First things first though, a new year means new class assignments, and of course it's a huge relief for Sawako when she finds that she remains in the same class as all of her friends... and Kazehaya, of course, albeit once again not seated as close to him as she might like. As well as those regulars however, we also see some new faces in the class, most notably Sawako's new seating neighbour Kento Miura - the interesting, energetic and out-going individual we saw briefly last episode, and a guy who seems to have no qualms about chatting with and even toying with Sawako's hair on a whim, much to Kazehaya's astonishment.
It's arguably this interaction which fuels Kazehaya's decisions later in the episode, but before all of that we see Yano proving herself to be as perceptive as ever when it comes to other people's relationships as she notes the growing distance between Kuronuma and Kazehaya, although when it comes to the latter of those two characters she soon learns that trying to stick her nose into matters gets her nowhere (although she could arguably have done so a little more forcefully than the vague pondering we see from her here). Still, it seems that Shouta has made a decision to rectify whatever has broken down between himself and Sawako, resulting in a meeting between the two in an otherwise empty classroom come the end of a school day. Of course, this being Kimi ni Todoke even this interaction doesn't go smoothly, with Kazehaya's pseudo-confession of sorts leaving Sawako simply unable to respond as she over-thinks the situation as always, leaving our leading man leaving the room with arguably the wrong impression about what Sawako things of him - an encounter noted at least in part by Miura, as his influence on things doubtless looks set to increase.
As per last week's proper opener, this was another carefully considered, slowly paced outing that certainly shows no signs of wanting to rush its story, instead taking its time to pick through every emotion, every comment and every reaction to the point where it quite clearly luxuriates in them as it creates its little bed of romance and drama. To be quite honest, that's fine by me - yes, it's frustrating watching two people who like one another not say a word about it week after week, but isn't that exactly the point, and more importantly doesn't that simply mirror a lot of disastrous teenage crushes of our own? Somehow something rather enjoyable to watch is borne from that frustration, as you realise it only annoys you so much because you genuinely like the characters and want them to get together, and when that's smoothed out by some nicely realised slice of life tales of friendship and everyday school life, it seems like Kimi ni Todoke is going to be one of my highlights of the coming weeks.
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