It was a pretty low key edition of Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 3 this week. And in context it’s not too surprising, since this was all manga material and no “cheat code” chapters. One of them in fact (“Snowman”) reaches all the way back to Chapter 62 of the manga. That could be taken as a sign that the anime plans to keep plugging in skipped chapters here and there, which makes sense. Apart from the relationship stuff – and “Advice” certainly counts in my book – most of those manga chapters are relatively interchangeable in the timeline.
That said, the anime is clever as usual in weaving in its own level up touches. For example the gloves and scarf, which weren’t part of “Hatsumode” in the manga at all. The look on Nishikata’s face when he saw Takagi-san wearing his gloves was as telling as it was unsurprising. I also noted that the kids dropped ¥100 coins into the box – more than you’d expect second-year middle-schoolers to “spend”, typically. But Hatsumode is special – this is a prayer you’d really want answered and those don’t come cheap (I’m reminded of ¥500 level-ups from Tsuki ga Kirei and Mieruko-chan). The “date” comment was, for the record, 100% in the original…
“Snowman” was as light and fluffy as its theme. And for the record, no one should ever have to pretend not to be excited about snow for fear of looking childish – anyone in their right mind would be excited. The outcome of this one was pretty predictable (but then, so was the omikuji – fortune obeys Takagi’s commands, of course).
Even in adapting, the anime always saves the meatiest course for last. “Advice” is about as full-on relationship driven as the manga gets. Houjou sells the tsundere act to the hilt, that’s for sure. Hamaguchi knows the way to her heart, even if he doesn’t know it – and Nishikata-kun gave her exactly the right advice. The key here, of course, is that Takagi (naturally) witnesses Nishi and Houjou’s conversation, and reacts in about as vulnerable a manner as you’re ever going to see Yamamoto depict in the manga.
The key takeaway here, I think, is Takagi apologizing – I think I could count on one hand the number of times that’s happened and have fingers left over. She’s right of course, it was a bit mean – partly because she was trying to get Nishikata to betray Houjou’s confidence. But mostly because it was petty – Takagi knew she had nothing to worry about, but still tried to make Nishi jealous. There was one small change from the manga here, but an interesting one – the entire conversation is aged up one year. To wit, in the manga she says the present is for a “14 year-old boy” (and the dog is 15, not 16). In effect this means Nishi is 14 in the anime but only 13 in the manga. Given that in both versions the kids are second-years, I’m not sure why this was changed.
As to the new ED, this one is practically current – 2014’s “Snow Magic Fantasy” by popular J-rock band Sekai no Owari. It certainly fits the theme…
