What They Say:
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The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
A big focus of this episode was obvious from the start: the girl we saw last time would join the club which is simply becoming “Eita’s harem”. And it’s certainly exactly as expected. The one thing that’s a little surprising is actually how blatant everyone is that they’re all just in love with Eita and being with him doesn’t even count as an ulterior motive anymore. They explicitly express this right in front of him, but while it would be in his (archetypical) character to freak out at this, he doesn’t seem at all surprised. Could he have accepted the obvious reality of the situation and simply decided that ignoring it would cause the least amount of problems, along with staying consistent with his act of not caring about love? Or perhaps he’s actually so oblivious that literally screaming the situation in his face doesn’t tip him off? At any rate, things play out much like you’d think they would for this situation in such a series. It’s likely nothing new for its viewers, but it’s still pretty entertaining.
Although I try not to bring too much attention to every one of the many references, this episode spends so much time on one solid block of pure references that it becomes nearly as big a part of the episode as the main plots. Each reference combines two famous anime girls, showing pictures and characteristics attributed to at least one of them, and casting a combination of their seiyuu to each. The value of this scene is entirely dependent on one’s affinity for such references, and obviously familiarity with each character (and seiyuu) is definitely very helpful. I’m a sucker for references, but I still think the scene hogged up a bit more time than it should’ve.
Although Hime’s integration into the group takes up the bulk of the episode, the real meat of it, and its climax, comes in the form of another appearance by Masuzu’s little sister Mana, making her more of an immediately recurring character than I first expected, but painting her as a clear villain, one who is unlikely to join the main group. Even if she gets redemption, which I suppose is always pretty likely for these stories, she doesn’t go to the same school, so that would have to wait until the next school year if ever, which this adaptation likely won’t get to even if its source material does. And above all else, the lack of her presence in the opening, ending, and promotional materials confirms that she probably won’t have much more of a role than what she has so far.
Building on the foundation that the previous episode laid out for her, Mana goes full-on villain to all the main characters, tying in with the Hime focus of the episode to break her down as soon as she felt accepted. This of course prompts more heroics from Eita, which almost literally involve him beating himself up, letting himself be thrown around by Mana’s bodyguard in order to make his point to the spoiled brat. In the end, all the negative outcomes are avoided, but the threat of Masuzu’s father becomes a more probable issue for the future.
In Summary:
This episode shows that the series has settled into a pretty unoriginal little formula, bringing us multiple concepts that are very unlikely to seem new to most viewers. That doesn’t make it bad as long as that doesn’t bother you too much, though, as it’s not an especially poor portrayal of such tropes. The production values are still high and there’s still plenty of simple fun to be had.
Grade: C+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, 27” 1080p HDTV.
