The following contains spoilers for Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2 Episode 6, "Uzaki-chan Wants to Celebrate!" now streaming on Crunchyroll.
This episode of Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out! starts with Sakurai at the gym. Sakurai tells the gym bros that he’s had a lot on his mind lately and training hard at the gym helps him fall asleep like a log afterward. Fuji comes over to help spot Sakurai on the bench and starts digging for details about what’s troubling him. He’s pretty spot-on and immediately guesses it’s a woman. Viewers can probably see where this is going to go, and it’s got the potential to be a pretty humorous setup. Fuji talks about his concerns about his daughter being interested in a mysterious senpai. The gym guys tell him to butt out of her love affairs. They get Sakurai’s opinion, and he partly sides with Fuji but also adds a little of his own thoughts on maturity.
Fuji isn’t sure how Uzaki and her senpai’s relationship is, but it seems like their relationship hasn’t progressed far. Fuji describes Uzaki’s relationship with Sakurai to a tee, but it still doesn’t dawn on either of them that the man in question is right there. Fuji’s conflicted because he doesn’t know whether to be grateful or offended about Uzaki’s senpai not making a move. Sakurai says if it were him and a girl came over who he liked, he wouldn’t make a move on her too quickly because of her importance to him. Fuji praises his virtuosity, but let’s see how that holds when the cat’s out of the bag.
The Time Has Come
Uzaki sits at home thinking about how little she’s seen Sakurai recently and wonders if he’s found a hobby to lose himself in alone. As she ponders, he responds that he’ll come over tomorrow for the cooking lesson. Tsuki says she had something to do, so she can’t be around for Sakurai’s cooking lesson. After his cooking lesson, Uzaki asks: since he’s been over a fair number of times since he started his cooking lessons, “isn’t he forgetting something important?” With the leery camera movements and the suggestive atmosphere, it seems to imply something more, but viewers know the deal by now. It's standard misdirection and their next scene shows them playing with the Uzaki clan cats.
Tsuki sits at the café, wondering about Uzaki and Sakurai back at the apartment. Turns out she came to the café to let them be alone. Even the Uzaki matriarch is rooting for Sakurai and Uzaki’s relationship to develop. Without her around, she expects there’ll be some development. The father and daughter café pair reads between the lines of Tsuki’s internal conflict as she sits at the café, mentally apologizing to Sakurai for not being able to reciprocate his feelings. Sakurai gushes over the cats as he plays with them. Still, a part of Uzaki notices that something’s different about Sakurai.
Tsuki returns home, expecting Sakurai to be gone, but they cross paths on her way home. Sakurai mentions he stuck around after the dish was finished, blushing a little. She’s pretty happy and asks if “it” happened. Sakurai is surprised and a little embarrassed that she was able to notice. He confirms “it” did, and he’s been interested for some time now. She even says “you’d stick around for ‘that’, for sure!” Tsuki starts to say what Uzaki and Sakurai finally did today, and he cuts her off to say that she finally let him pet the cat. Tsuki almost recoils in shock. Sakurai doesn’t hold back with the details, but somehow the misunderstanding still persists. He leaves Tsuki standing there, bewildered and unsure of what to do next.
The Loner’s Birthday
On a different day at home, the Uzaki clan celebrates Tsuki’s birthday. Uzaki thinks to herself that she doesn’t even know Sakurai’s birthday. She goes to work at the café and asks Sakaki about it. After he teases her for a bit, Sakaki spills the beans about Sakurai’s birthday date. The café owner and his daughter flashback to when they celebrated Sakurai’s birthday at the café last year and his response was very “blah”, so Uzaki has her work cut out for her.
Asai gives Uzaki a mysterious bag and says to use it without telling a soul. She looks inside and finds a painted, fox-eared mask with some other clothes. Asai’s father mentions that he thought she had washed her hands of “the whole affair” and she mentions that she isn’t using the café anymore. Which begs the question: what was the whole affair? Is she just a passionate cosplayer? Was she using the café for an underground maid café? Just what could have brought the stoic café owner such shame? Perhaps viewers will never know.
Sakurai’s birthday arrives and Uzaki surprises him at his apartment. She bought food to prepare a meal, and they have a charming day of indoor activities including video gaming, watching a “whodunit” film, reading manga, and demolishing a birthday cake. They’re actually a pretty cute couple and while viewers have seen them enjoy each other’s company before, this feels like one of the first times it kept pleasant vibes all the way through. Afterward, Sakurai walks Uzaki home and reminisces about their nice day. Sakurai didn’t find his birthday much different from any other day, but he had fun. Uzaki mentions that having such a cute girl celebrating his birthday is good fortune, and he should worship her. He holds back some frustration and sincerely responds that he’s grateful.
Sakurai mentions she didn’t have to do so much, since he doesn’t know if he’s good enough yet at returning favors. She points out that the nicer he makes her birthday, the nicer his following birthday will be. Sakurai starts to think to himself about how the “fuzziness” in his head is gone. He even thinks about how, regardless of the infuriating things she says sometimes, she’s a good person and she makes it fun being with her. Now he wants to return the favor out of genuine appreciation, rather than obligation.
The Clock is Ticking
When Uzaki says they can make their celebrations an annual event, Sakurai mentions she’ll still be in school the year after next. Then it dawns on Uzaki. When Sakaki told her earlier that she’d want to hurry up with progressing her relationship with Sakurai, it might be because their “forced” time together is coming to a close. She even wonders if Sakurai will graduate without knowing how she feels. She starts to say something, but she’s having trouble saying it. As the music swells and complements their blushed faces, the tension is palpable. A few moments of silence linger before she says what’s on her mind. Finally, she asks…if Sakurai will stay back a year. He’s not too warm on the idea.
This was another one of the better episodes in the second season lineup of Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out! It didn’t have to choose between funny moments and sincere moments. Instead, it gave a good balance of both. Not to mention, the romantic relationship developed further between the two romantic leads and viewers got a deeper look into the duo’s feelings.