High school girls are the real monsters.
What They Say:
“Takahashi Tetsuo Wants to Protect”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Following up on Kusakabe hearing bullies talk trash about her, she makes her first active move of the series in trying to reach Takahashi in the hopes that he can provide some remedy for the balls of ice she calls tears. Takahashi, being a rational grown man and a teacher, knows that trying to tell these gossip queens not to say mean things about another female student isn’t going to magically solve everyone’s problems, or these things wouldn’t be regular occurrences in every school setting since the beginning of time. What makes it different is not just Kusakabe’s status as a demi, but that aspect of herself manifesting insecurities that cause her to assume everyone else must be judging her for the same deviations on which she judges herself but of course has no control over. Her heart is as fragile as the ice that surrounds her legend as a Yuki-onna, or snow woman (the literal translation that the subtitles in this series use). Given that distinction, this does fit into Takahashi’s goal of trying to understand demis and make the environment of those he knows as welcoming to them as any normal human, or at least as close as one can manage.
What Kusakabe needs most, though, is a good friend, and Hikari is exactly the friend everyone should want to have. What she says in her confrontation embodies some of the best philosophies people in any situation should strive to adhere to, and it skyrockets her already solid position as the best monster girl from a human standpoint. The reaction of the bullies is perhaps somewhat realistic in initial defensiveness and frequent surprise at being cornered by such pure ideals, but the heartwarming resolution is inevitably chosen when in reality, things probably would’ve just gotten uglier and nobody would’ve come out of it happy. I’m not going to fault it for that, though, because its purpose was righteous, and it fulfilled it quite well for not doing anything wholly new.
In light of these events and a private request from Kusakabe, Takahashi establishes a new forum for the demis at this school to come together and feel included, as a hope to further assist in letting them talk out and resolve their problems with those who can understand them best. This potentially starts to answer some of the question of the format the series will take after everyone has been fully introduced and had their standard interview with Takahashi (which Kusakabe actually hasn’t yet, and looks likely to in the next episode). On the other hand, it’s the climax of the running theme throughout this episode even more strongly than the rest of the series so far of becoming more and more of a young monster girl harem for our much older male teacher. For the age matter, it’s somewhat reassuring that the most extreme of it comes from Satou, who is at least a full-fledged adult, but seeing a character who had displayed so much strength earlier reduced to, ironically enough, the most like a stereotypical blubberingly smitten schoolgirl, is not an inspiring sign. While she isn’t one of the characters who get the most focus in this episode, she is still in it enough that having every bit of it revolve around her newfound infatuation with Takahashi is at least mildly frustrating. It’s a good thing everything else is only getting better.
In Summary:
While Kusakabe’s full spotlight episode is next time, she does join the proper leading cast in some important ways, inspiring Hikari to prove why she’s not only the best friend someone could ask for but also the best character in the show. Continued advancements toward Takahashi as everyone’s romantic interest get boring at best, but the good is still outweighing the bad enough.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
