© 森野萌・講談社／ 「花野井くんと恋の病」製作委員会

This episode is the best of the first three episodes. The pacing is solid and the presentation is excellent. It makes good use of lighting and sets the music cues appropriately. But what made this episode stronger than the previous two was the fact that I finally understood what story A Condition Called Love was trying to tell. It's not perfect, but it has helped me win at some things.

With a premise revolving around a girl who has never experienced love and is curious about it, the character arc established in this episode for Hotaru makes a lot of sense. Some people say ignorance is happiness. Sometimes, ignorance can unintentionally hurt those around you. This episode revisits and recreates many of Hotaru's previous actions. You could write it off as general stupidity on the part of someone who has never experienced love, but pairing her with someone who feels love a little too strongly and immediately could make her actions so unintentionally cruel. When you say it out loud, asking someone who has expressed strong love for you that you want to try kissing them as an experiment can come across as playing with their feelings or at least belittling them. . Hotaru realized it was her fault and apologized properly.

They are inexperienced teenagers tackling the same problem from completely different extreme worldviews. The film also proves that love is not the only thing that Hotaru is ignorant of, as she seems to lack a general understanding of what makes others happy, including herself. While that point could have been foreshadowed or established better before this episode, it was a solid foundation for her character arc and made me like her character more. It also explains why she doesn't question Hananoi's actions as much as she should; she generally doesn't know the right or wrong answer about being in a relationship.

I also have to give Hananoi a lot of credit because this episode toned down a lot of his behavior and even tried to make it clear that he's not dangerous. I mentioned a few moments in the first two episodes where I wasn't sure whether the show was trying to frame his rather extreme approach to love as something odd or something necessary. receive more attention. This episode still doesn't answer that, but it's clear that he's willing to bend over backwards to make his love come true. In a relationship, you should be patient, understanding and willing to compromise on some things to make the other person comfortable. Hananoi is the ideal boyfriend in this situation, he does everything he can to make Hotaru feel as special as he thinks she is.

You can call this stubbornness, but I still have some reservations about the character Hananoi. If this is the context in which it's taking place, I'd like to see this episode from Hananoi's perspective. I still feel like his initial foundation and overall approach to love was too simplistic. At worst, he has the opposite problem of Hotaru, which is that his excessive affection and care take away from his true self. I no longer feel like he's a serial killer, but in exchange, I know even less about who he is as a character. He's doing everything he can to be the perfect boyfriend, but that doesn't tell me exactly who he is. We don't know what he wants or what he cares about other than being a good partner, and all this overwhelming affection is probably a result of him feeling very lonely. I've been told by fans of the original manga that there's a reason why he's acting this way and that he seems to have broken out of this box he was intentionally putting himself in. If we can trust that point, and it is handled with the same level of care as this episode, then I think the show will be able to hook me 100%.

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A Condition Called Love is now streaming on Crunchyroll.