Recap: Haruka brings the ESP club back home for summer vacation. Not surprisingly, Grandpa goes a bit too far in preparing for their arrival.

Jel’s Thoughts: This week was essentially part 2 of Kotoura-san’s drama break, so it’s fitting then that the cast actually goes on vacation. Most of the episode is the usual anime summer vacation events (the hilariously over the top Haruka Land not withstanding), but it’s all written so funny and sweet you can’t help but smile as you watch. They even manage to make a funny breast inferiority complex joke, which is something of a lost art these days.

As much as I’ve been enjoying our fun, well deserved rest from the show’s more serious aspects, clearly it’s not going to last forever. Of course the most obvious indication is Haruka’s mother appearing at the end of the episode, but let’s put some pieces together: Presumably Grandpa was joking when he called Haruka Land’s haunted hospital an abandoned psychic research facility, but was it really a lie? We really don’t know why Haruka’s family is so rich or why she has psychic powers, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to think they are connected. Maybe Grandpa was using his own family for his psychic research and now he feels guilty about it? That would certainly explain why Grandpa is so determined to make sure Haruka is taken care of, or even why Haruka’s mother was particularly bitter about her powers.

Of course a part of me would rather they avoid the science fiction elements altogether and leave the explanation of Haruka’s power to our imagination. Aside from possibly giving us some insight into her mother’s feelings, I don’t think it would serve much purpose. As we’ve hit the halfway point of the series though, I think I finally trust the writers of Kotoura-san know exactly what they’re doing. Every time I think the show is going to veer of course the right the ship with a well timed joke, sweet romantic moment, or a hard shot of drama. So I’m feeling pretty confident in whatever direction they decide to go from here.