Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 12 (Fin) – C’est pour le mieux

By dumping Masamune so Yoshino can have her shot, Aki is trying to be a good friend, as well as a more self-sufficient person, making a passable tea rice bowl for herself when Yoshino is out on a date. But even when her stomach is full, it’s evident that she’s still wanting for something…or someone.

It doesn’t help matters that when the new spring term comes around, everyone’s in Class 3-E except for Aki and Masamune, who are in Class 3-A together. Kanetsugu has also decided to start wearing the girls’ uniform, while Yoshino and Neko bury the hatchet. A new year means old feuds die.

Aki is flustered by the fact Masamune sits right in front of her, and talks to her so casually she can’t help but think of when they were dating, which were happy times for her. Heck, Masamune still visits her in the storeroom to deliver a special new bread variety from the school store.

Aki understandably wants to know what Masamune’s deal is, but before he understands what she’s asking, Yoshino swoops in, gloms onto Masamune’s arm, and drags him out of the storeroom. Aki resents them flaunting their romance in front of her, but outside Yoshino ominously tells Masamune “Not yet. Just a little longer.”

Something is clearly Up with a Capital U, but Aki doesn’t suspect anything, or she wouldn’t go to a salon for the classic post-breakup haircut. Her shorter locks are adorable as all get out, but Yoshino freaks out when she see them. Aki makes clear she didn’t think she could get over Masamune without some kind of big change.

Yoshino pounds on Aki with her fists, then urges Aki to head back to school, where Masamune is waiting and will explain everything. Once there, Aki can’t find Masamune anywhere, but does find a letter addressed to her in his handwriting. Assuming it’s some kind of revenge, when she finally spots him outside, she’s poised to give him the mother of all talking-tos.

As she runs out to him, he runs up to her, resulting in them switching places. They do this once more—a nifty microcosm of their relationship thus far—before he finally manages to grab her arm, sending them both to the hallway floor. When a distraught Aki tells her to have all the fun he likes with Yoshino, Masamune unloads a bombshell: he and Yoshino aren’t dating.

He was happy when “Shisho” came all the way to Shinshu to see him and tell him she loved him, but he couldn’t return her feelings. He loved someone else. It’s only since all of the lies and misunderstandings have been cleared up that he realizes his feelings for her never changed from that day he gave her a bouquet in a dazzling field of flowers.

When Aki finally opens the letter, it simply asks if she’ll be his girlfriend. He asks her out loud, just to be clear. She tells him no…her answer isn’t no. More than once, she asks him if he’s sure he’s okay with her, but she’s the only one he’s okay with. She’s the reason he’s who he is, and the only one he could work so hard for.

It’s here, on the floor, at sunset, when the rich, beautiful, huge brat and the self-centered, self-obsessed, selfish egoist stare into each others’ eyes and then seal their intention to date again with a real, honest-to-God kiss. As far as we see, Masamune doesn’t get any hives. He even seems to introduce a bit of tongue into the kiss, but Aki ain’t havin’ it!

Fast forward to the post-culture festival bonfire. Last year both Masamune and Aki were pursued by many a girl and guy for the right to dance with them, but tonight they dance with each other. Neko and Yoshino commiserate, with Yoshino clarifying that Masamune didn’t get hives because he felt safe with his “Master.”

As for Aki and Masamune, their spirited quasi-adversarial dynamic lives on even as they’re an official couple, with each of them able to make the other blush with a word or gesture. Masamune isn’t taking the Cruel Princess’ hand for revenge, but out of respect. And as Aki takes his hand, it feels like all’s right in the world. Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but our lovebirds are beyond that, for romance is a dish best served warm.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 11 – Sans ennemis

Masamune has been absent for four days, and Kojuurou, Neko, and Tae are understandably concerned. When they ask Aki about him, she acts like he’s not her concern, because he isn’t anymore. When she tells everyone she broke up with Masamune, they’re all shocked, but nobody more than Yoshino, who tells her she can’t do that. Only she can, and she did, and it’s done.

Yoshino heads to Masamune’s house at once with Koju, Neko, and Tae in tow, and manage to lure Chinatsu out with fancy pudding. They learn that Masamune ran off to his grandfather’s in rural Shinshu four days ago. Their mom is devastated, wrapped in his blanket in his room crying while the chores pile up. Yoshino recalls that Masamune and Aki went on a date last weekend, just before he ran off.

The four agree that all they can do is wait for him, but as they’re walking home, Yoshino accuses Neko of getting into Aki’s head and causing this whole mess in order to try to steal Masamune away. Yoshino, i.e. Minase Inori, pulls no punches in telling Neko he’ll never look her way, and Neko slaps her for it. Eventually Aki shows up to break up the argument, asking Tae to take Neko home while she has a chat with Yoshino…a real one.

After we check in on Masamune and his new simple, monastic lifestyle, even burning the White day gift Aki refused, we get right down to the dramatic heart of this episode, and the reason Aki so abruptly broke up with Masamune even though things seemed to be going so well. That is, quite simply, that she knows Yoshino likes Masamune.

