The Ramparts of Ice Season 2 ‒ Episode 18
Sometimes you can't move forward without a little bit of closure. Igarashi has finally returned to the show after God knows how long. While his presence was always felt, with his breakup with Koyuki being a major source of emotional baggage, the show has never really gotten inside his head. I know that Koyuki took advantage of his feelings for her and the relationship to get back at her bully, leading to the window-breaking incident. However, the two left the relationship on different wavelengths. This episode not only establishes those two wavelengths, but also builds towards the two overlapping by the end. If anything, this episode is probably one of the healthiest post-breakup portrayals I've seen in quite some time.
It's funny that Igarashi is probably the most normal teenager in this show thus far. He's not really trying to be manipulative or carrying a lot of trauma. He definitely doesn't like how the relationship ended between him and Koyuki, but based on the flashback from his perspective, he went along very casually. I do believe him when he says that he did have feelings for Koyuki, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that he was a good boyfriend. He definitely wasn't looking at things from her perspective, clearly wasn't paying attention to what she was going through considering how bullied she was, and absolutely violated her personal boundaries under the ironic guise of it being the “normal” thing to do. While his feelings might've been genuine, there's a good debate about whether or not he was actually in love with Koyuki as she was, or was in love with her because of how he specifically saw her. That's right, folks, the word of the day is “projection!”
The episode doesn't strictly place the blame for why the relationship didn't work out on one person. It's a bit weird that Koyuki being at least semi-manipulative did not come up during their heart-to-heart at the park. It almost feels like the show is trying to ask me to forget about it, even though I don't think Igarashi would've been hurt by it too much, at least compared to everything else that was being said as the two finally let the lids off the feelings of frustration they were feeling for years. Plus, it could've been a good learning moment to showcase that Igarashi never really saw Koyuki for who she was. However, Koyuki doesn't get off scot-free because her whole arc right now is that she hides her emotions way too well and looks for excuses to not speak up out of fear. She keeps projecting what she thinks people want or who they are as an excuse to NOT act, even though she might actually be a pretty bad judge of character herself. Were there reasons for why she couldn't speak up before? Yes. But now she's not surrounded by people who put her down and devalue her. She is free to speak her mind, and the fact that she feels so comfortable getting into this verbal slugfest with Igarashi is proof of how far she has come.
While Minato definitely has his issues with dating Momoka right now, there is an argument that how Koyuki came off to Minato could easily be read as discomfort. Granted, she WAS uncomfortable with Minato early on given how forward he was, but she at least partially facilitated this situation in the first place by not doing anything once she did figure out how she felt. Even if Minato didn't have his self-love or people-pleasing issues, it's reasonable to assume that he would have no reason to assume that Koyuki was interested in him romantically at all. It's a step in the right direction for Koyuki and Minato to eventually get together, but I wonder if Koyuki will actually take action now that she has closure over her past relationship and better recognizes her own personal shortcomings when it comes to romantic social interactions.
Rating:
Bolts also streams regularly on Twitch as the indie VtuberBolts The Mechanic where they talk about and play retro media!The Ramparts of Ice Season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.
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