Humor, history, horror and hallucinations
What They Say:
Kae Serinuma is what you’d call a “fujoshi.” When she sees boys getting along with each other, she loves to indulge in wild fantasies! One day her favorite anime character dies and the shock causes her to lose a ton of weight. Then four hot guys at school ask her out, but that isn’t exciting to her at all — she’d rather see them date each other!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Serinuma’s love for Kachu Ranbu has not diminished in the slightest. In fact, Nishina and Serinuma’s want to celebrate the anniversary of Hyakki Sametora’s death, who the lord in the Kachu Ranbu anime is modeled after. Nishina suggests staying at a hotel the night before, the boys object, but she calls them out on their true intent. Only Mutsumi is legitimately interested in this, as he is part of the history club.
They all make the trip together to a local and small inn and hot springs. The girls get a treat when they hear the boys next door in the hot springs talking about Shinomiya’s nipples. The fun continues that night when a pillow fight erupts. Serinuma gets wrapped into it when Igarashi slips and falls into her. The closeness causes them both to be embarrassed, but Serinuma becomes more awkward around him because of it.
After spending the day honoring Sametora at a service and later at a museum, history buff Mutsumi suggests they visit something a little more private and shows them where Sametora’s grave is. Mutsumi tells them his history, which also includes Sametora’s beheading with a rumor that his head was on a nearby island. The girls are thrilled to go even though a local warns them not to.
On the way to island, a sudden storm approaches. It separates Serinuma and Mutsumi from the rest of the group when they end up washed up on shore. Igarashi is forced to give Nana mouth-to-mouth and Nishina doesn’t hesitate to take a slew of pictures. Mutsumi is also about to rescue Serinuma, but no need. She’s just fine and spit up water in his face.
The two groups try to look for each other, but Nishina’s group is going in circles, while Serinuma ends up with a fever. Mutsumi brings Serinuma to an abandoned room to get them dry. In a very earnest manner, he takes off Serinuma’s clothes down to her underwear and does so himself and cuddles with her to keep her warm until their clothes dry. He doesn’t even peek at her when he does all of this!
After their clothes are dry, Mutsumi dresses Serinuma and she suddenly wakes up with no memory of her intimate time with Mutsumi. They go look for the other group, but come face to face with the ghost of Sametora. Serinuma sweets talk to the ghost about what a hero he is. He so flattered, he moves. The skies clear and they somehow find the others. After they get back to the island they were told their lunch had poisonous mushrooms in it, so their whole experience was only a hallucination. Or was it?
In Summary:
I like this series more and more as the weight issue with Serinuma is put to rest. For the first time, I didn’t think about it and just enjoyed the episode. It was a good one too. It was fun and I enjoyed how the girls fangirled over everything historical with thoughts of the anime version of the historical figures dancing in their heads.
This was such an apt subject to address with the current popularity of Touken Ranbu, and past popular series like the Hakuoki franchise, Sengoku Basara and many, many more. These series are the subjects of countless doujin and fangirls/fanboys dreams. I’d probably do the same thing if Kachu Ranbu was real!
I also need to talk about how great Mutsumi is. He is a perfect gentleman. Even though he ended up cuddling with Serinuma practically nude, he did so with such tact and kindness that it didn’t seem perverted. If I had to choose someone for Serinuma to end up with, it would definitely be Mutsumi.
I also want to note that since I’m a reviewing the manga too. There are huge portions of the manga that are left out in the anime. Specifically, it seems to be the parts that dive further into each boy’s history and personality. The manga has more depth because of that. So, if you think it’s not worth reading the manga, you’d missing a lot if you did. Kodansha publishes the manga.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
