This episode favored story over service, though Hina’s shower scene is faithfully adapted which is a good sign.
And here is how this scene looked in the manga:
Of note, the shot in the anime with the frontal nudity is sliding upward and starts just above the nipple. The cut to it feels awkward (like it’s mid-way through a pan-up). It’s likely that on blu-ray the shot will begin at her thigh and go up to include the full visual from the manga.
Overall Thoughts:
While a previous bathing scene with Hina and Rui appears to have been left on the cutting room floor (at least until blu-ray, if we’re lucky), Hina’s shower’s scene does in fact make it into the anime. Which makes sense as her being in the shower carries importance to the plot (Rui sneaks in and steals Hina’s phone while Hina is sudsing up). The phone is then used to help Rui and Natsuo obtain information on Hina’s married boyfriend.
The story was very good this episode. We see that Rui is actually pretty emotional and caring despite her anti-social exterior. Hina basically figures out that Natsuo is in love with her, if she didn’t know already. The adulterer boyfriend is cast in about as much of a sympathetic light as is possible for what he is. We even get some backstory on Natsuo and his dead mom. The character writing was really good this episode, the characters feel deeper than they did before and there are some legitimately well done emotional moments.
In the end, all that you need to know is that Hina breaks it off with her married boyfriend, or at least that’s what she tells her family. Which means she’s now in play romantically for Natsuo (though we probably won’t see any romance between them until the final episodes of the show). Other girls will be distracting distracting Natsuo in the meantime.
