What They Say:
Noe decides to check out the Game Creation Club (Provisional). Her big brother isn’t the gamer type, so it’s hard to imagine why Kazama joined. She has no idea what she’s getting herself into until it’s too late. Can she survive the experience?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
D-Frag managed to pull itself back from the edge a bit in the previous episode with its larger focus on Takao and Kazama together on the date that isn’t a date. The two of them are definitely the things I like about the show and thankfully they do often make up a good part of it, though they’re often thrown off by other events. Takao in particular is what works for me, but Kazama has his moments here as well, especially when he has to deal with the problem that is Hachi at the start with the way he has this superior attitude and others are almost close to prostrating themselves in front of him to gain favor. But there is some pushback as well which has its cute moments.
With this episode, we get some fun right from the start with the way the club members interact, but it takes a more amusing turn when Noe arrives at the Game Creation Club (Provisional) itself as she’s intent on finding out what’s going on there that’s taking up so much of her brother’s time. Kazama isn’t one that you’d think would end up in this club, which was half the early gag for the show, and bringing his sister into play here definitely works as she tries to understand the club members when he’s not around. Amusingly, the club members are far more interesting in the fact that she has the same hair color as him and the hair is just as hard as his is, something that has made for some fun gags earlier in the show. With all the girls together and Noe getting caught pin their quirks, it definitely makes for some laughs, especially when Takao has to cover the reason she and Kazama were in line together before anyone figures out there may be a bigger reason.
One of the more amusing parts as it goes on is that we get Takao later doing her best to try and befriend Nao since she’s trying to be nice in general but there’s also the subconscious – or not so subconscious – idea that if she gets closer and friendlier with her, she’ll have better luck with Kazama if she can get things a bit more serious. Nothing can go smoothly or easily though for Takao, since it wouldn’t be a comedy otherwise, and while Noe is wary of her and her intentions, there’s also Roka in the mix who causes a fair bit of trouble since she tends to be a catalyst for things to go badly at times. There’s some cute bits with how the girls are all interacting with each other but once again you have to really feel for Takao while getting a bit of an understanding of what makes Noe tick.
In Summary:
D-Frag has some fun initially here with Kazama, but he’s largely out of the episode as the focus is far more on Noe coming to visit and the kinds of things that happen from there. I definitely like the way they were all curious and surprised about her hair, making a great nod towards Kazama himself that they’ve all dealt with, and I liked how Takao freaks out about things a bit with what could be learned. Which results in her trying to befriend her more separately, which isn’t easy since she’s a bit distrusting in general and Roka doesn’t exactly help the situation any. It’s a cute episode and has its moments, but still doesn’t delve into anything much or go for any really big laughs.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
