For the first time since the start of the series, the girls don’t go hog wild and immediately dive into yet another fragment. So instead, we get an episode that more or less sets the stage for what looks to be the final chapter of the series. We start out by having the girls help out at Octave Cafe, and because Asuka can’t help herself, the girls have to cosplay for funsies. But this is just an excuse to burn some time until Seriousuka shows up. Why? Is there an emergency? Nah, Seriousuka just wants more of their family’s famous miso. There’s an amusing moment in which all of their friends keep mistaking Seriousuka for Asuka (well, they should look the same), but Yu is the only one who isn’t fooled. That’s your BFF for ya.

Then towards the end of the day, Asuka tries to sneak Seriousuka home so that she can feed her counterpart, but then her grandmother runs into the two of them. Asuka simply tells everyone that she had met someone who looks exactly like her (and has the same name), and her family actually buys it. Not only that, when pressed for Seriousuka’s last name, Asuka goes, “Siri.” Get it? Siri Asuka? Oh ho, this show is so clever. Anyways, everything is once again hunky-dory except for a brief moment of tension between Asuka and her father. She wants to take over the family business, but the old man thinks she’s too frivolous and carefree. Essentially, he doesn’t trust her to uphold the standards and values that they pride themselves in. Harsh, but it’s probably a fair assessment.

In the end, Seriousuka had a great time, but an emergency forces her to cut the visit short. She has to return to her fragment, which is already in bad enough shape as it is. Naturally, Asuka wants to follow her counterpart and help out, but Seriousuka insists that at least one of them should have the luxury to be free of worries and sorrow. Plus, she can’t really help at all, can she? She can’t fight. Well, obviously, you’re not going to stop Asuka with just that and that alone. Of course she’s going to dive headfirst into danger. The very same drawback that her father disdains is going to be the reason why she’ll be able to protect Seriousuka. But after all those fun and games in the past three fragments, it looks like it’s time for the girls to serious. I love how blase they are about. If baddies show up, we’ll just fight them! Haha, yeah…

Anyways, I still really enjoy the character interactions in this anime. The plot’s pretty weak, but there’s something endearing about Asuka and her friends. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’d watch a slice-of-life version of Akanesasu Shoujo without all the fragment stuff, but I can see why something like that might be tempting. I thought watching them help out at the cafe would actually bore me, but nope. Not one bit. Despite her father’s concerns, I think Asuka legitimately carries the show with her personality. Like with Double Decker!, it would’ve been nice if this anime had gotten more time in order to patch up some of its narrative shortcomings. It would also be nice to have more real world stuff to balance out all the fragment stuff, but oh well… what can you do?

Anyways, I usually watch and cover Golden Kamuy and Ken En Ken: Aoki Kagayaki, but I’m really short on time this week. I gotta get a release out on time for tomorrow (we don’t release on the day before the weekends or a long break). And naturally, I got Thanksgiving stuff to sort out too. So sorry, but I’ll have to catch up on those two shows next week. Or maybe I’ll cover them later this week when all the action dies down. We’ll see.