A Condition Called Love

Episode 4

This episode felt lopsided in its tone, narrative, and character development. Let's start with the second half because there's a lot of stuff that I genuinely liked. I have to give A Condition Called Love credit for highlighting certain relationships that many shojo series aren't tackling or taking for granted. The message at the end about how you can't expect a lot from your partner without showing a willingness to do the same thing is a good lesson. Hotaru spent the entire episode trying to figure out more about what makes Hananoi tic, but she wasn't willing to share much about herself. That inability to read other people caused her to fall out in the past. It takes somebody so overwhelmingly clingy like Hananoi to help highlight something she needs to work on about her character. That's a good lesson, and I'm glad they got a bit closer by the end of the episode. Also, her growing affection towards Hananoi feels genuinely believable, and I like the subtlety of her slowly growing desire to spend more time with him and share more intimate moments.

However, their exchange at the end summarizes why this episode feels lopsided. Hotaru is revealing a lot about herself, and we're only getting breadcrumbs from Hananoi. We spend so much time developing Hotaru while Hananoi is just there. Last week, I mentioned how it would be nice if we saw an inverse of the narrative that we had gotten so far by shifting focus to Hananoi so we could see things more from his perspective. I knew we wouldn't get to that right away, but this week's episode just further highlights why that needs to happen sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the way the narrative treats them feels very unbalanced. If the show wants to take the slow-burn approach with Hananoi or develop Hotaru first so she's mature enough to tackle whatever Hananoi is dealing with, then that's fine. Still, A Condition Called Love needs to cut back on the moments when Hananoi displays questionable behavior.

The first half of this episode showcases Hananoi being incredibly distant and borderline passive-aggressive. The episode even highlighted that he keeps an explicit distance from everybody except Hotaru, has no friends, and doesn't talk with anybody else directly. I can understand the desire to spend as much time with your significant other as possible, but I don't like how the show brings up Hananoi's behavior and then doesn't do anything about it. I need more than him helping one of Hotaru's friends tie her fortune to a tree, especially after that intense moment he gave his classmate. Understandably, the less-than-great advice pissed him off, but it does highlight a double standard.

Everyone experiences happiness differently, and not everybody will be on the same page. Maybe Hananoi is just the kind of person who only needs a significant other. If that's the case, it won't lead to a very interesting narrative and comes off as unhealthy behavior that should lead to issues. While I liked some of the developments in this episode, I don't like how the show focuses more on one partner while dropping all these hints about another. Maybe I'm getting impatient because the more the story brings something up without actually addressing it, the more it strains my suspension of disbelief. Who is the character of Hananoi, and why should I care about him based strictly on what the show has highlighted in these first four episodes?

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A Condition Called Love is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.