Warning: The following contains spoilers for A Condition Called Love episode #6!!

A new romance anime called A Condition Called Love that has been unnecessarily mired in controversy due to a complete misinterpretation of a character named Saki Hananoi just embraced a major cliché that many rom-coms use, after the romance series had been going out of its way to either reject or give fascinating twists to seemingly every one of them. However, A Condition Called Love‘s unexpected adoption of this overused trope actually works just because of how it reflects on a character named Hotaru Hinase who desperately needed to experience her own cliché.

Although not proven, the extent to which the anime has portrayed Hotaru as being incapable of experiencing or understanding love has been so extreme that some fans have understandably wondered if she might be on the spectrum. So, when she suddenly realizes that she loves Saki and fails to confess in episode 6, viewers were less concerned with the fact that this type of dilemma happens in almost every single romance anime, and instead rejoiced that she felt this way.

By Hotaru experiencing something as ubiquitous as not having the courage to confess one’s feelings, Hotaru is now more like everyone else than before, and, more importantly, no longer seems as isolated or as incapable of feeling what everyone else can feel.

A Condition Called Love Complements “The Failed Confession” Cliché With Powerful Images

Original series created by Megumi Morino; anime produced by East Fish Studio

One of the reasons why the trope where a boy or girl can’t confess feels so cliché isn’t just because it happens all the time in romance anime. It’s due to the fact that these characters are relatable or are like everyone else. They usually don’t seem autistic and, at least, think they know what love is. So, by having these normal characters experience a normal feeling, it doesn’t feel out of place or special. However, this is such the case for Hotaru, since few people can relate to not being able to love someone, to the extent that she hasn’t. So an incomprehensible girl experiencing something that can be comprehended is a major accomplishment, especially when it’s a cliché. Of course, the episode later elaborates why Hotaru is so hesitant, and it’s not because of the usual type of embarrassment most girls feel, but a fear of losing or complicating what they have. However, this doesn’t affect the entire dynamic of the situation.

In essence, Hotaru struggling to confess her feelings to Saki in A Condition Called Love episode #6 initiated a snowball effect, perfectly embellishing how she reacts to a boy from her past before doing things for Saki because she needed to, not because she felt she had to.

Complementing this incredible development is how the episode soon introduces more well-known tropes to the story, and how their inclusion feels ironic given the series’ understood and established tone before then. The irony can’t be lost on viewers when Hotaru starts experiencing the same problems that lovers in other romance anime are forced to contend with when a boy from her past – whose shared history is, of course, associated with romance, even though false – comes back into her life. It’s ironic that a boy’s presence from her past causes such strong feelings in Hotaru, when the anime has portrayed her younger self as being even less capable of understanding emotions. In other words, it’s serendipitous that Hotaru just experienced a clichéd feeling before having other feelings about someone from a time when she felt even less overall than she does now.

The icing on the cake, however, is how the latter part of the episode concludes. Hotaru is put in situations where she can’t think and is forced to act with her heart for herself, when she once did the same things for Saki because she felt that these were things people in relationships had to do. In essence, Hotaru struggling to confess her feelings to Saki in A Condition Called Love episode #6, initiated a snowball effect, perfectly embellishing how she reacts to a boy from her past before doing things for Saki because she needed to, not because she felt she had to.