I’m sort of waiting for the carriage to turn back into a pumpkin here, but Dosanko Gal  wa Namara Menkoi is in no hurry to cooperate.  This is a season without a ot of true bubble series, so the Patron Pick ballot is a tough one to fill out.  Dosanko Gal is on it, and I’m still not totally convinced it won’t wear thin at some point.  But for now the only real decision is whether I’ll cover it or just watch it, because I’m going to do the latter at the very least.  For now, anyway – I’m enjoying it, so why stop?

Someone in the comments (I’m pretty sure it was here) said that Minami is actually a better character than Marin from Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru.  I’d certainly say there are a lot of similarities between them, and I’m actually inclined to agree, she is – mainly because I find Minami to be the more natural and realistic portrait.  I think Bisque Doll is the better series when you tot up the whole scorecard, but I would take Minami over Marin.  And that natural quality is one of the best things this series has going for it.  It has all the expected hijinks, but it doesn’t push them too hard.

Blizzards are the theme to start here.  And they are commonplace in Kitami.  Hokkaido schools are legendary for staying open in blizzards (they’d miss about half the winter otherwise).  And indeed, Tokyo shuts down with an accumulation as thick as a coat of paint.  There were two 25+ cm snowstorms (exactly a week apart) when I lived there, and they were the biggest the city had seen in 60 years – it was fascinating to see the helpless incredulity just wash over the whole place.  I don’t think much of Grandma’s common sense in sending Tsubasa to walk to school in that, never mind that he was a wreck from all his ski muscles screaming at him (I can vouch for that effect).

Fortunately the Fuyuki family shows up and gives him a ride.  And Mom Mai (Kitamura Eri having way too much fun) is quite the live wire.  She asks no quarter in the gal department and gives none, and wastes no time in playing matchmaker for her daughter (who she’s figured out is obviously falling for Tsubasa).  That stuff about winter clothing being expensive certainly rings true, and Tsubasa’s offhand comment about how the both of them were beautiful as they were was quite the kill shot.  Sometimes the impossibly earnest ones are the most deadly.

At school, Tsubasa slips into Hokkaido-ben and Minami takes credit for it,  Then Sayuri lectures him that many of the locals (like her) don’t fit all those Hokkaido stereotypes.  Minami talks her way into joining Tsubasa as Sayuri’s gaming student – and while she does like Sayuri she definitely has other motives here.  Eventually plans are made to head to Tobu East Mall (a real place in Kitami), for a pretty realistic teen group date that finishes with a purikura session.

The climax of the episode is that whole “half-bath” (a term I’d never heard before TBH) phone call.  Minami is definitely no shrinking violet but damn, doing a video call from the bath when they’re not even officially dating is pretty bold stuff.  Again this plays as quite believable to me – you can see Minami getting caught up in the excitement and danger of the moment, then realizing she’s flown too close to the sun and melted her wings.  It’s another of those cliche romcom moments that should be head-desk material, but in the hands of Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi come off as rather restrained (relatively) and charming.  It’s mainly that skill that makes this show a whole that’s more than the sum of the parts.  I don’t know how long it can keep it up, but I’ll be sticking around for as long as it does.