She also knows that Yoshino denied and buried her own feelings for the sake of her mistress. Aki can imagine how much Yoshino has suffered all these years, and tells her she doesn’t need to be deferent to her anymore, at least not on this. Her final request to Yoshino is to go to Masamune and tell him how she really feels herself. So she does.

Tae helps cheer Neko up with some overeating and karaoke, the twin surefire balms for a girl’s broken heart. She assures Neko that no one is truly empty, as Neko said as she wept earlier. Tae even does a solid and suggests that when Neko’s ready to love again, she might want to look Koju’s way.

As Yoshino takes her solo trip to see Masamune, having obtained the address from Chinatsu, she goes through all the times she’s had with Masamune, and how the moment she first saw him all grown up in their school, she was smitten. When he said he had the most fun plotting revenge with her, she was never able to say she had fun too.

But that’s all over now; no more holding back. Meanwhile, there must’ve been something in the fumes of the burning gift wrap because Masamune has a little vision with Little Him, who is training hard as part of his revenge scheme. Masamune breaks it to the kid: Aki’s not their enemy. There are no enemies to fight…only a life to live, and live well, with those you love.

While gathering firewood in the morning, Masamune hears what he think is a tanuki rustling in the trees, but then Yoshino emerges, runs to him, leaps onto him, wraps her arms around him in an embrace, causing them both to fall to the ground. Before he can let out a full “Master?!”, she’s kissing him.

I guess his weird dream about them dating wasn’t so crazy after all, huh? This reunion is the latest dramatic, beautifully directed scenes in an episode packed with them, all backed up by a tremendous Katou Tatsuya score that gets extra big and cinematic when it needs to.

I was frustrated by the sudden dumping last week, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense. Aki, who all her life took and took and took from Yoshino, finally gave. And now I find myself firmly on Team MasaShiro.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 10 – Journée noir blanc

Here I thought Yoshino would hesitate to tell Aki until the very end, but when Aki tells her she had a conversation with Neko and that she has cause to believe Masamune hates her and only got close to her for revenge, Yoshino comes out and confesses to driving Pig’s Foot off in the first place, out of fear of losing Aki.

She only pretended to help Masamune with his revenge plot, as her true goal was to help get him and Aki back together. To her shock, Aki isn’t upset about this. Instead, she praises Yoshino for working to hard, and even shields her from the snow when her umbrella flies away. Now that she knows the truth, she can trust Masamune’s feelings…and express her own.

The snow continues through the night; enough for Masamune and his sister to make a snow-Daruma doll, but not enough for a snow day. After her talk with Aki, Kojuurou asks her why she said what she said. Neko doesn’t care if Aki and Masamune think she’s a villain; she doesn’t think being hurt, pushing oneself too hard, and lying to oneself is really love.

Aki and Masamune seem fine again, eating in the storeroom like they always do. Kujouurou walks home with Neko, and tells her that he’d never despise her, because he considers her a kind, straightforward young woman. Does Neko realize how much he likes her?

As White Day approaches, Aki has Yoshino undertake a secret intel project, then calls Masamune, asks him out on a date, and asks him to let her plan everything. She also reminds him of White Day, and he realizes he has nothing planned.

After trying and failing to make decent macarons, which are extremely hard to make, especially for the first time, Masamune asks the Sweetsmaster Kojuurou for help, and they end up on a bro-date to one of the higher-end stores. Masamune finds the perfect gift: a white chocolate rabbit that looks “cheeky” like Aki.

Masamune is very confused when he arrives at what seems to be a normal drugstore that’s the next town over. When Aki arrives, she assures him they’re at the right place, because this is the only drugstore in the world where one of his former bullies works.

Aki confronts the lad while he’s stocking shelves, and once he remembers her, she shows him what has become of “Tubbymune.” She and Masamune take their leave, but not before the former bully apologizes for what went down in the past.

Later, Masamune admits that he thought he’d freak out more, but was surprisingly calm about the whole encounter, no doubt because Aki was there with him. Aki planned the whole thing to get Masamune to have more confidence in himself, and pride in how he’s changed.

When he presents her with her White Day gift, it looks like these two are going to be just fine. But then she says she can’t accept it, says she now thinks it’s okay “for at least one person to pick up what you’re trying to throw away,” and says sayonara—a farewell with the finality of a dumping. And so the roller coaster continues…

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 09 – Déjeuner de mensonges

Even though she’s unaware Masamune just had a dream about Yoshino being his girlfriend, Neko can tell something’s still off about him, but everyone else gets caught up in a Valentine’s Day chocolate-making frenzy. Even Aki isn’t immune to this, as Yoshino convinces her to make homemade sweets for her boyfriend, and when that fails, she makes cookies. When Masamune declines to taste one of his sister’s chocolates, she warns him that won’t fly if a girlfriend puts her heart and soul into them, which Aki most certainly does.

