Hello, Junjou Minimum! It has been a while since we’ve delved into the past. I can imagine this Takahiro and Misaki centric chapter might have been a let down for fans who were eager for more Misaki and Usagi romance, but I can’t help but think about how the scanlation groups must have really enjoyed the break seeing that it was a considerably shorter chapter because I am already looking forward to how it will be easier to summarize. Thoughts after the cut!
Even though I mostly love JR for the ~romance~, the bond between the Takahashi brothers is so important because for the longest time they only had one another. Nakamura has never given their parents actual faces. I believe that this is the most detail that we will ever get and I appreciate that.
Misaki’s progress in cooking is fun to watch especially since he’s no prodigy and had to work hard for years to get to the level he achieves. Takahiro says that he wants to introduce Misaki to Usagi but that never happens. I wonder, if Usagi did know Misaki as a child, would he only feel big-brotherly towards him instead?
The line where Takahiro is thinking about how Misaki takes up more of Usagi’s free time than he does really made me laugh. If only you knew, buddy. If only you knew.
Manami making Takahiro realize that he is constantly seeing 22-year-old Misaki as a child is a huge turning point. My favourite part was when he realized that if Usagi hated people and since Misaki is always putting people’s feelings before his own then they wouldn’t be so persistent about continuing to live together and that there is a mutual trust. The “I always wanted to be his number one” line is very curious and frankly speaking, he could be referring to either Misaki or Usagi (even though we know it’s Misaki).
Takahiro actively calling Misaki after he’s been low-key dodging him a few acts ago is another great step. I really liked the hooded-lids expression on Misaki’s face because he knows that there’s no more running.
Bonus: Even though it was never uploaded to MangaGo, I remembered that Penicillin Shock released Act 50.5 while I was temporarily a part of their team and I decided to read it right away to get my Misaki and Usagi fix. To get Misaki’s thoughts about how he wants to take initiative is pretty amazing even though both he and the reader knows at the rate he’s going, all of those thoughts and plans are going to stay in his head. Thank goodness for those fanfic writers who turn Misaki’s ideas into reality.
To come: So even though I knew that I shouldn’t have, I scrolled down the Nowaki tag, found a super cute “Junjou Optimist” post where OP hypothetically ships Misaki and Nowaki, and I stumbled across a spoiler. Oops. Therefore I will no longer wait two to three weeks before reading a new act, but I will read one every weekend instead!
