After an episode where Taiki’s senpais’ relationship embody everything he aspires to be, leading him to ponder over his love confession; the pink-haired tsundere heroine has something she wants to confess as well.

Video Review

What Stands Out About This Episode?

The Juxtaposition of Two Heroine’s Climatic Moments

After 13 episodes of slow-brewing romantic buildup, with feelings creeping closer and closer to the surface of your tippity toes, episode 14 takes one massive step forward for all three major characters in Blue Box. In an impressive display of building momentum, from Chinatsu’s major climactic loss to Hina’s heartfelt confession of love to the MC, the dramatic style felt fitting for what was the most rewarding moment—yet it unveiled one massive conundrum that Taiki, Chinatsu, and Hina now find themselves in.

The contrast between the two major events—a crescendo rise to the top of hoop dreams, only to fail with a dreaded rimmed clunker, versus a romantic confession that feels like the start of something deeply complicated for Taiki—unfolding in the middle of each character’s scenes delivers a hodgepodge of mixed emotions. This perfectly sets up the biggest predicament the MC will face.

What is even more rewarding is that element of surprise from Hina’s confession.

Coming off an episode focused on Karen and Haryu’s relationship, which served to guide Taiki toward the “Chinatsu promised land,” it’s Hina who has always been the boldest of the characters—delivering the first romantic blow with the heartfelt words of「好
(す)き」and creating a love triangle that she hopes will tilt in her favor down the line.

The Perfect Blend of Reality and Fiction

The Blue Box story has an incredible way of making the audience feel a sense of satisfaction from the reality of the situations the characters face. From an unreal scenario of staying behind in Japan to essentially live with strangers to chase your hoop dreams can sound very far-fetched, but what Chinatsu faces is very much real. Chinatsu is a character that has already tasted a crushing defeat before the series even started, so making it back to compete in nationals and building this long-winded crescendo to see her finally win is one where we would naturally conclude. However, that isn’t what Blue Box is about as we actually see her be crushed in defeat, missing the game winning shot. Add in the creativity to align Hina’s confession to coincide with Chinatsu’s loss, it stings that much more seeing her lose, while making it look like her romance is falling short as well.

On the flipside, we have Hina, who is everything “third wheel,” who is traditionally set up not to actually win in the love triangle. Just like sports, love is a game of winners and losers that meshes perfectly with the theme of sports. Seeing Hina’s character arc progress from episode 6, where the story outright outs her as a love interest and seeing how that effected her gymnastics, this confession essentially became the closure for that part of her chapter. By taking third at Nationals and spending the prior episode and a quarter to completely neglect even acknowledging Taiki, it showed her dedication and extreme focus. With these elements of drive and dedication in her character, it really mirrors what Taiki admires in Chinatsu, except.. you like who you like. You are attracted to who you are attracted to. In which, this leads to the next lesson brewing for her character. No matter how hard you try, even when you don’t really have any glaring flaws and by most beauty standards, you are considered attractive, the game of love still ends with a loser.

This is what I enjoy most about Blue Box as a story as there is no real villain. The dilemma and struggles are those of real life scenarios where important lessons are learned and character is constantly being built through tough circumstances. When you add the “shonen” sauce to strive for something, seeing Chinatsu lose at Nationals hit as badly as any other character from a more fantastical story. In Hina’s case, it felt good knowing that she can put herself first, but also knowing the sad reality of love where one of the two in the love triangle will fail. That is where her confession to Taiki feels the most concerning, but necessary and liberating for her character.