Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus

the wizard of oz thing should have felt gimmicky but watching the crowd shout the witch down with the performers broke me a little

Maria showing up in the wheelchair for the last scene wrecked me more than any acrobatic trick this whole show ever did

Maria showing up in that wheelchair at the end wrecked me. Nobody was supposed to see her and she just came anyway to watch her kids do the Oz show. If they kill her off next week I'm going to need a minute

I keep going back and forth on whether the hospital break-in was sweet or just reckless. Leaning toward sweet. They're basically orphans with trapeze bars so of course they'd try to climb a wall for their mom

The Oz idea actually worked. Making the crowd defeat the witch with them turned the whole tent into part of the show. Kinda felt like the studio saving frames too but whatever it looked great

Maria rolling up in that wheelchair right as the applause hit and saying she wanted to see it with her own eyes broke me more than the whole Oz routine did

wait they really ended it on Maria in the wheelchair looking at Nanami like that. That's not a happy ending that's a cliffhanger with a funeral in it

How does nobody mention the no visitors rule until after the whole troupe already showed up at the hospital. That's not how hospitals work

That ending with Mizuka finally cracking in front of everyone got me bad. She held it together the whole time then it all fell apart right there

Skipping the entire second round of the tournament off-screen is a choice. This is a circus show and we never see them actually win. Weird priorities

The Yokohama date was cute but every single second of it felt like a death flag and now I can't enjoy anything

I rolled my eyes at Mizuka calling them Maria's family in front of Nanami. Cute speech but come on. Then Nanami turns around and transfers Maria to a better hospital anyway. That is the real tea. Nanami is a tsundere boss lady and I respect her for it even if she did spend the whole episode being nasty.

Maria sewing that scrapbook at the end hit different. She's literally building them a keepsake for when she's gone. And she wore lipstick and faked being cheerful for the girls. That woman is doing everything she can to leave them with happy memories and it's heartbreaking to watch.

The Anzio treatment strikes again. They built up this tournament for episodes and then just skip straight past the first round. The performance montage we did get was fine but we all know that's not the same thing. At least Maria got moved closer to them so we probably get more emotional hospital scenes coming.

That brief close-up of Mizuka at the draw ceremony was absolutely vital to the plot. Essential storytelling there. Nothing else to say about it. Moving on.

I cannot stop thinking about Rin breaking down next to that hospital bed. She carried the villain act the whole time because Nanami offered to save Maria's life and she knew the circus was killing her. That quiet sob wrecked me more than any big dramatic scene this season

Nanami's reaction when the deal got canceled hurt. Yeah she wanted to force Maria out of the circus but that's because she's watching her sister slowly kill herself for a dream. Two sisters who both think they're saving each other and neither one can understand the other. That's tragedy

I couldn't stop smiling at Ouka pulling Mizuka's cheeks into a smile. Then the last five minutes crushed all of that

The missing OP was such a smart call. Jumping straight into Rin at that phone booth set the whole episode in prestige drama mode. And the Maria age reveal? That bicycle saddle thing finally makes sense. They really hid that one in plain sight

So Maria is 29 and she's been hiding a terminal condition from everyone this whole time. The smile is a shield. The cheerful ringmaster act was her way of keeping eleven people from collapsing under their own debt. Feels weird calling a show this cutesy emotionally devastating but here we are