Kojuurou keeps stepping up to the plate and striking out, disinterested as Neko is in him as a romantic partner. Masamune gets a motherlode of chocolates from various pretty admirers, including the obsessive one who still has his water bottle. But the one he wants chocolates from most is Aki, and she doesn’t disappoint. He accepts her cookies, tastes one, declares it delicious, then has another. It lifts Aki onto cloud nine, and for that alone, I’m grateful, even if he’s forcing himself to eat for her sake.

On their first date in a while, the pattern continues: Aki takes Masamune somewhere and they stuff their faces. The problem is, he can only eat so much before he’s sick, especially after eating more despite her warnings. That being said, it’s not like Masamune isn’t enjoying spending time with Aki, or even that he resents the threat to his chiseled physique. In fact, before they part ways he says he wants to go on more dates and eat more things with her. Of course Aki can’t turn that down!

Neko, desperate to know what’s going on, has lunch with Yoshino, whom she assumes is feeling lonely what with her Aki-sama being with Masamune all the time. And indeed the two are together, in the gym storage room, chowing down as usual. Masamune makes a comment about still exercising because he “doesn’t want to look like he used to” way back when. Aki’s sad smile broke my heart…moreso once Neko confronts her after school.

Neko solemnly insists that Aki break up with Masamune, because he doesn’t really love her. Aki suprises her with her response, which is that she already knows that, thanks to the revenge journal she found. There’s still that key misunderstanding keeping them from being together: she believes he’s still on his revenge scheme, when the truth is he’s put that behind him and actually does love her.

But for now, as far as Aki knows, Masamune is just doing this so that he can one day dump her. And despite knowing this, Aki loves him too damn much to let him go of her own accord. She’s noticed him not touching her and acting distant at times during their dates, which she chalks up to the fact he hates the “past and present her.”

So she believes her love for Masamune to be just as unrequited as Neko’s…the only difference is, she’s Masamune’s girlfriend, and she’s going to remain so as long as she can. Kojuurou ends up overhearing all of this when he’s out in the hall, but honestly I care a lot more about this getting straightened out!

Yes, Masamune’s hives are an issue, but they’re not a surefire sign he shouldn’t be with Aki. And yes, Aki believes Masamune hates him because of that notebook, but it wouldn’t take long to explain that the notebook was only for when he thought she turned him away. Frankly Masamune and Aki need to talk a lot more about the things they’re carrying…as does Yoshino. Until then, the beautiful mess continues.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 08 – Le mode de la servante

Poor Aki continues to watch for phone for something, anything from her purported boyfriend, to no avail. And when her stomach groans, Yoshino is out shopping. Her sister Narino says Yoshino is too stuck in “servant girl mode” to do anything for herself, and so she told her to buy something for herself.

We don’t learn what that something is (though it seems like her bag is full of snacks and/or sweets), but she does end up with something, in a sense: time alone with Masamune. Mind you, that’s not what she wanted under any circumstances, but when she tries to flee she sprains her ankle, and has to be carried.

Aki is late to a café meet-up with her self-proclaimed bodyguards, who spent the time before she arrived worrying about how to broach the topic of Aki dating Masamune. Everything about this seemed wrong: Aki with these girls who don’t know the half of what’s going on, while Masamune is giving Yoshino a piggyback ride.

I’m glad they love the embarrassed side of an Aki-sama in love—I do too—but these are less friends Aki can rely on and more admirers who believe she can do and say no wrong; they’re basically sycophants. The person she should be with is Masamune, her boyfriend. And don’t get me wrong: it’s him I blame for being AWOL.

I’m all for the occasional wrench in the gears of a romantic route, but the fact it’s now been two episodes without the main couple even exchanging a text feels unnecessarily cruel. That’s compounded by the fact that Masamune realizes that while Aki and Neko give him hives when he touches them (or they touch him), that doesn’t happen with Yoshino.

It’s enough for him to declare, out loud, while hugging Yoshino close, that he never should have gone out with Aki, and he was having the most fun plotting revenge with Yoshino. For this, he gets knocked out by Yoshino, who is gone when he comes to but for a note written on his face: “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.”

Fortunately, Aki does eventually end up with someone resembling an actual friend in Kanetsugu, even though she’d never believe she was worthy to be Aki’s friend after what she did. The thing is, Aki knows Kanetsugu well enough to know that she suffered with regret while maintaining her lies, which is why forgiving her is no problem.

She also understands why Kanetsugu did what she did—for her little sister. But now Aki is the one being weighed down by the possibility she’d been hurting Masamune all this time, judging from the page in his journal about exacting revenge. Kanetsugu offers vital advice to Aki: Don’t lie to your heart and accept your feelings.

It’s such a lovely, warm, and above all honest interaction between Kanetsugu and Aki; I love how it turned out so much more nuanced than “bad guy, who is actually bad girl, paid dearly for being bad.” Of course, it’s not nuanced for Yoshino: she’s not only a bad girl, but a “traitorous witch” for what she did to Aki.

While it’s natural to harbor regrets about lying and hurting someone you loved for so long, you can kinda see why Yoshino has locked herself into “servant girl mode” as her sister lamented. She believes she doesn’t deserve anything for herself after what she did—especially not the boy Aki loves, even if she alone doesn’t give him hives.

