Never, ever investigate your boss.
What They Say:
Taketo Akutagawa is a high schooler who’s also a genius erotic writer whose work is serialized in the newspaper. He goes to a school where only people with a unique talent (Geniuses) are allowed, Inspiration Academy! A genius clarinet player, a genus mathmatician, a genius hacker and a genius idol, he gets in all kinds of sexy trouble this these crazy people. His fantasies never stop! And what about the love that’s starting to grow there? A taboo crazy academic life is about to start!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After a fairly fun episode prior to this, R-15 decides that it’s time to start dealing with the Chief. She’s been such an enigma from the beginning that Taketo is intent on figuring out her secrets. And that means checking computer files and good old fashioned detective work. And a lot of following her around which leads to some compromising positions in more ways than one. The Chief isn’t too terribly keen on the way that Taketo seems to be showing up all over the place either, so much so that she pushes back against him a bit at one point to make it clear he’s barking up the wrong tree. But it’s when Utae gets involved that it gets to be a lot more fun.
With the two of them performing the search, it gets pretty amusing as they work as the usual detective duo does. Hefting her on his shoulders gives him a view of her reverse Mt. Fuji ,though it’s completely whited out, and it nearly pushes him over the edge. Considering the proximity of it, it should cause him to hemorrhage pretty badly. There’s even a comical scene where the pair are in the woods watching her to see what she does and the Chief gazes in their direction. They attempt to go in classic movie tradition by pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend and getting rather intimate. Considering that I still think Utae is the best suited for Taketo, this pairing and incident really hits home well.
Some of Taketo’s fantasies during all of this are definitely comical, especially when he has one that involves the Chief really giving him a deep, firm kiss that ends up turning him into a husk. Considering his lack of experience in the real world and the way he writes such top level erotica, it’s amusing and natural in a way to have these kinds of panics since you build it up so much. Still, the pairing of Taketo and Utae works well as we see them continue to investigate, but also the way the Chief is manipulating the situation. It has some good moments to it and the episode is pretty relaxed overall compared to what it could be, and that’s a welcome change in some ways.
In Summary:
The mystery that is the chief is one that definitely has some material to be explored but the episode never really capitalizes on it for what they can actually do. It’s not bad per ss, but it lacks something extra to really make it better. The redeeming factor, and it may be the main thrust of the episode in the end, is watching how Taketo and Utae work together. Ever since the two first got together I’ve loved that pairing and seeing more of them together just makes me smile. They seem like they’re perfect for each other. While they’re the positive for the episode, the downsides include Nakanura still not learning a new song and a lack of real exploration of what the Chief is about. They’re smaller pieces, but they’re still frustrations in the end that at least don’t overshadow the character interaction fun.
Grade:
Streamed By: Nico Nico
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.
