Aharen-san wa Hakarenai – 02 – XYZ

Raidou and Aharen’s rapport continues to be strong and easygoing, but while Aharen has distance and communication issues, Raidou has an overactive imagination. For instance, he imagines Aharen was in a street fight with some toughs, when she really just got something in her eye. I liked how difficult it was for Raidou to administer the drops, and how when he gets something in his eye, Aharen is quick to reciprocate—though like me, she sucks at administering eye drops!

Raidou’s imagination also runs wild concerning the constant feeling he and Aharen are being watched and followed. He looks back on all of the petty offenses he’s committed against people in his life (mostly against his little sister) and believes himself a “monster”, and thus deserving of a hitman after him. Dude is an absolute goof.

However, he’s downright normal compared to the one following them, Aharen’s towering childhood friend Ooshiro Mitsuki. She is protective of Aharen, whom she calls Reina, but also terrified of Raidou and so keeps her distance. Even when Aharen insists he’s neither scary nor a bad guy, Mitsuki can’t help but stick to her misconceptions. Also MAO voices Mitsuki in “Pecorine on caffeine” mode.

The next segment involves Aharen wearing a mask due to a mild cold, and thus not being able to properly notify Raidou that his fly is all the fuck open, revealing his pink strawberry print boxers. Let it be said that Aharen’s reaction to this is as amazing as her attempts to warn Raidou are ineffective. That said, she does come up with a lot of clever ways to block the sight of his crotch from others.

Even on the way home, after an exhausting day of failure, Aharen  positions herself in front of him to spare him embarrassment. When he finally determines that she’s been trying to get him to notice something, and sees the reflection of the two of them in the mirror, it seems like he finally gets it…only for him to wrongly assume Aharen got a haircut.

Next up is the first segment with just Aharen and Mitsuki. Even though Raidou is absent, Mitsuki is weary of getting too close to Aharen, since she’s worried she’ll be yelled at, scolded, or bopped on the head (again). That said, it’s raining, and Mitsuki keeps trying to clandestinely lend Aharen her umbrella, only for Aharen to believe the umbrella is cursed and locks it up in front of a hastily-built shrine. Ultimately Aharen shares her umbrella with Mitsuki, and uses the fact she’s within talking distance to thank her for watching over her.

The post-credits sequence is short but sweet, as Raidou breaks out the Reversi (AKA Othello) board and challenges Aharen to a match. He thinks he’s got a worthy opponent (he touts himself a “Raidou Family Champion”) when Aharen exerts the aura of a lion, but he ends up trouncing her. Then he gets her to admit she let him win, insists she fight him with everything he’s got, and then she trounces him…twice.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 3 – 03 – It’s a Nishikata Thing

It’s a hot October morning, so much so that both Nishikata and Takagi arrive at school early, and find themselves the only ones there. When Nishikata proudly whips out a fan and starts fanning himself, I knew it would only be a matter of time before he was fanning Takagi.

First she asks him straight up to fan her. When he won’t, she makes up a game to see who can move her eraser across her desk further with the fan. Nishikata, like a dolt, furiously fans the eraser, causing it to move…a few millimeters. In the process, he fans Takagi. Then Takagi beats him by pushing the eraser further than him with the fan.

That said, Takagi repositions herself for his fanning so that a.) he gets a bit of the cool air too, and more importantly b.) she can be closer to him!

Takagi’s desire to be closer goes beyond physical proximity. She knows Nishikata and his friends love a new baseball manga, so she baits him with a ping pong ball, then uses a broom to play the role of hitter to his star pitcher. Nishikata allows the fantasy of the manga to wash over him, with the rest of the cast playing the roles of other characters.

Takagi swings through the first pitch, but Nishikata isn’t even able to get her into an 0-2 count as she belts his next pitch “over the wall” for a homer. She said she wouldn’t tell anyone what she saw if he struck her out, and he couldn’t, but when he asks again nicely for her not to tell, she says fine; in exchange, lend her the baseball manga. She wants to know as much as possible about what he likes!

