Nishikata has been on a steady path of enlightenment and awakening for three seasons and dozens of vignettes, starting from a place of modest, adolescent…dumbness and progressing through the stages of life. It is only this season, and specifically this episode, that Nishikata’s brain has finally begun to grasp the notion that it has never been about winning or taunting Takagi in the first place. It was more about simply being present with him.
Even if Takagi is unaware that Hamaguchi has persuaded him to confess to her on White Day, she must be aware that he is distracted by the impending arrival of White Day in his dinosaur-filled head. After being confronted with such a gigantic responsibility, Nishikata escapes within his games, concocting his most elaborate creation yet: Nishikata Quest, a series of boxes containing puzzles that lead to other puzzles.
His White Day present will be given to Takagi once there are no more riddles, and he anticipates her being at her most irritated and defeated at the time of the gift. For better or worse, after all, is said and done, he doesn’t just want Takagi to be soothed; he also wants to be the one who brightens her disposition. As it happens, his magnificent scheme comes crashing down when Takagi fails to make it to school on White Day because of severe winds that cause her ferry to be delayed.
When he anticipates that she would only be absent for the first session, Nishikata makes every effort to take thorough notes that he will later discuss with her. After all, is said and done, he realizes how lonely he is without her sitting next to him at the desk, and how things just feel “wrong” without her there at all. After school, Hamaguchi gives Houjou a piece of white chocolate, but he is unable to bring himself to reveal his feelings for her. Houjou, on the other hand, seemed to be pleased that he at least attempted it.
When Mina discovers the first of Nishikata’s boxes on the floor of the classroom (which was knocked from Takagi’s chair during a struggle between Takao and Kimura), she immediately takes Sanae and Yukari on an epic, mind-bending journey. When they discover the final box containing Nishikata’s name, Yukari recognizes that everything has been a grand expression of love for Takagi, and she urges that they return all of the boxes to where they were discovered, lest they undo the efforts of the loverboy.
In the course of her single library job, Nishikata noted that Kimura was reading the same novel as Takagi when she stated, “I love you.” Nishikata then pointed out that Kimura was also reading the same novel as Takagi. Kimura suggests the book and lends it to Nishikata, who reads it when he gets home and discovers that Takagi has taken the “I love you” from the page, which he believes Takagi did. It’s at this point that the dusty light bulb in his head finally turns on for the first time. Takagi was expressing her true thoughts when she said “I love you,” as she had done so many other times in the past, according to him.
As a result, Nishikata can’t wait until tomorrow to see Takagi and give her the gift she’s been saving for White Day. He can’t even stand the thought of waiting another minute, so he sprints out the door, onto the bus, and down the street to the docks. When he notices Takagi getting into her car and driving away, he rushes after the vehicle…on his feet. After a while, fortune smiles at him as Takagi’s automobile happens to turn at just the right angle she notices him running behind her and asks to stop the car. She then gets out of the car and runs to meet him.
In essence, it’s a romantic climax that I’ve probably seen dozens of times before, both in anime and films, as well as other television shows. The fact that it is executed so beautifully, and with all of the accumulated feelings and experiences that these two have gone through in three seasons, elevates what could have been a cliché in less skilled hands to truly epic status elevates what could have been a cliché in less skilled hands to truly epic status.
What’s more, we don’t even need the traditional “I love you” confession; the mere fact that Nishikata is present at all, chasing Takagi down, is enough for Takagi to understand how he feels. “I came to see you because I wanted to see you,” he says when he walks out in the open.
The fact that his White Day gift was dropped and smashed by a car may have made him feel like a failure, but the gift doesn’t matter to her; she doesn’t even open it, instead of taking his scuffed up hands into hers and telling him that he’s already given her the best gift she could have asked for: him, right there with her.
A Takagi-san fan could not have asked for a better conclusion, which is made even more rewarding by the fact that there is an impending film that could well expound on their new adorable normal. As the season comes to a close, there are few things I’m more looking forward to than seeing these two back on the screen as soon as humanly feasible to wrap up the story.