Recap: Junichi… I mean Oojima and the gang hit another roadblock on the path to candidacy: Every campaign needs money. With his secret desert and a little help from the yaoi bait, the club presses on. However, not everything is golden, as through the young Aomi we see another dark side to this insane asylum of a learning institution.

Okay. That’s it. I am seriously really tired of how Koi has been yanking my chain. You can’t just keep getting away with pulling out a heartwarming and informative group session about the importance of campaign financing, and then end your episode like that.

Oh well, for how much I lament this story’s rollercoaster storytelling style, it does allow it to throw its punches well. I suppose just like in real life, heartwarming and carefree moments can turn sour at the drop of a hat. I do quite enjoy the lessons on small-time political practices, it’s the kind of quaint funducation that made the market scenes of Spice and Wolf a real treat. I’m really hoping for more from these characters, but it would appear that this episode’s purpose was to highlight Aomi and her plights as a financial aid student and the heavy downsides of having a student-governed school.

It really does seem like anime have grown a lot bolder this year, either that or I haven’t been noticing the gradual change. Just this season you can see a lot of heavy hitters taking on big topics; Natsuyuki with its very adult take on romance, Kokoro’s body-swap existentialism, Decline’s heavy cultural cynicism, and now in Koi we have student bullying. This scene is absolutely oppressive, set to a spinechilling metal track with enough of the act done to get a picture, but still some left to the side of the scene, with no way of knowing just how extensive the damage was.

I hope this is an issue that gets tackled soon. Dropping such a huge bomb and letting it fizzle like they have with all their other dramas has been really frustrating, and this seems like one which could be best tackled with a forward approach. I will give this show that it just proves how much I’m enjoying the story. Even though I’m finding a bit of disappointment from its pacing, I am loving the intrigue and depth that is continually hinted at as the weeks go on.