Thoughts on Hifumi Kawamura
While most people highlight the main characters of the series, Nakamura and Hirose, as their favorites (and they’re mine too), I think one of the secondary characters deserves a similar level of appreciation, and that one is Kawamura.
She’s one of the manga’s elements that best have been adapted into the anime. While in the original work she’s represented mostly as this fujoshi who falls for Nakamura and stands in the background, in the adaptation they better her role in the story and made her a pretty good supportive character for the protagonist.
It’s noticeable that they decided to change her importance in the anime in episode 3, which it’s the only episode where we see a different character’s POV aside from Nakamura’s. Watching her perspective of things while she starts to notice Nakamura and falls for him, only because he flattered her Hirose’s drawing, makes us empathize with her and understand her kind and shy personality.
They keep the manga’s plot in the series until the last scene of the episode. There it happens the key event that changes her role in the story as someone who subtly, yet kindly, supports the protagonist from the back. She realizing that Nakamura leaned on Hirose when they were locked up and then seeing him watch his love interest with longing eyes, makes her understand that his classmate has someone else in his heart, avoiding her to possibly take that place. While she looks disappointed for a moment, Nakamura asks her if she was alright. The worrying he feels for her calms her desire and makes her appreciate him as a nice guy. This scene not only works for her to be more aware of her social circle and understand how people actually feel, but it also works for us to see her as a real character and know that it’s possible for Nakamura to have people who care for him, only by being himself.
(I recommend you to listen to the soundtrack of this scene. It’s really cute and it delivers Kawamura’s theme in such a harmonic and satisfying way).
After that, she doesn’t have too much time on screen. A couple of sporadic appearances in episodes 5 and 6 and a brief scene with her friends and Aokiyama in the girl’s bathroom (where they remind her about her crush on Nakamura). She has some moments in episode 9, when Nakamura finds her drawing portraits in the cultural festival. She still feels nervous talking to him, which tells us that she hasn’t got rid of her love for him. Yet, she accepts to draw Hirose's portrait for him, questioning why him again. At this point, it’s clear that she knows Nakamura has an interest in his friend, judging by watching her doubting why Hirose again. Then, the protagonist finds out she’s sick and can’t act in Tamura’s play, and in return for her drawing, accepts to replace her. That surely reinforces her appreciation for him, even though we didn’t see them interact after episode 3.
After that, her next important and (original) appearance in the series happens in episode 10. She’s with her friends at the manga signature’s event and discovers Nakamura’s also there, in a very awkward yet funny way. There, another important moment in their relationship happens. Kawamura reveals to him that she’s aware he reads BL manga in the school, which oddly surprises him, even if he didn’t actually hide it. He kind of feels embarrassed, but her relieving him and asking him which are his favorite moments of Lovable Lunches helps him to understand he doesn’t have to be ashamed of what he reads, like when Hirose told him that back in episode 2.
Finally, the last important moment she has in the anime happens in episode 12. It’s very brief, yet, pretty well handled. She says goodbye to her friends and watches her draw’s reactions on social media (which implies she’s more confident on her talent to upload it online). Nakamura approaches her and asks her to draw a continuation of the manga she started in episode 3. We see this exchange from behind Nakamura’s back, but it’s noticeable he has been crying lately. Kawamura notices it too and just with one look, she understands what his friend is feeling and agrees to do it. This single moment, while short, is pretty important for both of them: on Nakamura’s side, it shows he’s confident enough with her to make her such request, implying he’s aware at this point she knows who his feelings are to; on Kawamura’s side, even though she possibly haven’t got over his crush for him, likes Nakamura enough to accept doing the manga and even writing the scene that helps her friend to understand why he can’t be happy for Hirose’s new relationship.
As we could see, Kawamura is a really important piece in the series narrative. While she doesn’t get many scenes (and it kind of disappointed me she didn’t get a moment in the epilogue and just stands in the background), they managed to use her time on screen well enough to highlight her character and depict her attributes to help Nakamura in his arc. She ends up being someone pretty likeable, empathetic and supportive from behind the scenes. So, even if the main male characters are the greater appeal for the audience, her female presence gives an interesting nuance to the plot.
This last part is more me making illusions that may lead to nothing, but if they decide to make a season 2, I personally would like to see her keep interacting with Nakamura and formalize their friendship, talking about their tastes in BL and other things they might both like, Even she could dare to reveal Nakamura his crush on him, but not hoping him to correspond her, but to come to terms with her feelings and to move forward, showing he’s matured across time.
Thank you for reading. If you want to, share your thoughts on Hifumi. I’d like to read them to know what the fandom think about her.
