Like last week, this episode provides us with a continuous story from start to finish.
Part one, “Kaguya wants to give a gift.” should of really been called “Kaguya wants to give a lift.” as the general plot of this part is that a sudden Typhoon has hit and shut down the subway system. Leaving Shirogane without a way to work or to get home, Kaguya goes to offer him a ride but realizes that a doing such basically counts as a driving date. So she leaves it to him to ask instead, yet somehow, I don’t think the idea of asking her to give him a lift even crosses his mind. Even as he calculates the risk and reward benefits of hailing a taxi and how much it would cost him.
So as Kaguya tries to bait him into accepting a ride with her, he completely misses the point and bikes his way out of the school still in the rain. Running through a huge puddle and soaking Kaguya in the process. Honestly, it’s a wonder that both of them didn’t end up coming down with a cold or worse.
Part 2 of the episode, “Chika Fujiwara wants to pay a visit” is probably the funniest part of the episode. Though in this case, funniest doesn’t mean best. In this part, they acknowledge the fact that someone needs to deliver the class handouts to Kaguya while she is ill. Chika comments that she’d visited her in the past when she is sick an Kaguya takes on a very childish form when she is ill. Of course, Shirogane wants to see this and in the end. Ishigami wants none of this because he is horrified of being around Kaguya alone but he ends up in on their game of concentration anyway.
At which point, Chika does all she can to cheat her way to a victory and go see her friend on her sickbed. Too bad, both of her cheats get caught and the president even uses her own cheat against her to snatch himself a victory in the end. Ishigami mocks poor Chika for being such a cheat and for letting her cheat get caught and used against her. In the end, Shirogane is the one who is going to take the handouts and other various things like drinks to Kaguya’s mansion.
“About Kaguya Shinomiya, part 1” takes the cake as the best part of the episode and is just really cute. Hayasaka has been shown various times throughout the series, but she stands out in this part of the episode as she does everything she can to try to hook up Shirogane and Kaguya. Pushing him inside when he is ready to chicken out and leave after delivering what he needs to deliver. She makes it clear that nobody will bother them for three hours, the room is soundproof and Kaguya won’t remember a damn thing of this when all is said and done.
Yet Shirogane is honestly the pinnacle of restraint, he speaks with her and apologizes for maybe making her ill. Even when she pulls him into bed with him and says ‘sleep with me’, he is perfectly restrained and just actually falls asleep next to her.
I’m so proud of both him and the anime for going this route. It stayed perfectly on point and in character, while other animes might of pushed a more awkward and uncomfortable route.
Shirogane’s so pure. This poor boy does not deserve to be kicked out so violently in the middle of the night by a sobering up Kaguya.
Also Hayasaka with the magnifying glass looking at Kaguya’s bed was also very funny.