I’m not sure the hives a surefire sign that Masamune isn’t meant to be with Aki, or meant to be with Yoshino. But when he has a dream about dating her instead of Aki, he wakes up in a cold sweat, declaring it “wrong.” And it is, considering he’s still technically dating Aki. Also wrong? Not speaking to your girlfriend for what feels like weeks!

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 07 – Masamune brulée

During her family’s big formal New Year’s celebration, Neko is off to fetch more sake when the little son of one of her relatives bumps into her. She neither spills the bottles on her tray nor vomits blood, which I’ll call a win. But seeing her relative for the first time since her wedding, when she was as small as this kid (only rounder).

Meanwhile, it’s been ten days since Christmas Eve, and Masamune and Aki haven’t spoken. Not a great way to start the year! As I said, it sucks for these two to run into problems so soon after becoming an official couple, but I suppose we do still have six episodes for that to be resolved.

Neko is reminiscing about the day she met Masamune when they were both kids. She was desperately shy, but he offered her a giant chicken wing from his pocket (a habit he’s since kicked). She then gets a text from Tae inviting her to join her, Kojuurou, and Masamune for the first shrine visit of the year.

While I know Masamune is freaking out about this hives thing, which his doctor suspects is due to stress, it’s still pretty mean to not only ghost Aki, but lie about her and Yoshino being busy so as to exclude them and spare him the awkwardness. Fortunately, he’s terrible at hiding the fact he’s troubled, and Neko notices something’s not right.

He notes that he still manages to laugh and have fun, and while he and Neko get a brief moment alone together, it’s not long enough for her to broach the topic of what’s troubling Masamune. Her suspicions are reinforced when she watches Yoshino breeze right past Masamune in the hallway without a peep.

When coincidence conspires to put both Neko and Masamune at the same hospital one day, she offers him a ride and some tea at her house. Her attendant Shidou-san is not pleased with his presence, but there’s nothing she can do about with whom her mistress spends her time.

Masamune expresses how the lack of anything wrong with him seems wrong in and of itself, even as he realizes the irony of coming to someone with such fraught medical history with his problems. He wonders if the thing stressing him out is holding something back, like not telling Aki about Yoshino’s role in separating them.

But Neko has a different theory: he’s burnt out and in a state of shock after his life’s goal of revenge was suddenly ended. His mind, body, and energies had been concentrated on that goal for so long, it’s only natural there’s a physical as well as psychological strain from its rapid termination.

She also wonders whether Masamune is hewing too close to his pretenses and preconceptions. He may have loved Aki, back then, before his heart was broken…but does he still love her now? Meanwhile, she owns up to having met him once before Aki did.

When she made advances on Masamune earlier, she was clinging to the meager memories of the past, but now she makes clear she loves the Masamune of today, here and now. She draws in for another kiss, this time one that is free of the past…but Shidou breaks it up.

Neko tells her attendant she doesn’t need to worry, as she sees the hives develop on Masamune’s hand. Her smile and trembling hands betray her heartbreak all over again as she declares “no mistakes will be happening today”. She then considers if she truly has cast off her pretenses and preconceptions.

I truly felt for Neko, being a good friend to Masamune, and testing the waters only to be burnt herself, not by his words this time, but by his very skin. But in this she’s not alone; that’s now two girls who have given Masamune hives since he learned the truth.

As he views Aki’s text asking if he’s okay after visiting the hospital, Masamune vents his frustration over not knowing what truth there is to find that might cure him of his stress hives by shouting on a bridge. This startles someone on street level and causes them to fall.

He apologetically rushes to their aid to find it’s his ex-master Yoshino who fell. Despite her efforts to ignore and avoid him, circumstances have brought them back together, and I think it would do them both a power of good to talk about things a little more.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 06 – Crêpes de Noël

Masamune follows Yoshino’s last piece of advice as his master, asking Aki on a date on her birthday. Even though he knows it’s Christmas Eve, he guesses wrong so she can correct him while wearing the same cute smug face she used to make when they were little.

Without Yoshino’s further guidance, Masamune must figure out what they’ll actually do on this date. When his family and shojo manga isn’t of any help, Kojuurou recommends a café that’s famous for its pancakes. When it comes to Aki, you can’t go wrong with fluffy carbs!

The next day, Aki shows up wearing the outfit she took hours deciding, just as Masamune took a great deal of time to plan a fun date. The time they put in tells you they care about each other. And while Masamune’s first idea is to take her to a movie, she sits right next to him this time!

While it’s not a zombie movie that makes her cry in fear, it’s a story about a dog and an old man that makes her moved to tears anyway. As for the pancake café, it burned down that morning, leaving the couple with nowhere to eat on a fully-booked Christmas Eve.

Masamune suggests they go to his house, where his mom is sure to shower them with food and affection. But when he comes home it’s all dark; he left the room before Chinatsu could tell him she and mom went to the hot springs. That means Aki and Masamune are alone together.

