felt a little bit forced.
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Though at least middle-school crush and budding art student seemed like a nice person. Sasaki to Miyano is actually genuinely full of nice people. They do have misunderstandings and occasionally nag or make snarky comments to one another, but none of them are mean or malicious for the sake of it. They are all just normal people going about their day with their own concerns and interests and while someone else’s misfortune might amuse them they don’t go out of their way to cause it.
It’s just kind of pleasant to spend time with characters who aren’t petty for the sake of creating artificial drama.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t individual agendas in Sasaki to Miyano. When Miyano’s friend invites Sasaki to the hospital to meet his girl-friend or to introduce her when she’s released the obvious goal is revealed in his thoughts as he walks away, his girl-friend would love to see BL in real life.
Likewise, Miyano’s middle-school friend has a really interesting reaction after Sasaki hauls Miyano away from their conversation in a fit of jealousy.
I will admit, visually this scene was great. Again, the animation not so much as Sasaki to Miyano skipped over a lot of it. But the way they softened the focus in time with a beating heart and the use of light and colour was just gorgeous.
And again, Sasaki realises he shouldn’t have reacted that way but at the same time it leads to such a cute exchange between the two characters.
I’m really hoping we see more of Miyano’s middle school friend and I’m also hoping they move forward from the confession in the next episode of Sasaki to Miyano.
Images from: Sasaki to Miyano. Dir. S Ishihira. Studio Deen. 2022
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Karandi James