The focus shifts heavily to Kiyono as she expresses her belief that underwear is a weapon.
What They Say:
“Wild Adolescence”
Nayu cannot hide her distress with Kiyono Amahara as a member of the Underwear Society. Kiyono is a troublemaker who drives off Komachi by lifting her skirt and throws out her underwear when Yako calls it plain. In an attempt to preserve the light atmosphere of the Underwear Society, Nayu suggests they assemble a bra from scratch, knowing even Komachi can participate comfortably. The other girls learn more about Kiyono when she begins discussing underwear design and makeup.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Chu-Bra has done the fairly standard setup with the first few episodes introducing the core characters and then focusing on their mission, this time to create the Underwear Appreciation society. Along the way we got some nice friendships that are being built up and a secondary character in Mizuno as the teacher and club advisor becoming more involved in their society. She also had the added benefit of knowing Nayu’s older brother Keigo which introduced a potential non-school age romance into the show.
At the halfway mark of the series, Chu-bra finally brings in its next character that’s been skirting the edges of the show for a bit now with Kiyono. She’s been floating around most of the episodes, sometimes saying something biting or just giving a look, but now she’s made her intent clear to join the Underwear Appreciation Society. And unlike the other girls as Yako has come to find out, Kiyono plays by a different set of rules. It’s discovered that she is the same age as the rest of them but she has a different approach to life as she’s plainly looking for the love of her life and is intent on making sure she can attract him. And because of that, much to Nayu’s dismay, she views underwear as a weapon whereas Nayu views it as something to protect oneself with.
The meetings are fairly awkward at this point because of the two views and poor Komachi is getting caught up in the middle of it. Nayu wants to use the approach of talking about comfort, value and design of underwear and even brings in a disassembled bra as a kit of sorts to showcase the point. Kiyono wants to use the Society to help herself become more womanly. She’s already getting grief from the school as she uses some make-up and she’s also quite open about showing off her underwear, something that strikes fear in Yako. The core argument of the episode is an interesting on aimed at Nayu where she has to grow to learn that there’s value in underwear that’s not functional in terms of support and protection. That underwear can be used to entice, excite and attract men.
In Summary:
Chu-Bra has a slightly different feel this time since it’s a little more adversarial between the girls and the mission statement of the Society hasn’t been completely hammered out yet. While Nayu had an idea of what she wanted it to be, she has to accept that other members of the group will want different things out of it. And if they’re going to attract more members, she has to be willing to budge some. Kiyono’s angle isn’t bad but her approach and personality make it difficult for everyone. When she’s openly mocking their advisor, who herself has likely never been properly taught things because of various taboos, it just shows that Kiyono is still a child herself. There’s a lot to like here and they’re building the series well, which continues to surprise me. And even if the educational aspect is just a sham of sorts, it’s one that’s well done and does provide some value as well.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
