After a bit of playful teasing between Yanagi and Uzaki, the real plot of this episode ofUzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!kicks off at Uzaki’s college. She hides around a corner, watching Sakurai interactwith other female students. They ask for his textbook, with his notes, then compliment his good grades and ask when he’s coming out for drinks with the rest of the class. Sakaki catches Uzaki watching and doubles down on his observation that Sakuraiis popular with women. He mentions that the girls talking to Sakurai might actually be interested in him since they always gripe about wanting boyfriends when they go out drinking with the class. Uzaki downplays the attention Sakurai is getting. She also mentions it means she isn’t the only one around with a kind heart, and she doesn’t have to go out of her way to shower him with attention. Sakaki calls her bluff and mentions that he can introduce those girls to Sakurai. Uzaki is visibly shaken.
She holds fast and argues that by showering Sakurai with attention, she’s protecting the people around him at the same time. Moments later, she admits that she’s been thinking lately about how little time she has with Sakurai but still refuses to admit she has feelings for him. Instead, she says she’ll get Sakurai to confess his love for her within a year since “he likes her” and not the other way around. Sakurai mentions that Uzaki threw him a birthday party and asks for advice on what gift to get for a girl. Sakaki notices he’s scrolling down a list of gifts to get for women. Certainly, most viewers can relate to the panic of deep diving through page after page of gift-giving blogs last minute. This makes Sakaki confident that Uzaki and Sakuraiwon’t need a whole yearto finally admit the truth and move forward.
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Give it the Ol’ Middle School Try
Uzaki comes to a revelation for how she can really get Sakurai to confess his love. She’s going to make him a bento box, the dream of many an anime middle school boy, asanime would have viewers believe. Sakakilabels it cringe-worthy but supportsher idea since she’s more motivated at the moment than she usually is. Cut to Uzaki standing in her kitchen with theequivalent of a “bento box for dummies” cookbook, thoroughly confused and upset with the whole Uzaki clan watching on in anticipation. Uzaki tells Yanagi to go play games in her room, but she mentions that since Uzaki can’t play with her, that would leave their brother, Kiri, who’s not interested in playing anymore since he always loses. Tsuki gives Uzaki advice about making the bento box and Tsuki is having fun with their mother-daughter bonding. Really, the whole Uzakifamily and the dynamics between themare some better parts of the series, so keep the hits coming.
Uzaki meets Sakurai on campus with a bento box, blushed cheeks, and a claim that she made some lunch on a whim. As much as she’s cooked for him before, he’s also nervous and almost doesn’t know how to respond. His heart is thumping so hard, it’s hard for him to even speak. Sounds like the boy has some loud butterflies in his stomach. He thanks Uzaki, and she seems pleased with his response. Since she tells Sakurai to eat alone, he asks if she wants to eat with him. While she’s a little nervous at first, she agrees, and they sit down to eat.
Sakurai opens his bento box and sees it matches the one that Uzaki brought for herself. Sakaki watches from around the corner and finds himself surprised at how well it’s working out. Admittedly, Sakaki has put in some real effort to get these two together, and it’s looking like his time may be well spent. He still considers them both middle-schoolers though. Meanwhile, Fuji shows off his daughter’s homemade bento box at work and his co-workers aren’t as happy for him.
Siblings Are a Handful
On a different day, Uzaki and Yanagi areat home playing a video gamethat’s basically Fall Guys, but with cat-like avatars. Yanagi thinks about how Uzaki likes playing these sorts of versus games to practice before playing against her senpai. She appreciates the love, although she comically notes that Uzaki shows it in a warped way.
Uzaki leaves to work on a school assignment and refuses Yanagi’s request to meet Sakurai. The next morning, Uzaki oversleeps and as she rushes out, she’s surprised to see Yanagi up so early. At work, Uzaki is greeted by a familiar face: Yanagi. She thanks the café owner for everything he does for Uzaki and introduces herself as Uzaki’s little sister. Uzaki wonders how Yanagi knew where to find her. Yanagi mentions that she just asked their mother about where Uzaki worked. It’s not likeit was really a secret, but she underestimated how far Yanagi will go to sow seeds of mayhem. Speak of the devil, Sakurai walks up and gently berates Uzaki for trying to chase Yanagi off. He tells Yanagi to sit anywhere she likes.
Yanagi’s sudden arrival really has Uzaki flustered. Yanagistarts to tease her a littleand Uzaki goes off to the café bar to get a drink for her. Sakurai wonders why Uzaki is so flustered about Yanagi, and she mentions that there’s just something about Yanagi that makes her a real handful. Sakurai finds it funny that Uzaki has a little sister since the way Uzaki looks after him is a tad unusual, but he feels like he gets it now. Unlike most moments between them, the moment isn’t playful, tender, or awkward. Rather, it’s a pretty “normal” moment where they speak to each other without any typical anime hijinks, and it’s refreshing to see.
Sibling Rivalry
Uzaki decides she just needs to keep Sakurai and Yanagi far apart, but she doesn’t have much luck. After Uzaki forgets the towel that the servers bring to the café guests, Sakurai brings the towel over instead. With Sakurai there at the table, Yanagi and Sakurai start chatting. Uzaki tries to distract Sakurai with work, but he’s all caught up, so it doesn’t really work. At first, the conversation is just small talk, but Sakurai and Yanagi become more animated once it shifts to the video games they play.
Yanagi mentions that Sakurai can drop the “miss” andcall her by her first name. He doesn’t see any issue with it, so he does, and it sends Uzaki over the edge. The episode ends there, with Uzaki swearing to the heavens that she knew this would happen. Has a new challenger entered the arena? Of course not because that would be highly problematic, but admittedly there’s some humor in Uzaki’s over-the-top reaction. Thisepisode of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!ends with a quote from the narrator “The last wild goose becomes first. Meaning: That which comes from behind to surpass those up ahead.” Surely, the next episode will begin with Uzaki’s odd concerns being addressed and the air being cleared. At least, it should.
