Farewell x We’re Rivals, Obviously!!
What they say:
A beautiful girl named Guri, who has a mysterious item that forces two random people to kiss and turns them into couples, appears in front high school student, Aino Seiji. Despite being dressed up as a shinigami, she’s actually cupid. Suddenly, Guri tries to kiss Seiji, and then… Unavoidable and uncontrollable–A forceful love comedy that starts with an angel and a kiss!!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
There’s a lot of good things happening in episode 8 of Love Tyrant. Things like Guri and Yuzu going off to rescue Akane from her emotionless mother, or things like Guri throwing smoke bombs that contain a secret love potion into a horde of yakuza so they go yaoi on each other, or even things like Yuzu fearlessly standing in front of a dandere Akane as she professes her yuri-incest love one more time. Yes, sir. There’s some really excellent stuff happening in this episode.
I’m actually being serious. This wasn’t sarcasm. Surprised?
Love Tyrant has always been a hit or miss comedy. Some of what they have is brilliantly hilarious and sometimes the comedy completely misses its mark, though I’ve always given the series points for being outstanding even when it fails. This episode focuses a lot more heavily on the emotionally deep development of Akane’s, up to this point, yandere relationship with Seiji—which makes what comedy this episode does contain all the more impressive.
The episode begins with Guri and Yuzu heading to Akane’s house, fighting off some yakuza, and then discovering that Akane appears to have become an emotionless doll. A battle takes place between Akane and Guri, though it doesn’t last long because Seiji soon appears. What starts off as a strange sort of battle/comedy between the two heroines becomes Akane’s mother demanding that Akane kill Seiji to prove that she won’t betray her confidence.
I’m of a mixed opinion on this particular issue. While I really loved the deep sense of emotions we get from Akane, I really hate Seiji’s uselessness in this episode. When he first appears, his sister Akua is doing all the work. When Akua disappears, Seiji is wrapped up and dragged around by Shikimi, and then gets stabbed in front of everyone. Harem anime have always placed a higher emphasis on having strong female characters with outrageous personalities, but I feel like this series could benefit from not making Seiji everybody’s doormat.
On the other hand, Guri is in fine form, using well-timed humor to defuse every situation right before it can become too serious. Since this is a harem comedy, having it become too serious would ruin the overall tone of the story. In this particular matter, Guri shines.
After Akane decides she loves Seiji too much to kill him—strange words from a yandere—she confronts her mother. However, they’re confrontation is interrupted when Yuzu’s mother appears. Thus begins an epically ridiculous battle that’s so out of place even Guri can’t help but make a meta comment about how ridiculous it is.
In Summary:
Episode 8 is stronger than a few of the previous episodes. It contains enough serioues moments that the comedy stands out, but it retains its overall romcom feel, giving it that nice in-between vibe that straddles the line between being too serious and having so much comedy it’s no longer funny. I loved how Akane grew in this chapter, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next episode.
Grade: A
Streamed By: : Crunchyroll
