Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible – 04 – Made With Love

When Seita has had enough TV, Junta takes him outside to play (where it’s oddly not winter despite it being Christmas last week). After watching Seita try and fail the proper sequence of movements to “Transform!”, Junta strikes the pose perfectly, inspiring his brother to do it with him. Ironically, Junta doesn’t notice Kubo is there until she’s already filmed him.

Back at school. Junta notices he’s wearing socks of two different lengths, and that there’s also something different about Kubo. When they get a chair to post up some printouts, she notices his socks, and he finally notices the difference: she’s wearing tights instead of her usual socks. Of course, that implicates Junta in having looked at Kubo’s legs all day.

Kubo then takes Junta on a little after-school date to the konbini, where she samples the instant drink machine for the first time. When Kubo suggests they buy two different drinks and split them, Kubo sees the indirect kiss trap, and gets a meat bun instead. Kubo ends up taking the first bite of that bun, but after she leaves, he’s unable to eat it as it falls to the ground when someone bumps into him.

Next up, it’s Valentine’s Day. Junta, naturally, has never gotten chocolate from anyone, even the teacher in grade school who forgot he was there while passing it out to everyone. So when he sees a heart-shaped cookie in his desk, he assumes it’s some kind of mistake. He also doesn’t have the courage to ask Kubo about it. Kubo likewise doesn’t come right out and say she made him the cookie, but tells him it was made with love so he should enjoy it.

Then we cut to the previous night, when a determined Kubo tried and utterly failed to bake edible treats. That’s when Akina decides to “bake herself” some treats, and offhandedly suggests they could work together. Because Kubo wants to make the best cookie she can, she swallows her pride and follows along with her sister, resulting in a superior final product to her first attempt, which Akina even deems better tasting than hers, since Kubo put so much love into it.

Thus the welcome trend continues of balancing Junta’s thoughts with scenes of Kubo on her own or with her sister. Junta is wise to Kubo’s desire for an indirect kiss, but dense about the Valentine, despite Kubo giving him plenty to figure out where it came from. Will he put two and two together and get her a gift in return on White Day? Only time will tell!

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack – 01 – Sushi Violation

Whether you identify as a Hayase or Naoto, if you liked the first season of Don’t Toy with Me, you’re in luck: the “second attack” isn’t rocking any boats. It also thankfully doesn’t push any reset buttons. Hayase still teases Naoto and calls him names, but the two are a lot closer after all their experiences last season.

Both that comfort and their dynamic is reflected back at them in the meta stinger, in which Naoto is reading about an underclassman who makes her student council president senpai her slave after she catches him cheating. Naoto identifies with the put-upon four-eyes, while Hayase identifies with the conniving kohai.

Another key part of the dynamic is that the embarrassment is never a one-way street. Hayase gets her wish when water is accidentally spilled on her new loafer. When Naoto stoops over, she panics: is he actually going to lick it off like the prez in the manga? But no, he just wipes it off with a hanky.

Naoto has also grown to the point where he actually considers taking the initiative in terms of suggesting things they can do together. This is undermined when he hesitates to greet her and she accuses him of acting like a stalker. This leads to a lesson in high school girl greetings, all of which involve either violence or close contact.

Naturally, Naoto messes up and trips while contemplating how to greet Hayase, and ends up accidentally copping a feel. When she shoves him back, he’s caught by Hayase’s friend Gamou, and we know Hayase always prefers to have Naoto to herself.

In the next segment she gets just that, whipping out a pair of black tights since it’s getting cold out. When she senses Naoto is a little disappointed he won’t get to see her bare legs as usual, she asks him to put them on for her. This is where Hayase once again gets more than she bargained for, as Naoto isn’t he only one who gets a little too excited by the ensuing close contact.

The reason for the tights is the two are going out to an after-party at a conveyor sushi restaurant with Gamou, Yoshi and Sakura. Hayase doesn’t put on any airs in inviting Naoto even though it’ll be him and four girls, and Naoto doesn’t hesitate to accept the invite.

Once there, he worries they only got him so he could work for them getting the sushi they want off the conveyor. But then Hayase leans over him to grab his preferred fish, and announces that everyone should treat him with respect and dignity “just for today” in acknowledgment of his hard work at the festival. They also treat him with their profits selling straps.

