Hyakkano – 08 – A Time to Kiss

We know the stakes: Rentarou and Kusuri need to reverse the other girls’ affliction or they’ll remain kiss zombies forever. But because they have superhuman strength and speed, avoiding them on the way to the chem lab proves impossible. That said, they’re able to neutralize the vice principal by administering a face-melting drug that only removes her foundation, forcing her to reapply it.

When Rentarou realizes Nano has the girls using a pincer movement, he has Shizuka chase him, as he’s confident he can stay ahead of her due to her low base speed. But when she trips and falls, he has no choice but to run to her and take her to the nurse’s office to treat her. But while Shizuka’s slower and weaker than the others, she’s still a kiss zombie, and she makes her kissing time with Rentarou count before he leaves her hanging—literally.

Karane and Hakari won’t be so easy to neutralize, as the former launches the latter at him like a missle, leaving him vulnerable to both of their kisses. That said, a measure of their original personalities still remain, including their tendency to argue, so Rentarou uses this opportunity to push their mouths together. Since the potion makes you want to kiss the one you love, they end up making out with each other.

That leaves only Nano between them and the chem lab, but as a good chunk of her intelligence and analytical thinking remains, tricking her won’t be easy. Rentarou hides in a locker only to find Kusuri there. After she tearfully declares she’ll stop researching drugs after this fiasco, she produces a vial of reversing medicine.

Rather than give it to Nano as Rentarou thinks, she drinks it herself to grow to her normal size, which Nano won’t recognize. This backfires when Kusuri’s tendency to speak in the third person exposes her true identity, and Nano ties her up with the rope meant for her (and with bondage knots, no less!).

Rentarou decides he’ll use his love for the girls to break his own limiter and run away from Nano, but she eventually chases him to a classroom, smashes through the door, and greets him like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. We saw what happens when a kiss zombie catches you, and the result is no different here.

As Nano smootches away to her hearts content and Rentarou strays out of all reason, the end credits begin to roll. But this is not the end. By luring Nano away, Kusuri eventually shrunk back to chibi size, as she didn’t take a full dose of reverser. This enables her to make another dose in the lab, hurry to where Rentarou is, and administer it to Nano.

Nano, Shizuka, Hakari and Kurane come to in the nurse’s office, none the worse for wear. They also still have clear memories of what went on while they were kiss zombies, but since those memories include Hakari and Karane making out and not disliking it, they each very loudly proclaim that they actually don’t remember a thing.

All’s well that ends well, but Kusuri maintains that since she caused this whole mess, she’ll give up on her drug research forever. She loves Rentarou and the others and doesn’t want to make trouble for them. But Rentarou rejects her sacrifice.

He loves all of Kusuri, including and especially her passion for making drugs. So if she ever makes another mess with her research, he’ll be there to help her clean it up. A teary-eyed but joyful Kusuri leaps onto Rentarou to kiss him, while his manly declarations only reinforce why the other girls love him so.

This episode only reinforced my love of this series, as it once again balanced zany hijinks and steamy action with genuine emotional and dramatic stakes and compelling character development. Rentarou also continues to be the most honorable and rootable yet still relatable harem MC I’ve ever come across.

He remains as much a treasure as the girlfriends to watch, and is never not decisively proving why he deserves all of them and more … ninety-five more, to be precise!

The Apothecary Diaries – 08 – A Night of Blissful Dreams

When Maomao wakes up on her first morning home, it takes her a beat to remember she actually is home; the chickens certainly leave no doubt. Before she’s fully awake, she’s being led briskly to a brothel by a serving girl to a medical emergency.

A courtesan and her client appear to have been poisoned. I love how Maomao slaps her cheeks, puts up her hair to get into Apothecary Mode, which in this case is a role more akin to a paramedic. I also love how she is in complete control of the situation, and no one there doubts her authority.

With chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, she’s able to stabilize both patients. But then there’s the matter of the crime scene, which is like catnip to a detective like Maomao, and the serving girl, whose glare we noticed last week and again here courts suspicion.

We learn that Maomao’s decuctive skills come from her far more experienced father. She also happens to see the door to the recovering client ajar, and finds the serving girl there trying to finish the job with a dagger.

