Episode 4
So when we left this couple last episode, things looked like they were about to heat up in their bedroom. Sure enough Kujou gets down and dirty pretty quick, but Mio’s not fully into it. Yeah it feels great and she’s enjoying that aspect, but she’s a conflicted woman. What if he doesn’t really care about her? What if he’s using her just for sex? She ends up telling him to stop and then runs out of the room.
Mio catches her breath in a quiet corner of the house, Kujou’s words running through her head. What should she do? When Mio returns to their bedroom she finds that Kujou left her the bed, and he is sleeping on the couch alone. That was a nice gesture at least.
In the morning Mio helps Kujou’s mother make breakfast, and there’s some playful banter between the three. Mio and her future mother-in-law then see Kujou and his father off as they begin their daily priest duties. In the evening after dinner, Kujou’s mother suggests that Mio and Kujou take a bath together. Just in case, you know. *nudge nudge*
Episode 5
Mio and Kujou are in the bathroom together, but only one of them is actually having a bath. Kujou has no problem being naked in front of Mio, but she’s far too shy to even take her towel off in front of him.
Kujou says something which angers Mio and she tells him off. Kujou gets a little angry right back, and he stands up in front of her. (No we don’t see anything interesting.) They kiss, and then the episode cuts to a little aside with middle school Mio and Kujou having some kind of discussion about school lunches.
When the little scene ends and we’re returned to our couple in the bathroom, Kujou’s fingers are stuffed in Mio’s mouth. Her inner monologue says that she doesn’t understand Kujou, and presumably his motivations either. What does he intend for her? Does he really want her to be his wife?
My thoughts: The little asides with chibi!Mio and chibi!Kujou are cute, but they don’t seem to add much to the story. And with each episode being only three and a half minutes they seem like more of a time waster than anything.
Also, where was Mio living before she went to stay with Kujou and his parents at the family temple? With her parents? Alone? Did she notify anyone that she has a new residence?
I guess that’s the downside of shorts, that there’s bound to be important information that gets left out or ignored simply because there isn’t enough time to include it.
Mio’s… alright, for a female lead in an ecchi. But she’s still pretty dumb and I wish she would speak up more. Even though she had a crush on Kujou in high school that was years ago, I find it hard to base an adult relationship on one-sided feelings that happened many years prior. Never mind the current circumstances of Kujou lying to his parents about Mio being his fiancée.
The other issue I have is that Mio doesn’t appear to be consenting to all the sexual activities going on between her and Kujou, and that makes some of this a little hard to stomach. Like his fingers in her mouth at the end of the fifth episode – she clearly looks uncomfortable and like she’s not enjoying it. Then she’s not telling him what she’s feeling either. If she doesn’t like something or doesn’t want him to do something then she should be telling him to stop. End of story. I know she did that in the fourth episode, but it should be happening consistently. Dub con is kinda icky for me and it takes away from whatever enjoyment I might be getting in watching (though that’s just me).
I don’t know. This show is kinda cute, but I don’t like the premise of how this couple is starting their relationship (lies and… brainlessness? Coercion? Manipulation?) and there’s not much of a plot due to each episode’s length. I was hoping this show might be different than the standard ecchi, so maybe I’ll wait to review an ecchi that has full length episodes.
Show Status: Dropped
Author’s Note: Although I am dropping this title, I would still like to apologize for the delay in getting this review posted. Episode five came out right as I was leaving on my trip and then I’ve been super busy with work, life and getting sick since I got back. Sorry!