Thoughts on Episode 5 - ⁉️Spoilers‼️

 merutsubame:

The older woman - younger man trope often makes me cringe but not at all with this one, in fact the age gap does not matter I just want them to be happy. T-T

I think it's because it's not used as a trope here. It's a story where two complex souls falling in love and they just happened to be different ages, plus they have other differences to reconcile, so their age difference becomes meaningless in front of that struggle. They are shown to be similar mental age, as she feels like a fake-adult and still pats her plushies and he never went to school and had a proper childhood is more shrewd. Together they heal their inner wounded child. I wrote more about this: https://kisskh.at/793096-ai-no-gakko#comment-22965294

At first I was fine if they were shown to have a happy ending separately, but after episode 5,  I just want to see them have a happy ending, together😭

 merutsubame:

And before when in the bookshop he was also teasing her that they look like lovers. He is secretly wanting people to look at them as a couple right? 😭😭😭

Oh for sure! He confessed he likes her at the start of the episode and wanted a different relationship with her, but Manami was like nope we are seito and sensei only.🙉So he's teasing her endlessly, like he shows her a book saying "I like/love sensei" at the end of their bookshop 'date'.😍and by the end of the episode it's too much for him and says: let's stop the student teacher game of make-believe, but she still denies before saying "hate you so much". I loved Raul's voice modulation on the "DAI/SO much"😩

Next episode, he's again happy in a cafe where they are seen as a couple🥰

 merutsubame:

In my dream one day Taiga will no longer being a host, he can read and write normally and becomes a train driver, Manami is still teaching and they live happily together.

I hope he's at least shown to start thinking to become something like that or something adjacent to that and stops with the obsession of becoming the number 1 host.

 merutsubame:

So I googled "how to be a train driver in Japan" and funny enough, I found a post on a forum by someone named "Raul" asking how he can become a train driver for JR Central. 🤣🤣🤣

OMG! that's the cutest thing you found awww 🥰

I love how we are all here so invested in their future, everyone's saying everywhere: please let them be happy. 🙏🙇‍♀️

Our adorable playmates are playing hide and seek, they previously talked about visiting Miura beach when they were young in episode 3:

He asks: “couldn’t we possibly met at that beach?”

They couldn't have, because they were separated by time itself. But now they are together playing aww. It’s amazing how they become happy silly kids when they are together.

Her inner-monologue says: 

“There’s now a person who will search for me, forever from now on”.

😩❤️

Is there another preview for episode 06?!

Thanks! 😁 Interesting observation about how their story parallels that of the lion and the mouse. 

I just had this thought... What if Ogawa gets stabbed while trying to protect Takamori?! 

Praying for a clear HEA to the powers that be. 

Yes, there’s normally two previews, a 30s and a 60s and it was from the 60s one.

The foreshadowing game of this writer is out of this world. It was the same with Hirugao, so I am nervous. But this drama has shoujo elements, so I think we’ll be fine🤞

I also thought about Manami jumping in and the cliché: ML/FL finally realizing how far they can go for each other, but will the writer choose it to do it? She’s already flipped the script in so many aspects: Taiga is not being deceived and knows his mom’s lying about little bro, Manami’s mom is feisty, patriarch bows down to carry her handbag, fiancé becomes a cheating obsessive clown, the gay teacher won’t fall for Kaworu(?), Taiga’s “I hate you SO much” and lots more.

I could tolerate if Manami hears Taiga was stabbed and it's her turning point vice versa and but makes a swift recovery. But if the stabbing ends one of their lives, like she get's stabbed to death while saving him and Taiga is shown to have changed  meaningfully as a result or vice versa, I would surely hate it, please no more suicide attempts or fatal death near them please lol. 

