Recap

A flasher has been harassing women in the neighborhood and the Kawaisou crew worry about Ritsu’s lack of situational awareness. Sumiko’s friend owns a very specific themed cafe and tries to recruit Usa when she recognizes his ability to wrangle crazy people.

Jel’s Thoughts

Kawaisou dipped its toes into dangerous territory for the second episode in a row this week as some of the casual talk of assault started to set off all kinds of alarms in my head. I really hate to see that particular topic taken lightly so I’m glad they didn’t tap too far into it. I know that it really shouldn’t matter, but I can’t help but consider Kawaisou is written by a woman and this is the sad reality that women must deal with. Ultimately this particular plot line was nothing more than a simple, even lazy “Knight In Shining Armor” setup for Usa to get a little closer to Ritsu. Definitely not the show’s best work but at least it avoids being particularly offensive.

The second plot manages to be much more interesting as it focuses on Usa being more than your average, useless, anime protagonist. It was neat hearing his middle school background, which sounds like it could have been a series unto itself. I suppose a lot of other main characters are good at managing crazy, but I can’t think of another example of someone being acknowledged for it or even accepting it as well as Usa has. His new part time job was a cool twist too. I’m afraid my Japanese culture knowledge is not quite advanced enough to know what he was supposed to be, but I’m assuming it was some kind of male equivalent to a maid cafe? Whatever it was, it was worth it to see Ritsu’s reaction. It made me realize that, again compared to other anime main characters, Usa is actually a pretty good looking and self motivated guy. Sure he’s still naivé and clueless, but it makes him a much more believable romantic lead.

Assuming they follow through with Usa’s new job, I’m looking forward to seeing the new batch of crazies he’ll have to put up with. That being said, I hope they don’t stretch themselves too thin and lose focus on the main cast. I’d be cool with an episode or two diversion, but the Kawaisou residents developed such a nice chemistry together that I’d hate to see it go to waste. The series has been on a long enough streak of good episodes that my expectations are getting high, so here’s hoping we don’t end up disappointed.

Marlin’s Thoughts

Definitely a bit of an awkward topic this week. It’s always weird to hear about this kind of thing in anime. Considering its prevalence, there must be truth to it, but from an American perspective it’s just hard to understand how such a problem could become so widespread. It also does somewhat undermine Ritsu’s strong independent persona that she needs to be “looked after” because of her unawareness. Later on, while I dislike that every person in Kawaisou seems to enjoy trampling over Usa’s ability to make his own choices, but having him be suckered in by his own infatuation was priceless. It’s one of those signs of naive youth that you’d change yourself just to look more appealing to your crush. I’m a bit worried about the idea of the show injecting even more “weird” personalities. As Usa even says to himself, what the show seems to dub bizarre would be another man’s annoying. Here’s to hoping they aren’t quite as infuriating as the majority of the Kawaisou crew. Not holdin’ my breath about it, though.