After a few moments of cute awkwardnesss, Aki tells Masamune to serve tea. When he can’t find the tea, she helps him look, and finds something better, at least to her: pancake mix! The two are a picture of domestic bliss as they each laugh at one another for failing to properly flip their first pancakes.

But once they have enough for a meal, Masamune tries to fluster Aki by offering to feed her. Aki is defiant, and grabs his arm to glomp the pancake he offered, then tells him his cakes don’t have enough toppings. Aki touching his arm, and then insisting on toppings he doesn’t want, gives Masamune pause.

Without explaining, he gets up, grabs Aki’s arm, and takes her upstairs to his bedroom, which is really more of a gym. The thing that stands out for her, however, is the photo of her and Masamune when they were little. Seeing the photo moves her to tears, but Masamune says that’s not why he brought her up there.

He tells her he’s not the same pudgy Masamune she knew eight years ago. He made himself into a new person after the trauma of how that all ended, and he doesn’t think he can go back to being the “old Masamune” and asks if that makes him worthless to her now.

Aki, unsure how to respond, trips on a dumbell, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. The tension builds as they linger in this compromising position, until Masamune seemingly feels a pain in his stomach and bolts away, leaving Aki alone and more confused than ever. When she leaves his room, he’s nowhere to be found.

He’s in the bathroom, and his stomach hurts too much to move. He pulls up his sleeve to reveal severe hives. It seems he’s unable to touch Aki for some reason! He texts her his apologies, as well as the location of her Christmas/birthday present, for her to take home with her.

When she takes it out of his jacket, something else falls out: his revenge journal, which just happens to open to the page “I’m going to get revenge on that woman!” When Aki comes home, she’s in a daze.

While she loves the gift she gave him (a necklace with dogs like her old guard dogs), she’s not sure what to make of that journal, or how Masamune suddenly drew away from her. She even asks Yoshino whether she has any “appeal as a woman”.

After such a nice, if imperfect date, and just when things were going so bright and sweetly, there’s suddenly serious trouble in Akimune paradise. I for one hope they can find a way to voice one another’s concerns properly lest they end up victims to more misunderstandings. They’ve had to deal with enough of those!

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 05 – Il n’y pas de retour en arriere

Aki is stunned when Masamune tells her he’s the real Masamune, but she doesn’t disbelieve him. Gasou Kanetsugu isn’t ready to take his interference lying down, but his, or rather her further efforts to keep Aki in the dark fall to the wayside when, in the course of her struggle with Masamune, her shirt is pulled open, revealing her cleavage.

Kanetsugu makes a hasty retreat, leaving Aki and Masamune together for the first time ever with Aki knowing who he really is and Masamune knowing she wasn’t the one who called him Pig’s Foot and sent him away. She repeats all the insults Masamune threw at her, and then, to his shock, she accepts the request he made in the heat of the moment. She’ll go out wit him, the real Makabe Masamune.

When Kanetsugu visits his little sister, and in fact the moment Aki found out her gender, I didn’t just start being more empathetic with Kanetsugu, but also started to like her. She’s done shitty things, but her sister was never an excuse for those things. Her sister is everything to her, and clearly the opposite is also true.

That night, Chinatsu can’t get her brother’s attention, and she even startles him off the treadmill, he’s unresponsive to the point she’s worried he died. But no, he’d not dead, he’s just dating! And before they parted that night, Aki makes it clear he’s the one who asked her out. That gives her the upper hand.

The next morning, word has already spread to the entire school that Masamune and Aki have become a “supercouple.” That doesn’t stop a cute underclassman from asking to be his side piece and happily settling for his half-drunk sports drink. And while Masamune senses Neko is down, she doesn’t want to hear his official rejection. She’s still holding out for the possibility he ends up single again, and then she’ll strike.

Neko’s position isn’t entirely unreasonable when we watch Masamune’s first day as a kept man unfold. Her demands for him to go on the school store bread runs are immediate and insistent. And who should be working at the store but Kanetsugu, now presenting as a woman?

This caught me completely by surprised, but I loved every minute of their subsequent conversation in the hall. That’s something I don’t think I could have said even last week of these two characters. But as Kanetsugu says, she’s basically free now. She sold her family’s mansion to pay the debts, and she no longer has to try to get Aki to marry her.

No longer weighed down by that debt or her male disguise, she just looks and sounds like a happier person. By the same measure, she senses Masamune is genuinely concerned for her, because in his heart he’s still that sweet, wimpy fat boy Aki fell for. This is why when she jokes about him making her his wife, it only seems like half joking.

Despite the horror movie lighting of the athletic storage shed, once Masamune arrives with Aki’s food, and helps her with the stove, their unassailable chemistry reasserts itself. Even if they’re prickly with one another, you can tell a part of both of them is happy they’re finally at this point.

When Aki immediately tries to change her man by insisting he eat more junk and fatten up, it occurs to Masamune he only transformed his body into a slab of granite for revenge. But now that revenge is unnecessary. When she asks what she can do to reward him for getting her food, he draws in close—to kissing proximity—to tell her the sentiment is enough.

When Yoshino arrives with kerosene for the stove, she knows she’s interrupted something, no matter how innocent, and Masamune sheepishly takes his leave. But he does ask if his Master can meet with him again, because he wants to know how she’s doing.

Yoshino is doing fine, especially considering Masamune didn’t tell Aki about what she did eight years ago. His thinking is that it would serve no purpose; Yoshino already feels plenty of remorse for what she did. Instead, he asks her for help with Aki, because, as it happens, going out with someone is super hard!

Yoshino will only say that Aki’s birthday is Christmas Eve, and she’ll be very happy if Masamune shares it with her. Only five episodes into the season, it’s not outside the realm of possibility Masamune misses that date for some reason, and ends up back in Aki’s not-so-good graces.

But I don’t want to jump ahead or be pessimistic. It’s weird and awkward, but it’s far too early to say Aki x Masamune isn’t working. Even if it was corrupted by a couple of outside impostors, their feelings for each other are still there. Little does Masamune know that Yoshino has her own feelings for him, and that’s why she can’t meet with him or be his Master anymore.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 04 – Tout le monde est un gros idiot

Look, I get it: Gasou Kanetsugu desperately needs money. But I cannot forgive him for going to far to deny both Aki and Masamune their fated pairing! Gaining the trust of her well-meaning fan club and getting their help keeping both Yoshino and Masamune away from their Aki-sama is another black mark in his disfavor.

As for Yoshino, she’s decided the time is now or never to tell Masamune the truth: she was the one at the window who called him Pig’s Foot, not Aki. And she did it because she hated him. But things aren’t so simple now. She’s limited in her movements, but can’t give Kanetsugu free rein over Aki, lest the lie reach the point of no return.

When Yoshino got chickenpox, she was initially happy for a little peace and quiet, away from Aki and her moods. But it doesn’t take long for her to be horribly bored. Then she hears Aki laughing outside, having gained a new plaything in Masamune.

But Masamune doesn’t seem like a plaything to Yoshino, and Aki doesn’t treat him as such. Confined to her room, Yoshino’s FOMO turned to a specific hatred of the new friend. Aki went down with a bug the very night Masamune ran to her house for help, and Yoshino put on an Aki wig from a doll, went to the window, and got rid of Masamune.

The thing is, Yoshino almost immediately came to regret that choice. Not only was Aki ruined by the sudden vanishing of Masamune, but she came to distrust and hate all men. And as close as she and Yoshino were, Masamune could put Aki’s heart at ease vis-a-vis her parents’ marital troubles in a way Yoshino couldn’t.

When Masamune transferred to their school, Yoshino recognized him immediately, and says Aki didn’t because she’s always been a bit dense. But in his return Yoshino saw and opportunity to right the wrong she had done. But here’s the twist that really gets Masamune: while she agreed to be his master in winning Aki’s heart, she never wanted him to dump her once he did.

Yoshino appreciates how at-sea Masamune must feel, having learned that she was the one who told him off, that Aki isn’t to blame, and thus there’s no reason for a revenge plot at all. But he’s also their only hope to save Aki from Kanetsugu’s lies. So she sends him off to do just that.

Masamune runs first while considering what he needs to say to Aki when he finds her. At this point, she’d already been calmed down by Kanetsugu, the two went on a Ferris wheel ride, and were now enjoying ice cream. When the fan club intercept Masamune, he tells them they can call him trash if they like, but he needs to know where Aki is to protect her from Kanetsugu’s lies.

They acquiesce, and just before Kanetsugu gets to reply to Aki’s offer to do anything for him, he appears to punch Kanetsugu right in the face, telling him to stop using his name. Masamune doesn’t help his case at first by getting in a dig about Aki’s “ugly personality”, but manages to get the words he needs to out: if she’s going to date Masamune, she might as well date the real one!

It’s great to watch Yoshino’s web of lies fold, even as I feel bad for her since her hatred for Masamune has gradually turned to more positive feelings. Nevertheless, she puts Aki’s feelings first, not because it’s her job to defer to her, but because her lies caused this whole mess. I really hope Aki believes Masamune about Kanetsugu’s deceptions—deviousness such as his should not be rewarded!

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 03 – Le deuxième enfant

Everyone’s back in Japan, and Yoshino is confined to the mansion when not at school, a punishment her sister says could have been far stricter. While at school, she meets with Masamune, and says she’ll try to smooth things over with a stress-eating Aki. Then she crosses paths with a smug Kanetsugu. Neko also notices something off with Masamune, and asks if he can accompany her somewhere after school.

That somewhere turns out to be the hospital for some routine checks, after which Neko and Masamune go for a stroll by the river. When he gives her the gist of what happened, she asks if revenge is still his goal, to which he says of course: Once Aki falls in love with him he’ll dump her. Neko decides to be bold and hug him from behind.

If he’s only pursuing Aki for revenge, it wouldn’t be cheating if he fell for Neko. The hug is interrupted by Muriel’s brother’s goons. After a brief chase, her bro pulls out not a handgun, but Muriel’s manuscript, which starts with Aki and Masamune’s story and has an original, happy ending that makes Masamune wonder why things couldn’t turn out that way.

Masamune’s sister Chinatsu greets him with a jump kick to the spine, as she suspects him of going through her laundry, having seen someone through her window. But when their mom says she was the one folding their clean laundry, Chinatsu has to recant and apologize.

Meanwhile, Aki goes to a family restaurant with Kanetsugu and her three-girl fan club, who go over the photos of Aki from Paris. When Kanetsugu says most of Aki’s free time was spent with Masamune, the girls are upset, but when they press Aki for info she lashes out, then excuses herself.

While she’s gone, we get a compressed version of the genesis of Kanetsugu’s scheme to empty the Adagaki coffers, using an official document he found among his late gramps’ stuff which he’ll use to betrothe himself (really herself) to Aki. As for the money, he primarily wants it to help his little sister, who is always in and out of the hospital.

His interactions throughout the afternoon having planted an idea in his head, Masamune arrives at the mansion to meet with Yoshino. He notes how much smaller the courtyard feels compared to when he was little. As for his idea: “Pig’s Foot” was the nickname he thought Aki gave him when she did nothing to stop the bullies from beating him up in that very courtyard.

But Aki forgot that nickname. That means the only ones who know it are him, the bullies…and a second girl in the mansion. At the time, Masamune didn’t know about her, but Aki said someone was confined to their room with Chickenpox. It now occurs to him it might not have been Aki’s voice calling him Pig’s Foot and rejecting him from the window, but that second girl: Yoshino.

The question he has for her is, how does she know that nickname? The answer is revealed in the last shot of the episode, as a young Yoshino removes a black wig. Now it’s official: she was the one who rejected Masamune back then and prevented Muriel’s happy ending from occurring. My question for Yoshino is, since what has been done cannot be undone, how willing is she to sort things out with Aki and Masamune?

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 02 – Mains moites

Gasou Kanetsugu is a real piece of work. He (I’ll use that pronoun while she presents as male) doesn’t threaten to go to Aki with the news that Yoshino is conspiring with Masamune. Instead, he snitches on her to her parents, knowing full well that when the families get involved, Yoshino’s station will be a millstone around her neck. While she’s initially defiant, Gasou seems to have neutralized her as a player here.

Speaking of playing, Aki and Masamune are forced (on pain of death by her brother’s hired goons) to role-play as a rom-com couple for Muriel Besson’s benefit. Masamune decides it’s unbecoming to seem flustered about something like this, so he takes Aki’s hand and leads her around the park. When she gets exhausted and hungry, he suggests they feed one another, but that proves too much for both of them.

Instead, Aki eats her own (legitimately delicious-looking) sandwich, then gets down to the business she originaly intended: to tell him how she met “Masamune” and why she can’t accept this Masamune’s feelings. We get her side of the story of how she needed a distraction and a friend as her warring parents fought for her affection. She found one in Masamune. I liked the elaborate prank she helped set up to set Masamune’s bullies straight.

While walking home from their victory, Aki admits to Lil’ Masamune that she “at least wants him” to be happy, since it’s “hopeless” for her now that her parents are separating. Unable to hold back her own tears, it’s Masamune’s turn to give her comfort and solace from her troubles.

But despite him saying he’ll stay by her side forever, Aki says that was the last time she ever saw Masamune, AKA Gasou Kanetsugu. Now the real Masamune knows that Aki believes Gasou was him. But he’s confused: this isn’t how things went down from his perspective—He didn’t abandon her!

While picking flowers to cheer Aki up (dawww) Masamune is ambushed by the bullies who now have an excuse to get back at him. Masamune runs to Aki’s mansion, but she comes to the window and tells him she’ll never have feelings for him, and calls him “Pig’s Foot”.

When Masamune confronts Aki about it in the present, she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Both of them believe they’re the victim. Something’s missing here! But Masamune is unable to hide his anger and contempt for what he considers a twisting of history.

He’s nasty enough that Aki runs off on her own, never a good idea in a foreign country where you don’t quite know where you are and the vast majority of people don’t speak your language. She happens to run into Gasou, who opens his arms when he sees she’s upset, but she runs right past him. GOOD.

Yoshino, who apparently hasn’t budged from the bridge since Gasou checkmated her, reads a message from her parents telling her to shape up and that she’s grounded. To her surprise, Aki runs into her arms crying. She comforts her, and recalls having done it before when they were younger.

Was it because Aki’s parents broke up, or because lil’ Masamune, whom Aki had feelings for, suddenly vanished? Neither Aki nor Masamune have enough information to know the full picture.

Aki’s sharing only drove a wedge between them, because her story so perfectly contradicted the one he’d always held as justification for his Dead or Love plan. If something is going to give, someone other than these two needs to contribute a key piece of information…

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 01 – Terre d’amour

Masamune is still committed to making Aki fall for him so he can immediately dump her as revenge for rejecting him. To that end, he plans use the class trip to Paris to further his Dead-or-Love plan.

