Subculture Anime Blog

HOMO!?

Summary:

Reviewing what they had seen previously, Shino, Takako, Akiba, and Tsugumi attempt to guess what had caused the argument between Daitetsu and Nagi. In the end, the majority of them guess that Jin has homosexual interests. Tsugumi attempts to deny this, but when she recalls conversations she had had with Jin about Daitetsu in the past, even she wishes to confirm this for herself. Because of her absent mindedness in the hallways later, rumors start to spread around the school about Jin and Daitetsu. This disturbs Jin when he learns about this from the others, and even Daitetsu is caused trouble by the events. Tsugumi is taken by one of her friends to see Zange later, who gladly hears her troubles. When Zange finds that Tsugumi does not wish to confess her sins, but rather find a way to apologize to Jin and clear the misunderstandings, Zange suggests that Jin should simply date a girl. Zange offers to date Jin, but after seeing that Tsugumi has some objection against this, she challenges her to see if Jin would choose his childhood friend over her.

While reviewing Zange’s plan in her head while walking home, Tsugumi decides that she must do something herself to help Jin. Upon reaching his home, she seemingly sees that no one is present. However, a panic is caused when she accidentally sees him coming out of the shower. When Tsugumi questions why Jin did not lock the house’s door, he claims that it is because Nagi has not returned yet. This leads the two to remember similar events from the past, but before Jin can bring up something that happened between he and Tsugumi in middle school, Nagi returns excitedly to the house. When Tsugumi mentions what she just saw, even Zange suddenly appears wishing to hear embarrassing things about Jin. This leads Tsugumi to bring out an old album with pictures of herself and Jin inside, describing the fact that she knows almost everything about Jin.

After Tsugumi recalls several events from their childhood, Jin attempts to stop her from discussing what had happened in middle school. Tsugumi does go on to claim that Jin was something of a delinquent, but she assures Zange and Nagi that this does not have the same meaning that they are imagining. When Zange finally brings up her plan from earlier, Tsugumi also takes the chance to express that she has something to apologize for. While alone together in his room, Jin takes the chance to apologize to Tsugumi for what had happened in their middle school days. This dealt with the trouble he caused her whenever his father’s situation had bothered him. Tsugumi quickly states that she was not bothered by this at all, but she is touched when she realizes that Jin has always been worried about this.

When Tsugumi is forced to reveal what she is apologizing about as well, Jin is outraged to learn what had happened to cause him his current trouble. Jin almost calls out Tsugumi’s name when Zange brings up who he wishes to choose for her plan, but Nagi suggests a different idea before this can happen. At school in the following days, several of the school’s students are shocked at the fact that Zange and Tsugumi are both feeding Jin outside. Unfortunately, Nagi later shows that rumors about Jin have not stopped quite yet.

Impression:

How to prevent this show from becoming yaoi? Make it a harem anime! I really wasn’t expecting a whole episode to come out of the joke that was created at the end of the last episode, but the results were absolutely hilarious. From gay confessions for Daitetsu to Tsugumi’s dangerous encounter with Jin, I was laughing non stop throughout the episode (as usual). And although a much more simple situation than it first seemed to be, Jin also revealed what he needed to apologize to Tsugumi for. It’s funny, because despite being a big Nagi fan and a usual hater of childhood friend set ups, I was really rooting for Tsugumi in this episode. She’s easily one of the most enjoyable characters to watch in the series, and I’m glad she isn’t getting stuck playing a forgotten side role. Other than that though, the majority of this episode was kind of a break from the usual plot centered around Nagi. Seeing her without much screen time was a little weird!

I’m continuing to love the general atmosphere this show has, as it’s one of those that really makes me feel like I’m there with the cast. Simple things like a car’s sound to indicate silence while Jin and Tsugumi were together aided this (Sure beats cricket chirps). It’s interesting to see how the animators are taking note of what the fans think of the series too. Note the blue bars that show up while the fake anime plays on screen (something that even I was annoyed about when watching one of the earlier episodes on broadcast). There have been very few series to give such fanservice recently, especially one with such good production values.

Notes:

• Takako’s noticing how cute Tsugumi was while looking at those “books” was so win.
• She looks twice!!!
• You really shouldn’t be bringing those to school, Akiba.
• Jin wants Daitetsu’s body.
• Nagi looked genuinely afraid when Zange appeared out of nowhere!
• Jin’s thing looks like Goku’s.
• I bet Tsugumi wanted to pull down his pants!
• Zange wants so see more and more of Jin’s embarrassing things!!
• I like how Tsugumi blushes.
• T.T
• Tsugumi’s encounter with Jin was coincidentally very similar to Minori’s in this week’s Toradora.