Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru [Caught In the...]

It just makes me wonder what she's seen from the sidelines. She's probably been involved in their lives far more than what's been shown.

Episode 10: Ai-chan is still epic win. Swimsuits? Screw that, let's try out wedding gowns!

I kinda liked how Eita dealed with the harem this episode.

I'm also not sure how Saeko knows about the fake relationship.

Episode 11. In which development happens.

Saeko calling Ai both Tsun and Dere was hilarious. Even more so when Ai went along with it perfectly before realising it herself.

And then Chiwa was friend-zoned. She's a lot more acceptable now since Ai took her down to Earth, though.

I don't buy the argument against Suzu, though. "Too perfect that would only make sense after a year, and not after a few months" is just stupid. Chiwa's observation was far more believable. But given that, Saeko's perception is also far more believable in the first place, even if the way she worded it isn't.

Interesting development. Eita shows more chemistry with all of them than he's previously done. Especially with Ai in the scene with Kaoru. He also seems very relaxed when alone with Suzu, and she does as well. Probably because they don't have to keep up the act, but also because they seem like they're very close even without their deal. It's funny how they seem more like a couple when they're not pretending to be one.

It's also interesting to see the chasm between Suzu and the other three girls. I think that may be an important push for Eita/Suzu.

And very good Eita/Kaoru teasing. I enjoyed that one.

edited 16th Mar '13 11:41:39 PM by AnotherDuck

His aunt's argument seems like a pretty clear reference to known brain chemistry science related to love and infatuation. The so-called "honeymoon phase" of relationships is a chemical phenomenon that makes your feelings for someone you love most intense in about the first year-and-a-half of a romantic relationship. That's why she referenced the "one year" thing — Masuzu's answer lacked passion in a time when her brain should be bombarding her with the good drugs. That makes it suspicious, especially since her answer was "too perfect."

I'm kind of bummed Kaoru isn't going to get a shot. I know I shouldn't expect especially progressive social viewpoints from my Japanese animes, but I just feel bad for the guy. Probably better than it looking like he will get one and then surprise he's a girl*

Ai remains the best.

edited 17th Mar '13 1:22:14 AM by Einander

Eita Aunt is awesome gal! Saeko route aproved

Ai is also awesome gal! (We knew that much already): switching between Tsun and dere on request

I think I might actualy start liking this.

PS: When Saeko started go on full throtle about Echi stuff, I knew it immidietely. She is Frau Kojiro

edited 17th Mar '13 1:30:53 AM by Tenzen12

"Tsunko"and "Dereko" really were the highlight of the episode, and this was a pretty darn good episode.

Also, regarding the argument against Suzu, what said. Suzu's answer was too perfect. It's something you'd pick up from one of those relationship self-help books, or a particularly bad episode of Dr Phil. You won't be getting such rational answers from a girl who only just got together with her boyfriend.

Yes, I know about that phase. But it doesn't mean that's the one and only way to react. I know that from personal experience. From someone who thinks a lot about what you should do rather than what you want to do, in a culture that emphasises that you should do things a certain way rather than how you want to (especially in a genre with many such conventions), it's really a very natural answer. There's also a difference in what you'd say you'd do, and what you'd actually do, in particular when you're in a hypothetical situation so you can analyse your response before deciding on it, rather than reacting on the fly if it actually happens. So no, I don't buy her explanation. The very fact that it's supposedly perfect means it's not. Not to mention that it's still a very natural answer anyway, as establishing a common interest is a natural way to form a relationship whether you're planning on it or not.

I kinda have to agree with Saeko, Masuzu's answer was too perfect.

Good episode, really. Strikes a nice balance between comedy and serious stuff. Hime even managed to make me chuckle. It's also interesting to see the Chiwa, Ai and Hime be buddy-buddy; this of course will play a part in Suzu's character development and further her relationship with Eita.

And yes, "Tsunko and Dereko" was friggin' hilarious. And then she follows up with "I don't like him, I love him!". And her obsession with the stamp. Still the best girl. Not just because her antics are funny, but when you see her hang out with Eita like that you can see that they can end up in a relationship. Third party(?) Kaoru notwithstanding. I'm going to laugh if Kaoru does turn out to be a girl.

edited 17th Mar '13 6:40:45 AM by fillerdude

Episode 12. Not the final one.

It felt kind of like a middle episode where very little actually happened, and mostly served to set up the last episode.

They're so bad at acting as a couple... Though it might've been the calmest Thanks for the Mammary I've seen in a long while. From the two involved, at any rate. The others were just stupid.

My favourite line was probably, "You got me." And she pretty much stopped being evil. Probably. But I really do like that it wasn't the protagonist who did that, but the rest of the girls. It's refreshing. Way too often everything happens because the protagonist is the only one who can solve problems.

Agreed. That friendship moment was good.

Episode 13. In which it doesn't end.

