“Like A Maiden In Love”
Fridays at 11:00 am EST on Crunchyroll
A new in-game event sparks a conversation between Moriko and the boy at the convenience store, and Lilac finds herself looking at her guild members a little differently. With Yuta unable to sort out his feelings for Moriko, Koiwai leaps into action.
Jel’s thoughts
I think the main reason I can put up with the dumb coincidences in this show is the fact that every episode delivers progress. We not only see relationships developing, we also get slightly closer to the truth coming out in real life. I’m cool with sacrificing a little realism so long as we get something of value in return, and so far that seems to be the case.
This week we see Moriko getting more comfortable with opening up to Lily and whatever is going with Lilac. I’m not crazy about Lilac’s development as she seems to be defined by whatever man she’s into. I read the situation as she was interested in Hayashi but seeing he is taken she is now after Kanbe. Not that huge a deal since she’s a side character and there’s only so much I want to focus on her, just saying. The more important bit of progress is Yuta noticing the parallels in Hayashi’s story to Moriko, giving me hope we may get some closure at the end of this.
Of course what we really come to this show for is the too real awkwardness any time Moriko steps outside and this episode does deliver. I’m sure we’ve all been there. Just earlier today I found myself running to the store having not shaved for a few days, in bad need of a haircut, and finding a few weird stains on my beat up old hoodie I was wearing. I spent most of the trip looking over my shoulder hoping no one talked to me. I know it’s even worse for women who may also end getting accosted by creeps like Koiwai. Look, I know the guy means well but his method of trying to help Yuta is a little more roundabout than it needs to be. Also, you don’t get that good at being a creep without practice… ANYWAY point is it was a relatable scene that clearly stemmed from the author’s experience.
As Roundup readers may know, I’ve been somewhat disappointed with some of the returning shows this season, so I’m glad we have something new that is genuinely good to fill the gap. So as long as we keep this nice, steady pace of progress going I could see this being my favorite show this season. Hopefully they keep it up.
The Glorio Blog 
I thought he was nanpa-ing to help out Yuta, until halfway through the conversation where he actually realised it was Moriko. Only then did I realise that the first half of the conversation had been him just being generically creepy.
Yeah he’s still kind of a creep and I’m kind of annoyed they’re going for “lovable creep” as that shouldn’t be a thing, but I suppose it could be much worse.
The progress in this story is nice and the coincidences haven’t been too over the top yet (unrealistic maybe but not the worst for an anime). I’ve really enjoyed this show so far and I’m looking forward to the next step in the story.
They are walking a fine line with me but yes, so far they are doing great.
I’m right with you. We’ve been starved for a good romantic comedy for a while anyway, I’ll take some old fashioned convenient coincidences if they deliver on the strength of character development we’ve seen so far.