After an interlude featuring the three girls and a supposedly stuck fat cat who turns out to just be fluffy (and I loved that cat’s design and voice), the final segment—simply called “Rain”—has Nishikata in the driver’s seat. Before class is out it starts to rain, but he forgot his umbrella.  Moments after the bell rings, he rushes to the lost-and-found and is in luck: there’s one umbrella left.

He heads home alone with the borrowed pink umbrella, eager not to miss a minute of the baseball/soccer anime crossover where the two teams play kickball. But in his haste to secure an umbrella for a dry walk home, Nishikata neglected to ask Takagi if she had one, and concludes that he can’t be sure she didn’t forget her’s—especially when it’s happened before (back in 2018!).

Sure enough, Takagi is waiting out the rain by staying at school and doing her homework, when Nishikata enters and is surprised to find he didn’t worry needlessly: she did indeed forget her umbrella again. So Nishikata, blushing like a tomato the whole way, manages to ask her if she would “like to go together”. We only see the bottom half of Takagi’s face when the sides of her mouth turn up as high as they’ll go.

Takagi teases him about wanting to “get cozy” under his umbrella again, but checks herself, seeing as how he was kind enough to come back for her. She even knows he missed his special anime episode for her sake, and when he asks her how she knows that, she replies “that’s easy. Because I know everything about you.” She then plans to forget her umbrella next time it rains, too.

The title card parting shot of them walking together under the umbrella is a snapshot of where they stand right now as a couple: Takagi is all-in and having a gas, while Nishikata, all flushed cheeks and elusive gaze, can’t quite temper his self-consciousness. But he’s under the umbrella—this time of his own volition. He went back for her! He put her before anime! I tell ya, the kid’s learning.

My Senpai is Annoying – 12 (Fin) – All Grow’d Up

The Fall’s cutest, sweetest, most life-affirming series ends on a suitably cute, sweet, life-affirming episode all about Futaba and Takeda. With Sakurai and Nakama’s relationship status in a good place, it made sence to focus on the main couple, who have been a lot more on the fence about where they stand despite their obvious chemistry and mutual affection.

Futaba’s growth as a salesperson, which she largely attributes to her senpai’s care and guidance, results not only in her scoring a good deal, but gives Takeda the confidence to send her off on a solo presentation that she then nails. This allows him to score a company-saving deal, and he’s soon surrounded by impressed ladies who want to throw a drinking party for him.

Not really in a hurry to watch other women fawn over her senpai, Futaba still insists Takeda join them at the party while excusing herself. With everyone else off doing something, Futaba ends up going to the usual izakaya alone. She immediately realizes it’s not nearly as fun there without Takeda, which…girl I’m sure if you asked him out so it was just the two of you, he’d have agreed in a heartbeat!

As the draft beer flows, Futaba reminisces on her first day at the office when she was a green(-haired) rookie. She immediately makes it clear to Sakurai that she’s not some doll to fawn over, while Takeda buys her a can of soup but then mistakes her for a junior high student, making their introduction as senpai and kohai thoroughly awkward.

Still, Futaba marvels at how far the two of them have come. She probably loathed the man who thought she was a little kid, but now that she knows Takeda and he’s helped her so much, that’s not the case anymore. Color me 100% un-shocked that Takeda blew off his own party as soon as he could to join Futaba, and just in time to keep a drunk salaryman from pawing her.

While a pretty dense fellow, Takeda has never been one to mince words or obfuscate about his general feelings towards Futaba. And yet he’s certainly not one to realize his feelings are romantic, nor is he bold enough to come right out and say that. What he can say, and Futaba can easily accept (with no small amount of blushing) is that he knows drinking with her is a lot more fun than drinking with anyone else.

He takes this a step further on their walk to the train station, after both he and Futaba have had a little too much beer. Nevertheless, it’s the perfect amount for him to be able to say that no matter who Futaba “ends up with” (in a general sense), he promises to always be there to protect her “until then”. Mind you, I’m sure both he and Futaba would be just find if that “someone” ends up being him!

After that lovely little nightttime scene and the credits, we get one more cute scenario—the famous Umbrella Walk. Futaba forgot hers, but Takeda’s is more than wide enough to accommodate her beside him. When she gets self-conscious and moseys over to the end, he draws her closer with his beefy hand. She freaks out, and calls her senpai annoying, but in truth there’s no one she’d rather be with under an umbrella.

