Insomniacs After School

Episode 4

One of my favorite recent tropes is when two characters act like a couple, and everybody sees it except for the people in question. This episode better balances the astronomy club element with the blossoming romance between our two leads and their connection through insomnia. I like that Ganta and Isaki have such a strong rapport with each other to the point where you can tell that the other is almost always present in their mind. Ganta becomes more conscious of Isaki's physical appearance by getting distracted whenever her cuteness is brought up and finds himself glancing at the nape of her neck. Then there's Isaki, who immediately thought of Ganta's interests when the fireworks festival was brought up. It's cute how these two are trying to put up a front that they're not as interested in each other as they are, but they're still progressing with organizing a date together. I hope that it doesn't get rained on.

That was all cute, but my favorite bits of this episode were the ones that dealt with insomniacs being viewed from an outsider's perspective. I like the subtle detail that Ganta is either really smart or has to study extra hard to stay caught up in class during those days when he falls asleep at his desk. It makes sense to the audience but to his classmates, it probably makes him come off as some arrogant prick who's above everybody. Then there's the whole scene with the teacher who was straight up belittling the fact that Ganta has trouble sleeping at night. It didn't come off like the teacher was listening to him or empathizing with his issues. Not only does this add credence to why Isaki wants to keep it a secret, but I like that Ganta got visibly and vocally upset over that belittlement for her sake, not for his.

It emphasizes that nobody tries to empathize with what another person is going through sometimes and only really sees what they want to see. It makes the connection between our two leads much stronger because they can empathize with the specific issues that the other is going through and are just trying to find a way to live comfortably with this issue. As much as the astronomy angle is nice, even that's something they arguably need to do to function normally alongside everybody else because it's one of the only places they can sleep and feel “normal.” I really like this, and I hope the show will continue playing with that balancing act moving forward.

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Insomniacs After School is currently streaming on HIDIVE.