Sakamichi no Apollon 5-6: Misery loves company

In episode 5, Kaoru is suffering from the backlash of kissing Ri-chan uninvited. Apparently, that was her first kiss and he up and stole it from her. And she doesn't even like him in that way, so there's that. Sen heard them by the way but did not make the connection that it's him that Ri-chan likes. Ah, boys. Anyhoo, Kaoru is so depressed not even his dad coming home after a long absence could cheer him up. But his dad's got a surprise for him: his mom's address. Kaoru is ambiguous about the whole thing but Sen is all for a trip to Tokyo. Of course, Tokyo also means Brother Jun but when they drop by his dorm, they learn that dude hasn't been seen there in a while and is rumored to be shacking up with some woman. Poor, Yurika. Her letters are just pieces of paper jammed into his mailbox, which Kaoru quickly swipes out of Sen's view. Meanwhile, our boys finally meet Kaoru's mom and she is not at all what we imagine her to be. Sen makes himself scarce so that mother and son are able to have an awkward bonding moment. Neither of them give away much but you can sense the distance and the regret that each feels. In the end, Kaoru resolves any lingering issues he has with his mother with barely any words exchanged between them. At the same time, he is finally able to accept the fact that Ri-chan only likes him as a friend.

Episode 6 has the opening of the new semester. Kaoru and the gang are second years now with Kaoru assigned to the same class as Ri-chan but Sen is in a separate class. After getting into a fight with the boys of his class, Kaoru gets Ri-chan to bring Sen to the nurse's clinic. There, Sen, acting on what he learned from last episode, asks Ri-chan to take care of Kaoru from now on. Meanwhile, Kaoru ends up talking with Yurika about her painting of Sen as Zeus. Their conversation turns to Brother Jun and Kaoru, perhaps with some questionable intent on his part, tells her about Brother Jun dropping out of college and probably shacking up with a girl. Yurika's reaction is barely perceptible but she does end up accidentally spilling white paint on Zeus' face. The glob of paint looks like a tear, which is appropriate enough. Later, Sen meets Matsuoka, another sophomore who is a member of Yurika's art club. Matsuoka has dreams of forming a rock and roll band and wants to recruit Sen as a drummer. Sen rebuffs his advances at first but after Matsuoka tells him that he wants to support his family with his rock band, Sen gains some new respect for him and agrees to join. This scares Kaoru as he is afraid that this would drive a wedge in his friendship with Sen, which fear provokes an argument between the two. The episode ends with Ri-chan's father seeing a familiar face at some bar he frequents.

Uh-oh. Brother Jun looks to be in some kind of trouble. What will this mean for Yurika? And in turn for Sen? Also, oh my god, I love Matsuoka. He is such a unicorn.

more screencaps from episode 5-6: