Hibike! Euphonium 3 – 04 – The Band She’d Imagined

The first years are humming along nicely now and the skies are clear for the imminent Sunrise Festival, but for one dark cloud hanging over Tsukinaga Motomu. Even Midori, just about the only classmate he’ll talk to, isn’t sure what it’s about (and doesn’t want to pry), but as he snaps at an underclassman for saying “Tsukinaga” out loud, it’s safe to imagine it’s something family-related.

Just before Kitauji is about to march in the festival, Motomu is approached by his relative, who asks why he hasn’t spoken to his grandfather, the director of the Ryusei Boy’s High concert band. But Motomu won’t be pressured into unwanted contact, and storms away.

The SunFes goes by without a hitch, and Reina shows she can be a good cop too by praising a first-year who improved. But Motomu’s state of mind could affect future performances, so it’s President Kumiko’s job to investigate.

She and Midori end up speaking to Motomu’s relative, who isn’t sure exactly what Motomu’s deal is, but does provide them with two crucial bits of information: Ryusei’s band director, who led them to National Gold last year, is his gramps, and his big sister died three years ago.

Taki-sensei tells Kumiko (and only Kumiko) that Motomu’s gramps reached out to Kitauji about transferring him to Ryusei. Midori also reports to her that she tried to get Motomu to open up about what’s bothering him, but he told her he didn’t want to trouble her any further.

They didn’t have to go to the trouble of animating the complex light of a turning car reflecting off Motomu and Kimiko, but they did, and I love that

It’s Motomu himself who approaches Kumiko at the train station that evening (and gives her her second jump scare in as many minutes). Just as she did with Sally, Kumiko is there to hear him out. He tells her the story of how his sister, who was his musical inspiration, suffered at Ryusei due to the fact she was the director’s granddaughter.

He never goes so far as to blame his gramps for putting his sister in a situation where she eventually became ill and passed away, but suffice it to say he couldn’t see the concert band she imagined at Ryusei, so he went to Kitauji to try to find it for himself. In Midori, he found someone who reminded him of his sister and provided fresh optimism and inspiration.

After Kumiko and Motomu part ways for the night, Kumiko shoots her own big sister Mamiko a couple of texts just to make sure she’s okay. It’s a sign she acknowledges how lucky she is her big sister is still alive, and how the fact Motomu’s isn’t left such a big hole in his life.

Kumiko tells Motomu she wants to make sure everyone is playing at their best so that they’ll give their greatest performance of their three years there. Also, one’s state of mind determines how their performance will sound, so it’s important to trust one’s bandmates, or president, and not carry too much emotional burden on their own.

In a fitting ending, Motomu seems ready to tell Midori everything he told Kumiko, but Midori simply asks if he wants to play something together. So they play an etude for two contrabasses as the credits roll. Instead of talking, there’s an earnest dialogue between their basses, swaying between dissonance and harmony, leading and following. Listening to the two basses from the roof, Kumiko can probably hear that Motomu will be all right.

 

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun 2nd Stage – 01 – In Search of Motivation Lost

After Tomozaki beats Hinami once again (and again) as nanashi in Tackfam, on the first day of the second term her “game of life” lessons continue. With the ultimate goal of being “as satisfied with offline life” as she is, she reminds him of his medium goal of having a girlfriend before year 3. His task for the day is to observe interpersonal relationships in class.

There, he learns from the now-friendly Mizusawa that Izumi and Nakamura have become something of a quiet item, but one key person who doesn’t know that is Queen Bee Konno Erika. When the class must nominate captains for the upcoming sports tournament, Takei volunteers as the boy’s captain, and when Konno fails to recruit Izumi, she pushes the job on the quiet, shy Hirabayashi Miyuki.

After going over the vagaries of “Mood” within a group, the next task Hinami assigns to Tomozaki is to get Konno Erika motivated for the tournament. Tomozaki soon starts to look at this task like an RPG, and he sets to work asking Izumi for intel on Konno, seeking insight from his co-worker, the similarly unmotivated Gumi, and then getting some solid observations on Konno’s character from the budding novelist Kikuchi.

Once the girls select softball, the event most likely to motivate Konno, Izumi decides all on her own to take the burden of the captaincy from Hirabayashi, and he learns from Nanami that Konno considers Hinami a rival, Tomozaki believes he’s collected all of the material he needs to tackle the “floor boss” Konno. He even manages to recruit Hinami’s help with his strategy, though she won’t go so far as to tell him if she thinks it’s the wrong one.

The episode establishes that Tomozaki has already come a long way. The tools he learned last season help him prepare for a difficult mission. All the while, he’s cognizant that while he’s actually enjoying the process of “leveling up” his social standing, Hinami remains laser-focused on moving forward towards some distant goal. It’s enough to make you wonder just how much is she actually enjoying her offline life?

