A season finale already.
What They Say:
The story begins with Izumi Hayato running to be student body president. But when a beautiful girl swings in promising the liberalization of love while flinging condoms into the audience, he ends up losing to her and becoming the vice president. At the student council meeting, the newly-elected president invites herself over to Izumi’s house, where she promptly announces she is to become Izumi’s wife thanks to an agreement – facilitated by alcohol – made between their parents when they were only 3.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a lot of fun so far this season, the show comes to a close with this episode with the impending arrival of Ui’s mother to the residence. That makes for a complicated time coming up for all involved for different reasons, all of which is made worse by everyone else trying to get in on the final episode in their own way. Her parents are not what he expected, though it makes sense, as they’re both very young looking, especially since Ui’s mother could pass as Ui’s little sister. And her father, at 41, looks like a high school first year himself. That alone is comical but there’s plenty of tension beyond that as Ryou is all about protecting his little girl from Izumi while complaining that he can’t believe he made that promise years ago that made all of this possible. It’s straightforward enough but it’s rare that you get that parental side coming into play in shows like this.
It’s a kind of odd family unit to be sure as we see it play out yet it also helps to kind of bond Ui and Izumi closer together as they both have to survive the experience. Yet amid that, she tries to give Izumi an out with all of this in a way by downplaying her own feelings. It’s a familiar move yet it works well because it gets him to realize what he might lose which has come to mean so much to him. Naturally, while the show plays up the family side a lot it also offers some pervy goodtimes for the fans as well as the young couple end up pushed into the same bed together that night. Yet even that takes a really sweet turn, one that the show has done a few times before, that makes you care about them as a couple even more and hope that there’s a real future for them if it’s what they’re really after.
In Summary:
The season finale for the series is surprisingly tame overall compared to some recent episodes, especially the last one, but it mostly works to its favor in giving us time for the characters to really bond more. It does get pervy in its own way towards the end and you appreciate that it does, but it really does work well just as a character piece here. The show has been an utter delight overall to watch this season as it does things that most shows are afraid to even think of, never mind even trying a fraction of doing when it comes to character relationships, intimacy and sexuality. Some of it may be really off-putting because of the characters ages, but the simple truth of the matter is that kids this age do engage in these behaviors. What the show does is revel in it and has fun with it while dealing with all the stumbling blocks in the way. Really well animated, really fun to watch and generally a great series to just soak up and enjoy. I hope there’s more and I hope it gets picked up for a home video release here as well as a dub.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
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.
