Summary:
Rika teases Kei a bit about Etsu, but really drops a bombshell on Kei when she admits that she has a boyfriend. Haruto is a bit of an introverted weakling in Rika’s tennis club, and one day she volunteers to give him some private training. Bit by bit, Haruto levels up his tennis ability until he is no longer a complete scrub, but he doesn’t want to lose the private lessons. Rika likes Haruto as well, and with her mission to seduce him successful, she matter-of-factly asks if they should go out. Haruto is overjoyed, and yet because Rika is so independent and in control, he cannot tell if she was just joking or not.
Day after day, Haruto tries to hold hands with Rika, but he never succeeds. Even after getting third in the athletic festival (after getting last the previous year), he is insecure about his strengths. Finally, Haruto decides to go for the direct route and asks Rika to hold hands. Rika remembers Kei’s advice about leaving an opening for boys, and leans in for a kiss to reward Haruto for trying so hard. While all this is going on, Koyoi visits the temple with her brother, only to be completely intimidated by the “Demon King” Misaki and shown just how far apart their levels really are.
Reaction:
While I liked the karaoke opening, Koyoi has to be the most annoying person to do karaoke with. I kept wanting to smack her with Kei’s tambourine! Still, Koyoi always seems to lure Misaki over, and it seems that Misaki (as an only child) takes a liking to all little sisters. I liked Koyoi’s DS-RPG imagination, and Demon King Misaki came complete with skull pasties and everything. Since there was so little Rika fanservice, it was up to Misaki to pick up all the slack. I really liked how Koyoi deeply regretted wishing for world peace and felt she should have wished for bigger breasts instead (although it would have been more devastating to draw a “terrible luck” then). Meanwhile, Yoshihiko’s wish for Koyoi to find a different boy to like remains uncertain.
This was my favorite episode so far, and I think Rika may be my favorite middle schooler. As strong and independent as Rika is, I liked how she still feels embarrassed about holding hands and kissing. Haruto was really sweet and earnest, and I appreciated his slow improvement. The face-bonk during the first kiss was especially awesome, and while their relationship might be the simplest, it is my favorite. The Kei-Etsu paring runs a close second, however, and it was very cute to see them in their winter gear using the same excuse.
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This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Yay another person who likes Dobashi.
I think for ero appeal she wins over the other four…so hawt when she leads Terai on. Well I should say they’re all good at whatever they’re good for. Just hoping they can do the same for Chikura…
At least Haruto has the height advantage. I was really afraid that when he asked to hold her hand, she was going to stomp-crush the can and then slap his hand away
.
Yet with all that ero appeal, her story is devoid of unnecessary fanservice. For a pantsu-full show, this is progress.
I think this was my favourite of the show’s relationships so far too. I don’t think that’s the case despite the simplicity, but because of it. Hooray for the face-bonk!
The Koyoi + Misaki segment was the highlight for me, since the Dobashi and Haruto story wasn’t all that fun until the end.
Oh god, I think I love Dobashi-san. For me Hatsukoi just surpasses K-ON! I think. I love how the show always follows a mixed set of characters each episode, HL has really become my favorite show if the year. It’s like I have giggles of laughter & admiration for the whole cast. & trust me, that’s really f@#ed up coming from a guy.
Such a narrow and stereotypical definition of masculinity… ;P
Great episode, and the world peace / bigger boobs wish brought to mind Mahoromatic and made me laugh even more during that segment… poor Koyoi is never going to beat the Demon King, no matter how much of a Hulkamaniac she becomes. And the awkward Rika/Haruto first kiss was also excellent, as noted. I didn’t have very high expectations for this show when I started watching it, but all in all it has been a very pleasant surprise. I’m looking forward to next week and more of the hawt Demon King.
After each episode, I read the corresponding manga chapter, and I was surprised to see that in the manga, Demon King Misaki is just wearing a generic RPG-ish outfit. That the animation team decided to redo the outfit and replace it with skull pasties blows my mind, especially since most of the important pans have been nearly exactly copied from the manga.
On a related note, Gengorou didn’t run around in his speedo in the manga either…
I wonder if the skull pasties were an allusion to Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi as one of Mune-Mune’s incarnations had similar, er,
clothingcoverings. Did the animators have Gainax on the brain? And I’d rather not have to witness further instances of the speedo, but if skull pasties are the trade-off then I won’t complain.I thought Misaki suddenly dying to have a little sister was the first really obvious contrivance that has popped up in the series so far, but the encounter was entertaining. Right down to the fact that she’s so hot, she needs no pants in winter.
Kei and Kusuda are amazingly cute but the winning moment is easily the head-bonk. Dobashi’s archetype so rarely gets any play in these kinda shows, I had to love this episode.
I am starting to think: Saki-nee x Koyoi would be hawt. Very hawt.
Yoshihiko’s prayer for Koyoi to fall in love with someone else wasn’t gender specific (‘someone else’) so if he didn’t add on the part about fixing him up with Misaki, we could have had the above. Haha.
I particularly liked how Doba-chan took off Terai’s glasses. Would have been even greater if their guys’ school uniform had a tie for her to use to pull him closer prior to that!
I think the lack of tie was ok, because it resulted in the slight tippie-toe move that Rika had to use to reach Haruto’s lips.
i am actually less appreciate the interaction between rika and haruto in the manga. however, i really touched by their simple yet down to earth relationship in the anime and kudos to jc staff for the epic animation!! not to mention i really like kotobuki (rika) normal yet calm voice ^^