Demi-chan wa Kataritai – Episode 6 [The Takanashi Sisters Are Undeniable]

This is perhaps the last of the episodes looking at either the main or supporting cast, so this week it was Hikari & Himari’s turn to have an episode about them. As the title suggests, this episode is all about their relationship with each other.

The episode begins with Tetsuo having been invited over to the Takanashi household, where he learns that the twins’ father stays at home and does the housework while their mother is the breadwinner in the family. Huzzah for reversed gender roles, yay Demi-chan! The episode doesn’t delve into why the girls’ parents still feel it’s necessary for one of them to be near Hikari now that she’s a teenager, something that Himari had referred to a couple of episodes previously, and I’m still hoping for that to be touched upon somewhere in the remainder of the series.

We see throughout this episode that the twins are close, but I get the feeling that Himari simultaneously loves her older sister and yet resents her for how the people around her treat her. Because Hikari’s a demi she’s often given a lot more slack, and her cutesy nature allows her to get away with things that Himari is not allowed to do. Between the two sisters, Himari is definitely the more mature and responsible one. She’s even kind enough to do her older sister’s complicated hairstyle every day, though it sometimes makes her late (which just feeds into Hikari’s immature, dependent personality, but that’s a tangent for another time).  In the end, although Himari tries to get Hikari to be a little more independent and less immature, she’s still more or less her (older) sister’s keeper. Eep.

The scene where Himari was panicking over why Hikari asked her to do her hair was cute, and it reinforces that despite all their bickering, the sisters do love each other fiercely and are very close. Plus there were several other moments in the episode which pointed out that the family unit as a whole is very tight-knit, such as Tetsuo noticing that Himari and her father go as far as to lighten their hair so that it will be closer in color to Hikari’s and hopefully make her feel a little less different. Awww, that’s family love for you!

Furthermore now that we know that the parents of Hikari, Kyouko and Yuki are all in contact with each other, we are starting to see some of the bonds developing between their families as well. In particular Hikari and Himari’s father is being very dedicated to helping the other two girls if they need it, and observing these new relationships makes Tetsuo realize he needs to do more to support the girls as well.

Anyways, aside from the scene with Kyouko and Tetsuo at the very end, this was a pretty awesome episode. There was even a brief scene between Sakie and Tetsuo (OTP!), and I’m glad to see that Tetsuo is continuing to try to be the good guy by not reacting to Sakie’s succubus nature, whether she’s being intentional with her come-ons or not. Like I said in a previous review, I really hope these two get together because they’re a super cute couple.  And it would be really nice for Sakie to find a romantic partner, since it looks like Tetsuo might be the only guy in Japan who can consciously look past her demi nature to see who she is inside. ^_^v

My thoughts: I know it’s meant to be funny, but the one and only thing that makes me uncomfortable about this series is the awkward behaviour from Hikari (and sometimes Kyouko) that blurs the line between a teacher and their student. Holy shit some of these scenes really make me cringe, like the scene near the end where Kyouko kept stroking Tetsuo’s hair and he had to fake being asleep. I felt just as uncomfortable as Tetsuo looked!  x__x

Despite Hikari’s immature personality, I really like her. She’s just so damn cute. I hope that Himari is able to help her be more independent, so Hikari will get some character growth. Being cute’s fun and all, but teenagers have to grow up eventually. Maybe Hikari will transfer her crush on Tetsuo to one of her classmates?

I’m really curious where this series will go next! Will we get a flashback episode? Another episode focusing on a specific couple of characters? Some bit dramatic plot? I can’t wait to see!