Insomniacs After School

Episode 9

OK, so after the major emotional upheaval we had last week, it makes sense that this episode would be a bit of a breather. If we examine this episode in terms of plot, there wasn't much that happened outside of the setup. I can only imagine it will be the next big emotional moment revolving around this trip our two leads are planning. Our characters get some time to themselves, and we witness how they interact outside of school, which is a nice change of pace. But I would argue that this episode excels in the little blink-and-you-miss-it moments.

We learn more about Ganta and his home life when he discusses how he doesn't like relying on his dad for most things. We don't yet have confirmation if Ganta's mom left them or if she passed away. Regardless, Ganta's dad seems to feel incredibly guilty about it and tends to overcompensate with his son, which ironically led to him buying the camera for Ganta in the first place. It's unknown if Ganta's reluctance to rely on his dad stems from a stubborn sense of pride, or if he blames his dad for what happened, or perhaps a combination of both. Regardless, he's very independent, and I hope this doesn't lead him to start blocking people out.

That seemed to be how he was acting before, outside of one or two friends. But Isaki has worked her way into his heart to a point where everyone assumes they're already dating. When the girls went to the beach, Isaki's friend made a passing comment about how Isaki wished she got to go to the beach with her boyfriend, and that was a nice moment. We also got a glimpse at some of the surgical scars that Isaki has on her body when she was changing into her swimsuit. The highlight was definitely towards the end of the episode when Isaki tried to tease Ganta about the idea of her being hit on at the beach, but instead, the two laughed with little tension. I didn't feel like Isaki was trying to make Ganta jealous as much as she was trying to see his reaction. These two don't seem to be in a rush to be in a relationship, even though it doesn't feel like a lot needs to be done for them to cross that line.

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Insomniacs After School is currently streaming on HIDIVE.