Hyakkano – 04 – Three Kisses

Hakari and Karane are introduced to Rentarou’s new girlfriend Shizuka and her unique mode of communication. Rentarou breaks the ice by noting one cute quirk that each of the girls have: Shizuka’s animated feet, Hakari’s finger nomming, and Karane’s hair twirling. Each comment turns each girl bright red, but are uniformly touched by how much he care for them.

There’s some friction when Shizuka learns that Rentarou has already kissed the other girls. When asked if she wants to, she states (though the app) that she’s not quite ready. Of course Rentarou is fine taking things slow while being upfront about only wanting to kiss her if and when she’s ready.

Lunch continues with Hakari and Karane competing to see who can stuff the most lunch into Rentarou’s maw, and they start bickering as usual. When Rentarou sees Shizuka being quiet in the corner, he devises a team-building plan: a game of Old Maid in which the winner of each round gets to tickle the loser.

As you’d expect, all three girls are on board with this plan. Rentarou tickles Karane first, resulting in a much steamier situation that he planned. When it’s the extremely ticklish Hakari’s turn, she has to cut the session short before she “ecsta-pees” (her term, not mine!).

Rentarou, looking forward to hearing Shizuka’s laugh, is instead surprised to find that she laughs silently, and has the app report her hearty laugher. And now that they’ve all been tickled, Hakari and Karane get real serious about beating Rentarou so they can tickle him.

But when Shizuka wins and merely gently pokes Rentarou with one finger, the exercise hits another bump. When Rentarou heads off to the bathroom, Karane calls Shizuka out for holding back on her tickling. Sensing she’s intimidated, Hakari has Shizuka’s back..

When Shizuka apologizes, then admits she was indeed holding back out of fear, Karane is upset…is she really that scary? But Shizuka isn’t scared of Karane, she’s scared of rocking the boat and causing Rentarou to compare them. In any such comparison, Shizuka wrongly believes she wouldn’t compare favorably, going on to descrube Hakari and Karane’s positive attributes.

In response to that, Hakari and Karane both make it clear that Shizuka is cute and has plenty of positive qualities herself. Hakari also makes clear that Rentarou loves them far more than they can imagine. Shizuka doens’t need to hold back, and she can call them by their first names, too.

It turns out Rentarou didn’t go to the bathroom. Instead, he saw the friction between the girls, knew that he shouldn’t be the referee, and stepped back, trusting his soulmates to work things out themselves. That’s precisely what happens, and Shizuka immediately takes her fellow girlfriends’ advise and expresses what she truly wants: to kiss Rentarou.

One he does, Shizuka ends up in a blissful daze, and then it’s Hakari’s turn to be upfront about what she wants, so she kisses Rentarou too. Karane is last as expected, but despite her tsundere-ness she doesn’t want a kiss any less than the other two. The buildup to each kiss is gorgeous in its execution, as Rentarou assures the other two that his love for them hasn’t paled in the slightest now that Shizuka is in the group.

Quite the contrary: Rentarou continues to consider all three to be the cutest girlfriends in the world. He also shows remarkable emotional intelligence for a horny high school kid, knowing that the girls would be better served sorting out their issues, as they did.

Karane was never mad at Shizuka for holding back, she was mad for her. No one should feel like they have to hold back what they truly want to say or do. I left this episode amazed by how well everything is going, how compelling this episode was despite never leaving the school rooftop, and super excited for the addition of yet another soulmate to the mix.

Hyakkano – 03 – Don’t Speak

Yoshimoto Shizuka, the tiny student librarian, has resigned herself to a life of solitude, and yet she still longs for her shining knight. Enter Aijou Rentarou, who happens to reach for the exact same romance novel as her, and we’re off to the lists.

Karane had been my favorite girlfriend so far due to her admirable yet often self-defeating commitment to tsundere values. I never thought she’d be unseated so quickly, and by someone who never utters a single word out loud! Yet Shizuka achieves the feat with ease.

I love how many parallels can be drawn between her favorite fantasy romance novel and her eventual romance with Rentarou. It starts with Rentarou finding out that Shizuka communicates through passages in the novel.

At first she believes this puts him off and she goes to find someone else to help him, but Rentarou never questions why she does this or suggests that she try speaking. He accepts her for who she is. And even when she goes overboard and suggests a hundred books, he’s eager to read them all. After all, romance is his favorite genre!

The only snag is a bureaucratic one: it takes a week to get a library card. So Shizuka gives him her favorite, which isn’t a library book but her personal possession. And it slaps. Rentarou reads all it in one night, and Shizuka brings Volume II the next day, just in case he did.