Komi Can’t Communicate – 05 – Ramen, Chuunibyou and Other Inclusions

Summer uniforms are here, and so are fitness tests. After her “tie” last time, Yadano is eager to defeat her rival Komi. Alas, she can’t even manufacture a tie this time, as Komi wins seven out of seven “events”, despite knowing of no rivalry whatsoever.

Yadano holds out her hand to congratulate Komi on a great challenge. But when Komi doesn’t take her hand, Yadano sees it as a rebuke to Yadano giving up. Instead, Yadano “accepts” Komi’s “offer” to continue their “rivalry”. Those quotation marks are doing a lot of work!

Thanks to their pushy presumptuousness, Najimi invites themselves to Komi’s house with Tadano, and they meet Komi’s mom Suko. Initially she looks like a cool quiet, slightly intimidating lady. Then she reveals she communicates just fine. In fact, she’s proud of how she looks “forever seventeen” and her kiddy enthusiasm mortifies her silent daughter.

Najimi tries to find secrets in Komi’s room, but instead finds books on communication (with both humans and cats!) then leaves the room to watch Komi and Tadano alone in the room. For fifteen minutes, the two sit in silence, frustrating Najimi, but it’s never awkward. Komi and Tadano could sit quietly together for hours. Najimi snaps a candid shot, and Komi is so happy with it she ask her mom if she can buy a picture frame.

When Komi meekly expresses her wish to go out for ramen, Agari, a ramen expert, takes charge. When talking about food, Agari becomes a much more confident and talkative person (until people look at her), and obviously knows her stuff, listing off the various “ramen commandments” one must follow. Komi is able to communicate what she wants to the brawny but similarly tiny-voiced ramen chief, and proves a ramen master, waiting patiently and quietly (natch) and finishing and leaving promptly.

A new friend is introduced in the chuunibyou girl Nakanaka Omoharu, who wants to be Komi’s friend but assigns labels that confuse Komi, which cause Nakanaka to get the wrong idea that Komi isn’t interested in being friends. Just as Tadano is a great Komi translator, he is also well-versed in the chuunibyou/”cringe” lifestyle, having lived it himself in junior high, only to swear it off when his crush rejected him for it.

When everybody is trying to be Komi’s partner for stretching, Nakanaka watches everyone else pair up and sits in on the floor alone and morose. She’s startled but ultimately delighted when she notices Komi had declined all other potential partners to make a “blood pact” with her. Nakanaka may play it cool and say that the pact actually made Komi her “vassal”, but it’s just “friend” by any other name.

As for Tadano, Komi’s most “normal” friend (at least relative to the others), Komi finds excuses to spend time with him, even though they’re rarely apart. When Najimi steals Tadano’s umbrella and it rains after school, Komi is waiting for him with hers, and they end up sharing. It proves a bit too much for Tadano after grazing her shoulder, and offers to hold it between them—getting his shoulder wet, but keeping Komi dry.

Later at the konbini where Tadano buys another umbrella and towels for them to dry off, he asks if Komi saw Najimi’s note and chose to wait, rather than it being a coincidence of timing. To this, Komi simply looks on in silence, and her very aura parts the clouds. For all the various terms Komi’s friends use to describe their association, Komi is clearly Tadano’s sun—and vice versa!

Senryuu Shoujo – 07 – Rabbits and Umbrellas

Nanako hates the rain because it makes her hair frizzy, but Amane tells her it’s not that bad—if she walks home with someone while sharing an umbrella, they’ll be “together forever,” and that’s something with which Nanako can get on board.

As a result of the last storm, a tree destroys the school rabbit hutch, so it’s up to Eiji to fix it, but while picking up branches his hand get riddled with splinters, necessitating a trip to the nurse…who is just Koto in nurse cosplay. Even not in the running, she’s going to have her occasional fun with him.

When Kino joins the reconstruction effort, she envisions a grand, avant-garde, Gaudi-like creation that’s simply too much for a rabbit hutch. Yet, when the hutch is rebuilt, the door falls off the hinges and all the rabbits escape, making Tao’s prophecy come true.

