‘You should show your true feelings through your expressions and words’
Summary: N/A
There are no words. Is it wrong that I think that this is one of the best anime episodes from this entire season so far? Like, seriously, I am in LOVE with this anime… The characters, the comedy and the ridiculous plot… it’s all just so amazing! Why haven’t I read the novels yet? How could I have overlooked this gem?! You know what this anime/light novel needs? A Visual Novel adaption! Good idea right? Haganai got one, Sakurasou got one, hell even Date A Live is getting one so if/when we get one I’ll be the first to import it from Japan! But I digress…
Episode 4 is by far the best episode in the series so far. I’ll admit that I’m sad about Azuki’s arc ending so quickly, I mean, two episodes and it was 
over with? I guess I should’ve expected it from a 12 episode anime series… But that doesn’t mean those two episodes were bad! They were a great two episodes that really did Azuki’s character justice and from what I can see the rest of the series is going to perfectly handle every other characters stories from now on. I think this is the one and only Tsukushi episode we’re getting though, but what an episode it was! It wasn’t even Tsukushi that made it awesome! I know that I complain about how I prefer moe Tsukiko over dandere Tsukiko (and I still stand by that!) but episode 4 have proved to me the dandere Tsukiko is awesome in her own right. Even though she can’t properly show her emotions she’s still the same character with whom I fell in love with in that very first episode. This episode flaunted her character as a whole, she’s a morally driven character who only wants what’s best for everyone else and the problem is see can’t see that by trying to fix everyone else she’s only hurting herself further. Let’s look at the meat bun ‘incident’ at the end of the episode. Her ability to express emotion was supposedly within that bun and because she only wants Tsukushi to be her old self she allows Tsukushi to eat her… as weird as that sounds… It was so frustrating to see Tsukiko giving up on herself and this may in fact mean that Tsukiko will be expressionless forever, but I can only hope that there’s another way for her to retrieve those lost expressions… other than eating a meat bun, that is.
So where was I? Oh right, Tsukiko. I loved her character the moment I laid eyes on her. It’s not that I’m into girls who look like little girls (because y’know, I’m not a pedophile) and it’s not that I’m into the whole dandere thing, in fact I tend to find dandere characters annoying and unnecessary, but it’s that fact that she’s so forward and insightful. Sure she stalks Youto every now and then and maybe she does have some independence issues, but she’s just a girl who wants to be accepted for who she is… who for who she was. Now, she’s just an expressionless character going through the motions and this episode highlighted that perfectly. Tsukiko is in love with Youto, that much is at least obvious, and Tsukiko wants nothing more than for Youto to love her in the way she loves him. Problem is Youto is your generic ignorant character, who (now the next part isn’t so generic which is what makes this show so great) calls himself a pervert and yet doesn’t seem remotely interested in developing any emotional bonds with girls. Sure he can comment on their bust size and sure he can squeeze Tsukushi’s boobs, but when it comes down to it Youto is nothing more than your generic dumb ass character, who can’t decide who he likes and is oblivious to all the signs. That being said, Youto isn’t a bad character but i’ll get back to that later. So yeah, Tsukiko is an awesome character and I hope Youto ends up with her in the end. I just wish the rest of the character would treat her better! Especially you Tsukushi but I will (again) get back to that later.
So where was I with Youto? Oh yeah, he’s not a bad character. In this episode Youto tries really hard to fix Tsukushi and Tsukiko’s relationship and in the process ends up alienating Tsukiko and pushing Azuki further away. Before I continue to talk about Youto, I’d first like to talk about the small part Azuki played in this episode. So in this episode Azuki was sidelined in favor of Tsukushi and I can understand why because, well, y’know, it is Tsukushi’s episode after all. By now we should all know that Azuki (like Tsukiko) has developed feelings for Youto and even though it annoys me to say so, whenever Youto and Azuki are on screen together, I immediately forget about Tsukiko and fall in love with Azuki. That’s the only problem with Tsukiko’s character, even though she’s interesting and obviously in love with Youto, she lacks the emotional depth to make the viewer feel a ‘true’ connection to the couple. All though that might just be my harem instincts kicking in… I’ve been playing too many romance visual novels… Where was I? YOUTO! So Youto is becoming ‘that guy’ and what do I mean by ‘that guy’, I hear you asking? In this episode Youto wandered around occasionally saying useful things and pretty much being the butt of every joke. He only has a few purposes: he A. serves as a focus for the girls’ attractions ( apart from Tsukushi’s but I’ll get onto that later), he B. wanders around acting self righteous (okay, maybe that point was a little too harsh/deep for a romantic comedy) and tries to sort out everyone’s problems and he C. is really only there for comedic affect in this episode. Sure he’s the reason why Tsukushi and Tsukiko are… ‘back on track’ but what about the ‘date’? What was that even about? Yes, yes, Tsukiko needed a costume to wear and yes, I know the meaning of fan service, but seriously, Youto! Get your shit together man!
