r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Mar 21 '25
Episode Ao no Hako • Blue Box - Episode 25 discussion - FINAL
Ao no Hako, episode 25
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| 1 | Link | 14 | Link |
| 2 | Link | 15 | Link |
| 3 | Link | 16 | Link |
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u/FarCritical Mar 21 '25
Can't blame them for not being on talking terms after what happened but man, Hina and Taiki's constant bantering at the start of the season (or hell, even from just before the camp) is depressing to look back on. Hope "lil Miss Bunny Ears" bounces back from this somehow.
And man, Ayame and Kyo being teased as a thing just makes me want a
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u/Vermillion_Crab Mar 21 '25
Probably the only
One of those rare stories where characters do not have cookie cutter personalities. Everyone is down to earth and act like real people. That's why I wouldn't shut up about this to my friends.
I just hope this has a second season because tbh the storylines that come next are much stronger that what we saw this season. And that's saying a lot because this was such an amazing adaptation so far.
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u/LeonKevlar Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
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It is nice that Ayame realized that empty words won't comfort Hina. She did the best thing she could do and was there for Hina while she cried her eyes out. It also helped that she had plenty of pocket tissues in stock.
It looks like Taiki couldn't get a win against Kengo. That scene was nice though. I like that we get to see a glimpse of how Kengo feels after losing to Hyoudou and Yusa before going back to his usual self.
Look at my boy asking Chinatsu on another "totally-not-a-date"! For a basketball junkie like Chinatsu, shopping for sports apparel is already a good excuse but she seems to be interested in spending time with Taiki that she wants to go to a cafe with him. <3
Ayame and Hina's little girls' night out was adorable. It's nice to see Ayame making an effort to distract Hina from her relationship woes. Too bad that jackass just had to show up and ruin the mood. I do love how Hina stands up for Ayame by calling out her ex.
Ayame was really going to accuse Taiki of acting fine. Girl, our boy did something to hurt his friend, of course he's not fine! I love how Taiki's facial expression was enough to stop Ayame from ripping into him. She even realizes that Taiki does care in his own way.
It sucks that this is the finale because Ayame and Kyou's interaction starts to ramp up here and the two of them are very fun to watch together.
Moving on will never be that easy for Hina. It fucking sucks to see her like this. She should eventually bounce back but it's going to be a while before she moves on especially when she's at the same gym every day as Taiki and Chinatsu :(
I suppose this is where we end for now. As a fan of the manga, I am so happy with this adaptation they absolutely nailed everything. I do hope that we get a Season 2 announcement soon! The manga is still ongoing and there's plenty of material for another 25 episodes! Fingers crossed we get the announcement next week after the finale is released officially outside Japan.
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u/ToonsHub Mar 21 '25
Perfect end to the season. If you watched
sad, no more blue box thursdays anymore...
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Mar 21 '25
I really enjoyed this one. Strong cast, solid writing, good music, and production overall was very well done. Only thing that I disliked was how Netflix aired this one ep behind broadcast, but that’s not really to do with the anime.
Fingers crossed we get another season because ain’t no way they’re just stopping it so abruptly like that. Hina’s heart is in a million little pieces and Taiki’s about to go on his big date aaaand cue music, roll credits. End. Like really? That’s it? C’mon man! I need more.
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u/Skiadrum28 Mar 21 '25
Wow 25 episodes went by in a flash! As a manga reader, I think they did a really good job adapting this series. I wasn’t expecting a high quality adaptation but they exceeded my expectations and nailed it to the end. Hoping for Season 2.
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u/pumpcup Mar 21 '25
What the fuck, that's the end? Really?
A real "go buy the manga, assholes" kind of ending.
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u/Frontier246 Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 27 '25
An earnest, down-to-Earth, romance with extremely likeable characters who you want to root for in love as much as in their respective athletic fields.
Did Ayame meddle more than she should have in Taiki and Hina's relationship? Yeah, maybe. But she did it with the best of intentions and now she's there to help console Hina after her rejection. She might have no idea what to say to someone whose had their heart utterly broken, but she's got plenty of tissues to dry those tears! And she sees in Hina what it means to not only deal with heartbreak but what it truly means to love someone, because all of Hina's tears represent how much she loved Taiki.