When a courtesan interrupts their scuffle, she tells the story of how the client is a troublesome jerk who dangles buyouts over girls before dumping them at the last minute. It’s implied that the serving girl’s big sister took her life when she was dumped the day she was to be bought out.

This gives Maomao context, but something in the case is still missing, for the client was on guard after previous attempts to off him. Her father tells her “it’s over”, meaning the case, but not for Detective Maomao.

Maomao eventually determines that the courtesan attempted to murder her client by making use of the different viscosity of poison and non-poisoned drink, and the tendency for courtesans to use wheat stalk straws to avoid staining cups with their lipstick.

The courtesan drank first to gain the clients trust, then drank a little after he collapsed in order to make it look like a double suicide. The madame paid her and her father well, including hush money, because a wealthy merchant’s son’s death would have hurt their business.

As she walks through the red-light district, she regards it as really not much different from the inner palace: a garden and a cage, seething with poison taken and administered for varying purposes.

She also acknowledges she’s probably overthinking things, and has a relaxing bath and later joined by her nee-san Meimei. What the “annex” is and why Meimei tells Maomao to stop by, I have no idea.

Speaking of sweet poison, Pairin has a thoroughly satisfied Lihaku’s arm firmly lodged in her bosom when Maomao arrives to meet with him so they can return home. No doubt despite the exorbitant costs, he’ll be a returning customer and source of profits for the Verdigris House.

Jinshi’s demeanor is as you’d expect of someone who not only heard nothing of Maomao’s trip home until she was already gone, but how she facilitated that trip. He has her meet with him privately, and asks about Lihaku. It’s at this point I remind everyone who isn’t sure what the hairpins are really about to take comfort in knowing that Maomao doesn’t either!

While Maomao was pragmatic in spending the hairpin of the lower-ranked Lihaku, Jinshi is clearly miffed that she didn’t rely on him, even though Maomao notes it would have meant more trouble for him. Jinshi also gets the impression that Lihaku stole a march on him in the romantic/physical sense.

Maomao does nothing to disabuse him of this by saying, in these exact words, she “granted him a night of blissful dreams,” and is “proud of herself” for “working hard.” Mind you, she’s not trying to mess with him or make him jealous; from her perspective she’s describing her slick brokering job with Verdigris.

Of course, Jinshi gets the impression she slept with Lihaku, resulting in him freezing in shock and shattering his tea cup. After helping him clean up Maomao exits his office to find Gaoshun, a pissed Honnyan, and most importantly Gyokuyou, who is belly laughing her ass off at Jinshi’s misunderstanding. And whenever Gyokuyou is laughing, I’m happy.

The Dangers in My Heart – 10 – The Real Thing

Ichikawa is in his emo finest when he arrives thirty minutes early for his meetup with Yamada, only to find she’s just as early as him, and for the same claimed reason (making sure they “got the place right”…you know, Hachiko, the most famous meeting place in Japan).

But whatever Ichikawa was expecting, handing over the new manga was only a pretense. Yamada wants to try out a pancake place, but despite there being a line their relationship doesn’t fall apart due to awkwardness—like she says is the reason not to go to amusement parks for a first date.

Her being early and bringing up first dates should clue Ichikawa in that what he and Yamada are in fact on is their first date—and on Christmas Eve no less—but for much of the day he wrongly assumes he’s just a hanger-on.

When he sees the prices, he pretends not to like sweet things (untrue), even eschewing sugar for his coffee. When Yamada’s gorgeous pancakes arrive, she has him sake photos and he suggests taking a video, which he assumes is all for her socials. He thinks about all of the people who will see this video, and it makes him a little lonely.

Imagine his surprise, then, when Yamada makes clear she doesn’t intend to upload them anywhere, she’s just taking them to send to him and him alone. These are for him. When his gaze lingers on his phone too long, she leans over, lifts his chin, and tells him not to forget to “watch the real thing.” She may be a model and appear on TV and eventually a movie, but here and now, he’s the only one she wants watching her.

