Mitsudomoe is solidly back in the groove with the penultimate episode, which is clever right from the title – “I can’t reach you”. Not only does it apply to acrophobic Hitoha who can’t reach the fixture to change a bulb (do they make little girls do that in Japanese schools?) but Miyashita’s futile efforts to make a social connection to her. And, in a larger sense, the total sense of chaos that drives all the misunderstandings in this series where it seems as if everyone is speaking a slightly different language.

After two Mitsuba-heavy weeks it’s the Hopelessly in love with Shin-chan Squad and Miyashita who slip into the spotlight this week. Poor Shin-chan continues to be on the business end of some of this show’s biggest indignities (and that’s saying something). This week, Futaba seems to be trying to loan him her gym shorts by force, prompting Chiba to publicly announce that Shin-chan has “got one”. His own fangirls, still convinced he’s a perv, turn on him in the midst of a dodgeball game (“We want Satou to smash his ball into our faces!”), assuming he’s an “M” and wants to get creamed in the face. Finally Airi, furious that Shinya loves panties more than her, discards hers and launches them into the sky after providing him with an unwanted show.

Miyashita is the other major victim this week. For some reason she remains obsessed with Hitoha and making a connection, which her friends mistake for a lesbian crush. After removing her hairpins in an attempt to look less intimidating no one recognizes her. And stretching before gym class she feels Hitoha up in search of her Gachi belt – hoping to bond over that – but in an “only in Mitsudomoe” moment the rest of the class thinks she’s found something else, and that Hitoha is a boy. This brings us to great spiritual ouroboros moment of the series, when Hitoha proclaims “I’m sick of all these ridiculous misunderstandings!” and outs herself as a Gachi fan once and for all. And lo, turns out most of the class like Gachi Rangers too and even knows a little about it. Love is in the air and all are as one – except Miyashita, who proclaims “I like the green one.” to Hitoha. As there is no green one, this heaps still more scorn upon poor Miyashita – and Yabe-chi, not knowing it’s safe to come out of the closet, has no idea what the kids were discussing. “I can’t reach you”…

So now I’m thinking that Futaba has a little crush on Shinya too – she seems to stick close to him pretty much all the time. And you know, he doesn’t push her away too hard… Futaba also had a great moment in “Yabe-chi’s Room”, seemingly a much better guest than Hitoha as she’s so chatty – except, perfectly true to form, her answer to everything is “I dunno!” and she proceeds to trash his room in pursuit of a cockroach. It’s a shame we’re down to the last episode now, because no series is providing hilarity like this week after week. And with the announcement that S2 will only be 8 episodes, that means we only have 9 left in total. Withdrawal, here I come…