Draw This, Then Die! ‒ Episode 10
I am genuinely surprised that this episode gets me so emotional, even though Yasumi is not the focus. This episode gives me much-needed insight into Hikaru's character. While I could already infer a lot of it given the foreshadowing from previous episodes, I love the message this episode ends on. Hikaru is very self-aware about how talented and eccentric she is. She is extremely blunt, uninterested in stuff that doesn't immediately fuel her manga, and chooses to go at her own pace. A lot of this is due to the fact that her mom is the incredibly eccentric mangaka Hebichika, who Teshima formally worked under. Similar to how Hebichika is not the greatest boss, putting her talent above being able to communicate with people, she's arguably not that great of a mother either, instilling Hikaru with this mentality that to be successful, she needs to see herself as above everybody else.
The episode twists the relationship between Hikaru and her mother using a story that Hikaru is writing for her social media. She equates her mom to this big, powerful cat with sharp claws. She wants to be her mom and have sharp claws as well, which is analogous to being a successful manga creator. I like the fact that Hikaru claims those sharp claws are also used to hurt people. Hebichika is very self-aware that her eccentric work style and dark personality upset people, but she doesn't care because she sees that as necessary to be better. Hikaru doesn't want to see it that way. She's not nearly as stone-cold as her mother because she keeps monologuing throughout the episode about how much her actions are hurting people. There's this sad sense that she doesn't feel like she has a choice because she doesn't want to fall into that 90% of regular unsuccessful people.
One thing I did not expect is the fact that Sachi, of all characters, would be the catalyst for change in Hikaru's character. This was a character who I thought was a comedic relief because all she would do was say quips, and her main job is just reading other people's manga to give critiques. That's not an unimportant role, but she definitely doesn't have the same drive as the rest of the cast to create something. However, that might be the point. Sachi is perfectly content with her life right now, even if she is seen as just a normal person. In fact, when Hikaru and Hebichika throw that statistic in her face to upset her or push her away, she takes it as a compliment because all this time Sachi thought she was the weird one. Being the normal person that can get along with everybody holds more weight to her than being some eccentric jerk who looks down on everybody. She sees it as a strength, and I love how, for the first time, Hebichika was forced to confront somebody who didn't either worship the ground she walked on or was incredibly intimidated by her (Sachi calling her manga mid was also hilarious).
The episode ending with Hikaru not only fully seeing Sachi as a friend, but calling her master because she feels like she has a lot more to learn from her than her own mother was a good touch because even if you are in that 10% of talented people, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're better than everybody else. Being a creator means that you have to be willing to take inspiration from everywhere, which also means you need to be willing to understand or relate to as much as possible, which you can't do if you see yourself above everyone. This episode inadvertently ties in previous lessons of being a manga creator to that emotional conclusion. I fully believe now that Hikaru is a friend of the group instead of just the weird, creepy girl outsider to it
This episode does still have the obligatory Teshima flashback, and while it does feel incredibly disconnected from this lesson, I like how it answers a couple of questions that I had. The flashback goes into what Teshima's new workflow looks like, switching to a different publication structure, and it is the epitome of “be careful what you wish for”. Unlike before, when Teshima was struggling to get a single idea approved or off the ground, here she had her manga approved right away and even had it published ahead of schedule, which sounds great except that also means that she had to basically rush to get everything together to get her first chapter finished on time. It's one of those funny situations where I feel happy for Teshima for finally getting her flowers, but I'm also laughing because she is suffering under the weight of the very real and arguably horrific work practices of serialized manga publications. The biggest question right now is what was the final nail in the coffin that got Teshima to quit. Could she just not handle the pressure anymore, or was there an inciting incident that made her step away to become a teacher? With only a few episodes left in the season, I would really love to see if that is the final thing that the show is building towards, and it looks like the culture festival might be the perfect backdrop to get that information.
Rating:
Bolts also streams regularly on Twitch as the indie VtuberBolts The Mechanic where they talk about and play retro media!Draw This, Then Die! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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