Grow Up Show: Himawari no Circus Ep.08 - Maria?! What happened?!

Episode 8 of Grow Up Show: Himawari no Circus concluded with Mizuka's story, and I was already ready to spend the entire post talking about how annoying Mitscher was as a character. Believe me, my entire intention was to spend another review just complaining, but then they delivered that ending, and now I have so many questions that I'm dying to watch the next episode.

The episode is mostly focused on Mizuka starting to like circus activities again, thanks once again to Ouka being around her. It's all nice and maybe a bit too idealistic, but it works to make her an integral part of the troupe, even if it breaks the original clash between her and the rest.

The yuri energy of this picture is quite strong. The camera director knows what to do to show these two together.

I still can't get over the fact that these two could've helped the circus all along, but decided to do it only to spite Mizuka later...

At the end, we see Mitscher performing with the Blue Rose leader, Sumeragi, which means he was here not to actually care about Mizuka, but purely to make money for his business. And he had the nerve to go on a whole tirade about this and that regarding her. Okay, okay, I said I was not going to complain about him.

The real cliffhanger arrives at the end when Mizuka finds Maria unconscious and crying on the ground in front of the door, with no explanation whatsoever. I'm honestly baffled because I was not expecting her to be the one covered next. Everything seemed to point to Mamiya Rin, including her worried face after the talk with the investors and all that.

But bang, little Maria is on the ground and, importantly, she has a locket next to her. You know, those golden things where you keep photos? They haven't shown anything inside yet, but I'm assuming it's key, and in some way it's going to connect Mizuka to her, though I simply can't figure out how.

She looks way too young to be her mother, but at the same time too different to be her older sister. Being the younger sister of Mizuka's father would work, but I don't think it would be as shocking as the other two possibilities. Also, why is she on the ground: disease or simply shock? The crying may imply the latter, but...

Happy Mizuka is good Mizuka, but was it worth to give her a trauma right after the performance with that encounter?!

Crying with a locker next to her. Of course Mizuka is going to open it and find something compromising inside right?!

Sure, the Sumeragi angle and the competition are important and all, but now I can't take my eyes off trying to predict what happened to Maria. How am I supposed to wait a week with this cliffhanger?! I almost forgot about trash-talking Mitscher because of it.