Junjou Romantica 3×7 Review: The Darkest Place Is Under the Candlestick

Finally we get a break from Misaki/Usagi!  And we get… Junjou Mistake? Really? Okay, not going to complain here, but it wasn’t the pairing I was expecting to come next.  I feel like Isaka and Asahina get the least amount of screen time, which may be why I’m so surprised they went that route.  But hey, this was like a breath of fresh air in the monotonous repetitive cycle that has become the main Junjou Romantica plot.  Isaka and Asahina have been together for over a decade so, despite the fact that Isaka can act childish at times, their relationship feels a lot more evolved and mature.  We’re beyond the initial phase of coming to terms with their feelings for each other and have catapulted into more complicated romantic matters, such as the decision to move in together.

Junjou Mistake gets pushed so far to the sidelines I often forget that Isaka is not just a big wig at Murakawa, but the biggest of big wigs.  He’s now president of the company and Asahina is his secretary.  Is everyone at Murakawa gay or bisexual?  Is there not one heterosexual male in the entire building?  Not that I’m complaining, but really now.  This is the gayest of gay companies.  This week’s episode visits a brief, yet important period of time in their long relationship.  The two have just come to their ten-year anniversary, but they still don’t live together.  Some clichéd misunderstandings ensue and the two bicker, but their love prevails and the episode ends with them planning to move in together.  The drama between the two of them felt forced and, once again, seems like it could have been resolved if the two just talked to each other instead of making grandiose assumptions about the situation.  But I’ve long ago accepted that everyone in the Junjou universe suffers from a severe lack of communication skills, so I guess this is par for the course.

Placing the action in Murakawa books means we get a small taste of SekaKoi, even though it’s been years since we’ve had a new season.  Keen-eyed viewers may have spotted Takano and Onedera walking down the hallway when Isaka was brooding about his potential matchmaking date.  It was so subtle that I had to pause and rewind just to be sure they were who I thought they were.  And dammit, they were out of focus but it was definitely them.  Praise the yaoi Gods, we got some SekaKoi! Honestly, though, this and the little bit of Kirishima we got a couple episodes ago are making me angry that we don’t have a new season of SekaKoi.  All the characters are right there, god dammit.  And they are doing nothing.  If we aren’t going to get a new season of that, at the very least can we have Kisa and Yukina be the next cameo?  Please and thank you.

Now that we’ve broken up the Misaki and Usagi drama fest, I’m actually enjoying the season again. I hope we get at least one or two more Junjou Terrorist episode before the season is done, but we are so close to the end I may have to be grateful for the single episode of them that I got.  We still haven’t seen anything from Junjou Egoist and, since the characters are in the opening and closing credits, I can safely assume that they get at least one episode this season.  In order for them to have an episode and Junjou Terrorist to have a second one, that means we wouldn’t see Misaki or Usagi’s plot until the finale.  Honestly, I wouldn’t mind this at all, but the season has been so heavily focused on them I doubt I’ll be so lucky.  But stranger things have happened, I suppose.  Excuse me while I spend the next few days praying to the yaoi Gods for more Junjou Terrorist.  If the gods are good, I’ll see them again before the season is complete.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They’ve also written for Friends of Comic Con and is a 2019 Hugo Award winner for contributing fanfic on AO3. They identify as queer.

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