A new character enters the fray, to offer Nozaki a new model for a side character in his manga.
What They Say:
Sixth Issue: “I’ll Cast A Spell On You”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode starts off with Yuzuki Seo front and center, as Chiyo brings some of her recorded singing to play in the background while they work at his apartment. The voice is indeed beautiful, but once he finds out it’s Seo…his reaction is quite different. “Lorelei” she is, named after a mythical witch whose beautiful singing lead sailors to their deaths. The next day at basketball practice, Nozaki happens to see her playing with the boy’s basketball team. As usual causing havoc in her usual manner. But while there, he comes across his former middle school teammate Wakamatsu. Apparently, Nozaki (who is very tall) was a starter on their middle school team, but he quit in high school in order to protect his hand.
The bulk of the first half is devoted to Wakamatsu and his troubles, for he and the other members of the basketball team are tired of Yuzuki and her daily assaults upon them, especially Wakamatsu. The dilemma that Nozaki faces is that Wakamatsu, who has trouble sleeping because of all the stress, finds a cure to his insomnia: “Lorelei’s” singing. So, the cause of his stress and the cure for it are one in the same. And it appears that Yuzuki might well like Wakamatsu too, though she’s as usual too clueless and disconnected from the reality of everyone else to act on it.
As usual, the people Nozaki meets find their way into his manga, with Wakamatsu becoming a girl who hates the oblivious boy already based on Yuzuki. The new female character, however, is secretly receiving encouraging phone messages from the annoying boy. Chiyo wonders when the truth will be revealed in the manga, but Nozaki, thinking about the real people behind the characters, swears that that will never happen. This episode has featured a lot of Nozaki reaction faces for a change so far, as Chiyo has taken a backseat for the moment.
It appears that things between Wakamatsu and Seo are complicated. He’s angry at her but he also acts as if he’s attached to her. Unsure what to do, he asks Nozaki to see his books (meaning manga) in order to find out how he should handle the situation. Probably not the brightest idea…but it should lead to some amusement for us. When Wakamatsu writes a “challenge letter” to Seo, as he only had shoujo manga to model himself on, he ends up writing a love letter instead. When it comes to the meeting on the rooftop, Yuzuki thinks that he’s asked her up there…to ask her to call him by a nickname. Seo, the Queen of Cluelessness. While Wakamatsu tries to ram home the message that he doesn’t want her coming to harass the boy’s basketball team anymore, Yuzuki decides…that she should call him “Waka” from now on as a nickname. Clearly, someone is incapable of paying attention.
The final gag is that when he tries to bring out a glove to slap he with (to issue a formal challenge), he winds up just presenting his pair of gloves to her.
During the second half we shift to Chiyo in a daydream: receiving a text from Nozaki asking for her help, she thinks it means that he’s sick and she can nurse him back to health (a standard romantic event in shoujo). What’s funny is that she ends up bringing ink, not medicine. Wakamatsu and Hori turn up as well in response to the text…bringing ink, not medicine. Well played.
Nozaki is genuinely ill, but what he needs their help for most is to finish his manuscript as the deadline is tomorrow and the doctor has forbidden him from getting out of bed. What to do? Chiyo and Hori intend to help, but the work that’s left on the manuscript is doing screentone…something neither of them have done (and Wakamatsu only knows how to erase). So, the two “experienced” assistants attempt to do the work, but both have problems. Chiyo can’t quite cut off the excess screentone properly; Hori…cuts right through the screentone and through the paper behind it as well. When Wakamatsu proves to be a natural at it, the two hand it all off to him…covering over for their own mistakes. The real problem comes when they have to apply the screentones for the mood backgrounds to the main characters. When it comes to Mamiko’s feelings, Chiyo and Wakamatsu have only Yuzuki as a model to draw upon for interpreting facial expressions. For Suzuki, Hori bases his mood upon Kashima. The next day Nozaki looks over the manuscript…and decides to ask for an extension of his deadline.
Another solid collection of quick comic jabs and funny subversions of usual types (as male and female roles in standard shoujo manga are pretty much reversed in Nozaki-land). While the characters really are broad exaggerations who themselves fit into common shoujo stereotypes (though often reversed for comedic effect), the interplay between them works so well that the comedy more often hits the right note than misses. This is good stuff, a show I continue to recommend highly.
In Summary:
Nozaki’s former basketball teammate Wakamatsu joins the cast as he asks for help dealing with Yuzuki Seo, who is torturing the boy’s basketball team. As all Nozaki has available is shoujo manga for consultation…Wakamatsu’s attempt to address the problems caused by Seo go humorously awry. Then, Nozaki falls ill and needs help from Chiyo, Hori, and Wakamatsu to complete his latest manuscript. The results are funny as expected when their lack of knowledge of his intentions in various scenes leads to some amusing screentone errors.
Episode Grade: A-
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
