Ooo, sweet lord. Itsuki was on fire this episode. And Ichika continues to be such a bro for her sisters. She truly is the ultimate support character.
I think she might be stuck in that position though. Itsuki and Miku are so far ahead in the romance field. Miku gets so much screen-time! I mean she’s also great, which helps, but so much screen-time! And Itsuki was first point of contact and there have been comments about how similar they are and that’s why they butt heads. So she’s definitely always in the running no matter what. She just needs to be more honest with herself. Yotsuba is going to have some sort of psychotic episode soon enough and Nino is still stuck in her tsundere mode with the tsun turned all the way up.
On a another note, Itsuki and Uesugi have finally made up! Yay! And all it took was pretending she was a different sister…
Jokes aside, I’m glad they’re finally on good terms again and that moment was actually very poignant. I hate that awkward, ‘both sides waiting to apologize but are too prideful’ crap that always happens. I maintain that Uesugi is one of the best harem protagonists because of situations like this. He is a shining example of how you don’t have to be a dense, dumb main character to drive a story forward. More so, it looks like Itsuki is now super officially in the running for the harem. Everyone seemed pretty shook when she said he should sleep over again the night before the exam.
The exam which, as expected, kind of cleared itself up. I knew the cramming and studying wouldn’t solve the problem, but damn they are all so dumb. I get it in most cases, because some of them never studied before or even cared, but still. Damn. In one of her rare moments of compassion, Nino’s technically true statement (but definitely still a lie) saved Uesugi from being fired. +10 points for Nino. The speech Uesugi gave right before hand was so sweet. Say what you will about him, but the guy pays attention and he cares.
Did anyone else notice he also doesn’t sit by the window in the back corner of the classroom. Blasphemy! He blends in so well with the class I have no idea who the main character is when they do a wide shot. I do like that the girls are good at different subjects. I wonder if they’ll maybe explain why each girl is good at that particular area. Like, we know Miku is good at history because of her obsession with old, bald war generals. I’m curious if they all have something similar going on. Anyway, maybe now they’ll try to focus on the girls teaching each other rather than just him teaching them. The sisters have gotten noticeably closer since the start, but I think there’s still some kinks to work out. I wonder if the love rivalry will get more intense once they get closer.
Speaking of love, this episode had so. many. adorable. moments. I had to cut out like 20 screenshots so I wouldn’t be spamming the crap out of this post with pictures. The art quality has continued to impress me. Even semi-distant shots have retained most of their quality, which is something that I feel often gets ignored. So many sparkles, fluffy colorful bubble backgrounds, and they even threw in a sakura blossom shot. That’s when you know they’re going all out.
Of course they ended up being late for the exam, but between Ichika falling asleep standing up and Itsuki (and then Uesugi) getting stuck on what to buy, I really didn’t mind the pointless bit of conflict. That teacher waiting at the entrance straight up looked like a serial killer waiting for his prey. I also have to give Uesugi props for trying to follow along with the Yotsuba impersonation plan. It was a valiant attempt? It certainly made me laugh out loud, which is more than the usual slight-excess-puff-of-air-from-my-nose that jokes usually get. Speaking of laughing, Yotsuba’s ‘I passed all 5 subjects?!’ at the end got me. She’s such a lovable idiot.
Another thing I found funny was that Itsuki only gets good moments when she’s pretending to be Miku. Is this a sign of what’s to come? Is Miku really the one true best girl? I actually don’t put her at the highest spot on my list. If any of the other girls got half as much screen time I’m 100% sure I’d like them just as much or better.
Just to put this back out there, we know he gets married to one of them. I keep this in the back of my head constantly while watching the show. It’s nice to know there’s a conclusive ending but it’s driving me nuts! I can’t tell if they’re trying to fake us out by putting Miku on the screen so much and then like Nino or some shit is gonna become the ultimate, god tier girlfriend down the line. This show might make me go and read the source material which I almost never do…
Also, last week I speculated that Uesugi’s grades might drop from him cutting back on studying. Nope. Not even close. Boy is a genius.
Real talk though, that opening shot of the eggs benedict made me so hungry. I think I’m going to make some tomorrow.