When we last left off, a school festival coming up, and Uka had volunteered to lead the charge. She’s organizing a maid cafe, by the way. When is it not a maid cafe? But hey, you get to see Uka in a maid uniform if that’s your thing. Don’t worry, it’s a pretty tame uniform for a pretty tame anime. Either way, this part of the episode feels a bit disjointed. It’s like a dream as we drift from scene to scene. At first, nobody wants to help Uka, so she’s careening around on her bike all by her lonesome. But eventually, the other girls get over themselves and lend a hand. Ganbatte this, ganbatte that, and our heroine is happy. For now.
That’s not how the saying usually goes, but if it fits, it fits. Natsuko was a little too arrogant in last week’s episode, so she got a taste of humble pie and a good dose of tough love from her teammates. QJ and Memmeln even get to play key roles in taming the gremlin, which is nice since they tend to fade into the background in most episodes. Luke and Justice finally get a chance to talk and at least get bottled up feelings out into the open. The former also learns that he doesn’t have to be jealous of the latter, because Natsuko simply likes to draw new things. As a child, she drew every conceivable angle of Luke, but Justice is new to her. Last but not least, the blob-turned-giant-centipede is eventually defeated by the entire group. After seeing the light, our heroine draws stairs to help her teammates rather than yet another badass creation to win the battle all by her lonesome like in previous bouts. The rest of the Nine Soldiers — Luke, Unio, Memmeln, QJ — have all been sidelined since Natsuko discovered her powers, but they each finally get to play a role in saving the day this time. Even Justice is crucial in attaining victory this week. This will likely be the team dynamic going forward even if Natsuko remains the primary catalyst for victory. So just like that, everything is wrapped up in a neat and tidy bow. Eat your heart out, one-episode conflicts! We can do two episodes now!
All it took was less than two episodes for these two kids to stop hating each other. Maybe they never really did. So to recap things a bit, Saito and Akane are forced into an arranged marriage by their star-crossed grandparents. Because those two boomers couldn’t have the love story for the ages, they’re trying to live vicariously through their grandchildren. Each kid is threatened with severe consequences should they choose otherwise: Saito will be disinherited, and Akane won’t receive any help with paying for medical school (hopefully, the odds won’t still be stacked against her even with money). Imagine that. Imagine screwing your grandchildren over on their education unless they play house. Or so we’re told. Knowing how cheesy these stories can be, there’s a good chance that the two grandparents have secret, slightly more wholesome motivations for pushing Saito and Akane together, but we won’t find out until the last episode (if ever).
This week’s topic of conversation is Kai’s ex Serina. Serina, Serina, Serina. We can’t seem to get enough of her, apparently. Seriously, there’s so much here that I don’t understand. The last time I talked about this anime, I mentioned how high school and everything about it is nothing more than a distant memory for me. But even when I dig deep down into my gray matter, I still can’t find anything that helps me relate to these kids. Like why do they fawn over people so much just for being attractive? Sure, there were popular kids back in my day. But it didn’t mean that the vast majority of the student body did nothing but talk about said popular kids. But all throughout this episode, it’s Kai this, Serina that, Kai used to date Serina, why did they break up, blah blah blah. Bro, who the fuck cares? Where are my nerds at, geeking out over whatever dweeb stuff we like to talk about? Where are the goth-equivalents at, always looking down on the “sheeple?” How about the jocks who can only talk about sports? Some anime — big emphasis on “some” — makes Japanese high schools seem so damn monotonous, and Honey Lemon Soda is one of them. NPC is the apt description for everyone not named Kai or Serina, because that’s what they are; they don’t seem to exist for any reason other than gabbing about the two hot, attractive people.
