We’re back, baby! Well, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You never left for some of you, but for those of us who watched all the mini-episodes when they debuted early, we’ve been waiting for new material ever since. And finally, episode seven starts the all-new content—and with it, a series of posts giving brief impressions of the episodes, week by week.
Let’s begin!
The Shift
As summer draws to an end, Sasaki hasn’t been seeing much of Yamada. He later learns from Tamaya that she’s been studying to pass an exam that will lead to a raise in pay. Can Sasaki encourage his crush even though he can’t see her?
In Part B, Tamaya tells Sasaki that the store employees have begun to say the smoking area is haunted, but his reaction isn’t quite what she expected; neither is the ghost they find.
The Smoke Break
Sometimes an episode drops at the perfect time—A Christmas episode in December, a fireworks episode in the summer, or—in this case—an episode built around the end of the summer season. It really works nicely, particularly in setting up a scenario and the end of the second part of the episode involving the heat and finding a way to cool down. I really enjoyed this ending to episode seven, which just served to remind me how good Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You is at building these brief stories that are a balance of silly fun and storylines for an adult romance, not a teen one. I think these five to ten minute drops are what build excitement in me for the series.
The voice acting is also a major part of why I tune in; the separation between Seena Hoshiki’s dry, methodic, deep voicing of Tamaya and Sakuya Satou’s Sasaki, who is often over-the-top, high, and almost shrieking, helps convey the lovely “opposites attract” romance at work here. They also help set that difference in power between the two characters, with Tamaya effectively leading the relationship, though this episode, more than the previous ones, reveals her rapidly-growing affection for Sasaki, including a moment of vulnerability and even some blushing.
After the Smoke Clears
As Tamaya’s feelings for Sasaki become clearer, the dynamics in her relationship with Sasaki are starting to evolve—and I’ll be interested to see how the show evolves with it in coming episodes.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
©Jinushi/SQUARE ENIX, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You Production Committee