I cannot stress enough how cute these two are together. Rentarou may be aware that Shizuka is now one of his 100 soulmates after their eyes met, but the fact he must make her happy or she’ll die according to the god of love doesn’t really factor into the equation, because he’s having a blast getting to know this tiny, diligent, charming, romantic girl.

It’s important that Rentarou isn’t laboring to make a connection, the connection is simply there. When he tells her it’s amazing that she knows the novel so well she can instantly pick out passages with which to communicate, he means it. And it is amazing!

The tragic thing is, as amazing as Shizuka is, no one else has ever acknowledged it. She believes her means of communication makes her a “freak.” So when she spots Hakari and Karane flirting in their unique ways with Rentarou, her heart breaks, but she’s not surprised: of course he already has a girlfriend.

Even if he didn’t, she wouldn’t feel worthy. Her classmates called her tendency to speak through the book “creepy”, and her own mother is the one who called her a freak, brutally verbally abusing her until Shizuka is compelled to say a word out loud, but only one: “Sorry.”

While the promo art, OP, and ED serve as minor spoilers because we know she’ll end up with Rentarou, Shizuka doesn’t know that yet, and my heart hurt to see her so discouraged after he had lifted her spirits so high before.

But Rentarou foreshadowed things when he told his other two girlfriends he’d been up late a lot “getting busy”. He felt the odd can of coffee wasn’t sufficient thanks for introducing him to such a wonderful series of novels. He wanted to help Yoshimoto Shizuka in a meaningful, lasting way.

One day after school he comes to the library, and is relieved to find her there. He asks her to download an app, and then import a file to it. When she sees the file, Shizuka is shocked: it’s her favorite novel, in e-book form…but there is no e-book version!

The app turns out to be a text-to-speech program. Rentarou typed the whole damn novel into it over the last few nights. Why? With the speech (which is in her seiyu Naganawa Maria’s voice), those she’s speaking to no longer have to look at the text…they can look at her face while she’s “talking.”

Rentarou makes clear he could never ask Shizuka to speak out loud—at this point it’s part of who she is—but he hopes that this method will help her communicate better with others. When asked to give it a try, Shizuka’s first response in her new e-voice is a confession: I love you.

While she tries to then walk it back (again, using passages from the novel), Rentarou gathers her in his arms and tells her he loves her too. And again, he means it. She isn’t an obligation, nor does he want to be her shining, dragon-slaying knight. He’s simply fallen in love with her. This re-contextualizes the nature of his soulmates.

These three girls aren’t a burden or a duty. Meeting them, getting to know them, and dating them makes his life happier and fuller. And when the inevitable awkward conversation with Karane and Hakari occurs, something interesting happens. Karane initially believe he’s succumbed to brain rot, but Hakari is overjoyed and moved that he isn’t dumping them just because he’s found a new girlfriend.

As tends to be their dynamic, Hakari takes the plunge into acceptance first, and Karane follows suit. Her objections stem from her tsundere personality, but she truly does want to remain with Rentarou and Hakari, and just by being who she is, Hakari lends her the nudge she needs. The two girls complement each other, and keep each other in check.

As such, the Aijou Rentarou polycule grows from three to four with minimal pain. I can’t wait to see how Shizuka fits into and adds to their dynamic … and how eventually adding a fourth and fifth girlfriend will cause the romantic alchemy to evolve and adapt.

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent – S2 03 – Ballin’ Out

Sei is unexpectedly summoned to the Royal Palace for not one but two official events: her official debut as the Kingdom’s Saint, and the royal ball later that night. It is reiterated that Sei can be rather insecure and unconfident about such things, as she lacks the self esteem she should have.

However, whenever Al takes her hands in his, as he does when he offers to be her escort, Sei feels a lot better. The morning after she spends the night in the palace, the maids don’t hide their excitement at the prospect of dressing her up not once, but twice.

Sei is less enthusiastic, especially when she considers herself unworthy of the intricate white robes of the Holy Saint. But once again, as His Majesty introduces her to his assembled court at the debut ceremony, Sei finds that Al is in attendance, offering her a smile of support, and her spirits are buoyed.

That’s also the case when Liz stops by to see Sei in her Holy Saint vestments. She brings along a friend, Rayne, the second prince of Salutania. He was eager to meet her, and also to apologize on his behalf of his brother. Seeing Liz and Rayne so happy to see her, Sei stops regretting going through with the ceremony.

When they encounter one another other in their ballroom duds, both Al and Sei play a back-and-forth game of who can make the most Shoujo Manga Face. It hurts a bit when Sei tells Al not to say she’s beautiful when she clearly is, and also when she’s not able to tell him how beautful he is. The two simply end up embarrassed when the royal herald and maids loitering in the hallway tell them it’s time to line up for the ball.

