Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You ‒ Episode 9
Much like in real life, where people playing games and dancing around their real feelings can lead to missed opportunities and regret, Tayama/Yamada gets a taste of why this perpetual charade with a man she likes and respects might not be the best idea. Despite this being an episode where we, as the audience, know the conflict is manufactured, episode nine of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You still manages to entertain thanks to its character writing and quietly affecting execution.
This episode begins with the supermarket staffers having a morale-boosting party for the upcoming holiday rush, which includes Zawa, the energetic mom who is absolutely perfect from the previous episode, mentioning that she saw Sasaki wearing a wedding ring and with a woman the other day. This sends Tayama/Yamada into a spiral that nearly leads her to slip into Tayama-mode while she's presenting as Yamada, and later inspires a tense conversation between the two leads behind the supermarket. Sasaki clears up the confusion and confirms that he's (painfully) single, and Tayama/Yamada chews out Zawa later while also inadvertently confirming that she's caught feelings for Sasaki.
This is maybe the most Supermarket Smoking has felt like a traditional RomCom, and I dig it! Even if this misunderstanding could have been resolved with a simple conversation, this storyline works because it's more rooted in Tayama/Yamada's emotional reaction to the development than any kind of invented friction between the characters.
The back half of the episode focuses on Sasaki revealing his rural accent to Tayama and encouraging the young woman to try waking up early to smoke and take in the morning's stillness. The back half of this episode hits me where I live for a couple of reasons, with the first being that it once again includes a great use of musical accompaniment and silence to drive home the quiet impact of feeling like you're experiencing something special.
The second thing I loved about this act is that I LOVE being awake and living my life without feeling perceived by other people. While I'm an early riser for several reasons largely tied to other parts of my lifestyle, I appreciate Supermarket Smoking succinctly explaining what I find so enchanting about waking up and feeling like you have the world to yourself. Last but not least, this closing act beautifully depicts how special it is to share something insignificant but personal with another person. Even if they're not spending the morning together, they're both doing something because of or while thinking of the other, and there's a beautiful intimacy in that.
With every passing episode, I love these dumb little lovebirds more and more, and I desperately hope this season ends with Sasaki and Tayama/Yamada at least dating. These two are too cute to be in a will-they-won't-they for too long!
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Lucas DeRuyter is your one-stop shop for smoking hot anime takes, and you can read the best of those by checking out his portfolio. You can also catch him filling a double shift as a columnist for ANN's recurring This Week in Anime segment, where he shares his insights into that week's news, trends, or special topics.Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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