“Anything but Tempura!”

Sundays at 12:30 pm EST on Crunchyroll

Yamada and Miyamura track down the Fourth Witch, a shut-in who hasn’t been to school for some time. She warns them of a potentially major disaster at the school, and using her power the club tries to prevent it.

Jel’s thoughts

The more I think about it this might be the best episode of Yamada-kun yet. The comedy and romance aspects are there as usual, but there was a sense of urgency that we don’t usually have. Burning down the old school building was a perfect choice for the episode’s plot line. It’s something serious enough that it demands everyone’s immediate attention but not so tragic that it would feel out of place in the context of the rest of the show’s silliness. Having an important goal lets us see the best the cast has to offer and seeing them work as a team was really endearing.

There were also a couple of recurring patterns I noticed that contribute to Yamada-kun feeling so unique when on paper it really isn’t. The most obvious one is having Odagiri continue to be independent from the group. I wouldn’t say she’s an antagonist, it’s more so her and Ushio acting as foil characters for Yamada and Shiraishi. It’s one more thing to keep the Supernatural Club on their toes and prevent the show from turning into a club comedy about nothing. I also find it refreshing that we keep meeting new male characters as well as the Witches. It makes for a well-rounded ensemble cast and not just Yamada collecting girls for his harem. Finally, I’ve mentioned many times up until now how each new character is not what they appear to be at first. In this case we are introduced to Maria as a shut-in (or fine, hikikomori you weebs), but rather than hiding under a blanket in the dark we find she’s quite outgoing and charming. On the flip side, Tsubaki appears to be a Street Fighter nerd and likes to cook, but it turns out not even Yamada can beat him in a fight. Considering how little time we have to flesh out each character, giving them unexpected traits goes a long way toward making them interesting to watch.

While my opinion of this episode is still overwhelmingly positive, we are still seeing signs of the adaptation being a little rushed. For example, Yamada mentioned last week that Otsuka knew who the next witch was but it’s never explained how or why, we just cut straight to Yamada and Miyamura at her doorstep at the start of this episode. I also felt like they never properly explain Maria’s power, or at least demonstrate it to the degree that we’ve seen the other powers played out. It was basically “I kisser her, now I know what happens (or happened)!”. I know those are very minor complaints but sometimes it’s the details that keep you from being truly great. Then there’s the ever-present Fan Service issue which this week was mostly victimizing Odagiri for comic effect. I don’t really have too much more to say at this point other than “yup, still there” so take that as you will. Overall all though this was a great episode, capped off by a rather adorable scene with Yamada and Shiraishi that re-affirms they are the heart and soul of this whole series. We’re getting dangerously close to the end now, so I hope we have enough time for those two crazy kids to work something out.