If I had a complaint, it’s that Sei and Al don’t actually get to dance for very long. I feel like Bell and Ais got more time. Nevertheless, the pair oozes chemistry and grace, and both Sei’s butter yellow dress and Al’s blue suit reminded me of Belle and the Beast in the Disney film.

Etiquette dictates that Sei not dance with the same partner twice, so with a lot of ball left to go, she is protected by Al and Johan from randos who might want to curry favor or even propose to her. Johan dances with her first, followed by Yuri and Erhart.

While having tea with Liz and Aira the next day, Sei mentions how she had no idea men lead in different ways, since her only partner for a while had been her dance teacher. When Liz asks her who her favorite was, Sei hesitates. She says she’s not sure, but c’mon. It was Al. I know that, you know that, and Liz sure as hell knows that!

The tension builds after the credits as Johan tells Sei that she must have received a number of fresh invitations from members of the court and nobility, but the palace likely politely declined them on her behalf. The herald once again summons her to the palace for an important matter, suggesting perhaps the subject of her future husband will be broached.

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.

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 17 – Sumi Can Communicate

Three days after Ruka spent the night, Kazuya shows some genuine personal growth by taking out the goddamn trash. Chizuru had the same idea, and their timing is so synced up he almost wallops her when he opens his door. When she brings up Ruka, he assures her nothing happened, but the fact is she did spend the night. Later, when Chizuru is reading lines, she can’t focus thanks to Ruka’s words that morning.

On top of wanting to clear up the misunderstanding, Kazuya learns from the app that Chizuru’s birthday is coming up. He wants to give her a gift that means something, and also to thank her for getting him his phone case—which as we know played a key factor in him declining Ruka’s advances. He knows he can’t ask Ruka or Mami for ideas, so on Chizuru’s birthday he books Sumi, the forgotten Rent-a-Girlfriend.

Sumi, as we know, overheard Kazuya yelling out his feelings to Chizuru in episode 1, but other than that and being at Chizuru’s performance, she’s been a ghost, which is a shame, because every time she gets the spotlight, I find myself wishing Kazuya would just open his eyes and make her his girlfriend. It’s painfully clear (to everyone but him) throughout their date that she likes him!

Not only that, while she’s quiet and shy (though very verbose via text), she’s also perhaps the most thoughtful, kind, and caring of the four girls. Despite having so much less screen time than the others (or maybe because of that) she just constantly gives off Best Girl vibes. And Kazuya notes that she’s really making progress as a rental girlfriend, which she no doubt attributes to his help.

Kazuya procrastinates to the very end of the date to ask Sumi what she thinks would make a good gift for Chizuru. And while Sumi momentarily seems gloomy being asked about another girl, she quickly gets over that and helps the boy who has helped her. In her distinctive, adorable style of communication of gestures, little noises, texts, and the occasional spoken word, she suggests various gift ideas, all of which Kazuya considers but feels none of them are quite the right fit.

Sumi seems to have a Eureka moment and takes Kazuya by the hand, out of the department store where their date took place, and onto the roof of another department store where a “Rent-a-Fighters” power rangers-style show is going on. When Kazuya hears the pink fighter talking he realizes it’s Chizuru, working her ass off at yet another job in order to make her dream to perform in front of her Gran come true.

Watching Chizuru in action and delivering rent-a-kicks and punches inspires Kazuya to a degree, as he decides to stop wallowing and power through his indecision. Before parting ways, Sumi also tells him that sentiment matters most when it comes to gifts; as long as it’s from the heart, any gift from him would make him happy. Sumi isn’t only speaking rhetorically, mind you, but Kazuya doesn’t pick up on the nuance of her text.

Even so, when Kazuya starts walking away, Sumi looks at the photos they took together, her eyes start to get glassy, and before Kazuya knows it Sumi has him by the sleeve. Having not thought this through, Sumi remains silent and blushing profusely for a good long time, but eventually asks Kazuya for his birthday. They part ways again, and Sumi immediately puts the date in her calendar—an opportunity for her to give him something from the heart. Her satisfied smile melted my already melted heart.

Chizuru comes home well after dark, on the phone with her Gran declining an offer of dinner as she’s just too wiped. She takes a shower, gets a text from her idol frenemy Chi, then goes out on her balcony and finds a bag with a “Happy Birthday” note from Kazuya, who slipped it there from his side.

It’s a heartfelt note, explaining why he’s giving her a gift and that it can alleviate fatigue, which is especially timely sentiment considering how tired Chizuru is in that moment. When she opens the box within the box and finds pickled plums, her first reaction is “…Why?” She then notices Kazuya’s postscript insisting nothing happened with Ruka, and she remembers how passionately he spoke to her about not giving up, and pops a plum in her mouth.

