After a long time of hiatus, waiting for the final set of episodes to come out we finally get to see the conclusion of S1, which at the end leaved us with some unresolved moments but that is something that would be explored on the S2 that thankfully got announced, even with all the production issues with delays and such; in any case, there is some elements about Chitose story that a strongly reasoned with and also others that pleasantly surprised my in regards to the exploration of certain themes, characters and the presentation of it all, at the start I wasn't all that sure on how to feel about first and for most, Chitose, and the whole dynamic between him and all the girls that surround him, one might have thought that it was going to be played about as any other harem situation or such, but it wasn’t the girls are interesting on him for a variety of reasons, it was explored through is arc with Nanase and there relation for a while but that at the end was more of a stepping stone in the story to help Nanase overcome her previous trauma and become more of the person She seems to be or living up to be.
One of the elements that a I founded that make me keep watching and I gravitated towards was this whole idea of wanting to live a: “Beautiful life” mention by Chitose in multiple times throughout the anime, the idea for what I could gather centering around the self, of forming a persona of sorts of what you want to be and how you want to live that out, in centers of the very human aspect of identity and finding and constructing it, of you not only differentiating yourself from the rest, but becoming the archetype of your own story, your life.
The more I watched, the more I came to understand that Chitose (as heavily implied on the ending sequence) is currently not completely alright or even living to this ideal that He wants to live by, being hunted by a past situation that hasn’t fully being revealed but that now on the final set of episodes we get a bit of a hint, regarding that fact that He used to be on the baseball team and apparently a bit of a star or ace of sorts, so clearly capable and talented on it, coming back to this final episodes we start to connect this past of his and another of the characters that was hinted but now confirm had a influenced on helping him overcome whatever was the situation that make Chitose quit the baseball team, and the sport as whole for what is seems so far, and all of this takes us to Asuka…
Saku Chitose, and Asuka, have some previous story between the two, while Asuka being a senpai to Chitose the difference in seniority not a being an aspect that affects their very honest and very close relation, for Saku She came into a moment in his life where He clearly needed some light and spark that could help him with his wallowing sadness and purposelessness that He was previously going through with his quitting of baseball; For Chitose Asukas free spiritness and energy of showcasing a strong conviction towards forging her own path and wanting to follow on her own ambitions and desires, for as simple as those might be in the moment to move without others approval is all the elements that inspired Chitose to find his new call, this is a element that the story would tackle in the final two episodes of the season being a key part to their dynamic and evolving relation, one of the aspects that I notice from the get go is that I felt that Saku was projecting a lot of this ideals unto her, and I wasn't wrong, I like how the show acknowledges this later and actually makes the characters confront this, talk it out and find a conclusion or middle ground of sorts in between the two, regarding this.
This is really well presented and developed in the closure of EP 12, where both end up arguing but as I mention previously managing to make their words resonated, specially Chitose with Asuka:
To close the season and interestingly not the entire arc, because we are left with a semi conclusion of the story continuing later on, we get to the other aspect that Asuka has been battling without Chitose, and that his her own inner turmoil of choosing in between following her calling of wanting to become a writer editor and for that moving out of the town to Tokyo or staying a following a more predictable and stable path, this is something that many would resonate with even when you are older in life there are moments that we find ourself lacking any sort of direction or purpose, while in the case of this story is presented on the very real part of life when your graduating of highschool soon and needing to decide all of the sudden what, where, how, with who and Many other questions of one’s future is also one that repeats constantly for many moments and aspects in life, being one of the elements that I found the most compelling about this show, but coming back to the story, the problem with this situation for Asuka is her father who is vehemently opposed to their idea of becoming a writer editor, his point of view being a purely logical and pragmatic approach out of concern for her future and well being, while he might come across in the story as cold for this, even Chitose understand his view event if this clashes with his more idealistic position of wanting Asuka to live by her own decisions in the way that she previously showcase to him when he felt lost.
In the end with some help from Nanase Yuki, when she comes to visit Chitose when He was feeling pretty defeated on not knowing what to do to help Asuka help his father mind, He goes to visit her and proposed the idea of getting together and go to Tokyo to see what her dream might entail when put into action, and so the season ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, we would have to wait or go read the LN where this story takes us.
All in all, I liked Chitose is in the Ramune Bottle, while having a difficult production for the anime, with delays and having to wait around 5 months to see the final set of episodes I never felt that the studio compromised the quality of the show, on the technical and presentation aspects at all, so good on the studio for finding their footing and delivering at the end.
It might not be the only show that has tackle elements as the ones I mention throughout my rambling thoughts in here but it managed to make me care for the characters, the story, the setting and the subject matters that they go through are relatable, explored and presented in a way that feels natural and engaging to follow, at times there is a lot of moments where Chitose or other characters do inner monologues or dialogues have a heavy use of metaphors and a more eloquent way of saying things, even coming of as poetic but is a different and creative way to present some of the characters dynamics and mentalities that get thrown into the anime adaptation straight from what it feels like reading lines from the LN, I feel like some gets lost in the translation knowing that Japanese as a language can have used of sentences with multiple meanings and depths of interpretation because of the kanjis and play of word (and example being Nisio Isin with the monogatari series being really well regarded in Japan for this clever use of Japanese literature and play of words).
Besides the coming of age elements that the story tackles the aspect that I liked the most that was slowing being revealed regarding Chitose was the struggle between conformity and following your dreams, the versus between a more pragmatic approach to life, going with what is more save or seems to be the more simple and secure choice even if that doesn’t fulfil you as a person or risking a bit more in the pursuit of meaning, when Chitose talks of his idealistic sounding “Living a beautiful life” He is referring to Living a Meaningful Life filled with drive and purpose of what you want to do, striving towards it and actively having the freedom to make the mistakes in the path and grow into the person you envision yourself to be, is in a way the old of question of living a meaningful and fulfilling life in one's own view or sticking to the more simple but at times unfulfilling life.
And with that I say it is a really nice question to make in a show that seems more simple that it gives at times.