Seriously Makeine, you just going to throw out a crazy one-off (okay, not a one-off but apparently each heroine gets 4 episodes) ED sequence like that as if it was nothing? At least I assume it was one-off, given the themes of the episode. I loved the first ED but the visuals were once again pretty spectacular here. Sometimes an anime comes along that, for whatever, reason, seems blessed by the Gods in having everyone associated with it obviously trying to make every little element special. Sometimes it’s a massive hit manga or LN, sometimes it just happens and we never know exactly why. Production-wise, Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! just has it goin’ on.
Because of my checkered (well, more like chessed) record with light novel adaptations, I’m on about DEFCON 3 with Makeine at all times. Objectively speaking I didn’t find this to be a great episode. But it didn’t really do anything to scare me, either – it was just good but not quite as good as the last couple eps. It didn’t get caught in any bear traps or anything, and lord knows with a brocon imouto running around it was practically dancing in a field of them. In other words, reassuringly normal. One step closer to beating the odds (with seven more steps to go).
All the heroines got a look in here, and while it seemed for a while as if Remon was going to be the odd girl out she ended up being the main MacGuffin of the episode (albeit mostly off screen). Nukumizu-kun is buying LNs (the ability of a LN to mock LN title constructs is a good sign) and looking forward to some quiet summer vacation time at home. But Anna has decided to pay a visit, and Kaju is relentlessly mining for information (she acts happy about it, but I’m convinced there’s no dagger in her school bag). Why is Anna there? To unload some somen – and freeload something else. Why was her father’s salary paid in somen? I’m not sure we’ll ever get an answer, and I’m not sure I want to know.
Because he’s in a club Nuk-kun has to spend part of natsuyasumi at school (because Japan is dumb that way). After a brief club meeting where the prez solicits stories for the magazine that’s proof for the student council that the club actually exists, he and Chika get sent to “volunteer” at the library (though she seems to be doing precious little besides basking in her her story’s online reviews). Komari admits she’s been spending a lot of time with Remon and even that she’s been enjoying it. She also asks Nukumizu if Remon has any brothers, though he seems not to pick up on the inference…
Nuk-kun is learning the downside for an introvert in leaving their shell and making friends – his peaceful life is no longer his to command. Anna calls him out – Kaju insists it’s a date, but predictably it’s really Anna wanting to bitch about Sousuke and Karen and their lovers’ chemistry. Anna being her usual knucklehead self is always amusing, but this is actually a bridge to the main event. The pair spy Remon out and about with Mitsuki-kun. They’re childhood friends so in theory it should be no big deal, but Anna insists that the look on Remon’s face was not that of a girl that’s given up.
Eventually Asagumo-san shows up, as she’s been tailing Mitsuki on suspicion he was cheating with Remon. Anna really should be hostile towards her as a homewrecker but the three of them end up in Kazuhiko’s room, ostensibly to discuss this affair but mostly to embarrass Kazuhiko over his otaku paraphernalia. Asagumo notes that if in fact Mitsuki is in love with Remon, she’s willing to step aside so the pair of them can be happy. But it’s pretty obvious she’s putting on a brave face and trying to fool herself.
Later, Asagumo calls Anna and Nuk-kun out to where she suspects (correctly) that Mitsuki and Remon will be meeting up. I don’t know exactly what’s going on here – Remon winning would be a contradiction of the series’ seeming central premise though, and I suspect this is more innocent than Chihaya believes it to be. Through more Preston Sturges hijinks Asagumo and Kazuhiko wind up being discovered in a changing stall by Mitsuki, and Chihaya promptly throws Kazuhiko under the bus. Poor guy – As an introvert he fundamentally wants not to be involved in people’s things, and now he’s up to his neck.
Guy Thompson
August 11, 2024 at 6:29 pmThey had very complex custom endings for Kaguya Sama on multiple occasions, even after already busy episodes, so I guess they just want to reinforce this as A1 trademark and (surprisingly) have capacity to do so.
nadavu
August 11, 2024 at 6:56 pmI was looking forward to Makeine all week after the awesomeness of episode 4, and I’m haply with what we got. There’s a quality to the writing that’s not as flashy as the animation but does a lot of heavy lifting without drawing attention to itself. I particularily apprecaited how Mitsuki “humble braggs” about the bracelot he got, which is then used to seguway to Kazuhiko having small talk to Komari in the library, and finally – after it has been forgotten – it becomes clear it was what Chihaya uses to keep tracks on Mitsuki’s whereabouts, although never stated. It’s just… tight. And respectful.
Maybe the Lemin ending signifies that she’s about to become a winning heroine, and Chihaya will take her place? Or she might join the group regardless because Mitsuki will dump het stalking ads once he realizes what a psycho she is (my personal preferrence). I do like the visual gag about her forhead being super bright, though.
The thought of Lemon giving Chika piggie-back rides wheb the latter tires out is strangely soothing to my anxious soul
ruicarlov
August 12, 2024 at 12:19 amInteresting. I never tought about the bracelet and the GPS being linked. But this show knows how to be smart and subtle about a lot of things. If I hadn’t check some comments somewhere else, I would have never noticed that when Chihaya throws Nuk-kun under the bus, the way her hands point to him, it makes the letters NTR in his shirt stand out. Subtle but brilliant!
