The fifth episode of Ao Haru Ride aired earlier today, August 4, 2014. The title of the episode is “Page 5″ and focuses on the last major part of the group’s leadership training.
WARNING: The following information includes major plot points from the episode. Continue to read at your own risk.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
- The group learns the true meaning of teamwork.
*The majority of the episode seems to focus on this point here. Although this causes the episode to suffer in terms of plot progression, the majority of the character and relationship developments occur here, which is a great save for the episode overall. Futaba and the others end up getting lost when attempting to complete the last part of their leadership training. Despite this happening, the group manages to pull it together and come up with some great plans to get themselves back to where the teachers are. Kō is quick to come up with solutions that satisfies the needs of all the parties involved. He also demonstrates true leadership and some compassion when he helps Yūri across the river when she gets too scared to cross on her own and when he realizes that Futaba hurt her leg and offers to carry her on his back. There weren’t a lot of disagreements or over the top arguments in the episode, so that was nice. The team managed to pull themselves together in order to achieve their goal. It was also nice to see them all together while they watched the sunrise. - Futaba and Yūri seem to be growing closer.
*This was a cute moment in the episode. Futaba was feeling a little left out when she saw Yūri and Shūko walking and talking together without her. Although they weren’t leaving her out without a reason, it is understandable that Futaba would feel a little awkward in the situation. Still, Yūri is able to reassure Futaba that she won’t leave her behind since she appreciates Futaba taking the time to talk to her. Futaba also promises that she won’t leave Yūri alone since she knows what it is like to be alone herself. What is a little awkward about this heartwarming scene is that Shūko is left out of it. It’s kind of a coincidence that Futaba and Yūri are talking about never leaving each other out or behind, since they’re inadvertently doing it to Shūko during this scene. Still, this opens up the possibility for more relationship development to occur in the series. It will be nice to learn more about Shūko over time as the series goes on. It will also be nice to see Shūko grow more as a person and find her rightful place as a part of the group. - Futaba is beginning to learn more about Kō while also beginning to understand her feelings for him.
*It was nice to see that the entire episode wasn’t focused around Futaba’s and Kō’s relationship the entire time. What makes Ao Haru Ride interesting so far is the fact that the series focuses on different aspects of growing up and being in high school. It isn’t just a fluff-filled romance with occasional drama and setbacks along the way. There is at least one character that the viewer may identify with or want to know better. There are also more relationships to focus on outside of the romantic ones in the series, giving Ao Haru Ride a bit of variety and breathing room for new plots or side stories to develop. Still, it is nice to see Futaba’s and Kō’s relationship progressing bit by bit each episode, since that is the main couple most of the viewers are watching the series for. It is nice to see the tension between Futaba and Kō dying down at a reasonable rate. They weren’t exactly friends by the second episode and there are still some insecurities between them regarding their overall relationship, which is nice to see in comparison to the typical romance story. Kō’s behavior toward Futaba has also improved a lot, making him a more respectable character than he was three episodes ago. It seems like Futaba is also realizing that she does harbor some kind of feelings for Kō that are on a deeper level than she originally thought. However, as the following point shall prove, nothing ever goes smoothly for Futaba in life. - Yūri confesses to Futaba that she thinks she likes Kō.
*This is one of the most interesting–or frustrating depending on the person–scenes in the episode. While Futaba is trying to figure out what her feelings for Kō are, she gets a text from her beloved friend Yūri. While Yūri seems to be excited about their new group and even forgives Aya for stealing her cupcake, she mentions one crucial thing to Futaba that sparks the beginning of the show’s “upside down” turnover–she admits to liking (or even loving) Kō. This can work two ways for those watching the series. 1.) It creates tension for the series and opens up the possibility of having relationships develop in interesting ways. 2.) It creates tension for the series and makes some characters more or less likable as the series goes on for the viewer. There’s a chance both of those things can occur at the same time. Either way, it seems that although this episode was lacking in terms of plot progression, the series will begin to progress a lot more from this point on. Any YūrixKō shippers out there? Who are you shipping? Leave your pairing in the comments below!
EPISODE RATING: 4/5 – This episode did well and not so well at the same time. Although there seemed to be a decent amount of character and relationship developments in the episode, there was a lack of plot progression. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t any plot progression, just that it was minimal in comparison to the other two aforementioned areas. It was a little sudden for Yūri to blurt out her feelings to Futaba, but it also opens up the opportunity for the series to continue to progress smoothly from here on out. There weren’t a lot of comedy elements to this episode, which was fine given the focus of the episode, but it still would have been nice to have some comic relief given what the group was dealing with. Shūko and Aya are still being put on the back burner in the series, but now that this episode has occurred, hopefully there will be episodes where they each have more prominent roles. Overall, the episode succeeded in character and relationship developments but fell short with the show’s overall plot progression. However, the ending of this episode has opened up the opportunity for a lot of plot progression as well as more character and relationship developments from here on out.
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~K