With You Our Love Will Make It Through Episode 3 Expands the Cast
Episode three of With You, Our Love Will Make it Through steps back from the central romance between Mari and Tsunagu to spend time with Mari’s friends, Ritsuka and Ayano. The shift in focus is a little unexpected, but by the end of the episode it works more as a way to fold these side characters into the main cast than as a fully developed story in its own right.
The episode’s central tension involves Ayano struggling in her studies after it turns out Tsunagu’s enrollment has raised the academic bar in her class. The show briefly flirts with the idea of this becoming another expression of the social unease some humans feel toward beast folk, but it sidesteps that direction. Ayano and Ritsuka make it clear that the frustration is with the situation, not with Tsunagu himself, and the whole incident ends up being a surprisingly sweet way for Mari’s friends to actually get to know him.
The most meaningful beat comes at the very end, when Mari finally works up the courage to ask Tsunagu out on a date. It is a small moment, but it is the most charged thing that happens all episode, which says something about how the show has structured this particular outing.
On a visual note, the episode felt a little inconsistent. The character art for Mari seemed to shift noticeably a few times across the runtime, and not always in ways that read as intentional comedy beats. It is a small thing, but worth keeping an eye on going forward.
My take: A quieter episode that does its job of expanding the cast even if the narrative threads do not all land neatly. The moment at the end more than makes up for the unevenness, and this series continues to have a lot of warmth in its smaller interactions.
