My Clueless First Friend Ep 2: Revolutionizing A Massive Romance Trope By Skipping It
A romance anime isn’t a romance anime until there’s at least one episode where either the guy or girl gets sick, allowing their still healthy love interest to come and take care of them at their home for the first time. My Clueless First Friend explores this trope in one of its second episode’s short stories when Akane Nishimura’s eponymous clueless friend Taiyō Takada catches a cold and Nishimura comes to visit him. But the scene doesn’t happen as fans would expect. Not at all.
One of Takada’s male friends, the tank-top-wearing Daichi Hino, informs Nishimura that Takada would absolutely love it if they showed up at his house. Of course, Nishimura still being unsure of herself because she’s never had friends before feels like she would be more of a bother and pushes back on the idea. But for the sake of the story, Hino doesn’t back down and Nishimura relents. When the two of them do eventually arrive at Takada’s house, Takada is indeed quite happy that she’s there nor is he bothered. And that’s where the short story ends.
In this short story, we don’t see Nishimura taking care of a helpless Takada or lovingly watching him sleep innocently. Takada doesn’t talk in his sleep about how much he loves her nor doe Nishimura confess her true feelings for him while he’s sleeping. This would have happened if this were essentially any other romance anime because, well, it has and will continue to happen since it’s a major staple of the genre.
The fact that My Clueless First Friend goes out of its way to introduce this trope and then completely sidestep it by ending the short story right when it got started is quite innovative and subversive. It’s almost provocative just because this development is such a major tease. That said, this was the only possible development that could have happened for this type of series. As I mentioned in an earlier post about the first episode of My Clueless First Friend, the series follows fifth-graders, so the relationship between Takada and Nishimura is much more innocent than the vast majority of romances and has to be because if it weren’t, it would honestly be a little creepy.
With that in mind, it’s only natural that My Clueless First Friend would subvert a trope that’s inherently not innocent at all. The point of these types of scenes is to get a couple who’s undoubtedly having trouble confessing their true feelings into intimate situations that make it more difficult for them to not confess. But, here, the purpose is to prove that Hino was right. Takada wouldn’t be bothered if Nishimura showed up at his house even if he’s sick. That’s all that needs to be told, and it’s perfect that way.
Watch episode two of My Clueless First Friend on Crunchyroll.
