Hina Chono's five stages of grief

Key insights

• Blue Box Episode 6 focuses on Hina's emotional journey through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
• After a heartwarming conversation that helps her accept her feelings, Hina finally accepts her feelings for Taiki.
• Chinatsu's true feelings come out when she sees Taiki as just a friend while harboring the false idea that he might like Hina.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Blue Box, Episode 6, “Wish Me Luck,” now streaming on Netflix.

Blue boxEpisode 6, “Wish Me Luck,” is a first for the series as the episode is mostly seen from Hina's perspective rather than Taiki's. This is both a blessing and a curse for fans of the character, because even though she has more screen time than anyone else in this episode, much of that time shows her confused, hurt, pressured, and feeling left out .

The episode begins exactly where Episode 5, “Aquarium,” ended, with Hina in front of the Inomata residence. It's nice when an anime doesn't waste time moving the plot forward. Instead of Hina running away and confronting them another day, she remembers that she has to return Chinatsu's phone, so she decides to confront them immediately. Again, Blue box wastes no time and basically lets Hina go through an entire character arc in just one episode, from being unsure of her feelings to fully accepting those feelings and coming to terms with her situation.

If there's one complaint about Episode 6, it's that there were several scenes of Hina practicing her rhythmic gymnastics for the prefectural qualifiers, but the actual event wasn't shown. It would have been nice to see the entire routine, but it is what it is.

Hina goes through the five stages of grief

In real life, the stages of grief don't necessarily happen in the right order, and that's certainly not the case in the series. People can also go back and experience a phase they have already gone through, which is something Hina also experiences. For this reason, you will notice that the events mentioned below did not all occur chronologically.

Stage 1: Denial

When asked if something is wrong, she denies it or blames it on something trivial, like she gained some weight or stayed up late last night. However, she doesn't just deny it to the people around her; She's rightly trying to convince herself that it's best for Taiki and Chinatsu to be together.

If Chinatsu Senpai sees Taiki getting along with a girl, she might decide to back out. It would be one thing if they were just acquaintances, but since they live together, he doesn't need my help.

Stage 2: Anger

Anger may be the stage that manifests itself the least, if at all. Sure, at certain times, Hina admitted that she was annoyed by Taiki, Chinatsu, and the people who pressured her, but it was in her usual teasing and playful way. It didn't seem like she was actually mad at them she, but just vented.

The only time she came close to getting truly angry was when she told Taiki that she was mad at a judge (secretly referring to Taiki himself) because he was biased against another athlete (Chinatsu). be. She could have been angry about the situation she's in and how she feels like she can't do anything about it.

Stage 3: Negotiations

Hina tells herself that she can't allow herself to be emotional or sensitive because she would lose focus and make mistakes in her rhythmic gymnastics performances. Telling herself that her performance has to be perfect gives her an excuse to suppress her feelings, which is easier than facing them head on.

Stage 4: Depression

Even though it's only shown in brief glimpses and signs, Hina is definitely hurt in this episode and hides everything behind smiles and teasing. She knows that the person she loves is in love with someone else and only sees her as a friend. She tries to distance herself from Taiki even though she likes him because she thinks she will only get in the way of him and Chinatsu. She doesn't even allow the possibility that she has a chance at Taiki, as if she's already given up.

Stage 5: Acceptance

Fittingly, the person who helped Hina come to terms with her feelings is the same person she directs her feelings toward: Taiki. After taking Hina to the nurse's office and confirming that her injury was nothing serious, they have a heartwarming conversation. Hina opens up about everything that has been troubling her lately, such as the pressure on her to excel in the prefectural qualifiers. She even tells him about her frustration at not being able to defeat a certain person.

In response, Taiki urges her to keep pushing forward, calling her a fighter and someone whose pride won't allow her to give up or run away. She later asks Taiki to wish her luck and is willing to accept words of encouragement from the friend she grew up with.

Taiki. Could you… wish me luck?

Hina uses Taiki's encouraging words to finally accept her feelings for him, even if the odds are stacked against her. She even hints that she'll fight back, telling Taiki that her charms haven't even reached their peak yet and that he'd better keep a close eye on her. Blue box She may not give Hina her time right away, but you can bet she won't go down without a fight. However, at the moment she's really happy with her friendship with Taiki, and that's a very healthy way to look at things.

As a side note, these discussions about the characters and scenarios of Blue box are intended for entertainment purposes only and should not be viewed as serious psychological analysis. If you are suffering from grief or think you are suffering from grief, do not use anime to diagnose your mental condition and please seek professional help.

Chinatsu's true(?) feelings revealed

And they're not the romantic kind

Blue box Episode 6 ends with the focus returning to Taiki and Chinatsu. They talk a little about Hina and how great it is that she won the prefectural qualifier. When Taichi complimented Hina and called her a rhythmic gymnastics fangirl, Chinatsu realized that this reflected Hina's way of looking at Taiki and calling him a badminton fan. So Chinatsu understandably has the misconception that Taiki might like Hina too, and thinks she's just getting in the way of the two of them.

Surprisingly, Chinatsu doesn't seem to view Taiki in a romantic light at all. To her, he is just a friend who also happens to be a schoolmate and roommate. That, or maybe Chinatsu is just in denial.

Blue Box is now available to stream on Netflix. The release date for Blue Box episode 7 is November 14, 2024 at 8:30 AM PT.