Final exams are almost here and that means it’s a cram session as Kazuma’s!
What They Say:
Kazuma and his friends are studying for finals at the Yorozuyo Inn. But the topic quickly turns when there are seven babes under one roof.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With as much as Kazuma has been through with the move and all, you can alow for him to be a little flighty in some ways, such as when he questions Ui what final exams are all about, giving her the chance to be the country bumpkin in being surprised that schools in the city don’t have them. Kazuma is in a bit of an awkward position having moved schools and dealing with all of that, and getting to know a new school, so it’s hard to believe that he’d be thrust into summer school if he didn’t do well since he hasn’t exactly been there all year. It’s like a new student arriving on his first day mid year and taking a test on material he hasn’t had yet and flunking it and ending up in trouble for it. There’s allowances made for this. What this does allow though is a chance for group study sessions and that means snacks, silliness and street clothes instead of school uniforms.
Admittedly, this kind of material can be fun and it starts off right as when they’re all assembled around the table to study at the inn, the first thing that happens as they’re about to start is that Ui tears open a bag of chips. Even more telling about the point of all of this though is that it’s taking place at the inn for one additional special reason. The indoor baths. Taking a break from everything, all the kids head off to their respective gender based areas and that means a lot of frustrated guys bathing each other while their elephants roar. Hoo boy. The girls side is a different kind of fun of course as the boys imagine it as they’re flipping suds and water at each other through heavily, heavily covered bits fog and light, and there’s even a breast war. This is where two girls push their breasts against each other in a bouncy form in order to see who can last the longest while giggling like fools. It’s disturbingly funny.
While there is a lot of fun and silliness to be had here, they do bring in a bit of a somber edge to it as well as Ui’s past is brought up as she internalizes some of the things she’s been through when it comes to love and relationships, particularly with her parents. It’s definitely nice to flesh that out a bit as it gives us a bit more to work with her character, and there’s a late night scene with her and Kazuma that helps to bring the two a little closer in a light way, but even all of this has a lot of fun and silliness embedded around it. While the serious material has its moments, it’s definitely a small component of what’s here and even the late night sequence devolves into some laughter between the two, which is rather welcome since they are teenagers and aren’t going to be brooding little kids all the time even when they have something on their minds.
In Summary:
While this show can be frustrating at times with its actual nature, an episode like this is going to frustrate a lot of viewers who just wanted the bath scene to be more. Considering the nature of politics in Japan/Tokyo at this point in time, I’m surprised we saw as much as we did here with what the girls do with each other and the kind of obscured fanservice there is. In the end though, an episode like this is all about the fanservice so it lives or dies by that. The fun is definitely here as everyone gets into different things and the bath material makes up a good part of it, but we also get the usual things that you see at inns with big meals, ping pong and late night walks in your pajamas. This episode didn’t feel as bad as some of the recent couple of ones did where the school material felt too forced and the number of girls growing to too many, so that kind of eased the problems it might have otherwise. If you were hoping for mostly naked or all naked characters in here though, you’re going to walk away disappointed.
Grade: B
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
