Episode 4
The fourth episode is easily my favourite so far. Ryo and Rumi get into a debate about whether crack or canon pairings are better, and it had me laughing so hard because not only can I relate to that particular discussion, but it also reminded me of the many, many debates I’ve had with friends over whether subbed or dubbed anime is better.
Toshiaki is confused by the whole canon-vs-crack debate, even after it’s explained to him, so he resorts to asking Rumi what kind of BL character Ryo would be. She thinks it over and pronounces him an uke, and then offers Ryo a boys love CD recommendation.
The scene finishes when the blonde student from the previous episode, Yujiro, sneaks up on Toshiaki and proceeds to grope his butt. This ticks off Ryo, who would’ve taken a picture (against Toshiaki’s wishes most likely!) of the BL moment if he hadn’t been talking to Rumi.
The second skit centers around a female classmates, Kana-chan, asking Rumi about the sudden change in Ryo’s behaviour, ie he’s more friendly towards his female classmates now.
After class, Ryo asks Rumi if they can go somewhere private together. Her heart starts beating faster as she considers whether Ryo might be trying to ask her on a date, but nope, he just wants to go to a BL manga corner so he can browse in peace under the pretense of them being a couple. Afterwards Rumi and Ryo leave to look at shoujo manga in another store, since Ryo finds buying shoujo manga harder than trying to buy BL manga in terms of the weird looks he gets from other people in the store, I’m assuming. Well that was nice of Rumi!
Episode 5
In the first half of this episode we get a closer look at Yujiro, who is very effeminate and appears to enjoy teasing Ryo, who in turn enjoys getting free food from Yujiro during cooking class.
Yujiro introduces Ryo to his friend Keiichi, and lets slip that Keiichi is in the cooking class so he can learn to cook better for a friend of his. Ryo gets excited when he asks whether Keiichi’s friend is male, but Keiichi gets that familiar “you’re a weirdo” look in his eyes and the introduction is ruined.
After class Keiichi and Ryo are talking in the halls, and Keiichi tells Ryo about his friend Reiji. This is the friend Yujiro had mentioned in cooking class. They pass by a window and happen to see Reiji snoring on the ground outside, so Keiichi wakes him up.
Reiji is, to be nice, a ball and chain for Keiichi. Anytime Keiichi has something nice going for him, Reiji basically fucks it up for him. And he doesn’t even realize he’s doing anything wrong either! *facepalm* Ryo correctly deducts that Reiji is a selfish idiot who should be more considerate of his friend Keiichi’s feelings… but that still doesn’t stop him from taking a cellphone picture of Reiji hanging off Keiichi’s back.
My thoughts: For being a cute comedy about boys love, sometimes Fudanshi throws a curveball and catches me off guard. I’m thinking of my previous assumptions about Toshiaki’s gropers – I’d always assumed he was being touched inappropriately by female classmates, not guys. That shot with Yujiro was a bit of an eye opener (and since Toshiaki is straight as far as I can tell, it also explains why he seems to especially hate being groped).
Of course, the groping scene also reminded me how much I dislike it when ignoring people’s boundaries or consent is played off as comedy. Toshiaki is obviously pretty uncomfortable with Yujiro touching his butt, and yet it’s portrayed as being totally ok, which it’s not.
I didn’t like the fifth episode at all. The scene in the cooking class was just awkward, and Reiji is a horrible character. Annoying, selfish and completely out to lunch about his “friendship” with Keiichi that doesn’t seem like much of a friendship at all really.
I’m still not in love with this show, but it’s cute and it’s definitely something different, so I’ll keep sticking with it.
Author’s Note: Whoa, sorry for the brainfart everyone, I just realized this review is super late. My apologies!