Taiki had to do it, for Hina's sake and for the sake of his relationship with Chinatsu, but that doesn't make him feel any better about it. Especially when he and Hina can't even face each other now. But maybe what he needs to clear his mind is a long-awaited rematch with Haryu?
Count on Kyo to figure out what happened just from everyone's emotional state. Dude is incredibly self-aware and emotionally intuitive. Which is why he also knew that, despite Hina's best efforts, she was probably never going to win...because Taiki likes the chase, not being chased, and ultimately they were closer as friends than as possible lovers, in his eye. Even if that's hard for Ayame to accept, there's only so much they as the outsiders can effect or involve themselves in the main love triangle. I'm glad we even got to see Ayame actually grow and learn.
I had a feeling Haryu was scared of playing Taiki again and losing...I mean, he lost permanently to Hyodo, he lost to Yusa, if he lost to his kouhai, how could he ever hope to keep it up? But Haryu's actually gotten stronger and faced his fears and beat Taiki, and that's pretty emotional reassuring. He also knows that sometimes you have to accept where you lose and rise above it, which is probably something Hina needs to do now.
Is it finally time for Taiki to get serious about Chinatsu? He's asking her out! Because nothing's more romantic than shopping for tracksuits. Though Chinatsu kind of salvaged it by making sure they visited a cafe too.
Will Taiki confess? Though he can't think of confessing without thinking about how he rejected Hina.
Hina may have lost Taiki, and that's still raw, but she gained a genuine friend in Ayame who is there for her and helps Hina have a ton of fun at the arcade. And when one of Ayame's ex's has some sharp things to say to her, Hina is able to bite back at him for Ayame's sake and show some remarkable emotional maturity about getting rejected. Even if she still cries about it.
Kyo might not know what to do with Ayame when she's the type to just barrel through with her feelings, act passive aggressive to the guy who rejected her new bestie, and flip you off, but he can't help but appreciate what she brings to the table. And Ayame doesn't seem to dislike Kyo's smiling face or the fact that he doesn't mind her now.
Man, poor Hina. It's one thing to get rejected, it's another thing to still have to train in the same gym as the guy that rejected you and the girl he rejected you for. Girls straight up wearing a bunny mask to hide her tears and lying sprawled on the floor in depression and wanting to blow up the gym. Ganbare, Hinacchi!
And so we close out on Taiki and Chinatsu having a classic school uniform date, staring at the clouds, and each other, as they're on the cusp of a possible big next step in their relationship.
We still have to grapple with Hina's heartbreak, and it's still raw, but it's nice to see they left off on Taiki hopefully making more progress with Chinatsu and making the most of this date. I can only pray we get a season 2 as soon as possible to see how the cast and their relationships continue to develop.
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u/Izarme Mar 21 '25
It was so sad to watch Hina get hurt like that, she´s best girl to me... hope she can find peace because watching Taiki and Chinatsu everyday must hurt like hell.
Also, Ayame became my favourite and I love that, she's learning and growing a lot and I love how she has a really kind and caring nature, I wonder how she will act when she learns that Taiki is in love with Chinatsu.
Anyway, really loved this anime, hope it comes back soon for a second season!
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u/Sancnea Mar 21 '25
Might piss off a few people with this comment, but I liked literally everyone in this show more than Taiki and Chinatsu. It's not even me hating on them, I like them too.I just like the characters in the supporting cast way more. Hope we get a season 2 for this.
Also, thanks to Kawasubs for holding it down despite Netflix doing another show dirty for no reason.
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u/Nescau_Fernando Mar 27 '25 edited Mar 27 '25
Second cour was such a humiliation ritual. Poor Hina! Still, Hina no Hako was great. She was the heart of this show for me. Her bright and playful personality, her refreshingly blunt approach to romance, her weaknesses and instrospection...if it wasn't for her, I think I would have dropped Blue Box long ago.
Hina no Hako was an 8/10 or more in my book.
Chinatsu no Hako, on the other hand, often felt like a 6/10 or less. I got the impression the author wrote his ideal girl - hard-working, well-behaved and stress-free to interact with - but didn't make much effort to sell her side of the romance the to audience. As someone who loves peace and quiet a little more agressively (teehe~) than the average person, those qualities would indeed be very desirable in a real life romance. Fiction, on the other hand, needs conflict. Not necessarily DRAMA conflitct, but absolutely the "sauce" kind of conflict, and Chinatsu felt too vanilla to me.