I’m really enjoying the comedy in this show! It’s the kind of light hearted/perverted humor that I’m into, y’know? One of my favorite parts about this episode was when Youto fooled Tsukushi into thinking that he had a younger brother! What a fool she is! I guess that’s why I like watching shows like this every season, I mean, sure, watching five deep and ‘depressing’ shows every week is great, but when I get to blog about Oregairu and Mushibugyo (and this!) it makes my whole week better/brighter! I think everyone should try and find at least on anime per season like this that they can enjoy. Not only does Henneko make for an enjoyable season, it also acts as a kind of humor filled sedative. So I’m on edge after watching Shingeki no Kyogin and Devil Survivor 2 and I need to just chill and relax. I break out the Hennko on Saturday and boom! My entire week it ten times better. I’m just saying, it’s episodes like this that make watching anime so fun!
And now that moment you’ve all been waiting for… what do you mean the end of this post? Get out! Ehem, but I digress… THE PLOT?!?!?! So yeah, 
turns out that Tsukushi doesn’t hate Tsukiko… it is in fact quite the opposite… she wants to… marry her? Yes the fact of Youto on the left there perfectly depicts my face when I heard this, I mean, what the hell?! I did not see THIS coming. If Tsukiko was able to show emotion I’m pretty sure she would have had some kind of breakdown. There’s Oreimo and then there’s… THIS. She wants to… marry her? Marry her? That wasn’t some sort of mistranslation right? I’m not totally delusional? Marry her sister…? Yes, that’s totally normal. So yeah, I was ‘cool’ with that aspect of the episode because A. it was hilarious, B. it spices things up and C. it’s going to make for many a humorous moment from now on, but what about Youto friend zoning (or should I say family zoning) Tsukiko? Not cool man. He has no idea why Tsukiko is pissed at him and it annoys me so much! She loves you and what do you do Youto? You announce to her creepy sister that she’s the equivalent of your sister whilst you know she’s listening? What’s wrong with you! Where was the confession of love? My heart nearly skipped a bear several times during this episode because at least five times I thought someone was going to confess but nope. Nuh uh. Apparently not.
With all that being said, I’d just like to write one final paragraph (before I the conclusion) to talk about the romance in this show. So far it has yet to disappoint, I mean, I’m glad that the girls are being so forward and I’m glad that there isn’t an extensive list of girls to deal with, but when Youto is calling Tsukiko his sister and completely disregarding Azuki I start to get pissed off. Yeah I know that Tsukiko and Youto will end up together in the end and they’ll overcome this, but my childish visual novel instincts kick in whenever I have to watch a scene like this and I want to reload my game and select another dialogue option! It’s not my fault that I’ve been ruined by Otaku culture! I don’t like to seem like I’m complaining so I’ll end this paragraph on a good note… this show is so cute! I love the general interactions between character and I love how open Youto is, but I just want to see him make love to some girls confess to one of the girls! Is that too much to ask? I guess I’ll have to wait a couple episodes. I guess it would kinda suck if they did all that now…
What have I missed out… Oh! Tsukushi built the stony cat! That doesn’t explain it’s magical powers, nor does it explain why they’ve disappeared all of a sudden but I guess those are mysteries for another time… OH! OH! OH! Youto’s house is gone… Yeah! That’s pretty much the premise/the set up for the next episode and it looks set to be an awesome one… I wonder which girls’ house he’ll stay round… maybe both? And what about his parents? Isn’t he at all worried about THEIR disappearance? Next episode shall hopefully be Youto’s redemption episode and his relationship fixing episode because as it stands he’s only got Azuki for a friend and now that she knows that she hasn’t got a chance with him, things might start to get a little tense… but that’s just speculation!
So to conclude, I loved this episode and I loved Tsukiko. I just really miss this Tsukiko:
