12.13
More high school antics!
Eeyep, still don’t like Dekomori, at least when it comes to her as a one-girl show. She’s just quirky to the point that it’s not interesting. Her whole bit with hating milk and connecting it with why she’s so short… I let it slide when watching FMA, but now… just no.
Yet for some reason, I don’t mind Kumin and all her sleep-related gags. I mean, she’s got a different pillow for every occasion! Makes me wonder what her stance is on pillow pets and cuddle-up-pets. I smell mini-series spin-off.
Ah, so it’s the “you gotta help me pass this test” episode. Kinda odd that these kinds of episodes serve as constants for any and all shows set in school, both anime and non-anime. Was wondering how Chu2 would approach such a played out theme… and then Deko and Rikka did a tag-team explanation of the times tables. Okay, I can dig it.
You know what else I can dig? Variety in every character’s wardrobe. I really like how we’re in this era of anime where the main cast doesn’t wear the same thing episode after episode. It’s something that you wouldn’t really think of, but when you notice it, you’re like “woah, why don’t all animations do this?”
… and following up the random pool cleanup scene with the expected scene of teacher being disappointed with them for not getting the job done. It’s so predictable, but the main cast is the kind that’s just fun to follow that you don’t really care.
I think this is the most we’ve seen Rikka out of her eighth grade syndrome state. She doesn’t want to lose her club (was it ever really an official club in the first place?) but she just can’t get the hang of this studying thing. It’s been done with Torvald in Hey Arnold, the bromance duo in Kids on the Slope, and probably a million other things, but it works well in the series. The fact that Yuuta knows exactly how to deal with Rikka to get her to study (special brand gum? Really?) is just one of things that’s comforting to see. He’s clearly left his eighth grade syndrome tendencies himself, but that doesn’t mean he’s not willing to get back into that mindset for the sake of a friend.
I also gotta mention that whenever Rikka’s called up about her grades this episode, the teacher doesn’t seem to mind that Yuuta’s there, too. I mean, that’s nice and all that Yuuta cares, but… I mean, isn’t that kinda confidential?
Oh right. Because eventual romance. What I like about the whole “will they? won’t they?” between Yuuta and Rikka is that you actually get a sense of both the guy’s world and the girl’s world. You don’t really get that with most shows that try the formula out. I mean, for all you know, the person the main character’s lusting over could end up being some creepy guy that writes blogs while wearing a raincoat or something.
Yes, I just had to include both screencaps. I like how even though Rikka’s sister doesn’t play all that big of a role in her life, you still see her from time to time at Yuuta’s place warping his little sister’s mind. It’s always fun when characters you wouldn’t expect to interact with each other end up doing so.
Have I mentioned how I love how romance is approached in this series? The shot screams something out of a shojo confession scene, but it’s played out in this weird eighth grade syndrome-ey way, and it just makes for a different kind of gushy feely scene. It’s like biting into a brownie and finding out it’s filled with chocolate syrup… iunno, I typed “gushy” and it was the first thing that came to mind.
Onwards to episode 6!
I love how in this point in the series Yuuta pretty much accepted his little home invading neighbor. It’s pretty much used as a simple means to introduce that episode’s plot by now.
Pretty much lost it during this scene, even when re-watching it. Dekomori is very much the kind of character that thrives off the likes of fake Mori Summer.
I take back everything I said about Dekomori. At this point in the series, Isshiki is probably the most annoying character. I mean at least with Deko-chan, she’s an attempt at humor. Isshiki is just a play off one of those freshman that romanticizes what they want out of high school which is just… too real for me. Sure, he’s called out on some of his nonsense via Yuuta which is the joke, but their tag-team is just no Deko-Nibutani.
Hooray, booty shaking magical girl-esque scenes! Kumin is probably the best character on the show in that she’s just there for the ride when she isn’t napping on her fancy sheep-shaped pillow.
Nibutani is like that hint of spice you shake onto any food that automatically makes it better. She always seems to make anything involving Dekomori or Isshiki funny.
…especially with Isshiki. You tend to forget that she actually cares about keeping her nice-girl image up while at school, but completely throws that out the window once stepping foot into the Mid-Eastern Nap Magic Whatever Club room. Keeping that in mind, I guess the club is like her one excuse to be herself even if it’s in the midst of people she normally wouldn’t associate with. The whole mixing of cliques without using the term “cliques” is just so perfect, not to mention non-preachy.
Oh right, the plot. Funny how nothing can happen story-wise in this series but you wouldn’t be able to tell (or care) until the plot rolls in. It was an especially off-putting scene since it followed the bumper cuts and hit the ground running with its completely different mood. As intense as the scene got, though, it never took itself too seriously. I mean, half the girls don’t even seem to care about the situation. Probably because they scored higher on the guy’s rankings than they thought they would have.
I never really saw Isshiki and Yuuta to be in a bromance, but the hair-cutting scene seemed to prove me wrong on that. I mean, I still don’t put them as high up on the weirdo/straight-man scale as Kyon and Taniguchi, but this scene definitely helped boost ‘em up there, if only slightly.
And the follow-up scene was just cake. Not even icing on the cake. Just pure, delicious cake. Deko and Nibutani work best as an odd couple pairing against a mutual third guy. Isshiki would have to be that third guy, which I have absolutely no problem with.