Stardust Telepath – Season 1 Episode 10 Recap & Review

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Episode 10 of Stardust Telepath begins with Umika greeting Haruno and Yu at school. Their class president praises Umika for her effort in the bottle rocket championship. She plans to show several students footage Haruno shot of them flying their rocket at the competition. After Haruno brings up Emihara (their teacher), Umika departs class to speak with her. At the same time, she notices Matataki hasn’t arrived at class yet and she’s mildly concerned. 

Emihara discusses her experience with Yu and Haruno after the competition. Despite losing, Umika says she’s not giving up on her dreams and thanks many people for encouraging her to move forward. Emihara tells Umika she received a phone call from Matataki’s caretaker stating that Matataki won’t come to school for a while. Emihara believes Matataki’s bitter about losing the competition. She feels Umika understands how much of an impact this loss had on Matataki. 

Emihara asks Umika to promise that she, Haruno, and Yu will look after Matataki. Umika discusses Matataki’s situation with Haruno and Yu. Yu suggests they visit Matataki’s home soon to cheer her up. Umika asks Haruno to send her footage of her speech and we cut to Umika crying about it at home since she didn’t realize it was horrible. Umika tells her sister she’s rewatching the footage because she wants to overcome her qualms with failure. 

Haruno, Yu, and Umika visit Matataki’s place the next day and realize she’s not answering them. They depart Matataki’s home and Haruno makes a sneaky comment about the possibility that Matataki may never return to school again. She takes her comment back and attempts to go home. Yu stops Haruno and uses her forheadapathy technique on her. She realizes Haruno’s heart is filled with extreme doubt and worry. 

Haruno reveals this isn’t the first time she’s dealt with a dramatic situation like this. She reflects on a dream she and a friend had about becoming pianists. After failing in a competition, her friend never showed up to play piano with her again. After experiencing something like this, Haruno forged a new take on competitions. This take includes valuing competition results regardless if they end in a victory or a loss. She believes this would allow everyone to achieve their dreams. 

Unfortunately, Matataki’s situation proved her wrong and she now blames herself for not aiming higher. Yu deduces Haruno’s scared of seeing her friends get hurt when their dreams are shattered. Umika tells Haruno her dreams aren’t shattered yet. Despite feeling immense pain from losing, Umika says she’s not willing to give up. Umika says she wants to enter the championship next year. With additional encouragement from Yu, Haruno strives to become stronger and hopes Matataki can wait for her. 

In a flashback, we see Haruno and her grandfather discussing her situation with her friend (Megumi) on the lighthouse’s rooftop. Her grandfather tells her that it’s natural for people to give up their dreams as he’s done so several times in the past. After stating her issues with dreaming and ruining others’ goals, her grandfather suggests she become someone who can cheer on other’s dreams. In the present, Haruno spiritually apologizes to her grandfather. She states she doesn’t want to be the person he suggested she’d be. 

Later, Haruno visits Matataki and tries to encourage her to return to school. Matataki tells Haruno she’s sick of her and suggests she leave. Haruno confronts Matataki about her poor behavior over their loss. She says she’ll be the one to help the others achieve their dream instead of Matataki. Moreover, Haruno reveals she no longer believes in her former ideals. She wants to be someone who works toward a goal and accomplishes it. 

Haruno notices Matatki’s willing to throw her goggles out so Haruno takes them from her. She departs Matataki’s home and tells Matataki not to give up. The episode closes with Matataki alone in her home, stating that the others don’t understand her. 

The Episode Review

Stardust Telepath episode ten continues to show how impactful this bottle rocket championship event was on our protagonists. From Haruno’s deep speech to Matataki’s refusal to move forward, many tears will be shed this week. At the same time, the supporting cast from the class president to Emihara deserve praise for pushing our girls forward. 

On that note, it was compelling to see Umika confront her failures and team up with Yu to help Haruno strive for better. While helping others is a selfless act many can stand, this episode indicates why it’s not terrible to desire success in one’s own life. Not only did this discussion give Haruno excellent development but it made her discussion with Matataki feel more emotional and interesting to watch. 

Hopefully, our girls will find a way to reignite Matataki’s spirit again. Overall, this was a great chapter of Stardust Telepath. With only two episodes to go, I’m curious to see what will happen next. Hopefully, we’ll see this group of friends get back together and work toward winning next year’s bottle rocket championship.