It’s great to see the progress Asa has made. Before we had Asa mentioning that other people’s problems have nothing to do with her. As such, we have her meeting Chiyo who we knew had her specific issue with admissions. This is the point where we can see the start of a friendship between these two from them asking each other, Are you ok.
For Chiyo she knows that compared to her issues, Asa dealing with the loss of her mother is harder to deal with. At the same time, Asa is empathetic to Chiyo because she knows how it feels to be alone and deal with shit in life piling up. I love to see her recognize that and want to help Chiyo in her own way. Just seeing Asa say she is alive is enough to raise Chiyo’s spirits.
As we have seen the effect Makio has had on Asa, in a way we see that Asa wants to do the same for Chiyo. As Asa learns that, yes, Chiyo’s problems have nothing to do with her, but we all deal with that stuff. The meaning of life is to build connections. As Makio says, life doesn’t change so easily, but bit by bit that change can occur. For both Makio and Asa, this is evident over the course of the story.
Asa truly is a huge part of Makio’s life, and vice versa. As the show has grown, we have seen Makio herself be more comfortable talking to not just Asa, but even the new connections she has made. Asa being focused on who she wants to be is great.
