This episode was a real mixed bag for me. The first half was amusing and had me giggling out loud at a few spots, but the back half was a complete turnoff to me because it dealt with Garo’s crush on Noela.
I felt pretty bad for Mina, Vivi and Reiji in the first half. Well, maybe not Reiji because it was his idea that Anabel train the girls to help them get stronger. Poor Vivi basically died, haha.
I did note that Mina wasn’t wearing her brooch despite being off the pharmacy’s property, so maybe that’s a small missed inconsistency? Or maybe she had it hidden under her workout shirt? Not a big deal either way, just something I noticed.
All that being said, it was pretty freaking hilarious watching Reiji give Mina and Noela his new power potion and see them grow insta-muscles. Reiji’s seiyuu gave a fantastic performance! And yeah the scene felt a little fanservice-y what with Reiji trying not to gawk at two buffed up minor females, but the humor of the scene overcame that awkwardness in the end.
I laughed out loud when Mina and Noela were talking to their muscles and complimenting each other. Mr. Six Pack-sama! (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง
Thankfully the effects only lasted for an hour, after which Mina and Noela turned back into their normal selves. It was also a good idea that Reiji never gave Vivi a potion to try because what would she have looked like ripped? A slime puddle with muscular gel-arms? xD
As for the second half of the episode, as I already mentioned I didn’t like it. Garo still annoys me as a character and the mechanics of the scene continue to be at odds with my own personal morals.
In a nutshell, Garo asks Reiji to make him a medicine that will help progress his “relationship” with Noela. He wants to be more than friends but not quite lovers, which gets a thumbs up from me because hello he’s still a kid. So’s Noela for that matter.
What did interest me about this part of the episode was the discussion about hormones and pheromones. Noela reveals to Reiji that she has an instinctual aversion to Garo, not an active dislike. The reasons she doesn’t like to be around Garo are because of things like his mannerisms, behavior, and scent (pheromones). This science is not new; the function of pheromones in humans has been known for awhile.
Learning about this aversion gives Reiji the idea to create a type of pheromone liquid using his own genes! A couple drops of blood, to be specific, mixed with some other liquid. Garo is to sprinkle the gene-liquid in his food for a week and supposedly Reiji’s genes will swap with Garo’s own cells and cause Garo to smell like Reiji. If Reiji’s plan works, theoretically Noela will fall for Garo.
As it turns out, Reiji’s plan actually works! Reiji decides to run an experiment by blindfolding Noela and having her try to guess who is Reiji: A tomato sprinkled with Reiji’s new pheromone liquid, Garo, or Reiji himself.
Noela eventually does guess correctly whether A, B or C is Reiji, but admits that she only knew because B was audibly panting. …Gross. And yeah, Garo comes right out and said that he got excited by being sniffed by Noela.
So, here’s where I get on a bit of a soapbox. This type of fanservice/fetish thing is absolutely not new to anime. And I realize that perhaps due to cultural components in Japan, that sort of behavior is more readily accepted by its anime fans than in the west. That being said, I don’t like it at all. It grosses me out.
But the icing on the bullshit cake comes at the very end when Reiji pressures Noela to accept Garo and stop avoiding him around the pharmacy. Why? Because it will make the workplace easier for everyone. Excuse me while I roll my eyes so hard they fall out of my head.
It’s this ending right here which really highlights the societal differences between Japan and the west. Japan’s society functions on the concept of collectivism – the interests of the group override the interests or wellbeing of the individual. Society in the west is the polar opposite, where individual rights are often trumpeted as being more important.
So instead of Reiji being more firm with Garo that Noela doesn’t like him and isn’t at all interested at being romantically involved with him, Reiji tries to stall and ultimately caves to trying to find a solution for Garo. I will admit that Reiji often tries to find a compromise to Garo’s ideas, such as creating something that will cause a minor change but not outright sway Noela into falling for Garo.
But then again, Reiji is not respecting Noela’s autonomy nor her right to choose what’s best for her. Time and again he’s created a new medicine to help Garo instead of just listening to Noela. Who cares that she has an instinctual aversion and not an actual dislike to Garo? Reiji should have listened to Noela’s answer and then gone back to Garo and said, “Sorry, she just doesn’t like you. Please stop bothering her or you’ll have to stop working here.”
Reiji does try to point out at the end of the episode that Garo’s avid fawning over Noela is partially what’s pushing her away from him, but Garo never really seems to listen when Reiji brings that up. And by the end of the episode, the onus is still on Noela to reach out to Garo with an olive branch. Sighhhh.
Reiji’s brief voiceover at the end of the episode describes how Noela’s friendship with Garo improved slightly after she was pushed chose to stop avoiding Garo on the days he worked at the pharmacy. I’m sure Garo will take this as a hopeful sign that he still stands a choice with Noela. >_<
The preview for next week’s episode showed that Paula will be returning. She’s alright but I’m really hoping we’ll see my girl Ririka sometime before the finale because she’s only had one half-episode and she was kinda cute! Maybe Ririka’s being ignored because she saw that Reiji was close to Mina and Noela, so Ririka lost hope of ever having a chance with him?
