Manabe’s level of inappropriateness is just perfect sometimes.
What They Say:
No episode information provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As this unlikely series continues on, we get to see more of just how well they’re able to balance so many things. It’s still important to remember, when dealing with Haruka herself, just how difficult her past is. So many shows tend to tell you rather than let you experience it, but that difficult first episode with its heavy drama is still a weight here in the present as she solidifies her friendships. It may not be as apparent anymore, but like Haruka you have it in the back of your head as you see her make friends, see the way her family watches over her and how she’s coping with the situations in general. Just knowing it compared to experience it like we did in that first episode, getting it all up front, really cements it in a big way.
This episode has some interesting angles to play with it as Haruka has caught herself a cold and isn’t feeling all that hot. She’s the type to try and struggle on as best as she can, but it’s significant enough to take her down and the others do their best to take care of her. They’re setting up for shifts of sorts to help her out at home since she lives alone, but it is kind of surprising that Manabe is the first one to really stay and help her. Not surprising is that Manabe is doing his best to keep his thoughts clean, but it’s a real struggle when it comes to wanting to help her and seeing her so defenseless and weak. And utterly cute with her expressions. That cuteness is ruined when we see what she sees in his mind, but it’s still there, even when he offers to help wipe the sweat off of her.
The first half has a lot of fun with all of this, but thankfully it doesn’t make the whole episode about her being sick as she does recover relatively quickly. But there’s still some tension between Manabe and Haruka after what happened while they were together. So in a strange twist, one of the things they do to deal with the pervy nature of Manabe is to get him on a different footing with Haruka by taking her out to just hang out. It’s not a date but everything they do is like a date and everyone that sees them thinks they’re on a date. The two do have a rough time of it since Manabe gets so enthusiastic about it while Haruka gets defensive, but it’s not a surprise that they do have fun in the end and in their own small ways become just a little bit closer to each other.
In Summary:
The fun of a show like Kotoura-san is in how they handle the real interactions between the cast. Manabe’s thoughts are honest and you can understand them (as a guy) with how he views her. At times. He doesn’t continually view her as a sexual object, but he’s a hormonal rage plenty of times and he has a real interest in her. Seeing him trying to do the right thing in the first half is fun because he doesn’t want to get all pervy and that’s balanced by forcing more of a friendship between the two in the second half with the not-date. It’s a pleasant and slightly silly expansion on their relationship that was definitely needed, but you can easily see how Manabe is just going to be more smitten by her. The question will become whether she starts to like him more in a romantic way after all is said and done with the date-like things they do.
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.