Penultimate
Episode 11:
This episode introduces a new character, as well as featuring some minor Ouka service.
This second redhead is Ouka’s younger twin sister, Kikka. She arrives to check up on her sister, and upon learning of her situation and the people surrounding her, proceeds to unload on her and the members of the cafe. This earns a slap from Ouka who was quite angry at how callously her sister was insulting her friends.
Ouka soaks and sulks in the bath, and Riho damn near thinks she might die as she appears so careless floating inside.
Hayato and Ouka have a bit of a moment, where Hayato consoles Ouka, but also tells her that from Kikka’s perspective, she was genuinely looking out for her sister, whose perspective was reasonable – that Ouka may have fallen in with some shady people.
Ouka and Kikka have a bit of a confrontation at the end of the episode. They are eventually able to make amends however. Ouka wants Kikka to apologize for the things said, but after seeing the situation taking place in the house, Ouka gives the universal face of disapproval.
Episode 11:
This episode has the highest amount of service by volume, but is so strange in its presentation: whether it’s the impenetrable lightbeams, absurdly thick fog, blank boobs, or shots featuring absolutely blinding light, there’s a lot that should be done for the BD release to make this an enjoyable watch. Still, there are some good shots to be found.
It’s often joked that some harem protagonists must be impotent upon repeatedly not taking advantage of the situations they are presented. There are a variety of excuses provided so the writers can avoid making their series a hentai – sometimes the protagonist is oblivious to love, or they may have some kind of curse that prevents anything from happening. Terrace has Hayato simply declare that he “isn’t interested” in that kind of stuff, but he is also clearly a bit oblivious as well. If Akane’s “please fuck me” face wasn’t enough, walking around in his room at night wearing black panties would have granted sight to a blind man, so this is absurdity beyond the point of reasonability. Also, Akane just about outright confesses to Hayato, though in a roundabout way
Shiragiku overheard the confession – perhaps she’ll be inspired to take action herself?
Here begins the bulk of the service for the entire episode, and honestly the entirety of the second half of this series. As I mentioned before, there were some very puzzling decisions made here, so make sure not to judge fully until the blu-ray’s are out.
The beams make a return, as opaque as ever, unfortunately. I find the decision very bizarre given what is seen of Ami later, but I’ll make mention of that when the time comes.
Nothing to be had here, it seems. I did try a few other stills from this same scene, but still there was nothing.
The sweetshop lady makes a return. I suppose she’s here for the “mature” and/or musclegirl lovers. More power to those who enjoy such girls.
Seeing Ami wielding blanks here made me question everything I’d seen up to this point. The first question I asked was “why add light beams if you’re clearly okay with showing blanks?” It is absolutely unmistakable – almost her full pair is visible. You can use this as evidence for or against the potential of nipple adding to the BD’s, and honestly I’m really not sure how to regard this.
The sweetshop lady moves the romantic plot along by asking the girls what they think of Hayato. We notice here that Ami and Ouka have yet to fall, and Shiragiku appears to get nervous hearing the question and excuses herself. The real meat here is what’s about to happen between Riho and Akane.
Selectively thick fog strikes again with this frame. I guess the producers were particularly ardent in defending Riho’s ass from the salacious eyes of the viewers.
Of all the shots in this episode, I found this one the most the most intriguing and perhaps even having the most potential. It’s cropped, and also the fog seems like it could be banished fully, as it is particularly thick in suspicious areas. As for the story, Akane notices that Riho has not answered yet, and outright tells her that she does like Hayato, and has noticed that Riho does as well. Riho denies that she likes Hayato, to which Akane responds that that must mean that she doesn’t mind that she has told Hayato this directly.
Hayato is forced to accompany Riho as she shops late at night. This is the perfect setup for the growing drama, and what will clearly be the next arc for the series, Riho vs. Akane. Riho fully accepts her feelings for Hayato during this, but only manages a half-assed confession to Hayato, though she is happy with his half-assed answer.
This was an awkward place to stop for an 11th episode, but seeing how many chapters they jumped ahead I don’t think they had much of a choice. Had they adapted sequentially, we’d have seen another half Riho episode, and the second half a rather strange bit with Hayato being alone remembering his grandmother, which would have been odd to feature this late in the series with all the romance drama going around. Also, they did skip an Ami focused episode, though that one was more silly than anything: in fact, it seems Ami will not be getting her “I like Hayato” epiphany for the anime series. Looking ahead, I don’t see much potential for the finale, maybe they’ll throw some anime original service to compensate? Regardless, one can only wait and see.