What he didn’t bargain for was Aki, apparently still vibing off how things ended last season, being uncharacteristically serious and direct with him about finding time to hang out and talk properly.

He also didn’t expect to bump into France’s #1 otaku, Muriel Besson, who takes one look at him and declares him her amateur rom-com manga character “Chikuwa-kun” in the flesh.

I love both Masamune and Aki’s reactions to just how much Muriel is, and how Masamune takes Aki’s arm to gently turn down Muriel’s request. But whether Muriel ran crying to her big-shot big bro or he simply has eyes on her at all times, our duo is cornered in a dark alley by his hired goons, and basically insists that they help his dear Muriel with her manga.

Masamune reports to his master Yoshino, both on his and Aki’s new duty to Muriel and the fact that Aki came to him unbidden. Yoshino, who it’s clear from their fist bump still likes Masamune herself, continues to wear the mask of trusty mentor and Dead-or-Love co-conspirator.

Within five minutes of their next meeting with Muriel, she’s within inches of performatively kissing Masamune before Aki breaks the two up. Both Aki and Masamune can’t hide their embarrassment as they insist on teaching Muriel what real Japanese romance is like, starting with the fact that it’s a lot less loud than French romance!

There’s a lovely meta quality to Masamune and Aki agreeing (albeit under duress) to act as the ideal high school rom-com couple. On the margins, we see that Kojuurou still has a crush on Neko, Neko hasn’t given up on Masamune, and Tae is rooting for Kojuurou.

Finally, Kanetsugu is on to Yoshino and Masamune, and even has evidence as he snapped a photo of the fist bump that proves they’re in cahoots. But as he’s exposing Yoshino’s secret, he’s concealing his own: he’s actually a girl, and is binding her chest to pose as man, trying to use love to get money for her family.

There’s plenty of swirling secrets, deceptions, love triangles, and intrigue this week. In other words, it’s another season of Masamune’s Revenge, a story I’d hoped would one day get a satisfying conclusion. With this encouraging opening salvo, that hope has found solid footing.

Masamune-kun no Revenge – 12 (Fin)

Last week I predicted that Masamune would fill in for Kanetsugu in the Class-A play—a safe prediction, since that’s what came to pass. The show tries to be coy about it, what with showing Masamune arrive in the auditorium to see Aki already on the stage performing, and not immediately revealing his plan. But really, we all knew where this was going.

What I did not know was how much I would enjoy the performance scene, telegraphed as it was. Simply taking Kanetsugu’s place is no mean feat for Masamune in his ill and weakened state, but the well-rehearsed cast (which includes his master) catches on fast, as his fatigue is explained as the result of his “long journey.”

Back to another safe assumption: that Masamune would, in fact, give Aki a real kiss. I mean, how could he not, that’s what the role demands! But when Aki said the kiss would be “pretend” while waiting in her coffin, it all but confirmed to me that it wouldn’t be. It wasn’t a bad kiss at all, and it even compels Aki to do a little improvisation of her own, by decking him for stealing a kiss. Because he’s so weak, he’s out for the count.

Fast Forward to the conclusion of the festival (thankfully) as reps from both classes meet at a karaoke joint for the after-party. This is where the episode kinda stretches out and relaxes, and where it was clear, if it wasn’t in past weeks, that this whole Masamune’s Revenge thing wasn’t going to be wrapped up in just twelve episodes. The last half feels more like a self-contained OVA.

Which, yeah, makes sense. Masamune feels a lot of tension at the karaoke bar, and when his turn in the sing-off approaches, he’s hassled by Sonoka and Kikuon, warning he won’t be able to run away from humiliating himself at the mic in front of their mistress. But it’s Aki who scolds them and sends them off, taking his side. She later regrets it, as Masamune’s singing is so bad everyone looks dead by the end, and quickly clear out afterward.

At least that leaves Masamune and Aki alone together for one last scene, which is as nice way as any to close out the show. They exchange thanks and apologies, and Aki earnestly asks him what she should do as far as tokens of appreciation go. Masamune swings for the fences and asks for a kiss, and to his shock, she accepts.

Aki’s lips do come within less than an inch of Masamune’s, but she stops short and pops a baked yam (I think) in his mouth, provided by Yoshino, who just showed up to feed Aki. Aki feels they got “close enough for now,” and strides off, far more playful than aloof.

Thus, Masamune and Aki end this 12-episode run on pretty good terms. However, obstacles still exist. We know Kanetsugu is deceiving both Aki and Masamune, something Yoshino hasn’t informed her of. Neko doesn’t quite seem ready to give up now that she’s been given a new lease on life. And then there’s the whole matter of whether Masamune wants to actually exact his titular revenge and dump Aki once he’s earned her favor (eh, likely not).

I assume Masamune-kun no Revenge will be back…someday, to resolve these remaining issues. If it does, the show has earned my loyalty, so I’ll be taking a look. If it doesn’t, well…it was a nice, if incomplete, ride.