English Dub Review: A Condition Called Love “Our First Second Year; Our First Campus Expedition”

Overview


“Our First Second Year”

Hotaru and Saki kick off their second year of high school together, and things are off to an interesting start as Hotaru comes to notice how both they and their relationship are changing—not to mention how hard those changes can be…


“Our First Campus Expedition”

Hotaru spends the day with the bookstore crew, including Saki and Yao, who don’t see eye to eye about the past. Perhaps a little nudge is just what Saki needs to be more open with Hotaru…


Our Take

This time around, Crunchyroll felt the need to release two dubbed episodes at once this week with the former episode set during  a new school year for Hotaru and Saki, but they are still not in the same class, so Saki doesn’t get to spend much time with Hotaru at school. Hotaru’s female friend even notices that Saki wants Hotaru all to himself, though he should understand that her friends are important to her too. The second half of the episode focuses on Yao, delving into his past with Hotaru. It’s interesting to see Yao reconnect with Hotaru on a platonic level, at least until the post-credits scene when Yao interacts with Saki.

The other episode starts with a bonding session between the couples, Yao, and Satomi. Things get heated between the guys fighting over Hotaru in secret over a game of ping pong, especially Saki, who thinks Yao still has a crush on her, particularly because of the “Hotako” nickname, which bothers Saki a lot since he doesn’t know about their past. It takes Hotaru explaining part of her past for Saki to understand, though he still isn’t satisfied and wants her for himself completely. But Hotaru’s optimistic idea to turn their secrets into a Q&A session helps a lot to help break things down to something they can easily agree on. However, the wholesome twist is something even I didn’t see coming…

Overall, both episodes were dramatic and emotional in different ways. The first episode, which was Yao-focused and it’s heavily implied that Saki may face a challenge in a love triangle with Hotaru, as Yao knows things about Saki’s past that he hasn’t shared with Hotaru. In the other episode, Yao’s attempt to squeeze information out of Saki feels underhanded. But let’s be real, Saki and Hotaru are already so deep in their relationship that I can’t see Yao being the right match for her. Maybe things could’ve been different if Hotaru had never met Saki, but now it’s probably too late for Yao. The ending of the second episode was a standout, and with one more episode left, I don’t know how the season could end.