Prefectural Qualifiers in Full Swing

Warning: The next incorporates spoilers for Blue Box, Episode 7, “Can I Have One?”, now streaming on Netflix.

Blue Box episode 7, “Can I Have One?” shows Eimei High’s different sports teams preparing for and participating of their respective prefectural qualifiers. A few of the motion shots look different from usual, possibly because parts of episode 7 were outsourced to Studio Massket. A few of the high-speed movement scenes made some characters, especially Chinatsu, appear like different people. It’s just a little off from Telecom Animation Film’s usual work, but it surely is not terrible per se and is not detrimental to the episode as a complete.

Taiki feels more casual when talking to Chinatsu now, now not acting shy and insecure round her. He even pulls off some playful roleplay when he spots Chinatsu on the best way home by pretending to not know where she lives and helping her carry considered one of her bags home. There’s a noticeable difference in how the 2 interact now in comparison with how they were at the start of the series, so it’s nice to see some progress between them.

Chinatsu Advances

Eimei High’s Girls Basketball Team Wins Their Qualifiers Match

Blue Box, episode 6, “Wish Me Luck” was where Hina cleared her way through the rhythmic gymnastics prefectural qualifiers, and now it’s Chinatsu’s time for the basketball prefectural qualifiers. They only showed a few seconds of the prefectural qualifiers, with Chinatsu’s team winning, but the true drama got here after the match. Chinatsu and considered one of her teammates overheard their rivals from last 12 months, Kagohara High, discussing Eimei High’s performance within the qualifiers. They specifically mentioned Chinatsu and said that her performance hadn’t improved much from last 12 months and that they would not have an issue guarding her.

Later, Taiki learned of that discussion and told Chinatsu that she should pay them no mind, to which she disagreed. Chinatsu principally said that she’d take their criticism and shove it into their faces after winning their match. That is the primary time Blue Box has really shown Chinatsu’s aggressive side, which is nice since she will be able to sometimes come off as a flat character, especially since she hasn’t gotten a whole episode from her perspective yet, unlike Hina. Hopefully, Blue Box expands more on that fired-up and mad side of Chinatsu.

Taiki Advances

In Badminton? Sure. In Love? Ehh… A Little Bit

The badminton qualifiers match hasn’t come yet, but Taiki does show significant improvements in his badminton skills. For the primary time, Taiki actually managed to beat Haryu in a single set. Sure, it was just during practice, and the match itself was cut short as their coach advised them to not tire themselves out before the qualifiers, but it surely’s still good progress. Now the audience just has to attend for the following episode/s to see if the improvements are adequate to get him through the qualifiers.

As for his progress with Chinatsu, as mentioned above, he’s now more comfortable round her ever since their aquarium date in episode 5. He also took Chinatsu on a fast trip to a shrine he frequents to hope for his or her upcoming matches, which was a pleasant, quiet moment for them.

It is not all progress though, because near the tip of the episode, Taiki has a chat with Kyo about his plans with Chinatsu should he have the option to enter the Inter-High competition. Plainly he is not sure about officially asking Chinatsu out even when he can get into Inter-High, explaining that if he gets dumped, it could be awkward for the each of them to proceed living in the identical house. This revelation is just a little confusing and appears like a step back, considering that being on the identical level as Chinatsu to ask her out is considered one of Taiki’s predominant motivations for wanting to get into nationals.

Hina Advances

For Fried Chicken and Love

As mentioned earlier, Hina already won her prefectural qualifiers in Blue Box‘s previous episode, so there’s not much of her in episode 7. She only really appears toward the tip as a part of a gaggle of women who spot Taiki’s group hanging out in front of a convenience store.

The episode title stems from Hina making just a little move on Taiki, grabbing a chunk of his karaage and munching on it right in front of Chinatsu. To think that, just within the last episode, this same Hina was lost and depressed, and now, she’s back to being super near Taiki. Only now, her friendly teasing has hints of jealousy-inducing flirting.

After Hina leaves, Chinatsu approaches Taiki, asks him “Can I even have one?”, and even tells him that Hina made her jealous. She would probably say she was just kidding around, but some jokes are half-meant. This scene could be the primary sign of the basketball fangirl having a thing for the badminton fanboy.

Blue Box is now available to stream on Netflix. The discharge date for Blue Box, episode 8, is ready to be November 21, 2024 at 8:30 AM PT.