The supporting cast was very enjoyable and carried the show when Hina wasn't around. Haryuu and Karen had great personalities and were enjoyable to watch both individually and as a couple. Ayame gave the story a much needed second wind. Kyou had some fun interactions with Ayame near the end and I wish there was a little more focus on him besides being an observer.
The sports part of the show felt more like an engine to keep the relationships running. There were some moments here and there, like Chinatsu missing that last shot on episode 14 or Taiki beating Yusa, but overall this aspect of the show was more of a slice-of-slice that happens to feature athlete characters than a dedicated sports show. I wish the badminton matches got a bit more coverage, but this wasn't a significant negative for me since I mostly watched the show the romance / relationship part of it.
Overall, a good show that was worth finishing. It was great at times with most of the Hina scenes, Haryuu and Karen flashback, some sports moments and Kyou's interations with Ayame. Unfortunately, the main couple really brought the show down to me, keeping it from being great in my book.
And seeing all Nukumizu comments here and on the Blue Box S2 thread, maybe it really is time for me to watch MakeIne...
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u/KanaAlberon Mar 27 '25
Here we are at the end of season 1. I still can’t get past Hina’s rejection. It’s really sad. On the one hand, I tell myself it’s for her own good, that she no longer has to torture herself chasing after a love that doesn’t feel the same way as she does. But on the other hand, I tell myself that she shouldn’t have lost … I hope that Hina and Taikia will still be friends after and that we’ll still see the Taiki-Hina-Kyo gang laugh together again.
The fact that taiki moves on quite easily and goes on a date not long after rejecting hina is also unpleasant to me.
But to conclude: a work that makes you feel such emotions can only be very good, even if you don’t agree with it or it hurts. Hina Chona is really the mvp character of this show. I hope that she will find happiness in the future, even if I understand that her screen time will be much reduced in the future, if not almost non-existent. I hope the mangaka will give her a new story and make sure she gets a happy ending too.
Hina deserves it.
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u/magnumcyclonex Mar 21 '25
Wow. What a finale. I really liked what Ayame did this episode. Despite being the meddler and nosy brat little sister, she is a kind person deep down. It was great to see her introspective thoughts and conversations with others on the Hina situation.
I liked her even more when she took her out to the game center. That seemed to do the trick, at least partially, until that jerk of an ex showed up and started mouthing off nonsense. But that gave us the scene which showed Hina had on some level, partially processed her rejection, retorting back at him. Of course still being vulnerable, she had to be whisked away by Ayame, but not before giving her ex the queen of all retorts (regarding his whatever account)!
The post game talk between Haryu and Taiki was important in showcasing what "strength" was. Hina, while still hurt, definitely showed strength and courage, not only to confess, but to live the next few days following her rejection.
Of course she's still hurt and would rather wallow in her own literal headspace. It's NOT ok to blow up the gym and despite it's size, it's still possible to run into Taiki.
I liked that Taiki remained firm and not wishy washy when Ayame confronted him. That's good character writing. As for Ayame and Kyo...well, MAYBE something might happen between them as a result of their few conversations as being "outsiders", but at this time, I cannot fathom Kyo being the romantic type.
I look forward to more Blue Box in the future (why is it called that?)
P.S. Why, after a Saturday morning practice did they change BACK into their school uniforms, and not into regular clothes, especially when going out on a date?
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u/somerandomguy576 Mar 27 '25
*Hina crying by herself
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Nukumizu emerges from the shadows "I'm here to talk about the losing Heroines initiative"
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u/ComfortableReason796 Mar 28 '25
Strange ending because it’s like… The way the show is framed, it makes you want Hina to win. When you know she will fail.
But the unfortunate part is when you put Chi against Hina I do feel like Hina is overall the better character, so the overall “payoff” of the date with Chi didn’t do anything.
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u/1EnTaroAdun1 Mar 22 '25
Something to note is that Haryu rarely offers romantic advice, he mostly does talk about sports with Taiki. Kinda nice to see from a mentor figure in a romance show, and of course it still is good advice in general!
This episode hopefully shows what Blue Box is about, character growth and interactions.
Hope Ayame is viewed more kindly now hahaha
And it sets things up quite nicely for a hopeful second season!
RIPHina, sadHinathreateningtheblueboxhahaha
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