- Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life
- Studio: Pierrot
Considering the very awkward interactions we have seen so far between the prez and the shota (can’t wait for the Disney movie) this episode could have been much worse. Humm that is not the most positive way to start a review. The shows may not be the bast but the Winter Games certainly are!
It seems our last two leading men are going to get introduced as a pair. Instead of dedicating an episode clearly to either one of them, we got to explore Ryo’s backstory while mainly following Seiichiro around. Our previous 3 main boys are relegated to comic relief roles which suit them quite well. I found that they were all really enjoyable as walking punchlines even if Yuu did ham it up a bit. I hope the trend sticks.
As we catch up with the closing tag of the last episode, we find out the scuffle in the library was caused by Ryo just basically lashing out at our boys out of the blue. What we hadn’t seen is that he was already a little annoyed at hearing them openly discuss their love for Sanrio charas when he overheard some girls making disparaging comments about it and decided he had to say something. It’s not unlike when strangers feel the need to tell others that their sexual orientation is wrong or shouldn’t be public. At this point we find out Yuu has quite the temper (which we already knew from his episode) and jacket pulling ensues.
Despite the catty title of this post, I actually do understand where Ryo is coming from here. He is drastically overreacting, which is pretty par for the course with this show, but his motivations are clear and easy to understand. As a 13 year old boy who has had his masculinity challenged his entire life, seeing people embrace the very things he is desperately trying to push out can be annoying. I’ve known 13 year old boys get really angry for less, to be honest.
OK I have to stop going into so much detail, that was just the first few minutes of the episode. As we know, the prez steps in and brakes things up but Ryo runs out before anyone can talk to him. The rest of the episode is mostly from Seiichiro’s point of view as he attempts to befriend Ryo and get him to chillax a bit.
We get a touch of Puroland promotion towards the end of the episode but not much in way of product placement this time. The manservice was also pretty nonexistent except for a slightly creepy peeper shot of Ryo sleeping at the beginning of the episode. It’s unfortunate that Ryo actually acts like a hormonal 13 year old would because it makes him a lot less charming than the remaining characters. I assume we are getting an exaggerated version of his moodiness mostly so having him act like a normal person later on will count as character growth.
However, Seiichiro is a delight. The Archetype reliable golden boy, loved by all, good at everything he does, serious but not to a fault. It’s a stock character but not a bad one. So far, he seemingly doesn’t have any deep Sanrio related trauma (I new I would have to write that some day…) or hangups about his interests. In fact, he has been nothing but honest and mature the whole time. Normally this can get boring but it’s important to level out this cast a bit.
I’m also hoping Yuu, Shu and Hase keep their little comedy sideshow going. I’ve never had so much fun with any of them before. Since we are running out of people featured in the OP, I’m going to assume the next episode will be the conclusion of the SeiiRyo arc and we can at last start of some actual story lines. There’s a small chance there aren’t ever any actual story lines…
Predictions:
Plot: Everyone will want to go to Puroland
Character: Shota will loose his temper
In the interest of fair play I haven read Astral Gemini, Leap and TPAB’s posts yet but I can’t wait to see what they thought of this week’s episode. My prediction is that AG didn’t like it but might enjoy it more if it was with pretty girl charas instead, Leap was relatively neutral and TPAB found it contrived…Do I get points for these?
He’s probably not 13. Given they are in highschool and not middle school, while I don’t know the exact age in Japan, I’m thinking he has to be at least 15 or 16. Which is probably my biggest issue with the show, the characters act way too young.
I ot to be honest – I don’t see that much of a difference between 13 and 15….
Huge developmental difference.
Have to agree, their isn’t much of a difference between thirteen to fifteen yar olds imo.
It depends on the individuals of course but I know I was as much of a confused, angsty dork at 15 as at 13… Still confused and dorky but got over the angst part!