Thankfully, Amane sends a message through the PA for anyone who finds a rabbit to capture it and return it to the hutch, and all the rabbits are retrieved. All that’s left is for Eiji and Nanako to walk home, but since both of them forgot umbrellas, Amane provides a key assist by giving them one of hers. All’s well that ends well!

Kaguya-sama: Love is War – 06 – Glamurderous Intent

This week we finally meet StuCo treasurer Ishigami Yuu, the sheltered, skittish yin to Chika’s gregarious, ebullient yang. Miyuki appointed him treasurer due to his considerable skills in financial management, and while he’s not often around, the work he does mostly at home keeps the StuCo solvent. So Miyuki is determined to discourage Yuu from suddenly resigning.

Yuu wants to resign because he has the complete wrong idea about Kaguya, mistaking her intense, imperious gaze for murderous intent she not only intends to act on, but has acted on before, and more than once. Matters aren’t helped when Kaguya scares the shit out of both guys by entering the office with a bloody knife and bloodstained tunic.

Turns out she’s just costume-fitting for the drama club, but she reminds Yuu—who doesn’t know better than to take her threats of pain and death 100% seriously—never to blab to Miyuki about hiding cafe coupons under the desk, hoping to lure Miyuki into a date. She also warns him not to quit the StuCo, so Yuu’s fear of being killed for resigning outweighs his fear of staying.

So the first segment is a bit ol’ loss for Yuu. In the second, Chika breaks out a book of psychological tests that determine who you like; a book Kaguya knew Chika would eventually acquire and read the whole thing in advance so that her answers wouldn’t subconsciously indicate her love for the President.

Miyuki also suspects Chika’s questions are a trap, and so gives a dishonest answer that indicates he’s a siscon, while Yuu’s answer indicates Stockholm Syndrome. Chika’s final question throws both Kaguya and Miyuki off, since it’s not from the book but online, and they both inadvertently answer honestly.

In this instance, Miyuki is determined to be the loser since his answer to gather an entire field of flowers indicates he harbors a similarly ridiculous amount of love for Kaguya, compared to Kaguya’s more modest bouquet. That being said, I don’t put a lot of stock in Chika’s unscientific tests, skewed as they are toward romantic intention.

In the final segment, Kaguya’s maid Hayasaka (who is apparently also a student there but has a gal-like persona with her friends) wants to give Miss “Swans don’t need ornamentation” Kaguya-sama some glam, starting with some gel nail polish with tasteful rhinestones on the ring fingers. Kaguya wants Miyuki to notice them and compliment her, but is also worried he’ll think they’re frivolous or silly.

Turns out he seemingly doesn’t notice the nails at all, even when she waves them inches from his eyes. The truth is, he immediately notices she’s being fashionable, but is worried about whether to respond, and how, assuming it’s another trap that will expose his feelings for her or simply to make him look foolish. He knows an improper compliment can be sexual harassment.

Yuu doesn’t make giving anyone compliments a particularly good idea when he correctly guesses that Chika has changed hair conditioners based on the smell, an observation Chika comes right out and calls “creepy”, leading Yuu to slink away wishing for death to come.

Once the day passes and Kaguya hears nothing from Miyuki, she starts to head home, on the verge of tears. But Miyuki, finally deciding what to do, races to her side in his bike, mentioning the nails, but coming just short of calling them “cute” (he only gets “cu-cu-cu” before chickening out and racing off).

Kaguya is frustrated he didn’t finish his thought, but the mere fact he noticed her nails after all, and was so bashful about it, makes her happy beyond belief, not to mention the winner of the segment.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War – 05 – An Alarming Lack of Coordination

We get a triad of segments this week, the first being a girl asking Kaguya for advice about breaking up with someone, specifically the guy Miyuki coached on how to ask her out in the first place! The resulting awkward silence that plagues their relationship is a matter of having gotten together before getting to know each other.

“Love Detective” Chika intervenes, protesting her initial exclusion from the girl talk, and administers a test that proves that both the girl likes the guy and that Kaguya likes Miyuki. Kaguya has to take great strides not to reveal too much about that, and tries to steer towards the couple thriving by having a “common enemy.”

