Aharen and Raido share a passion for games -- a hobby they now share with Atsushi and Futaba as well. Games can really bring people together.
The following contains spoilers for Episode 11 of Aharen-San is Indecipherable, "It Snowed, Huh?," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The hit rom-com anime series Aharen-San is Indecipherable uses simple but creative visual aids to express the growing romance between the petite kuudere Aharen Reina and her kind classmate Raido. Neither of them is bold enough to say "I love you," but they can express their affection through their mutual love languages, such as sharing good food or playing games.
More than once, Aharen has cheered Raido up by preparing and sharing lunches, and she and Raido also have a wholesome rivalry with games ranging from basketball to arcade claw games and board games. In Episode 11, this game-based love language appears once again, but this time, it's a whole party. Games can truly bring people together -- even rivals.
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In Episode 11, Aharen takes the next step and invites her good friend Raido to the mall for some indoor winter fun, to the point where Reina spends all evening picking out the perfect outfit beforehand. Aharen may not realize it, but she becomes the perfect girlfriend in Episode 11 in all but name, and Raido's mutual friends Sato and Ishikawa even comment on it. Aharen has no clear answers on that topic right now, but she does know what she really likes: games, including a knockoff version of Beyblade. And she and Raido aren't the only ones playing this charming game in the mall this day.
Sato and Ishikawa aren't up for off-brand Beyblade, but the young tsundere Futaba and her friend Atsushi are interested, and the four friends take part in a lively tournament right there in the mall. Amusingly, Atsushi and Raido aim to face off in the finals, only to lose well before then, but Aharen and Futaba each win their divisions of the tournament. As an expert gamer, Aharen dominates the tournament for the fifth year in a row, while Futaba shocks everyone with her own victory in a second tournament. This charming afternoon of gaming brings all four friends together like never before and helps bridge the gap between Aharen and Futaba, but there might be more to it than that.
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On one level, Episode 11's events simply play into the recurring theme of Aharen being a skilled gamer, but by now, Aharen's games are not just a way to pass the time. Perhaps in the past, when the dandere Oshiro was her only friend, Aharen lost herself in games so she could find joy in them, but now, with more friends than ever, things are different. While the claw game is a solo activity, collecting Beyblades with one's friends and playing board games or basketball with them is on another level.
Games bring people together and help them build friendships, and the same is true here in Episode 11, especially where Aharen and Futaba are concerned. By now, both girls are real friends and have something appreciable in common, and their friendship might get even stronger from here. Previously, Aharen had been terribly lonely and quiet, much like Komi Shoko in Komi Can't Communicate, but now, she's part of a whole squad of Beyblade gamers. That is serious progress for Aharen, with her coming out of her shell and having a proper social life for the first time. And there's no better way to express Aharen's newfound popularity than with her favorite pastimes: food and games. She is doing well for herself, even if she doesn't entirely seem to realize it.
Louis Kemner has been a fan of Japanese animation since 1997, when he discovered Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z in elementary school. Now he's a bigger anime/manga fan than ever, and is ready to share what he knows with readers worldwide. He graduated high school in 2009 and received his Bachelor's in creative writing from UMKC in 2013, then put his skills to work in 2019 with CBR.com. He's always looking for a wonderful new anime to watch or manga series to read.
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