Now, if you’ve ever had a pickled plum (I highly recommend them) you know how powerful the flavor is. They’re sweet, salty, and above all oh so sour. It’s a flavor that brings a smile to Chizuru’s face, and it’s a good flavor to represent the complicated nature of her and Kazuya’s relationship. It’s not necessarily comfort food, but slight discomfort food, giving you the kick you need when you need it.

Poor adorable Sumi doesn’t stand a chance, does she? T_T

Komi Can’t Communicate S2 – 10 – Tomo-Choco

The first day back from the school trip, everyone’s got a little Komi in them, as everyone tentatively approaches the new friends they made in Kyoto in the much more familiar setting of their classroom. Tadano can tell Komi wants to go talk to Mikuni, and watches her go from normal to negative to fired up to negative again. All she needs is a little push, which he literally gives her, enabling her an Mikuni to reconnect. Ayami soon joins them when she sees them talking.

We shift to a pair of Komi’s older friends when Onemine invites her and Kaede to her house to make chocolates for Valentines Day. Her many younger siblings are bemused by Komi, so beautiful yet so quiet. Once she does say something, they praise how lovely a voice it is. The three girls and Onemine’s fam exude warmth and good vibes, and that chocolate cake looked hella delicious.

The rubber meets the road the next day at school, when Valentines is in full swing. The three lads envision how different girls in their class would give them chocolate, but those are just delusions. Ren has to make things gross and weird, but Katai makes up for it by getting chocolate from Mikuni and then giving friendship chocolate to Tadano.

Little did Tadano know it would be the only chocolate he’d get that day. Komi was going to put some in his shoe locker, but he showed up before she could do so and she scurried away and things were awkward between them the rest of the day. It isn’t until he goes out on an errand for his sister and mom that he bonks Komi with his door.

They go to a park, where Komi reveals that the thing she brought for him was a printout for when he wasn’t in class. They part ways, but thankfully Komi summons some courage and runs back to Tadano’s place, even calling out his name with the loudest voice we’ve ever heard from her!

She almost punks out again when she says it’s just “friendship” chocolate as opposed to the other kind, then makes the caveat that she made sure Tadano got the best of the batch she made. I’m not sure why Tadano would ever think this girl hates him…She yelled for him, for goshsakes!

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 12 (Fin) – The One He Wants

We’ve finally arrived at the end of one of the most frustrating, problematic rom-coms I’ve experienced in quite some time, and it ends pretty much how I expected: by not ending. But despite how hard it was to watch at times, I could never quite look away.

On not one but two occasions this week Kazuya shows signs of not only knowing what he must do but stepping up and doing or saying it, only to abandon the effort a half-step short of the finish line. First he does this with Ruka, realizing how lucky he is to have her and how unreasonable he is for feeling like she’s not enough.

He is right in the middle of telling her he’s ready to move past the “trial” period of their relationship and declare them “official”—only to be distracted by the arrival of Mizuhara and Mami at the karaoke parlor. It’s the first of two “showdown” scenes between the two women, and in this first one Mami has all the power and relishes wielding it.

Mami tells Mizuhara she didn’t book her to rag on her profession, but now that she knows she’s a rental, she couldn’t stay quiet. She doesn’t like the fact Mizuhara and Kazuya have had a fake relationship this long, and aside from deeming it bad for Kazuya, just watching it in practice pisses her off “a teensy bit.” None of her words are that harsh or cruel, but Yuuki Aoi’s expert delivery and Mami’s odd expressions make them feel like icy daggers.

Because this is a show where Everything is About Kazuya, Kazuya feels it’s his duty to not only eavesdrop on Mizuhara and Mami’s date, but pretend to be sick and excuse himself from work to follow them. Mizuhara rewarded him last time he did this, so why wouldn’t he do it again? He has an excuse ready to go: he doesn’t want Mizuhara to bear the brunt of Mami’s hate.

Meanwhile Ruka is left holding the bag, wondering if Kazuya was serious about making them official. Kazuya finds Mizuhara and Mami on a bridge about to wrap up the date, but not before a “rematch” of sorts, only this time with Mizuhara having a slight rhetorical edge.

Mizuhara asks Mami straight up how she feels about Kazuya, as she’s sure Mami still occupies a special place in the guy’s heart. Mami doesn’t take the bait, but tosses the question back to Mizuhara, suspicious that in a year of fake-dating, she’s fallen for Kazuya for real. Mizuhara simply states “He’s my boyfriend”, not adding the “rental” part because at this point, until the end of their contract, whether it’s a rental or not is irrelevant.