Chika takes that a bit too far and calls their enemy society itself, but the couple’s shared enemy turns out to be hunger and/or poverty, so they manage to hit it off while working together on a charity. As Kaguya surveys her good works, she notices Miyuki is there helping out too…another of the many reasons she likes him besides having a cute resting scowl. She can’t help but admit her feelings to herself and us, so she loses this one.

In segment two we learn that for all his academic prowess and general physical strength and wellness, Miyuki is pathetically, horrifically uncoordinated when it comes to sports. With P.E. volleyball quickly approaching, he tries and fails to train alone, until Chika (who is really just okay at sports, but light years beyond him at this point) takes him under her wing.

Chika doesn’t see why Miyuki is so into this until she realizes he’s doing it to impress (some) girl. Cut to a montage of Miyuki making progress as Chika yells and encourages and sweats right alongside. Just when she think’s she’s made a great volleyball player, he asks her to help him with the actions of the sport other than mere serving. She’s a mess by the time P.E. volleyball comes around, but Miyuki is the toast of the class thanks to her, so she shares his victory.

The final segment is Love is War’s version of the shared umbrella scenario (SUS, not to be confused with the Subaru Sport Utility Sedan). Sharing an umbrella has a twofold purpose: to get a lot closer to the one you like, and to mark that person so everyone else knows they’re yours. Of course, Kaguya and Miyuki have to make it another battle of wills despite both wanting very much to share an umbrella, but they sabotage each other’s plans by both pretending they forgot their umbrella.

Miyuki tries first to poke oles in Miyuki’s lie first, but has insufficient information. Kaguya actually meticulously planned all of this by studying the weather and slashing the tires of her ride. Just when she has Miyuki cornered, all but forcing him to reveal he has an umbrella, Chika pops up behind her with a spare she can borrow. With Kaguya now in possession of an umbrella, she decides to “sublet” it to Miyuki, letting him “do what he wants” with it.

The fact she offered it to him so freely exposes her conern for him, and would make her the loser. But Kaguya also freely exposes her desire to share the umbrella, changing the result to a tie. Kaguya’s smile upon Miyuki offering to share was simply priceless. Both lost by their own twisted, self-defeating logic, but both won because they got what they actually wanted: an excuse to get closer.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai – 10 – The Larsenburgian Princess Makes an Irish Exit

This was a simple, quiet, beautiful episode focused mostly on Teresa and Mitsuyoshi’s date (there’s no other word for it) to the Rainbow Samurai show, which begins with the two meeting where they first met, by the gates of the Imperial Palace.

It’s an episode with a beginning and middle that will warm your heart and an ending that will break it—assuming you’re invested in these two.

It’s obvious how much fun both Mitsuyoshi and Teresa are having, but while they’re both smiling, there’s an underlying romantic tension that neither of them is bold enough to remark on with words.

Instead, they simply enjoy their time together, winning each other prizes at the cork gun stand (Teresa hitting hers thanks to an assist from the Yakuza-ish cafe regular), interact in the live show as “hostages”, and enjoy a rainbow-themed meal.

Meanwhile, in a rare cut from their date, Kaoru asks Alec if she’ll go on a date with him, expecting her to reject him for the umpteenth time…only she doesn’t! Not immediately; she gives him a chance to choose where they’ll go, but he’s too consumed in utter shock to suggest anything, and she retracts her offer.

The two encounter one another at the Tada cafe, where Alec delivered a letter to Gramps from Reiko, AKA Rachel, Teresa’s nanny, who introduced her to the Rainbow Samurai in the first place. What a weird coincidence…

When Mitsuyoshi and Terea scale the Sky Tree to the observation deck, it’s suddenly all gray and rainy, as it tends to be whenever the two meet up (or so Mitsuyoshi jokes). The weather, and the sight of a happy family beside them, reminds him of the last time he saw his parents, on a day just as gray and rainy.

He tells Teresa how he blames himself for not telling his father his true feelings; delaying them just a little could have prevented the accident. This is something he knows is ridiculous, but he’s always felt that way regardless, and hasn’t been able to tell anyone…until Teresa.

