I am officially in questionable territory as the anime has changed the timeline of the manga and I 
have not read the entire content of this manga, so this episode we go into ‘holy shit I can’t stop fucking laughing because I am not prepared for this content’ territory. I cannot judge whether this change is good for the storyline or anything else, so as you read this keep in mind I do not know the context of the changes. Somewhere in the rest of this anime is content I have read and familiarized myself with, but it is not the content this episode showed us.
That being said, holy shit, I could not stop laughing this episode. Kae has a new favorite bishounen and anime and this is immediately great because none of the guys know anything and Nishina of course does, making it seemingly a great advantage for her. I shrieked as I watched this new anime trailer where the guy they like, Akane, transforms into his Lord’s armor. This is not just a sentai style transformation, it’s like they combined a magical girl transformation with the mere concept of a yaoi anime and made this majestic piece of fiction within fiction. I’m surprised this isn’t actually an anime because it is probably one of the most successfully gay things I’ve ever seen.
But then trouble rears its ugly head as it turns out that Shima. . . thinks that Akane should be the 
seme whereas Kae thinks he should be the Uke!!! (Literally it is said by Shima “Akane is less beautiful if he is the uke!”) This turns into a dreadful war. On my God. . .is this a thing? Is this something yaoi fans fight over? I just assumed they kind of enjoyed their control over the fandom for the glorious porn fest it was. As a het shipper I am always Shinomiya “Yeah well “woman character” is obviously going to end up with the lead-” and I’m pretty accustomed to that dirty look. (But In Japanese fandoms apparently they still think women are cute even if they’re a potential ‘threat’ so good on you Japan! Really though, I think the hate for women in shows has gone down a lot in recent years, so hopefully this is just fiction reflecting life.)
To be honest though, I totally think Akane needs to be on the bottom. He falls over his Lord when he transforms like his Lord has to catch him, It is probably the most convinced I have ever been that two men are into each other watching that small sequence. I think this show is making me a fujoshi, someone please send help.
I will say this: this episode Nishina and Igarashi almost completely get taken off the board for me for 
a reason I did not anticipate. Nishina proved today she is very competitive and is willing to fight Kae even when she shouldn’t, but Igarashi proved he is willing to be there for Nishina and be friendly to her even when he wants to pick at her. He even began to have jovial teasing towards Nishina. If Igarashi isn’t going to be with Serinuma I kind of hope the two of them get together. So far they are the only characters who have had to compromise and grow to deserve Serinuma. In a sense that is as simple as, yeah, they both deserve her!
Or maybe they deserve to grow up more and see their own important. All things considered this is high school and a perfect opportunity for these very young characters to learn what really matters. And on that note, Mutsumi doesn’t have to change at all to really be a good match for Kae. He is honest with her when she needs feedback, smart, always willing to try and understand what she likes, and he is still #winning in my book.
Damn this show. I ship things so hard. It’s almost like. . . it’s almost like it was all on purpose!
Oki