When the other girls make special sushi combos just for Naoto, and he exclaims that they’re all delicious, Hayase’s jealous side comes out, and she overcompensates by making a “dirty joke sushi” that puts everyone off (combining cod roe and soft roe to make a “pregnant sushi”).

But while the others make faces and comments that make Hayase blush with embarrassment, Naoto knows just what to do. He tastes the sushi she made for him, and what do you know, it’s good too! Like him, Hayase doesn’t always react the best to being teased, so it’s nice to see him have her back here.

I’m definitely glad these lovable goofballs are back in my life, and looking forward to Hayase devising new methods to toy with Naoto, Naoto unveiling new reaction noises, and the two generally becoming closer as a couple.

Komi Can’t Communicate S2 – 11 – Don’t Wake the Beast

Ever since telling Tadano that the chocolates she gave him were the best ones she made (which might as well be proposing) Komi has been worried about seeing him again. When she does, she drops a face Tadano is both bemused and oddly a little happy to see, seeing as how it’s been so long since he’s seen it. Then, because the show keeps trying to make an unrepentant pervert happen, Ren gets anoher segment to herself to demonstrate that there’s no redeeming her.

She seems contrite about hesitating to mention a tear in Komi’s tights, but it’s all a ruse to get Komi to remove the torn tights so Ren can wear them on her head. Komi chasing Ren through the halls is beautifully animated, but still left a bad taste. Even in the heightened reality of this show’s classroom, wearing Komi’s used tights on her head and running around he school is just a bit much.

Onigashima Akako is lot easier to love, as she’s typically a very cheerful and lively young woman until her demon meter fills up with all the myriad little daily mishaps and snafus that impede her flow…and she becomes a demon. Her old friend Ren knows to keep her distance during such times, and warns Tadano to do the same.

But while there’s no telling what Akako is capable of when she’s in Demon Mode, that doesn’t stop her friend Komi from catching her headphones before they fall into the sink and then untangling then for her. The random acts of kindness move Akako to tears, and she invites Komi (and the others) to the batting cages, where like Sachi in Cuckoos she goes to blow off steam.

The final segment introduces Satou Amami, who while cute is rather one-note as the helpful student who will never refuse any request for a favor, no matter how much it might inconvenience her. When her friend suggests she try asking someone else for a favor for once, Amami turns to Komi, who enthusiastically agrees to lend a hand with morning classroom clearning (as does Tadano).

Finally, Komi’s class trip friend Katou Mikuni hopes to use shogi problem to bring Komi and Tadano closer together, only for the two to uncharacteristically clash over the proper shogi moves, leading to silent brooding. Najimi remarks how the two have become close enough now to have quarrels, causing both to blush.

In all, it’s a perfectly okay grab-bag of a Komi outing; nothing spectacular or world-changing, but Komi does officially make a few more friends, giving her a total of 27 with 2-3 episodes left.

Rail Wars! – 05

If you want a single image of Rail Wars!, imagine Aoi’s boob stopping a model train—forever.

If you made a drinking game out of all the times Naoto and Aoi end up in extremely close contact, or all of the times something embarrassing happened involving a part of Aoi’s body, well…you’d be extremely drunk before the halfway point. And if you happen to be an Naoto+Aoi supporter, this ep was right up your alley, as it’s roughly 90% them. I happen to be one, so I was a happy camper.

Whether it’s Aoi storming into Naoto’s bedroom and derailing a model train with her boob (a portent of the situation to come), or Naoto is getting a lucky paintball shot between her legs; or Aoi is going bare-legged with her miniskirt, the romantic tension comes as hot and heavy as an economic boom-era dual-engine locomotive on a mountain line.

As has been well established by now, Aoi is a tough-ass chick, but her girly side seems to come out with greater regularity the more she hangs out with Naoto. He represents everything she should hate: pacifism, poor marksmanship, general non-physicality. But even when she wanders off on her own and gets into tight spots, he always tracks her down. He’s always there for her, even as a gun mount, of all things.

But a gun mount couldn’t anchor her as well, or hold her when the danger has passed and she’s short of breath and wiped out from the stress. Aoi is not only learning that being a JNR public safety officer isn’t the same as being a cop, but also that Naoto isn’t the cowardly weenie she first thought him to be. There’s grit and guts behind his easy smile and slender frame, with a patience and prudence that nicely balances her wildness.