Mami considers that a dodging of the question and turns to leave, but Mizuhara grabs her hand and tells her they’re not done. As scenes of Kazuya crying about Mami flash by, Mizuhara tells Mami how being a rental girlfriend helped her realize the importance and difficulty of falling in love. She asks if Mami ever faced Kazuya’s feelings head on, in good faith, seriously engaged with his love, or considered that he may be the one to make her “happy for life”.

Mami tells her to buzz off under her breath, and states that all of that is between her and Kazuya. Fair enough, but Mizuhara wins this round. She knows Mami wouldn’t have bothered with this date if she didn’t care one way or another about Kazuya. Of the three lead women, Mami is the one most unready, unwilling, and unable to reckon with her feelings, preferring her cool, aloof, gives-no-fucks, bored-with-everything…facade.

That night, Kazuya is waiting by Mizuhara’s door when she comes home, confessing he saw and heart what she said to Mami, thanking her for having his back once again, and apologizing for not being able to do those things himself. Mizuhara then shocks Kazuya by apologizing in turn, for not being able to secure him a real girlfriend (apparently Ruka doesn’t count!).

As she’s suggesting he consider asking Mami out again, for closure if nothing else, Kazuya steps up to the plate, as he did with Ruka, and says something he should have said long ago: “You’re the one I want. It’s gotta be you.” At last, some progress! Only no, he immediately recants, saying he wants her “as a rental girlfriend”, before rushing into his apartment with a curt good night.

Yet another disappointing, immensely frustrating moment of failure for Kazuya, who comes away from the incident thinking it’s a sure thing that Mizuhara isn’t into him. Meanwhile, next door, a blushing Mizuhara wonders WTF just happened. I have no doubt if Kazuya had made it clear he truly did want her as a real girlfriend, it would have been better for both of them, whether Mizuhara accepted or rejected him.

Instead, as a closing montage indicates, it’s still very much anyone’s game when it comes to winning the Kazuya Sweepstakes. Sumi’s out there doing her job with renewed confidence, Ruka smiles at the phone background of her and Kazuya, Mami is utterly bored to death by her latest rich old dude, and Mizuhara is still showing up early for dates with Kazuya.

They’re still rental dates, and she’s still a rental girlfriend. I get it; that’s the name of the show. And the point of the show wasn’t really about Kazuya to end up with one girl over the others, but to explore the different ways in which we fall in love, now made more complex and at times strange via new technologies.

Kazuya was almost always abysmally hard to watch, but that was kind of the point too. What kept me coming back were Ruka, Mizuhara, Mami and Sumi—in that order—as much care was put into their voices, character designs, clothing, and personalities. They were the stars, while Kazuya was an unfortunate but necessary variable in the equation. If RaG were to return for a sequel, they’d be the ones who’d bring me back.

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 11 – Beauty and the Least

After a TV-style cold open intro to Sakurasawa Sumi and her morning routine, which is the most we ever hear her talk, Kazuya meets her for their date, and he’s equally astonished by her innocent beauty and her social awkwardness. Seiyu Takahashi Rie does a great job with all of Sumi’s various flustered peeps.

What Kazuya soon learns (besides confirming the fact he really wants a real girlfriend) is that Sumi is working extremely hard to have as much fun doing things on their date as possible. It turns into a sports extravaganza, with Sumi giving her all (and mostly failing) at bowling, batting, soccer, rollerblading, etc.

Kazuya himself feels pretty useless and inept at helping Sumi with her problem, but he at least has the sack to rescue her from some leering punks, and she rewards him by holding hands and sharing her ice cream. When he comes back from a bathroom break, he’s shocked to find Mami sitting across from Sumi.

Mami spotted Kazuya with Sumi earlier in the date, and has been observing them ever since, much like Kazuya followed Mizuhara. He has to walk an extremely fine line with Mami since as far as she knows he’s with Mizuhara and this looks like two-timing, especially when Sumi clings to him as if defending her real boyfriend from a rival.

At least a partial truth would have probably sufficed: he’s helping Mizuhara’s friend, who is a rental girlfriend. But even that isn’t quite bulletproof, as it plants the idea that Mizuhara is also a rental, and if she were Kazuya’s real GF she wouldn’t have him going on dates with other girls, even for practice.

Kazuya’s date with Sumi ends well despite Mami’s interruption, and while Mami’s brother implies she’s messing around with another guy at college, she’s still fixated on Kazuya, and frustrated by that fact). Then it dawns on her: is he really dating Sumi? A quick search of Sumi’s name turns up her rental profile.

Just like that, the one person Kazuya wants to know about the truth the least has a pretty good idea anyway. He and Kuri are able to keep the secret about their respective GFs from Kibe, but with Mizuhara out on rental dates in the same place they’re hanging out, that too is a tenuous fiction.