As he considers just how much this meetup resembles a date, Ichikawa at least shows he knows what he’s doing wrong when he lists all of his mistakes thus far, from calling his mom cute to mansplaining fashion. The thing is, none of those things seem to be sapping Yamada’s enjoyment of their time together.

When she goes clothes shopping, she makes a distinction between what she likes and what he thinks of two dresses she’s holding up. But not five minutes after he mentioned going shopping with his sister sometimes, Kana enters the store with her friends. Yamada wants to go over to meet her, but Ichikawa say’s “not now.”

Sensing Ichikawa doesn’t want Kana to see him or her, she pulls him into the changing room. In this restricted space, every smell, every breath, and every bead of sweat is amplified. Yamada asks when she can meet Kana, and when he says another time, she’s relieved. She wants to know him better, and that means knowing his fam.

She admits she’s sweated through the dress she was only trying on, but Yamada suggest she buys it, as she looks good in it. Good boy. You gotta give a person compliments when they’re clearly trying things on for you! Alas, Yamada forgets she’s not quite zipped up in the back, and Ichikawa isn’t ready for the glimpse of her back and the hooks of her bra. Fortunately, Kana passes by without suspecting a thing!

Before he knows it, it’s gotten dark out; the day went by far faster than he expected. She apologizes for the day, thinking he must be exhausted being “dragged around.” He realizes he’s been in his own head so much he hadn’t been properly thinking about how she feels.

That’s when he decides to open up and tell her a little about himself. He’s not a people person, not afraid of turning down invitations, and will say so if he wants to tell someone to buzz off or if something sucks. So he deduces that since he didn’t do any of those things today, he had fun today…”probably.”

Yamada can tell, because he is talking about himself to her. He wraps him in a red scarf, which she claims she was wearing earlier. But looking back we never saw her in it, so she may well have bought it for him (she’s got plenty of cash with her modeling).

They eventually walk into a Christmas garden lined with dazzling lights all around, really heightening their cozy closeness. Ichikawa may have seen these kinds of lights before, but since he’s seeing them with Yamada, they just seem much prettier.

When they board a train packed to the brim with passengers, for one horrible beat I feared Ichikawa got on and Yamada didn’t. But then we hear the sound of a hand—her hand—grasping his. It’s sweaty, just as Ichikawa noticed when he took the bag of manga from her.

When her hand slips out of his, he tenderly re-takes it and holds it tight. Whatever mistakes he made throughout their day together, this gesture makes up for all of it. Even if he has yet to reckon with his specific motives or realize how she truly feels, taking her hand back makes clear to her that he doesn’t want to part with her just yet.

Clearly, the feeling is mutual, and sweat aside, the feeling of holding hands is so nice, neither of them want to let go. So they don’t! They hold hands for the duration of the train ride, when they get off the train, when they exit the station, and when they stroll slowly down the streets, which take on a soft, blue glow, like they’ve strayed into a dream together. Only it’s not a dream: its two people who found each other, and like what they’ve found.

Yamada only lets go of Ichikawa’s hand when they arrive at her house. Ichikawa starts to wish her a Happy New Year, but she shushes him. There are still quite a few days until then, so she doesn’t want him to say that quite yet. If he does, it suggests they won’t see each other again until the new year. She doesn’t want that.

After hiding behind a pole and then breaking out an adorkable “Santa Yamada” act that makes him laugh, the two finally part ways, no doubt not wanting to at all. And after they part, Ichikawa finally lets himself start thinking seriously about his feelings getting across to her; that she might know he likes her.

That night, while going over their time together and thinking about all the things he should and shouldn’t have said and done, Nigorikawa, the boy from the manga he’s reading, appears before him, saying he’s Ichikawa and Ichikawa is him. This “cooler” Ichikawa serves as a sounding board for his thoughts about having a chance with Yamada.

It also results in the most bizarre scene of the entire series thus far, as after receiving a photo of Yamada in a Santa suit, Ichikawa jacks off in bed with his new alter ego reclined beside him. Very odd stylistic choice, even if what Ichikawa himself is doing isn’t out of the ordinary for a hormonal teen. But suffice it to say, I’m glad he’s at least keeping an open mind about Yamada possibly liking him as he likes her. Because, duh, she does.