I mean, it kind of concludes the part with Suzu, but still opens for more. Kind of lame, as usual.

I felt it was a little over the top to have it all up on the stage. I don't think that added to it. If anything, it made it even more seem like an act, which is contrary to the point of it. "Are those tears real?" Though maybe it highlighted it. I'm not sure.

Either way, I think Eita and Suzu are a great match. She claims to hate him, but can't help but love him. He wants to separate himself from the other girls, but doesn't have the heart to hurt them. I think one of the main reasons Eita doesn't want to actually be in a relationship is because of all expectations surrounding it. Suzu doesn't give him any of that, because she doesn't think she deserves it. And she's even got a valid point there, since she is rather mean on occasion, which would cause lesser people to claim she doesn't deserve someone who's as kind as he actually is. But due to the below-mentioned respect, I don't think that's true at all.

Saeko doesn't seem reasonable at all to me. She only seems to make things worse. Though the competition was good.

I don't think the other girls are reasonable either. They call Eita out on a lot of things that is full within his right throughout the series. The one who does it the least is Suzu, who has the most right to do so. In a way, I think that shows more respect for him than what any other of the girls show. Even if she's got a rather mean spirit.

I really like the face plant shown in the ending credits.

Overall, I enjoyed this series. Eita's and Suzu's fake-but-is-it-really relationship was interesting, and Ai has always been a funny and lovable character. Even Chiwa, who as I mentioned I had no love for shaped up to someone at least respectable, and Hime grows a little as well.

edited 30th Mar '13 2:29:25 PM by AnotherDuck

I wasn't really interested in Eita-Masuzu resolution. I love the Ambiguous Situation they have going on, and I'd be disappointed to see it ever really resolved. They obviously like each other to some degree, but we don't know how much, and I don't think they're really sure themselves. They've done all the steps of interpersonal intimacy in the wrong order, and combined with the acting, that leaves them perpetually unsure where the relationship as a whole is, even before the question of the other person's honesty. Eita and Masuzu is capital-C Complicated, and it's more interesting that way.

Ai(-chan wins!) was surprisingly great. Her character was really just a few gags repackaged and shuffled around a bit, but they kept enough restraint to keep it from wearing out, and Tsunko/Dereko was the single best scene of the anime, bar none. Hime was probably the second-most interesting of the three satellite haremites, and her final scene really helped with that — her response to "Villager A" was great.

I never really liked Chiwa, though. She suffered from the same problem as every other Patient Childhood Love Interest character: Entitled to Have You can't be done in a way that's appealing. She got better once she dropped that chord, but that initial attitude really dented my impression of her. Being less interesting than Masuzu and then Hime and then Ai didn't help either.

The credits was one of my favorite parts of the episode, just for the scenes with the actors switched around — Chiwa knocking Masuzu's head into her lunch, Eita checking Hime's fever, so on and so forth. The best was Masuzu presenting a wrapped lunch... of her multivitamin yogurt drink food.

This was a pretty good series over all. I enjoyed it! I'm disappointed the L Ns don't seem to be getting any translation attention, but at least the manga adaptation is consistently very good.

For me Masuzu x Eita is sadistic Bad End and should be replaced with some landscape and nice boats. At least they let some ambiguity so I guess it isn't needed for now.

BTW how far is manga?

The middle of Ai's arc.

Means no need read manga in nearest years,huh.

edited 31st Mar '13 3:42:09 AM by Tenzen12

Unless you actually want to see Hime's arc, it'll be a few months, yeah.

Eh, I ended up not really liking this series that much. It was okay, but I don't like a lot of the directions it went in. I have some more detailed thoughts here (spoilers for last episode).

That said, I absolutely love Chiwa. She was always my favorite, but looking over this show, it now strikes me that almost every single great moment in this show comes from Chiwa... fighting off Sakagami's lackeys, going after Masuzu when Mana threatens to take her away, having everyone get Masuzu a present, the kiss at the end... Sure, she goes through a lot of the motions typical of the Patient Childhood Love Interest, but in the end, she really is much more than just the "osananajimi character", even if that's the role she plays for much of the show.

Episode 13:

• Yeah, the whole contest thing reminds me of the more awkward segments in this show. Liked the second half better... though for the contest, I liked Hime's segment and Ai's outburst.
• Hime x Villager A ftw.
• Ai-chan epic wins again.
• Yeah, Chiwa suffers from the patient childhood friend tropes, but I think she's one of the better examples of her type.
• Masuzu is Masuzu, I guess.
• All aboard the war zone/harem route. I want blood to be spilled.
• Now to get back to the manga...
• The credits sequence was great. Masuzu replacing Ai in the bento scene was hilarious.

Overall, it's the character interactions that made me like this show, and the second half of this episode had that in spades.

edited 3rd Apr '13 12:39:30 AM by fillerdude