Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai seems to have settled firmly into the mode of alternating more “serious” (read, focused on the main couple) episodes with larky ones generally focused on side characters.  That’s not necessarily a problem in and of itself, especially since these eps usually use the side plots to indirectly comment on the central pairing.  But of course the side characters vary in their ability to anchor the narrative, and the momentum of the story tends to get broken up a bit with this style in full swing.

The first Nyanko-big episode was a clear success for me in this regard.  But I think that was largely to do with giving him a speaking role – and using Ootsuka Akio for it to boot.  This one was less successful, because without Ootsuka’s contribution Nyanko-big is more of a device than a real character.  That leaves the focus largely on Yui and Yamashita, neither of whom are especially compelling as POV characters in my opinion.  There is – as usual – some reflection on Tada and Teresa (and Charles, to be sure) through these events, but it still feels like 10 minutes of material stretched a good bit too far.

Fortunately even those bits are still fairly charming where Tada-kun is concerned, and it remains mostly entertaining even during the off episodes.  The plot driver this time is Nyanko-big’s disappearance, and as you’d expect his crush, Cherry-chan is involved.  Yui has an unrequited crush as well of course, and that’s Yamashita – and he turns out to be an animal expert when the hunt for N-B begins (which only endears him to Yui more).  Perhaps more surprisingly, Charles reveals that being a cat whisperer is among his many talents (one of which is apparently not making Teresa fall in love with him).

So to summarize: Nyanko-big loves Cherry unrequitedly, Yui-chan loves Yamashita-kun unrequitedly, Charles loves Teresa unrequitedly, Alec loves Charles unrequitedly and Kaoru may love Alec unrequitedly.  Also, Yamashita-kun is unrequitedly in love with Chia-san, Cherry’s owner (which makes Cherry a Chia pet) and apparently a hair stylist.  It seems at least the Class Rep and Pin-sempai are on the same page (though he’s still in lurker mode there), and then of course there’s the matter of Tada-kun and Teresa.  I find it rather interesting that Charles asks Tada flat-out if he’s ever fallen in love – obviously a pretty good observer, it seems as if Charles has picked up on the vibe between those two even if they haven’t acknowledged it even to themselves.

Charles, really, is the most significant part of this generally not-too significant episode.  There was some musing in the fan community that he might be a closet psycho, that this would be the cliche development.  But I disagree – Charles being a perfectly nice, gorgeous and bland fellow would be the classic trope here.  I believe Charles is as exactly he appears to be – a serious and decent chap who’s in-love with Teresa but would be diligent in his responsibilities as her fiancee even if he wasn’t.  At some point the truth of both Tada and Teresa’s feelings for each other and of what happened between their families is going to come out, and that’s when Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai is going to level up as a story.  I kind of hope it happens sooner rather than later.