Not gonna lie, this episode was WEIRD. And not in the usual way that this show tends to be. The first half of the episode didn’t stick out to me and felt more like a couple of throw-away puns. Though the first season did have a few stories that didn’t really stick with me, so it was only a matter of time before some showed up in season 2. But it’s probably because I’m not a huge fan of underwear humor so that story was kind of lost on me. Though I admit I laughed really hard at how freaking Kaguya slipped it into conversation, hoping Shirogane wouldn’t realize… but he did and the face he made was priceless. (Though it was great to see innocent Kaguya appear again and freak out over the smallest of things) And then while the hand massage segment was silly and funny to watch, it felt like it didn’t really go beyond that and felt more like a gag sequence. But I can’t say I didn’t laugh hysterically at how Shirogane was sent into a world of pain from Kaguya just really digging deep into his muscles lol.
And hey, the guy felt so much more light afterwards, so it seemed to work.
We also get the inclusion of Iino in on the chaos of this dysfunctional student council. However, so far I’m still not sold on her joining the group, especially since she was only used as a single gag like three times through out this episode. I was hoping to see more of her develop and interact with the group but instead we just got her coming in at very inopportune moments and then running away, building a worse view of the student council members. Though when she came back in to find 3/4 of the members having their mouths covered in tape was pretty funny when she was about to help Chika against the boys.
The second half of the episode was definitely more my cup of tea with idiots being idiots over a particular manga series as it just creates a chain of tears. It started with Shirogane’s sister to Shirogane, thinking that there’s no way a story would hit him so hard he’d cry. Oh how he underestimated the manga’s power as it was even able to crumble Ishigami’s critical mind. I related so much to Ishigami in that instance since I always go into something and able to call things out, but the build up still gets me and I’m just a crying mess. Just shows if done right, any trope can get you. Just like Kaguya-sama lol. That whole sequence of everyone trying to get Kaguya to read the manga was extremely relatable considering who HASN’T tried to get a friend into something you ended up enjoying a lot? I know the struggle of trying to make a series sound super enticing to a friend but they just aren’t biting. Of course, I’m also guilty for being the person being recommended to, whoops… But in the end, Kaguya did end up reading and was in tears. Even Hayasaka couldn’t escape from crying, which was great. Though I admit I was banging my head against the table when the three idiots kept dropping spoilers for the manga when trying to get Kaguya to read it.
BUT LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT LAST SECTION. At first I was really confused as to why the ending came up so early despite there being several minutes left of the episode. I got my answer soon enough when everything turned into a freaking shoujo manga. I was DYING seeing the style change and how everyone was acting either out of a shoujo or an otome. Either way, it was a RIOT. Even the narrator changed voices to accommodate to the change. The fact that they were acting out this shoujo romance because all three of them wanted to fall in love after reading the manga was just so hysterical. Not to mention it even nearly made me start shipping Ishigami and Kaguya together because of course I would go for the more sullen of the two “leading males.” I suppose I can ship shoujo Ishigami and shoujo Kaguya together since they are completely different from their normal selves.
I honestly cannot fathom what I just witnessed in that final story, but a part of me doesn’t even care. They were making fun of shoujo anime tropes left and right and I just about died. From the overuse of bubbles and sparkles, to the “ugh” sounds every character makes when their heart moves or something. Not to mention every line that comes out of the two male leads’ mouths were just dripping with smooth velvet. It was just so over the top, but also so good. I feel like this would be the only time you’ll find both Shirogane and Ishigami be so smooth and confident like this. Though I really couldn’t take anything they were saying seriously with all the bubbly effects going on around them. Everything was just so bright. I also liked whenever they were brought back to reality, they’d assume the normal art style but would return to shoujo style after a while.
While I didn’t quite care for the first half of this episode, the second half had me howling. The fact they were making fun of the shoujo style was masterfully done and I can only hope they’d do something like this again, style change and all. After such a plot centric episode last week, they wanted to slow down a bit. So I can understand why this episode felt a little filler-ish. Hopefully we’ll see more development with Kaguya and Shirogane since this episode felt a bit like a stalemate. Also props to Kaguya’s voice actress. She always does such a great job portraying Kaguya’s different moods. I absolutely love how she can switch between different tones so quickly and making her nearly sound like a different character.
Though I’m glad that Shirogane and Ishigami ended up enjoying their “aquarium date” together in the end. Bros need some time to hang out together.
