NouCome Episode 7 | TFP Review
Hitsugi Amachi: The only thing I wonder about is how many of the characters know what is actually going on with Kanade. We knew that the teacher knows, but now it seems like Seira knows too. Why would she know, however?
As for the episode itself, it had its moments, but it wasn’t really all that special.
GingaDaiuchuu: A lot of the battle was very funny, though, mostly because of the audience reactions to everything. And yandere Yuragi is pure gold. Kurasu suffocating was pretty damn good, too.
bctaris: I continue to love the crowd shots in this show, which are not quite what you see in anything else like this–just for the fact that crowds are seen observing and reacting to the idiocy of main characters in the first place. (Plus there’s at least some effort into animating the crowds to an acceptable level.) Obvious here, because of the setting, but it continues from the classroom scenes. And best with those blank WTF stares that Kanade receives. But the delayed reaction from the boys to Yuragi was the most fun.
GingaDaiuchuu: It’s too bad Furano was one of the least interesting, or even entertaining, characters in this episode. Her usual persona was somewhat funny as usual, especially with some Engrish thrown in, and she did show a little bit of her true self, but there wasn’t much to it.
bctaris: I’m starting to get the impression that those quick scenes of her “true self” are also, and maybe only, some sly parody of the character type, simply because they’re so exaggerated. I don’t know how much of her character should be taken at face value–nor am convinced, now, why her suggested depth should be taken more sincerely than any other character (except Chocolat, of course, who is exactly as she appears to be).
GingaDaicuhuu: When she first started talking about how she liked Kanade and in short bursts like this when she turns super moe (which is also super gap moe, so like moe squared or something), I’d consider it pure parody as well, or I’d prefer to believe it to be that. But I’d like to think her moments from last episode were sincere. Otherwise I have little reason to care about any of the characters as people, which would just leave the comedy, and I value the character depth that seemed to exist more than a show of nothing but that. There’s still Kanade’s issues, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen a reason to really treat that matter seriously, although I’m always ready for that to change.
Do any of the other characters even have suggested depth? Ouka occasionally plays the role of being embarrassed by Kanade seeing her panties or jealous of another girl being all over Kanade for a few seconds at a time in similar contrast to her usual wackiness, and the other girls just vaguely like Kanade in some capacity because they’re females and this is a harem show. Of them, Ouka’s moments that I mentioned are the only ones I could see implying any actual depth, and I treat Furano more sincerely than that because it comes across as more sincere at least at certain times, while the rest are either parody or very poorly written.
Hitsugi Amachi: This is the essential problem of the show as it is so far: of the main/major characters, only Kanade (of necessity, since he’s the main character), Yukihira and Yuuouji have been given anything resembling more than a single dimension in depth. To say that the other characters even have even the vague appearance of two dimensions would be exaggeration at its fullest.
While I think we have to take into consideration everything we’ve been shown about Yuuouji and Yukihira, that’s not to say I would dismiss bctaris’ suspicions about whether we should take much of anything we are shown at face value. I would like to think that we can take Yukihira’s glimpses of her “true” self as sincere, since so much attention has been paid to it. In contrast, the times where Yuuouji gets embarrassed at Kanade seeing her panties have been drive by gags and don’t really seem to present us with evidence for deeper feelings, even with the few other hints that may or may not have been shown. Unless they develop it in a later episode, as they did with Yukihira through the means of the pig mascot, her flashes of concern about her panties being seen by Kanade will just remain a throwaway gag. So, if we get a future episode where Yuuouji’s wackiness disappears and she reveals that she has real feelings for Kanade, those earlier gags will have a lot more impact.
So, for me, the jury’s still out, with the possible exception of Yukihira, whose inner monologue and asides to herself I will take at face value until I see some indication that we should just treat it as parody and pay it no further mind.
