The anime skips the camping trip as expected, but stays close to the manga otherwise.
Episode 09
This is about as close as we get to fanservice in episode 09.
Not a fanservice shot, but notable because it proves that Hina is capable of sleeping without having her breasts fully exposed for no reason.
I hope long, awkward, totally silent kissing is your kind of thing.
A big theme in these two episodes is that Natsuo is desperate to hookup with Hina. His constant begging and pressuring for sex and/or physical intimacy is probably realistic to be honest, but still makes him look pretty uninspiring as a love interest. Hina wants to take things slower. At one point they are basically about to do it, until Natsuo makes a stupid and mildly rapey comment about not being able to stop himself, which kills the mood. Way to go, guy.
Episode 10
I’m rooting for these two, I really am. But damn these kisses feel forced in the anime.
This kiss really says it all. Rui is in love with Natsuo, maybe to an even greater extent than Natsuo is in love with Hina. But there’s really nothing she can do to win him, and to be honest it’s kind of painful to watch.
But hey, at least her increasing desperation to win Natsuo helps get us some fanservice. As hoped, her scene where she washes Natsuo does indeed make it into the anime.
Natsuo is weak and if he were an upstanding guy, would never allow Rui to wash him. But, he’s young and horny and stupid. Most guys would probably be just as weak. It does feel a bit strange though, especially since by this point he’s effectively going steady with Hina (and was already busted with Rui once before).
I guess as a way of easing his guilty conscience, he asks for Rui to turn the lights off so that he can’t see her naughty bits as easily, which is a bit of a bummer for us.
Yep, she grabs his dick.
Here’s how that scene looks in the manga:
By the looks of this, this scene will only be half as nipple-tastic as the manga’s version was. I hope I’m wrong.
Natsuo badgers Hina for a bath together in way that so sad and cringey it makes me wonder why I want to see them together so badly in the first place. Eventually, she gives in, only for Rui to burst on the scene to cockblock.
Overall Thoughts:
Hina busts Natsuo kissing Rui at the end of episode eight, but by the start of episode nine she’s already forgiven him, kissed him and probably would have even had sex with him if not for him saying something stupid right at the crucial moment. Natsuo must be considered a very handsome guy, because it’s definitely not his game that is carrying the day.
I know that’s actually pretty common for an MC to be clueless with women, especially in harem anime, but given how seriously a smart series like this has handled the subject, it sticks out like a sore thumb. A dumb harem anime like To Love-Ru could get away with anything, a serious anime like this one can’t.
There was a LOT of kissing in these episodes, and while I’m all for serious dramatic kisses with no sound or movement, by the time you pull it off for like the 7th time in 3 episodes, it starts to get awkward.
All of this isn’t really a critique of the anime, it follows the manga beat for beat, for the most part. They even got that scene in where Hina’s ex reveals his divorce after all, they just put it slightly out of chronological order probably for storyboarding reasons.
Fanservice wise, the anime did a pretty good job here. Though seriously, it would be nice if they maximized the nude scenes as well as they maximized the awkward kissing. Hopefully they get more out of Rui’s bath scene here than they did in episode two.
