Weighing it all up, that may just have been my favorite episode of Koori Zokusei so far (the Okinawa hotel ep probably being the other).  It had a lot of everything that this series is best at, with a few level-up elements to boot.  I suspect this is one of those shows where it really helps to be the target audience, and fortunately I’m very much the target audience.  There was one discordant element that predictably knocked things off track, but apart from that it was pretty much a perfect Ice Guy episode.

As usual, the cliffhanger was a feint, and in this case it was exactly what I expected.  Himuro has been romancing a stray cat (“Buchi”), or at least what he believes to be a stray cat, for a month.  In that time he’s used image training (and praying to Nyamero’s whiskers) to control his feline-induced blizzarding, but he clearly doesn’t know the right way to get a cat to accept you.  Eventually though his persistence pays off and Buchi-san does accept him, which prompts the “will you live with me?” question from epilogue #9.  Naturally Komori-kon totally misunderstands when she hears Himuro explaining this to Saejima-san, but that misunderstanding is played for laughs as opposed to drama, fortunately.

You can always – always – tell whether or not a series about cats is written by someone who knows what living with a cat is like.  And this one is.  Fuyutsuki-san quite naturally takes on a role as Himuro’s “cat-senpai”, and goes with him on the big night when he plans to catnap Buchi and take him home.  The finger thing is so instinctive to me now it’s pure reflex – that’s just how you approach a cat you don’t know (that and patience) – unless it’s a Siamese in which case you just say hello and wait for the love bombs.  Fuyutsuki is clearly a cat person and knows this, and she also realizes that Buchi is way too tame to be a true stray.  And sure enough (I know someone this exact thing happened to) Buchi’s “lost cat” poster is right where they found him.

This is a blow to Himuro-kun of course (icicles!), though my instinctive reaction is that there are a gajillion shelter cats just waiting for someone to adopt them.  That would spoil the B-part though, so no cat for Himuro yet.  But his consolation prize is pretty sweet – an invite to Fuyutsuki’s place, where “Nyamero is a mature cat who will offer cuddles upon request”.  Does she have an ulterior motive for extending this invitation, and he for accepting it?  Of course – but there’s sure not a thing wrong with their shared love of cats bringing them together like this.

Another classic cat moment was when Nyamero completely ignored the fancy electronic toy she bought for the occasion (to put on a show for Himuro) and went straight for the box.  He’ll give in and play with it when he’s good and ready.  Himuro brings roll cake, hands touch in the kitchen, and things seem to be progressing beautifully.  That’s when the discordant note shows up, and her name is Yukimi.  This was exactly what I feared would happen when she was introduced, and you could have heard the groan from my apartment when she showed up all the way in Sapporo.  It’s a dumb, tropey turn of events and this series just didn’t need it.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Fuyutsuki managed to blurt out that she loved Himuro’s snow as much as Nyamero does, though he was too down at the mouth about his sister’s arrival to hear it.  And in the end, despite Yukimi’s annoying intervention our couple did make some progress, and if she has the decency to stay the hell out of the way they can hopefully make a whole lot more in the finale (already?) next week.