REVIEW: ‘A Condition Called Love’ Episode 10 — “Our First Second Year”

A Condition Called Love Episode 10 begins to speedrun the plot as we officially move into Hotaru (Kana Hanazawa) and Hananoi’s (Chiaki Kobayashi), second year. In the manga, this is where storylines begin to pick up pace, and the ensemble begins to fully form, transforming and growing past the bar it initially sets itself. However, with only two episodes left of the season, it will be interesting to see how much the series can course correct. No matter the highs the series has reached sparingly, the whole picture continues to leave much to be desired.

Nothing truly happens in A Condition Called Love Episode 10 beyond some general setup. In the first half, we watch Hananoi contend with sharing space with Hotaru and her friends. While Hananoi, in earlier episodes, would’ve been reticent about spending lunch with anyone other than Hotaru, he gives a little in “Our First Second Year.” He isn’t thrilled but willing to sacrifice that alone time to make Hotaru happy. This is growth, however incremental. It’s something that Hotaru latches onto. She knows that Hananoi seems to prioritize his alone time, but how much of it is forced isolation, and is any of it actually good for him?

The second portion of the episode involves Yao (Ryōhei Kimura) and his relationship with Hotaru. He has no idea that he is why Hotaru and her childhood friend had a major, disastrous falling out. All he knows is that Hotaru has always been kind. We watch a flashback where Hotaru helps Yao hide from any onlookers as he is emotional over his dog having to get surgery. In the present, she helps him again when his sentimentality gets the best of him. Her kindness and willingness to help others draw him to her, even if he can’t quite place what the emotion he’s feeling actually is.

Yao makes for a solid secondary character, especially considering that the ensemble has been relatively weak up until now. How his story intertwines with Hotaru and how he and Hananoi are both drawn to Hotaru for similar reasons makes for an engaging character. But it’s a lot of development to push onto viewers all at once, especially as we’re still settling into the groove of Hananoi and Hotaru’s relationship. Like most things in the series, it’s all fine, but it could easily be better.

Because here’s the biggest upset about the anime adaptation of A Condition Called Love (Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai) — the manga is good. Sure, it starts out similarly shaky due to the initial low stakes and the divisive nature of Hananoi’s character. That said, mangaka Megumi Morino beautifully instills greater depth into her illustrations.

And yes, this can be said of many popular adaptations where details and emotional subtleties in facial expressions are lost in the transposing, but it’s notable here because, with the right studio and the right team and amount of time, this could be on the same level as something like Horimiya. This is especially true the longer characters progress in the story and Hananoi and Hotaru’s love story develops.

Instead, it’s all so distractingly flat that it becomes stale. There’s no movement or contours. A series like My New Boss is Goofy can afford a level of stiffness in its animation since so much of the story’s success is in the humor. However, a romance like A Condition Called Love needs depth and motion — we need to feel the impact of characters as they run towards one another to embrace.

Every impulse and declaration needs color to shade in these characters’ turbulent emotional decisions. Unfortunately, A Condition Called Love Episode 10 continues the trend of failing to find greater life beyond the unsteady backbone. These characters are interesting in theory, but nothing in the presentation of the anime makes us want to latch on.

A Condition Called Love Episode 10 works fine as a companion piece to the superior manga. With pleasant colors and interesting characters, there are plenty of agreeable attributes. However, like the rest of the series so far, it fails to elevate the story. It’s taking it all at face value rather than trying to amplify what our characters are going through visually. Serviceable and flat, it needs a spark of life to make it more than simple dictation and instead an adaptation with a soul of its own.

A Condition Called Love Episode 10 is out now on Crunchyroll.