Slowdown
A moderate at best episode for ecchi. There wasn’t too much in the way of plot either, so definitely a forgettable episode.
Hayato and Ouka continue their petty squabbling, and Riho recommends to Hayato that he do his best to get along with her, or risk the success of the soon to be opened cafe. He endeavors to try to get along with her after Riho scolds him, but this just leads to another slap fight between the two, with Shiragiku and Ami witnessing.
Hayato manages to make amends to some degree – he compliments the clothes Ouka is wearing, and Hayato is told that it is her that made them, and that being complimented made her happy. Earlier in the episode Akane told Hayato that a compliment is all it would take, and it seems she was right.
Shiragiku pounces on Hayato from behind, after being told the “smell” of his coffee has improved. Shiragiku seems to only have heard the “smell” part. This leads to yet another moment for service this episode.
It’s now Ami’s turn to shine. It helps also that the shine on this tanktop looks a bit absurd – also her tits look like inflated balloons, whereas in previous episodes, and even earlier in this very episode, they looked more natural. Not sure what happened with this scene, maybe they wanted to change things up because she’s in a different outfit?
Hayato and Ami have a talk, in which Hayato realizes it’s his grandmother that’s allowed for him to bond with all the girls so quickly. Ami was insinuating during their talk that she was the one that did it, leading Hayato to think of her as a bit of an airhead.
Ami accidentally dropped her dumbbell on Hayato’s laptop – at the same time, Shiragiku tells Hayato that the company he had his stocks invested in was going bankrupt due to a scandal. This causes Hayato to rush to his laptop to sell all his shares, but because it’s broken he is unable. Shiragiku asks that most people split their stocks to mitigate risk, but apparently Hayato decided to go all in. Unfortunately this means Hayato is a moron for taking such a huge risk and not putting in a stop order to prevent this exact situation from happening, because even if his laptop was working, that stock would have probably been tanked well before he learned of the bankruptcy. He should have a smart phone ready at all times to make trades, but what’s done is done. This means that Hayato is now all in on his cafe, as his portfolio was just massacred.
With the cafe reopening, the first customers begin arriving. The two men are of course enamored with their outfits, but also with the coffee, which they compliment and claim they will return again.
Hayato’s grandmother was in debt to the ugly old bastard above, which means Hayato now owes to him as well. And like any fictional creditor, he seems to be an over the top caricature judging from the way he talks. I don’t mind though, I was in fact, wondering where and how the drama would begin – any story needs some kind of antagonist.
While I’m not the biggest fan of this protagonist, I have to give credit where it’s due. He stepped up and put the ugly old bastard in his place when he put his hands on his girl/employee. He was nearly ready to hit him earlier as he threw one too many insults towards his grandmother.
With the end of the episode we are through Chapter 7. With the appearance of the old bastard, we now have our looming antagonist, and I imagine he will return again to cause some drama. But also, the girls will return as well each episode to provide at least a bit of service. That’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it? Speaking of which, it seems the next episode’s preview had more than its fair share of Riho, perhaps she’s going to be in the spotlight again next episode.
