The following contains spoilers for Episode 5 of When Will Ayumu Make His Move?, "I Want to Know More, Senpai," now streaming on HIDIVE.
When Will Ayumu Make His Move? is a charming rom-com anime of the Summer 2022 season that borrows a few cues from its older and more renowned cousin, Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. Both anime series star a high school boy and girl who are totally in love, but also locked in a bitter battle of wits. Love confessions don't come easily in these series.
Even so, characters like Ayumu and Urushi can spend serious quality time together even if they won't budge in their stubborn battles of wits. Episode 5 of Ayumu, for example, shows how close Ayumu and Urushi can be when they set aside their shogi-based mind games and just be themselves. It's a much-needed peek into what makes them who they are.
Episode 5 of Ayumu is like a vacation in more ways than one. On a literal level, Ayumu and Urushi are in the middle of winter break, and more specifically, it's New Year's Day. This is a time for them to relax and enjoy their everyday lives, and being the good friends they are, Ayumu and Urushi love the idea of sharing their everyday lives with each other. This episode is also like a vacation in the sense that Ayumu and Urushi are taking a break from their romantic battle of wits, and they play shogi in this episode just for fun, with nothing at stake. Ayumu and Urushi are at their best when they're playing shogi-based mind games with one another, but even they need a break from that -- and so do the viewers.
With all that in mind, Episode 5 takes this opportunity to show what Ayumu and Urushi are like outside the context of their shogi club, including visiting the restaurant Urushi's late grandfather used to visit every day. Her grandfather's friend runs the place, and when asked, the owner tells Ayumu all about Urushi's youth, giving Ayumu some welcome insights into his love interest. Urushi isn't just a pretty face playing shogi -- she is a whole person, and only now can Ayumu fully appreciate that. He even comments on this after spending all day with Urushi, though interestingly, this doesn't go both ways.
Ayumu reveals very little about himself in return since he's a cool, aloof kuudere who likes to leave things unsaid. He doesn't mind having a video chat session with Urushi later that night where she can see him lying in bed, but otherwise, Ayumu keeps himself clammed up. Perhaps he thinks he's too boring to bother telling Urushi about his own childhood, and as a partial self-insert character, that just might be the case. Viewers are meant to identify with Ayumu the way he is now, not the way he used to be.
Episode 5, and to a lesser extent Episode 4 as well, are a much-needed opportunity to deepen Ayumu's and Urushi's characters to make sure they are not entirely defined by their shogi club antics or their Kaguya-lite romantic battle of wits. If they were so shallow, the love feud would be much less intense and have weaker stakes. However, now, viewers can see Urushi as a complete person, and they can better appreciate her role in the romantic battle of shogi. Moreover, even if Ayumu doesn't reveal much of his life, viewers can still appreciate the effort he makes to connect with Urushi outside of school, which shows how much he cares. He feels close to Urushi not just as a club member but as a person.
Even so, the Ayumu anime must take care to not overdo this and dilute its central premise. Some anime series and TV shows, often comedies or slice-of-life titles, start strong with their central premise but soon unravel into a generic rom-com or sitcom series instead. The Ayumu anime is a shogi-based battle of wits more than anything, and that's what brought the two main characters together. Fortunately, Episode 5 made sure to keep shogi in the picture, but sooner rather than later, Ayumu and Urushi must resume their romantic battle of wits in full force to keep the anime strong. The vacation is over, and it's now time for another round of heartfelt battle.