Cinderellas of Midsummer – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBWvcCAxMM0

Episode 2

Cinderellas of Midsummer Episode 2 brings us to consolation for a rejected Natsumi. The girls indicate that Kento could be an alternative, just as he happens to show up. They’re excited to hear he’ll be hanging around a little longer.

At the café, father and son are struggling so Kento offers help at the register. Natsumi is surprised to see him there but the four celebrate afterwards. Takumi walks in on the familial scene, pointing out that Kento is ‘different from us,’ then invites Natsumi to the festival. With Ari’s help, she dresses up in a yukata for her friend-date. Takumi is surprised to see her like that and finds an excuse to take her hand.

They gather a feast but Takumi stops short when he spots their teacher, his crush. Natsumi averts him from embarrassing himself in front of the teacher’s husband. Afterwards, he’s distracted and disappears when she goes for drinks. He’s gone to try to speak to their teacher again but is rejected.

Ari calls the Tokyo guys to join them at the festival with Kento joining separately after work. When he runs into an abandoned Natsumi he’s mesmerised by her but snaps out of it as they join the others. At a shooting game, Kento wins a whale for Natsumi. Even though she refuses, Ari is pulled away by another guy. Natsumi asks Kento to help, but it’s Takumi who gets rid of the guy.

After the fight, Takumi and Kento both walk Natsumi home. When it is just the two, Takumi warns Kento of getting too close to Natsumi. And Kento warns him back about playing with her feelings. Meanwhile, Kento’s mother pushes him to come home quickly but he ignores the message.

By phone from the laundromat, Risa’s son begs her to join him and his dad. After the call, the lifeguard, Hayakawa is surprised to run into Risa there. His mates are calling him a lady-killer but he claims they’re impugning him. Later, he approaches her admitting he’s been thinking of her and that he likes her but she makes light of it.

Natsumi is called to Kaito’s school as he’s been fighting. He won’t apologise but confides that the guy made fun of the bento she made. She says she’ll make two tomorrow – the guy can only insult it if it’s not tasty.

Kento then helps Natsumi clean up after a lesson. The guys intend to meet up for fireworks but she has work to do. She doesn’t mind, as her goal is a 3-meter radius of happiness around her. Kento asks her about romance and suggests she include herself in the 3-meter circle. She admits her happy dream is to paddleboard with whales.

Takumi can’t get through to his crush and when Natsumi shows up, offering consoling words, he kisses her. She runs away in tears – and he instantly knows what he’s done wrong. She goes to the beach where the others are getting ready to light fireworks. Kento notices that something has happened but she denies it. When her dad calls, she runs home to take care of a feverish Kaito. The girls think she’s like a mother on whom everyone depends.

Osamu joins them and the guys are surprised he’s made his way there so late. Mamoru looks between them when he hears that Ari called him. Later, Kento takes some fireworks with him and heads out. He lights them outside Natsumi’s house to draw her out, bringing her to see a whale projection. He asks for her number, noting the whale display can fit within her radius yet encourages her to look at the world beyond.

The Episode Review

Natsumi’s 3 meter-radius holds everything that’s safe and familiar. She claims she’s happy there, constantly busy because she wants to be. Or is it simply her security blanket? Having to be the ‘mother’ in her family does mean she need never worry about having a place or being stuck with an unnecessary abundance of thinking time.

We don’t know yet what has happened to her mother, but maybe it has left something deep and unsettled for Natsumi, where she needs that constant security to feel okay.

Kento – as everyone continues to point out – is absolutely outside the radius, different in every way. But opposites attract, don’t they? Or is it that curiosity killed the…? While Takumi might feel like home, he’s not proving to be all that safe a choice. However, Kento showing an interest can still feel quite temporary and, at least on paper, intimidating. Lots here for Natsumi to consider.

On the other side of the circle, in what’s probably a first for him, Osamu notices when he says something a little inappropriate and course corrects. And the way he shows up later because Ari invited him, gives us the indication that a second love triangle may be brewing. Think he’s got a shot? Perhaps when Mamoru’s still-to-be-revealed secret comes out?

Apart from the blossoming romances, who’s feeling the sparkle of summer at the beach? For someone who lives in a city, ah, it’s glorious! Are you enjoying it too? Let’s hear it in the comments below.