As the clouds part to reveal a humongous double rainbow, Teresa tells him if he regrets not sharing his feelings in the past, simply try to share them from now on. If that’s meant to be a hint, Mitsuyoshi doesn’t take it.

After that, the two part ways at the cafe, and Teresa can barely hold back tears when thanking Mitsuyoshi for their wonderful day together, for a souvenir he got her, and for the photo of them posing with the Rainbow Samurai. He asks if she wants some coffee, and she shakes her head and returns to her hotel next door.

The next morning at school, the teacher announces that Teresa and Alec have returned to Larsenburg for “family reasons.” Mitsuyoshi and Kaoru are stunned. His entire day with Teresa turned out to be the last they’d spend together, and he didn’t even know it.

There were ample chances for Mitsuyoshi to take Teresa’s advice and share his feelings. On the other hand, every time she shared hers, it was through muttered words he never quite heard, and followed with “oh, it’s nothing at all.”

I would’ve gone a different way than basically ripping off a relationship like a band-aid, but ultimately it was her choice to decide how to say goodbye to Mitsuyoshi. Perhaps anything more would have only made it harder for her to leave at all…and she has to leave, for he good of her country.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai – 09 – Various Things

Teresa’s head maid/nanny/governess-whatever warned her; if she went to Japan, she may encounter “various things”…Teresa just never knew that those various things would include falling in love, and not just with Mitsuyoshi, but with his friends, a simple life of school, having fun, and occasional cafe work…and with Japan.

At the airport Teresa all but confirms to Alec what Alec had suspected; that she has indeed fallen for Mitsuyoshi. But Teresa hasn’t abandoned her plan to marry Charles and become queen. That duty remains extremely important…but now it is competing with…various things.

With the air between the girls cleared, the next time Teresa is near Mitsuyoshi, she stiffens up and becomes conspicuously…formal. Mitsuyoshi does not change in turn; he merely continues being the kind fellow he’s always been, plucking a caterpillar from her hair, picking up her eraser, and lending her and Alec his umbrella (though it eludes me how someone as meticulous as Alec would forget hers).

Mitsuyoshi had hoped Kaoru would be able to share his, but neither of them have an umbrella, so they run through the rain. And the chances of someone in an anime getting a fever after getting stuck in the rain always hover somewhere around 99.999999999%, so Mitsuyoshi collapses. Teresa blames herself for taking his umbrella, and works a shift at the cafe with Alec so Mitsuyoshi can rest and recover.

Yui serves Mitsuyoshi her Special Red-Hot Rice Porridge (I’ll call it Reho-riho), but when Yamashita and Hajime leave his bedside, they neglect to bring down the dirty dishes, so Yui sends Teresa up to his room to fetch them.

There, Teresa finds herself all alone with the guy she’s fallen for, and the wind scatters his photos, all of them beautiful and full of love. Even with his fever, she can’t resist bending over to kiss him, but immediately tears up upon doing so, cursing herself for being unable to “stop.”

At this point its almost assured she’ll have to take a significant emotional hit in order to follow through on her royal duty to marry Charles, whom she simply does not love (though could presumably fall in love given enough time, as with some arranged marriages). But “in love now” tends to win out over “in love down the road, maybe.”

For now, once he’s better, Teresa seems poised to invite Mitsuyoshi to a day of Sky Tree Rainbow Shogun fun. And once she’s done having her fun, she’ll presumably return home and do her duty.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii – 06 – Rainy Days are The Worst. Rainy Days are The Best.

After a cold open involving Hirotaka and Kabakura being photographed doing BL roleplay, we rewind to Narumi and Hirotaka both forgetting their umbrellas, despite being adults. Kabakura isn’t worried about any of his effects getting wet, so lends them his umbrella.

Hirotaka switches both the side he’s on (so she doesn’t get splashed by cars) and the position of his bag so smoothly, Narumi takes note of it in her inner monologue, and it’s further evidence he’s legit boyfriend material. Meanwhile a soaking wet Kabakura encounters Koyanagi and asks if she’ll share her umbrella, and rather than say he gave his to their friends, he says he forgot it, and gets doted on by a concerned Koyanagi.