Bottom line, something’s got to give, and with only one episode left after this one, something will! That night Kazuya gets another impromptu balcony meeting with Mizuhara, which I believe to be their best and most genuine interactions, because they don’t put on airs. She thanks him for helping Sumi, who was over the moon from their date, but also tells Kazuya she’s thinking about quitting the rental biz once her acting career picks up some momentum.

That said, she’s not in a hurry to quit yet, and will be honoring the promise she made to him to be his girlfriend a bit longer. She even has a date in the morning, and so turns in early, only to discover that her date, one “Maya”, is actually Mami! The jig is now well and truly up—unless Mizuhara insists to Mami that despite her rental job, she’s Kazuya’s real girlfriend, or something to that effect.

I for one am hoping that most if not all of the lies stop next week (if Mami fails to secure a second season, that is), no matter the consequences. Kazuya and Mizuhara have been shuffling their feet all this time, and it’s time to put up or shut up. And then there’s Ruka…

Bloom Into You – 03 – Too Kind, or Just Normal?

This week Yuu stays by Touko’s side at every turn, giving her an indirect kiss-through-bottle-sharing like it’s not biggie and then surprising Touko about her family owning the bookstore she likes. Yuu’s fam is certainly impressed with Touko (and why wouldn’t they be) while Yuu’s older sister Rei seems to cut right to it, perhaps without realizing what she’s doing, by referring to Touko Yuu’s “girlfriend.”

During vacay Yuu hangs out with friends, one of whom the others know is pursuing a senpai. She doesn’t break it to them until after they watch the mushy romance movie that she already confessed but was kinda-sorta rejected, with the guy saying he wants to focus on basketball.

Yuu is both envious and bemused by her friend, but also her other friends’ insistence things will “turn around” if she keeps at it. Speaking of persistence, before Vacay is over Touko makes it a point to stop by Yuu’s to give her a gift…but also, likely, simply to see Yuu at work at the store.

Yuu “guesses” she’s “pretty” happy about being given the gift of a mini-planetarium, but seeing the stars projected on her ceiling call to mind how the distance from her understanding of why Touko likes her sometimes feels as vast as the distance from those stars.

She just might gain a little bit of understanding the day of the stump speeches. Touko looks like a picture of calm…until Yuu notices her hands are shaking. She takes Touko outside, where Touko admits she can’t hide from the likes of Yuu. So she doesn’t: she bares her feelings right there, and also goes into her past, when she was “nothing” (i.e. shy and introverted).

Yuu isn’t shocked by Touko’s sharing. Even if others see Touko as perfect, Yuu knows perfect people don’t exist…but nor does she look down on Touko for not being perfect and trying to hide it. Touko may say she’s “hardly special” for showing her “weak side”, but Yuu thinks having such a side is perfectly normal.

But out there, Yuu realizes she saw a “special” side of Touko, one she wouldn’t show to anyone else. Simply being that person makes Yuu herself special, and not just to Touko, but in general. Her speech doesn’t betray what she’s learned about Touko, but nor does it lie about who Touko the Student Council member is. She really does put the work in, and really is kind, and really would make a good president.

But it also means Touko’s hands will shake sometimes, and she’ll need someone to help her steady them. Yuu lists the boxes Touko checks, but includes her personal take on her, including using the speech to announce that she’s joining the council.

Touko win the election handily, and celebrates with Yuu via a PDA that their classmates don’t read too much into. As for Yuu, she’ll stay close to Touko and see where this goes. Will things “turn around” if she merely “keeps at it”? She’s resolved to find out.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii – 10 – Let’s Play Together

Naoya is about to go on break when he spots a student studying. Upon closer inspection, they’re playing a handheld game, the one Hirotaka happens to also play. When Nao approaches the student they run away and say “I’m sorry” way more than necessary, but he eventually gets a name—Sakuragi Kou—and an invitation to game with them.

I say “them”, as Nao may well assume Kou is a guy from their deep voice and short hair. But through his college classmates we learn Kou is actually a woman…a very introverted one, but one who’s open to being friends with Nao. In Kou, Nao has a gaming companion who will never get mad or frustrated due to his ineptitude.

Still, Nao feels he’s holding Kou back, so arranges to join a party with Narumi, Kabakura and Koyanagi to tackle a high-level quest in hopes he can level up enough to play beside Kou properly.

Hirotaka was supposed to join the party, but only shows up late, after the rest of them find themselves in a big spot. The one who ends up saving them with overpowered attackes is Kou, who darts in and out of the game so quickly hardly anyone notices…except Nao, who later thanks her for saving them.

Back IRL, both Narumi and Hirotaka are on the verge of being late for work. In Hirotaka’s case, it’s because he stepped on and broke his glasses (this is a bad week for characters’ glasses!)  and can’t see a damn thing. This affects his productivity at work because he has to come within inches of a screen or a face to see it, and it affects Narumi’s productivity because she’s distracted by and concerned for his predicament.

