Captivated By You Episode 4 Review - The School's Pariah Sits Behind Him
For the anime-only viewers, here are a few things I want to let you know about the second story, whether you’ve seen the episode or not:
The story does not take place in the same school as Medaka and Nikaidou as it’s a separate story altogether.
I don’t know if it takes place at the same time as the Hayashi stories.
There is a quote from the manga that got changed in the anime that gives the relationship between Medaka and Nikaidou more BL-subtext.
The start of the Nikaidou and Medaka story is really cute! I really like how Doga Kobo keeps adding in anime original details to help pace and make the episode flow a bit better and not be a page-by-page adaptation of the manga. Like, with the beginning segment with the middle school Nikaidou getting traumatized on Valentine’s Day was only mentioned by word of mouth from Sato but it was never shown in the manga. I do like the extra effort the animation staff does for this. It makes the story pop out more.
The MedaNika pair is very intriguing as it’s a budding relationship that stemmed from Medaka’s curiosity towards the school’s pariah. I like that his motivations to get closer to Nikaidou is of shallow reasons—he’s risking his scalp for the pretty boy underneath all that gloom. He doesn’t really care all that much about Nikaidou as a person (at first), he just wanted to see that pretty boy in the picture. The way he made that funny face and the piano trill that followed with his smile as he saw Nikaidou laughing definitely showed he definitely developed a crush on him. In fact, the audacity for them to remove that one quote of Medaka saying that he felt something more than platonic for Nikaidou after seeing that smile. That boy got a bi awakening.
I do feel bad for Nikaidou in that he’s a sensitive person, so to be traumatized about the used pad to the point that he wants to be avoided by others once he got to high school really shows that popularity sucks at times. He’s brave for doing things no other person would want to do like tucking his blazer into his pants and try to be as unattractive as possible. He’s also afraid of horror as he looked up Junji Ito and almost gave the Uzumaki anime’s budget a run for their money.
The voice acting is also really good! Both Medaka and Nikaidou’s voice actors have BL experience! Medaka is voiced by Yuuki Ono who’s a frequent participant in BL. You might have heard him in some BL anime like Dakaichi, Twittering Birds Never Fly, and Hybrid Child to name a few. Outside of BL, he’s known for voicing characters like Kagami from Kuroko’s Basketball, Kunigami from Blue Lock and Mira from MahoAku. I don’t know why, but OnoYuu is a perfect fit for Medaka—like that voice matches his vibes so well that you can’t really imagine his voice as anything else. Like, the way he made that noise when making the silly face is definitely good! Nikaidou is voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto, who doesn’t participate in BL all that much, but he has been in two Shungiku Nakamura works as Kisa from Sekaiichi Hatsukoi and Kotaro from Hybrid Child. I feel like Okamoto’s softer voice is underrated as he’s usually known for his signature loud, angry voice. Sato is voiced by Hina Yomiya, who voiced Minami from Oshi no Ko. I didn’t recognize her voice at all but she sounded super cute. Also, Medaka’s friends Sakura (black hair) and Zaki (blond) are voiced by Daiki Yamashita and Tasuku Hatanaka, who sing the ending song.
Speaking of the ending, if you watch closely, the ending sequence actually changes as the part where Hayashi usually grabs his drink changes to Nikaidou cleaning his glasses and then walking off. It’s a nice little detail to show off that it’s Nikaidou’s story now. Though, it sucks that next week is the final episode of Captivated By You. Yes, these two only has two chapters in the original manga, but you can’t help but want an entire series for them. Let me know what you thought about this episode!
freq_wave (Pacific; Los Angeles) opens today 09.23.22. It is an immersive installation curated by Carl Michael von Hausswolff, which transforms the interior of the Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatories with a visual and sound installation.
Participating artists for freq_wave (Pacific; Los Angeles) include:
15–30 Hz Greg Anderson (USA)
31–65 Hz Jana Winderen (NO)
66–90 Hz Minoru Sato (JP)
91–140 Hz Jimena Sarno (AR/USA)
141–180 Hz Bethan Kellough (UK/USA)
181–250 Hz Tom Recchion (USA)
251–350 Hz JG Thirlwell (AUS/USA)
351–500 Hz Alba Triana (CO/USA)
501–1000 Hz Jónsi (IS/USA)
1001–2000 Hz Lawrence English (AUS)
2001–5000 Hz Yan Jun (CN)
5001–12000 Hz Richard Chartier (USA)
freq_wave (Pacific; Los Angeles) runs from 09.23-25.22 11am-5pm. Ticketed performances at Mt Wilson tonight 09.23.22 by Lawrence English and Minoru Sato. More info at https://fulcrumfestival.org/
In September 2022 JG Thirlwell will be taking part in the sound art project freq_wave (Pacific; Los Angeles)
freq_wave (Pacific; Los Angeles) is an immersive installation by pioneering new media and conceptual artist, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, who will transform the interior of the 100-inch Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatories with a visual and sound installation. The project brings together twelve individual sound works by twelve artists, each operating within a unique frequency range based on field recordings from the Pacific Ocean and amplified to act as a single, generative sonic zone.
The artists participating will include Greg Anderson, Jana Winderen, Minoru Sato, Jimena Sarno, Bethan Kellough, Tom Recchion, JG Thirlwell, Alba Triana, Jónsi, Lawrence English, Yan Jun and Richard Chartier.
freq_wave is part of the Fulcrum Festival. The installation will be open from 11am-5pm at Mt Wilson Observatory, Sep 23-25 2022.
