the questions posed by the kids’ AppDrives and how they connect with the narrative is genuinely exciting to me—it’s strongly implied that a specific entity is responsible for giving the kids their AppDrives (and we may discover their identity later in the show), which means this individual is the one asking the questions and looking for specific types of people worthy of getting a buddy appmon. Throughout the show we see that the narrative demands these kids to prove that they can live up to their answers, and i trust it’ll continue asking these questions.

for one, we get gay people existing in the background:

(i believe the caption mentions a partner, which the English sub omitted for the sake for brevity? something like “a long-awaited offline meeting❤️ with my partner❤️❤️❤️” while in the next pic she complains about her partner being late)

and then we get a romantically-coded outing between Haru and Yuujin, with Gatchmon literally lampshading it:

when Haru inevitably has to go deal with the monster of the week, the trope of the protagonist having to keep secrets from loved ones comes up, with Haru ultimately deciding—like he did in episode 18—to not tell Yuujin about appmons, lest Yuujin be dragged into danger:

i think it’s worth noting that this type of narrative tension never happened with Ai, the girl Haru supposedly has a crush on—but it’s the second time that it had came up in the relationship between Haru and Yuujin. the pacing of the scene—the beat of Haru looking pensive under the sakura trees as the camera zooms out—adds weight to the moment.

Also, while the cherry blossoms serve as an indication for when this episode takes place, it’s could also be seen as romantically-coded (esp. pink blossoms). While romance is far from the only thing that sakura blossoms symbolize, I think it’s fair to say that the creators are conscious of the romantic symbolism.

(i’ll get to Yuujin’s declaration of protection in another post, as i think that ties back into appmon’s thesis of “what makes a great protagonist” and the Haru-Yuujin dynamic regarding that question.

Eri’s tendency to overwork herself to potentially dangerous levels in pursuit of her goal to bring smiles to people’s faces—y’know, what Minerva asks of her—takes the center stage in ep 35. like with Minerva’s encouragement/enabling of Yuujin’s self-sacrificial tendencies, I feel like the narrative similarly encourages/enables Eri to work herself to the bone, even if it might not be the healthiest for her.