It seems that Reina is keeping a secret from her parents about the club she joined, which they might not approve. Is escapism the answer? Let’s find out.
In the last few episodes, there were some hints that Reina was not getting along with her parents. Maybe it’s because they are too strict or that she fears that they won’t approve of the club she just joined and force her to transfer to a new school. With the fear of being split apart from Haruhiko and her role model, Mai, she continues to keep it a secret from them that continues to bother her.
While the Phantom in this episode is basically Reina’s way of escaping from a harsh reality, it can become a powerful drug that can be hard to break from in a sense that you don’t want to return to real life. In short, this is the basis of this Phantom, which is basically the perfect family that Reina yearns for given how colorful the setting is and how kind her fake parents are. Of course, Haruhiko and Mai eventually gets sucked into this world to help Reina resolve the thing that has been bothering her.
Sadly, escapism is never a good thing since one is simply running away from their problem and not resolving it. It’s apparent that Reina has problems with her family aside from them not allowing her to eat at an all-you-can-eat restaurant. It seems that they do not like the idea of Phantoms. Because of this and their strictness, her older sister left home because of it. Believe it or not, this is probably a reason Reina looks up to Mai since she is almost like her older sister.
Regardless, she can’t rely on escapism or replacing her real family with a fake one forever. She eventually has to face her difficulties and take them on. Thankfully, Haruhiko managed to snap her out of it by saying that he experienced a similar situation that caused his family to split apart. In short, Reina is not in it alone as her friends are supporting her along the way.
In the end, while I am happy that Reina managed to come in terms with her parents, it just shows that it’s never a good idea to abandon one’s parents. Sure, you might disagree with them sometimes, this does not mean that they do not love you or do not care about you. Imagine how sad they will be if Reina decides to abandon her parents and take her fake parents as her own. In a sense, she is giving up on everyone. I think she finally realizes that things can improve in her family and that her older sister will eventually return someday. Still, the time in her fantasy world was fun even though Mai never snapped out of it compared to the other two once she got hypnotized.
This episode is too cute. I love how everything is about Reina. Reina best girl. While I find Kaito and Mai pretty attractive, but so far they are losing by a lot to Reina.
Yep, it seems that nothing matches Reina’s cuteness, especially when she looks up to Mai. Still, I’m glad that they covered the thing that was bothering her for awhile since it’s relatable.
This is a pretty good episode. Love how the episode delves more into Reina while still utilizing a “supernatural phenomena of the week” format.
I think it’s a good change of pace to develop the characters more than just facing off against phantoms. This makes me wonder about the next episode if Kaito will get some more development.