For her part, Koyanagi professes her hatred for rainy days because her shoes get wet, but when she invites herself to Kabakura’s for dinner and he invites her to spend the night, she professes her love for rainy days. So basically, she and rain are like Asuka and Shinji.

Then we see why Hirotaka and Kabakura were posing like would-be lovers: to cheer up Narumi. Hirotaka can sense something’s up, but Narumi is being all coy with false smiles and “it’s nothing really, don’t worry about it.”

Finally, Hirotaka waits for her after work and continues to pursue the issue, going so far as to ask if he’s “so undependable” she can’t tell him what’s up. Finally, she relents, and it turns out to be nothing; a character in a manga she (and Kabakura) liked died.

If it were something genuinely troubling, would Narumi have told him? I like to think so, but even not, sometimes it pays to be persistent when someone is trying to spare you trouble or worry…and in this case, Hirotaka already was worried.

Finally, Christmas approaches. There’s talk of Santa and when Narumi, Hirotaka, and Naoya stopped believing in him. Nao, in a thin and much-less-warm-than-it-looks Santa costume handing out free coffee outside Starbucks, states that he never stopped believing in Santa; his definition of who it was simply shifted to anyone you love or are connected with who makes you happy. Narumi praises Nao as a saint.

Last year’s Christmas was The Worst for Koyanagi. Sure, she had plenty of time to make a wicked awesome costume, but the reason she had that time is that Kabakura spent the holiday working his ass off, and they didn’t even speak to each other until the new year had some.

This year Koyanagi assumes it will be more of the same, and that she simply has to make peace with the fact her boyfriend is a workaholic. But as office elevator doors close, Kabakura suddenly teleports from his desk to the doors, forcing them open and joining Koyanagi.

He ends up taking her to a super fancy and exclusive restaurant, the reservations for which he made over a half-year ago, and the cost of which he worked extra hours to afford. Koyanagi, appreciative of his efforts, presents him with the gift of a limited-edition event item.

Hirotaka and Narumi stay in for Christmas Eve, eating takeout, drinking beer and wine, and playing video games together. Both couples look like they’re having nice Christmases.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 03

When Takagi spots Nishikata and suggests they walk home together, Nishikata offers her some of his drink, thinking she won’t go for an “indirect kiss.” Of course, she’s fine with it; it’s Nishikata who wigs out at the prospect.

Nishikata then makes a fluke shot with the empty can in the garbage can and gets all cocky when Takagi misses. Turns out her miss was a trap; her next shot goes right in, then interrupts his shot by saying she’ll give him her first kiss if he makes it. He misses.

The next day Nishikata estimates he was teased fifteen times by Takagi, so when he hears form a sports figure on the TV that he trains ten times harder when he loses, he begins doing pushups. At school, he’s all sore, and Takagi takes advantage by poking his arm.

Nishikata keeps up the training, despite the fact Takagi teases him more and more with each passing day. However Takagi later admits that she’s starting to notice the effects of the training, saying he “looks pretty good;” while she may be sincere, she’s also trying to make him blush, and she succeeds.

Finaly, on a rainy afternoon Takagi forgets her umbrella, so asks Nishikata if he can share. He tries to scare her with a frog, but it doesn’t faze her in the least, and when she notices his wet shoulder, she scoots closer to him, causing his heart to race even more in such an awkward situation.

In all three segments, Takagi is both testing and expanding the limits of contact with Nishikata, all while inducing the priceless reactions she lives for. It gets to the point where she tries to get Nishikata to say “I love you” in both Japanese and English.

He bristles as expected, but some day, perhaps a couple years from now, he might not think all this attention from and contact with Takagi to be so torturous.

My Girlfriend Is ShoBitch – 02

After Haruka learns Akiho is a lot less comfortable sharing an umbrella in the rain than walking in it and getting her shirt wet (revealing that she’s not nearly as raunchy as all the research she’s collected suggests), we spend a seemingly impossibly long time with Haruka’s moe sister Kana, who is really annoying.