Maybe it’s the high schooler. If our clown Kawahara won’t go stabby by the end of next episode while meeting Kaworu, he’s will be in the clear too from the list of people who could threaten Kaworu’s life. And the newest candidate of the list is his roommate, Kaworu complements him “you’re a really nice guy”🫤 and then he talks about how he wants money for his dad’s failed business. Or The Joker’s bossman’s Korean-understanding(hints underworld) wingman could do it. But some are speculating bossman is Kaworu’s dad😩 Maybe no one’s gonna ever be stabbed because the writer might be like: bamboozled ya didn’t I? heh🫠

@Nemurerukana My heart can tolerate seeing them suffering but at least let them get a happy ending please 🥺 

It was fun reading all your analysis and additional information, thank you for all the devotion for Manami and Taiga. 🥺 Will you ever come back when your semester end?

It's like it wasn't just a decision made to fulfill some sort of fantasy, but it has meaning.

This is what I meant when I said the trope often makes me cringe. I just happened to watch a few dramas with this trope right before Ai no gakkou and it makes me feel like it's written for women in their 30s to satisfy their romance fantasy, which is not wrong since everyone has their taste but at least make it believable please. Like, the young guy loves the older woman just for no reason? Or at best, because she's still young and sexy? I just rolled my eyes. 😒 While in this show, Manami looks plain, even boring in her conservative work clothes and glasses but Taiga fell for her anyway. I can feel the feeling gradually grows in his heart and it's very convincing to me.

Also, in other dramas I watched, the FL kept saying "but I'm wayyy older than you, our age gap is 1x years bla bla we should not be together" while here I think their only concern is the social "status" stands between them, not the age gap.  

But he's seen and experienced SO MUCH that it was almost unfair to him. Very early on, he already knew that he couldn't depend on the only parent that he has, so he has resorted to trying what he can to survive.  

I feel bad for Taiga, he is a child who was forced to grow up and be his own parents. But, despite him acting cool and flirty, like an easy-going playboy who does not care about love, he's still shaking when he is in the hotel with Akina, which makes me wonder maybe all the things he bragged before were all made up as a protecting mechanism. Like, "love" and sex are nothing to me, and women even have to pay to buy my "love", you people cannot hurt me anymore. Early on he even told Manami that in exchange for her Kanji lessons he will teach her about love, but as the show goes on, it's Manami who teaches him both. He's a fragile child yearning for love, that's why he's still giving his mother money, partly because his little brother loves him but also because he wants the attention from his mother, even though he thinks he is trash to her, as for a child it's still better than being abandoned. He wants love so bad that when Manami defended him that he's not stupid, even though he thought it's a lie he still left Akina behind, risking the no.1 position, getting scolded later, just to ran after sensei and told her he's happy hearing her words. He even offered her to go to hotel lol I think it's the only way he knows to show "love".

I read all your analysis about their "inner child" and very love it. That's when I realized, if Manami would not have a broken inner child stuck inside her and was a mature woman her age, there couldn't be any romance sparks between them. She would just be a teacher or a "mother figure" to Taiga (before I even told my friend I feel like Taiga has Oedipus complex when I was not aware of the inner child concept lol), he might feel grateful that she respected him but not romantic love at all.

I also noticed how the scene around the rooftop has this yellowish-gray tone and only their learning corner has vivid color. It's like, their own worlds are all gloomy until they meet, that's when the world is colorful and they're back to their younger self again.

 Norikorei:

kindness shouldn't be paid with sex

I think it's the only thing he can think of and is able to offer? People in his life either want his money (like his mother) or so-called "love"/ sex (his clients). Obviously Manami doesn't need his money so for him there is only 1 option left. But that's still the wrong answer, she only needs him to repay her by doing his homework.

 Norikorei:

But it kind of shows how their growing connection made them feel the safest with each other, and they are both aware of it

In ep 4 when Taiga hugged her she did not push him out right away, unlike with the fiancé - there are multiple times he tried to be more intimate but her body refused so hard, because she unconsciously dislike him. 

 Norikorei:

Not only to receive, but also to give

Right? But no one has ever wanted his love (true love, not the kind of "love" in the host club), they want something else like I said before. As he's growing out of the "host" world I want to see how he will give his love to Manami later on. 😭