Yesterday wo Utatte
Final Chapter: Detour
The last installment taught us that adult life is easier when you face maturity. Shinako and Rikou would not last long, we knew that and finally they put on the table what they feel. Yesterday wo Utatte it combines all the lessons learned along the way. The continuation of Rou’s tantrum ended in a controversial conversation between Shinako and Rikou admitting that being “a couple” was a mistake. Their friendship is not lost as is Haru’s love for Rikou. After the previous chapter I didn’t expect another appearance from Haru; surprisingly it was Rikou who sought her out to reveal his true feelings to her. I don’t know if Shinako has the same luck as Rikou did, but it was a good strategy to keep us on the lookout for a second season.
Shinako and Rikou
The previous chapter we were waiting for the outcome of the confrontation between Rou and Shinako. She runs after him in this chapter and as she tries to catch up with him she realizes where she really wants to be. For Rikou the situation is no different; he wants Haru. The relationship that Rikou and Shinako had is one of those that we usually idealize, of those in which we don’t see the person clearly but only the rather abstract idea that we want to be with. The friendship between the two will not change that we can be sure, but ultimately there was no kind of love between these friends.
Sitting in the park, Rikou admits that his feelings are based on trying to keep some of what he was in college through Shinako’s love. Now that he has inevitably grown he can clearly see that holding on to that relationship could only mean two things; the first is that he did not want to grow and the second that he could not admit that he was in love with Haru. Shinako is in the same position. Already in previous reviews he had suggested that he really fell in love with Rou but the bond with which he kept the deceased close to flee from his true emotions.
What is love? Haru wonders again as Rikou thinks about how selfish it is to love someone just for their attentions. When he arrives to meet them, we realize how much the character has grown. In short, love is selfish, we have already explained it in another review. We also said that nobody can avoid being one, but falling in love with someone does not mean seeing only their idea or only their materiality, it means the play of both. Rikou loves Haru for his attentions but also for his beauty, his attractiveness. There the idea is not mere abstraction, it is a tangible reality.
Shinako had never seen inside Rou, or at least that’s what viewers often think. This woman was always characterized by almost no growth, rather null; after all Rikou confronted her to accept how she really feels about Rou. Saying that Rou is like her family, Shinako realizes that he was just what she wanted to accept. Time has passed and his fear of losing it shows that he is who he wants to be with. Rou is a tantrum boy who should be disappointed. In this installment we still have not managed to unravel their feelings and judging them would surely be a mistake. The truth is that they have finally found the missing piece of the puzzle.
Final conclusions of Yesterday wo Utatte
Yesterday wo Utatte It is not the series that everyone expected or asked for, but it is one of the most criticized by the public. Indeed the reviews offer a point of view as objective as possible; For this, not only must public opinion be contemplated, as it is quite true that the majority do not usually, always and necessarily, determine the best possible, it is necessary to maintain a critical point of view, not in the manner of destroying, but to contemplate the whole and the whole of the work. In my experience, this anime was not at all to my liking when the broadcast started, I thought it was slow, boring and tedious. Of the characters that disliked me the most, the list was always headed by Shinako. However, the objective of this work is to offer not my opinion, but what anime offers in its unit.
I cannot deny that it is slow, but that slowness has a reason for being unlike other anime that really are very simple. I have dedicated each review to a specific topic rather than a detailed study of the characters, because each one, without the rhythm and structure of the anime, has nothing to offer. This anime is not entertaining, that is a reality, and it is not because there is a slight distinction between content for entertainment and avant-garde content such as this series. It is very clear that the coming-of-age It is a genre that bases its development on the growth of the main character based not on the action but on the plot that it finds in dialogues. Attention should focus not on Rikou’s rhythm of life, because it is quite daily, but on the conversations he maintains and the answers he finds.
What seems to anger the audience is the sharp realism that the series handles, not because it is raw, of course, but because it is boring. Adult life is not a whirlwind of emotions. The action of adults is not determined by drastic actions that demonstrate immediate change, as a teenager would, but in the reflection with which they can determine to change their imperfections. The fantasy world with which we usually relate to anime is a bubble that must be unsheathed. I can’t deny that those kinds of stories can also offer even deeper reflections than this anime, but the worth of Yesterday wo Utatte lies not in an elaborate thought given ready to be received, but in the work of finding the plot in it.
Once we have determined all this, there is nothing more to say. It was a good anime that we can learn a lot from, above all to lose ourselves. Rikou is a man who needed to land in his reality and find his own way. I am looking forward to a second season that does not allow me to be part of the growth of this character. That adult life is not as fun as that of youth, we cannot deny it, but, as we have tirelessly repeated, time runs in us and the river inevitably has to reach the sea. Growing up should not be suffered, growing up should encourage us and allow us to reach the maximum point of what we can become. As always, I await your comments, this time to say goodbye.