She’s only a year younger than her brother, and learning he has a girlfriend is a shock. Thankfully, after meeting Akiho, Kana realizes it’s not the end of the world; indeed, after some posturing, the two get along swimmingly, much to Haruka’s relief (and after clearing up some misunderstandings)

Akiho is class rep, which means it’s her job to fire up the class to do a formal cleaning, which she does with a stirring speech that inspires the boys about not letting their rooms get so dirty their moms clean them and find their dirty mag stashes.

Akiho is very prone to misunderstandings, so when she hears two guys equate switching girlfriends to discarding trash, she gets very nervous. Luckily Haruka is a sentimental guy who doesn’t like to throw stuff out, but treasure his “personal belongings”, which she also takes as meaning she’s safe from being discarded.

After watching an anime perpetuating the girlfriend making lunch for her boy, Akiho exposes one of her weaknesses (besides taking almost everything anyone says or does the wrong way): she’s a bad cook. What a shocker! Interestingly, Haruka doesn’t even get to try the eldritch abomination; Akiho keeps it away.

Instead, after seeing how good Shizuku is, she begs her senpai to be her cooking master, and in between the inappropriate arrangement of vegetables and the use of many a double entendre, they whip up a mean pot of beef stew.

When Shi asks for Haruka’s banana for desert, he seemingly calls her bluff, making her flustered…but he’s really just giving her his banana (this was a stretch, as they’re in Shi’s house, so they’re her bananas, surely).

Haruka walks Akiho home, but it’s raining again. Both have their own umbrellas, but Akiho decides to take a little step forward by pretending she doesn’t, so she and Haruka have to share, and walk close together so as not to get wet.

ShoB***ch is the definition of pleasant, lightweight rom-com fare. I still found Kana and Shizuku a bit too intrusive this week, and I’m hardly optimistic about the prospect of still other girls entering Haruka’s orbit, gumming up the works. While they’re tolerable at the moment, the show shines when it’s just Haruka and Akiho, with Yuuki Aoi delivering a nice low-key performance with the occasional burst of passion.

Masamune-kun no Revenge – 04

Masamune continues to expose the fact all he knows about courting girls is through shoujo manga. Staring at Adagaki throughout class and then lending her his umbrella, all while spouting canned lines, just ends up kinda creeping her out. Yoshino suggests he cool it, literally, by mixing it up and starting to ignore her.

That turns out to be a lot more difficult than Masamune could have imagined, as he feels he’s throwing away all the goodwill he’s built up with Adagaki. But, despite how badly he’s flailing, it does actually work: Adagaki doesn’t consider him a bug.

She can’t, not when he’s irritating her this much with all the ignoring. When she confronts him roughly in the hall (not at all what he imagined), Masamune can only say he likes “everything” about her before running off…to see Yoshino again. But because of the camera angles, you know Adagaki followed them, and gets the wrong idea about the two.

While playing hooky for the first time, Adagaki is approached by Yoshino, and tries to play it cool, but Yoshino comes right out and tells her about all her contact with Masamune. “He only has eyes for you,” she says to Adagaki, getting more and more flustered. Before Yoshino can deny she feels the same, Yoshino vanishes.

It’s while Adagaki is rushing around aimlessly, stuck in her thoughts, that we learn what she thinks of herself, and why it’s so “inconceivable” that she’d like anyone, or that anyone would like her. The Cruel Princess act is an intentional one, designed to keep others away.

She wants to keep others away because, as she says, she ” hurts others to avoid being hurt,” and we see her there dressing down Pig’s Foot. I imagine she did not expect Masamune to leave when he did, and branded him a liar, but also wonders if he left because she drove him away.

To avoid history repeating itself, she’s been aloof and kept her distance from everyone. Whether she’s worshiped or hated, she’s not close enough to anyone to hurt anyone or get hurt.

But now things are changing. Masamune’s cold shoulder awoke feelings in her, and when he saves her from getting hit by a car, she’s right on the cusp of telling him when the driver of the car gets out…and embraces Masamune.

Apparently, the story of Masamune and Adagaki cannot be so neatly wrapped up so quickly and easily. Whoever this girl is, she’s competition, which is something Adagaki has never had, reigning as she has over all the boys and girls at school. And like class rep Futaba, this girl is someone else threatening to knock Masamune off course.

But what’s the fun of things being too easy? I’m game for the complication New Girl brings.