Ramparts of Ice ‒ Episode 12

Is it bad that the most exciting thing that happened in this week's episode was that Koyuki recommended a book to Minato and Yota? She's been afraid to open up about her tastes ever since Igarashi called the books and movies she loved “weird.” As a longtime lover of anime and manga who got into the medium via Ranma 1/2, that feeling is deeply relatable to me. There is a vulnerability to sharing your preferences in fiction, especially if they're outside the mainstream. For most of the series, Koyuki has hesitated to open up in that way, and this feels like the final step in her moving past the bullying she faced in middle school.

But then, that means there's little left to do except run through the various romantic polygons, which is just… so much less exciting to me. But let's go anyway.

This episode heavily focuses on the idea of the “friend zone,” though not in so many words. Miki and Yota have a just-friends motorcycle date to a picturesque dam, getting soft serve and taking goofy selfies together. Yota is, naturally, smitten, but when Yuki calls it a date, Miki denies that it could in any way be construed that way. Absolutely no chance of romance there, she says! She loves her friendship with Yota and only desires romance in the abstract.

I suppose the bright spot here is that it's never felt like it's saying that boys and girls can't really be friends, which is a risk in these kinds of plotlines. Teenagers are hormonal and exploring the concept of falling in love, so both requited and unrequited crushes are inevitable. Friendship is friendship, with or without attraction, and platonic bonds between people of different genders are just as important and worthwhile.

Meanwhile, Momoka is doing her absolute best to maneuver herself between Koyuki and Minato. It's such a classic move: hang out with each one individually, twisting their words to one another so neither thinks they have a chance. First, she goes out for crepes with Koyuki, pretending to ask for advice on how to be better friends with boys, since all the guys she hangs out with just want to date her. Because she's sooooo pretty, you see. She supposes that some people start as friends and can move to dating, but she doesn't think she can do that. Why? The scene cuts away before she can explain. Later, she talks with Minato and tells him that Koyuki is repulsed by people who try to date their friends.

I… don't like Momoka. I mean, I'm probably not supposed to. Her coming between Koyuki and Minato isn't the issue for me, since I'm not particularly interested in them as a couple either. She's manipulative and underhanded, and she acts like her willingness to openly admit that she's popular with the guys sets her apart from other girls. Which, I suppose, it might in a culture that prizes humility, but it sure as heck doesn't make her interesting. Most of all, she seems to have been tossed in as an obstacle.

I am, however, curious about the way that her conversations with Koyuki and Minato have been cut. Ramparts of Ice does not show its hand immediately; it took 11 episodes to get the full story on what happened to Koyuki in middle school, after all. The way her chat with Koyuki cut away makes me think that there's something we're not getting, that Koyuki said something that could be construed as being uncomfortable with dating friends, rather than Momoka making it up out of whole cloth. The whole Igarashi debacle has taught me not to make assumptions about the bad guy in a situation, or even to assume that there is one.

Rating:

Ramparts of Ice is currently streaming on Netflix.