We are now entering the final third of Tada Never Falls in Love, and Teresa has realized her feelings for Mitsuyoshi. Although she claims that this will not stop her from fulfilling her duty of marrying Charles and becoming Queen of Larsenburg, it seems that her complicated feelings may get in the way. In this episode, we got to see one of the best scenes in the anime so far, as Teresa finds herself alone with the boy she has fallen for.

Mitsuyoshi…died?!

Japanese title: 今は、もう、ない

Story

As Charles leaves Japan, Alec reminds Teresa that once her studies are over, she is to wed Charles and become Queen. As she asks Teresa if her mind has changed, Teresa actually hesitates. Alec just comes out with what she is thinking- Teresa has fallen in love with Mitsuyoshi Tada.

We see Teresa’s nanny Rachel reaching a picture book of Rainbow Shogun (which is all in Japanese). The book has a big impact on the two of them, and this pushes Teresa to study in Japan. We see Rachel telling Teresa that no matter where she is, she can look to the North Star to find her way. Her nanny tells her that while she is in Japan, she will experience many new things. Perhaps one of those new things is love.

A new semester starts at school and Teresa is acting awkward due to her newly-realized romantic feelings. We get a great scene of everybody being terrified by a caterpillar (gentle giant Mitsuyoshi to the rescue), but Teresa just gets more and more awkward.

Later, Teresa and Alec are stuck in the rain without an umbrella, and Mitsuyoshi lends them his. Due to Kaoru not having an umbrella either, the two boys get caught in the rain. This leads to Mitsuyoshi catching a cold, and he faints when the photography club is proposing entries for the competition. The girls help out at the coffee shop to cover Mitsuyoshi, who is sick in bed. Teresa goes up to his room to collect the rice porridge bowl and finds the photographs he has taken. Although Teresa doesn’t tell us her feelings in words, I can almost hear the thousands of thoughts rushing through her head. She just can’t resist and leans in for a kiss. Although it’s not obvious if she did indeed make contact, it gives her a shock. Tears well in her eyes as she realizes just how badly her feelings for this boy could affect her resolve.

Teresa goes downstairs. We don’t see her eyes at all as she says that she is done. I wonder what she is thinking to herself at this point…

Highlights

Teresa is not as usual

I really enjoyed Teresa in this episode, as she was so different from her usual self. We got to hear her speak serious to herself, and her awkwardness as she meets Mitsuyoshi after discovering her own feelings was adorable. If you listen to her voice, she almost sounds like a different person. This episode made her seem a lot more human than the simple angel she has been in previous episodes.

Alone with Mitsuyoshi

Indicative of how Teresa seemed different in this episode was the scene where she was alone with her crush in the bedroom. That may sound pervy out of context, but Mitsuyoshi was unconscious the whole time (wait, that’s even worse). Jokes aside, the scene was beautiful, from Teresa finding the photographs and taking care of Mitsuyoshi with a smile on her face, to her just staring at him and leaning into to him as Nyanko Big watches on, and then, her view of Mitsuyoshi blurring as her eyes fill with tears. So much was conveyed just with Teresa’s movements and the well thought-out cinematography. Although it was obvious from the beginning of the series that we were going to get a conflict between Teresa’s feelings and her duty as a member of the royal family, I didn’t think I would actually sympathise with the poor girl so much at this point. As far as romantic anime go, this scene in particular will stick with me for a while.

Charrrrrlles

The way that Kaoru pronounced ‘Charles’ with a trill was so funny I had to go back and listen to it again.

Trivia

Jicchan-san

Teresa calls Yui and Mitsuyoshi’s grandpa ‘Jicchan-san’ which is just so adorable. ‘Jicchan’ is a cute was of saying ‘grandpa’, and ‘san’ is an honorific suffix. As ‘chan’ is already an honorable (albeit diminutive) suffix, it’s kind of redundant to add ‘san’ onto the end. It reminds me of Rei Ryugazaki’s famous line ‘You’re Haru-chan-san?’ from Free!.

LuftHandler

The airline Charles was using was a parody of national German airline Lufthansa. Larsenburg is probably too small to have its own airline fly to Japan. Interestingly, Luxembourg (on which Larsenburg is probably based) does have it’s own airline called Luxair. I once flew it to and from Germany and the plane was TINY! I’m surprised Charles didn’t fly via a French airline, though.

Star-shaped ice-cream

Alec’s photo for the contest was a star-shaped ice cream, which she calls a miracle! This is a reference to the ice cream Pino. Pino is a chocolate-covered ice cream that is usually round, but sometimes there will be a star-shaped or heart-shaped ice cream in the box! In all the years I’ve eaten Pino, I’ve only ever found one star-shaped Pino and no heart-shaped ones…so there ARE pretty rare despite Kaoru saying they are common.

Plastic Food

In the preview for the next episode, Alec talks about how good-looking some food looks…but it’s plastic! In Japan, it is very common for restaurants to display plastic or wax versions of their dishes outside the restaurant so you can get an idea as to what the food will look like. They are often VERY realistic, even the drinks. I got so used to them that I was put my finger on a very realistic-looking miso soup outside a restaurant….turns out it was real miso soup…. (some cafes and restaurants actually display real food).

Always make your heart rainbow!

The only thing that really stuck out for me this episode was that wonderful scene which took place in Mitsuyoshi’s bedroom. Teresa has finally realised her feelings and it’s hit her just how difficult it’s going to be to fulfill her duties. At this point it is still unclear as to what Mitsuyoshi feels. He obviously cares for her, but he cares for everyone. He’s just a very caring person in general. I’m actually quite enjoying the fact the we are only really seeing the romantic development from Teresa’s point of view, rather than seeing two characters fall in love with each other at the same time. It hasn’t really been an issue so far as to whether or not her feelings are requited, so I wonder when that will be brought up. I mean, if he doesn’t feel the same, there would be no worry about her not returning to Larsenburg….right?
I’ll see you next week!

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Tada Never Falls in Love (Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai)

Spring 2018 | Anime Info | Simulcast