I looked back over my notes only to realize I don’t have a central theme to hone in on. So… I’ll just cover this episode as a series of bullet points.
— With the cameras rolling, Hottiehara is in full force. It also makes you wonder where Tamon finds the time to work out, because he almost seems non-functional when the cameras are off. Case in point, the guy switches immediately into gloomy mode as soon as the cameras are off.
— Oh, in that case, maybe he stole it from another country.
— Utage’s reaction to a shirtless Tamon strikes an odd chord with me when it shouldn’t. After all, she should be a normal teenager with all the requisite teenage desires. At the same time, however, we all know that the vast majority of anime characters are pure to the point of being practically sterile. So it’s kinda like when Ken is attracted to Barbie, but he doesn’t know what to do with said attraction.
— This is a reference to a rakugo where a father is indecisive on what to name his kid, so he gives his kid every single name. It’s a gag that has been done before in other shows. I’m not sure what makes it funny here.
— Ori’s in the corner, whining about how Utage isn’t drooling over him like she does for Tamon. I’m sure he has his own Utage out there somewhere. He just has to find that person. But no, what he doesn’t want to admit to himself that he wants this Utage: which leads to my next point: maybe he could snag this Utage if he wasn’t such a dick all the time. “I was such an ass to her and her oshi! Why isn’t she fawning over me? I’m so confused!” I know, I know, self-reflection is hard.
— I groaned audibly when Ori had to pull Utage into his futon in order to hide her from Keito. I really thought Tamon would come back and catch those two in a “compromising” position, thereby kicking off a chain of unfortunate misunderstandings. I’m actually surprised this didn’t happen. The mangaka had to have considered it. The cheap drama was right there for the taking.
— Japan and its freaking headpats. And again, Ori has his own fans. Imagine having Ori as your oshi. The guy is too busy trying to steal his groupmate’s fans to even pay attention to you, but he’s not even good at that either!
— Afterwards, we immediately go for another overused trope instead: Utage and Tamon find themselves trapped in a storage shed. Ah yes, the classic scenario for two lovers to get some precious alone time. Except these two aren’t lovers, they’re not even close to being lovers, and they don’t even stay trapped here for all that long. So… what was even the point? It feels like we’re just speedrunning these tropes for no particular reason. What are we even doing with this story? What are we even trying to accomplish? Tamon remarks that he has been “watching [Utage] more than [she realizes],” which ’causes her to blush. Aaaaand… that’s it. After he says this, people quickly find and rescue the two from the shed. Uh, okay? I guess the romance is slowly developing…? At like 5 cm per second?
— As it turns out, the director had rigged the storage shed so that you could only open it from the outside. He intended to get Tamon’s genuine reaction. Everyone’s messed up on this show.
— The show is already trying to redeem Keito in our eyes. He’s not really a jerk! He actually really cares about Tamon! He’s only a jerk on the surface! He’s also not really a money-grubbing loser! He has five younger brothers to care for. Oh sure, I guess it’s okay to shit talk your fans as long as you have a sob story. But seriously, the way this goes down just makes me laugh. Keito tells Utage to get rid of the carrots for Tamon. WELP, TIME TO DO A 180 ON HIS CHARACTER.
— Near the end of the episode, Tamon and Utage share a moment on the beach. The sun is setting, so the mood is perfect for romance! Except that a wave somehow manages to catch Utage and Utage only — even though she and Tamon are practically right next to each other. Bro, c’mon. How does that even work? The tides are just like, “Fuck you, woman! Fuck you in particular!” Physics aside, Utage is now all wet, so Tamon gets an opportunity to be gallant and do a little flirting. Whoa there, pump those breaks! You wouldn’t want to be caught speeding through this romance!
— I dunno what I’m supposed to feel here? Laugh at Ori? Eh, don’t really care to. I’m apathetic to his character to the point where I can’t even feel the schadenfreude. Feel bad for him? Not in the slightest.