Kabakura (who’s a bit of a strict taskmaster this week…can’t workers take their eyes off the monitor for two seconds?) sends both of them off on break early so Hirotaka can acquire new glasses. Before then, rumors were starting to spread at the office that Hirotaka without glasses was “pretty hot.” When Narumi notices he’s not squinting or drawing close to notice her, his response is surprisingly romantic: “I know it’s you, even if I can’t see you.” Dokidoki!

In the final segment we’re back to the game, where Kou (who has a very cool avatar) is trying to support Nao in developing his solo game before doing multiplayer quests. Nao fails again and again, and apologizes for it, but Kou never loses patience; she’s just having fun playing the game with him.

That applies even when Nao IRL leaves the computer to take a phone call and Hirotaka takes over his avatar and completely obliterates a group of baddies even Kou had trouble with. Once Nao takes back control, he prepares to log out so Kou can take care of business on her own, but Kou stops him by grabbing his sleeve, saying she doesn’t mind him sticking around.  When Nao agrees to stay, Kou IRL cracks a smile. Kou so cute!

3D Kanojo: Real Girl – 11 – Just Trying to Help

With Hikari and Iroha’s problems behind them the focus turns to Itou and Ishino, both apparent victims of unrequited love (or in Ishino’s case, lust?) On Hikari’s suggestion, Itou works up the courage to ask Ayado out to a movie, without overtly labeling it a date, but her easy acceptance and lingering smile doesn’t set Itou at ease; quite the contrary.

Hikari watched Itou asking her out from the classroom, and starts to wonder if Ayado, the girl who just confessed to him, is the girl his first (and for a long time only) friend has come to like after years of saying 3D girls aren’t for him (a philosophy Hikari himself subscribed to until meeting Iroha).

As for Ishino, she sees everyone apparently pairing off and having fun, and is jelly. She’s also feeling legitimately lonely and undesirable due to Takanashi’s constant rejections, so when her objectively awful ex offers to hang out with her on the weekend, she not only accepts, but cuteifies herself up to the max. I honestly mistook Ishino for Iroha, so infrequently does she clean up thus.

Itou and Ayado’s movie date-not-date goes swimmingly, though Itou can scarely deride any enjoyment, so skittish and silent she is around the always bright and ebullient Ayado. Her enthusiasm and gratitude for being invited is all well and good, but the one thing Itou is afraid of revealing through further engaging her is the fact that she, the girl he’s come to like, doesn’t like him that way. So he keeps his feelings to himself.

The next day at school Ayado visits Hikari and Itou’s class to give Itou his ticket stub she accidentally took. Hikari, acting a lot like his mom acts toward him (proud of and excited for Itou), but one careless question has Ayado asking Hikari if he wants to see it, she’ll see it a second time.

That has the one-two punch of demonstrating to Itou that Ayado still has eyes for Hikari and devaluing their date by saying it could be so easily replicated. Mind you, neither were Ayado’s intentions, but if she still likes Hikari and has no idea how Itou feels, who can blame her?

Hikari tries to make things right with a “double date” picnic with him and Iroha and Itou and Ayado. He even grabs Iroha and runs off so the Itou can have some time alone with Ayado. When Iroha learns what he’s up to, she scolds him, because he’s taking romantic shortcuts.

That evening on the ride home, Hikari apologizes for being careless, and sees now how Itou needing so much help could make him feel pathetic. Hikari’s heart, as usual is in the right place: he just wants Itou to be happy, like he is, now that he knows how fortunate it feels not only to love someone, but to be loved by that same person.

As for Ishino, she’s stood up by her ex, but Takanashi happens to pass by, and as much of a cad as the guy is, he’s not about to walk past a crying Ishino, and takes her out for ramen.

While walking hand-in-hand, both hoping things work out for Itou and Ayado, Hikari and Iroha come across a very handsome young man in a red jacket whose immediate reaction upon seeing them holding hands is to cold-cock Iroha, breaking his glasses (and almost his jaw). It turns out not to be an ex of Iroha’s but her younger brother Chika.

Iroha is furious with Chika, but still lets herself get whisked away by him, despite the fact he just committed assault on her boyfriend. Chika’s a guy who makes judgments based on covers, and thought Hikari was a stalker and can’t understand why Iroha is dating him

Back home things get a little creepier when he caresses Iroha’s face. Possessive and possibly incestuous? Greeeaaaat. Looks like Hikari’s final trial of the show will be winning over this guy, or at least punching him back! That, and enduring the inevitable goodbye that was pre-loaded into his romance with Iroha when it began.