This week I watched Play It Cool, Guys right after a particularly intense episode of To Your Eternity and let me tell you this show is an amazing palette cleanser. Even if you’re not watching it now, if in the future you watch a really emotionally draining series and you need a little anime just to settle your spirits and even you out, then Play It Cool, Guys is the perfect pick.
This week, we started off with a bang as things just picked up exactly where we left off last week. with Hayate tutoring Shn on his first day at work in Shin’s sister’s café!
One of my favourite moments is when Hayate was wondering how to address Asami (Shun’s sister) as his new boss. He was hearing Souma call her by her name with a simple san as an honorific and thought it was a bit too casual, then Shun called her nee-san and Hayate almost choked. And then he remembered that she actually is Shun’s sister…
Ok look, it doesn’t work when I just explain it. I realize that. I,m saying it in my head and I see it on the page and it doesn’t sound funny or cute at all. It sounds dull and a little dumb. You have to see it to understand. It was a really great moment.
To be honest, that sums up the whole show. You have to see it for yourself. It just doesn’t work when it’s explained. So instead, I,m going to assume you watched the episode and just chat with you.
Because I’m so used to seeing crazy hair colours in anime, I assumed Souma’s hair was natural. It took me by surprise when Hayate said he wasn’t good with people with dyed hair. On top of that, t think of Souma as a scary person just doesn’t work. Even if he does have dyed hair and a tiny tattoo, he’s a little ball of glee! He’s the least scary guy of the bunch. Hayate is going to give himself an early heart attack with all that anxiety!
Play It Cool, Guys often uses misunderstandings as the basis of jokes. That’s a pretty classic type of humour. But what’s unusual about this show, is that the misunderstandings get cleared up right away, sometimes before they even have any impact. Hayate found out that Souma had graduated high school before he even said a word about it. And that makes the humour very different. It brings you more into the heads of the characters and their thoughts rather than their actions.
And did you like how Souma called Hayate “approachable” instead of calling him a dork? Because that was totally a polite way to say dork, wasn’t it? And I am using it from now on!
