What They Say:
Ricca is giving Kiyotaka all the signals but is too dense to notice. Things get more complicated when he mentions to his girls that he has seeing someone.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the series plods on, the introduction of Sakura continues to be the strange subplot in things and one that starts to have more of an impact here. We’ve seen that the girls in the show have varying degrees of interest in Kiyotaka and it’s not that much of a surprise. Generally speaking, the more time you spend with someone in social and quieter settings, the more likely you’re going to take a real interest in them. Even more so when you’re at that high school age where you’re less defined by who you are since you’re still figuring it all out. And for many girls, there’s just the desire to change and be what someone else needs, or that they think he needs, in order to get closer to him.
With this episode, things shifts its focus towards Ricca, who is insistent that Kiyotaka spends some time with her. She’s made some impression since the start of the series but now she wants some time with just him. And she makes it clear that he’s spending a lot of time with other girls, going through an amusing montage sequence that shows just how he’s being perceived by some other people when it comes to his “womanizing” ways. Unfortunately, Kiyotaka is pretty oblivious to the fact that Ricca is rather interested in him and is upset that she can’t get any time with him. While he is oblivious, they do run into some situations where he feels awkward around her and she’s rather pleased with his actions, such as when he saves her from a fall, but he’s still pretty dense.
When all the girls find out that he’s been seeing another girl, namely Sakura, there’s all the usual reactions one would expect over learning her age and misunderstanding the situation. Luckily, Ricca still gets to dominate the episode and spends most of her time with Kiyotaka and there are some really nice montage scenes as they hang out as friends would, though she obviously wants more from him. The two spend a good bit of time together and it works well to flesh out Ricca a bit, but in the end we still don’t know a lot about her beyond the fact that she’s into Kiyotaka and he’s kind of roundabout in rebuffing her a little bit since there isn’t a sense from him that he’s looking for anyone at the moment.
In Summary:
With an episode focusing largely on Ricca, there’s plenty to like but it also continues to expose the shows core problem. Getting a series of girls who have little real character to themselves and are just trying to insert themselves into Kiyotaka’s life, we don’t get anyone that’s really appealing beyond the physical appearance and general personality traits. While Kiyotaka could easily date any of them without any fanfare, there’s not much to them that gives you reason to actually pursue them beyond based instincts. It is somewhat relevant to how things to happen in a normal high school life for quite a few girls though and there is some appeal in exploring that, but that’s not the real focus here. That said, Ricca does come across pleasantly here and it eases some of the sharper edges we got from her at the start of the series, but that’s about the extent of it.
Grade: B-
Streamed 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.