Guardian Enzo
August 12, 2024 at 12:37 amI totes missed the NTR gag in real-time. That is pretty clever.
Sonicsenryaku
August 12, 2024 at 4:06 am@Nadavu
Absolutely spot on about how much heavy-lifting the writing does without drawing attention to itself. I’ve been making note of this in quite a few of my posts about the way the show tells some of its best jokes without drawing attention to it, which is so damn refreshing seeing as how a lot of comedy-type anime mostly feel the need to point out almost every single joke it’s trying to tell, taking the winds out of their sails before you even get the chance to realize how “meh” the humor actually was
It can be easy to miss, but this show is almost constantly teeing up jokes and meaningful characterization so it can cash in on it much later when it’s relevant. There is this one joke that gets teed up in episode 1 and doesn’t get cashed in till episode 2: it’s the one where Koto tells Kazu to introduce his “Abe Kobo” friend to the lit club, who happens to be a Mitsuki (Koto is not yet aware this “friend” is Mitsuki) looking for a book associated with Abe Kobo. But then in episode 2, when Kazu brings Anna to the club, Koto asks if she’s the Abe Kobo friend; and Anna, being the lovable Jackass that she is, responds to the paraphrased effect of: “Ah, my name is Yanami Anna, it’s not Abe!” and no one calls any kind of attention to her silly misunderstanding. That’s the kind of humorous timing this show be on: it has got a penchant for making what seem like throwaway lines catalysts for humor or interpersonal dynamics and it all ends up being as effective as it is because of how natural all of it blends into the character interactions, the hijinks, and plot progression
Simone
August 12, 2024 at 12:07 amCan’t help but appreciate the long buildup involving Nuk-kun wearing a T-shirt that says COUNTRY on it only for Chihaya’s fingers to frame the letters “NTR” out of it in the very last shot
Sonicsenryaku
August 12, 2024 at 4:37 amYea, there’s no doubt about it (at least to me); this show is great
Subtle things like Shikiya, the gyaru zombie student council member asking Kazu about Koto and Shintarou’s relationship status come rife with implication. Notice that when Shikiya asks this question, she calls Koto by her first name but not Shintarou (refers to him as Tamaki), hinting that there’s a certain comfortability (at least on Shikiya’s part; maybe a desire to be friendlier) with being on a first name basis with our vice president.
On the characterization side of things, we see just how much integrity Anna has as a person: like, yea she sees any girl who interferes with a childhood relationship as a homewrecker, but she doesn’t blindly root for her camp. While she may bitch and moan about Sousuke and Karen being so close (obviously it hurts seeing it since she still very much likes him), she’s standing firm in her stance that her friends she should be happy together and that it’s not her place to hold them back. With Anna now thinking that Lemon might still be trying to sway Mitsuki’s heart in some way, shape, or form despite him being in a relationship, she deems it both Kazu’s and her responsibility (them being close to Lemon) to chastise her if she’s really trying to get between Mitsuki and Chihaya, and to console her through accepting Mitsuki’s relationship status.
Anna is absolutely a knucklehead gremlin but she draws the line at interfering (significantly anyway) with her friend’s happiness and doesn’t want to see anyone in her own camp do that to any other burgeoning relationship. You would think Anna would be rooting for Lemon and annoyed with Chihaya; but nope, Anna’s psychology has been fleshed out enough for this to be implicitly understood. She’s complains and sometimes displays bouts of unaccountability, but she’s a good person and accommodating to her friends.
It’s stuff like this: the way the narrative shows you characterization rather than telling you; the way it juggles so many vignettes and makes them coalesce consequentially, that makes this show great; it’s all pretty damn clever and it’s held together by awesome production values (some sick storyboards this episode), great visual storytelling, and the fact that these teens behave like some damn teenagers.
Like, this series isn’t trying to show out all the time as being a profound coming of age story or some sides-splitting comedy. It simply indulges in its hijinks while being confident that IT IS saying something profound about the teenage experience with really clever writing. I was reading a Japanese comment on this show the other, and someone else besides me also remarked at how this show feels like something that would have came out in the 2000’s climate of romcom, which makes sense especially since LN’s weren’t as incestuous with their ideas and meta as they are now
Brian Guy
August 12, 2024 at 9:36 amJust a guess, but the new ED appearing simultaneously with Remon’s arc and featuring Remon’s VA leads me to conclude we’ll get a new close for each arc/LN.
Guardian Enzo
August 12, 2024 at 9:39 amYeah, that seems to be the consensus.
Nicc
August 14, 2024 at 3:21 amIt looks like there were no summer hijinks as it skips towards the near the end of summer vacation. They already did a beach episode earlier and so they couldn’t dip in that well again. Nukumizu wanted to spend some quality time at home after getting some new LNs, but his little sister lets him know that there’s a guest. Yep, it’s Anna who’s helping herself to some curry at their home. It’s understandable that she’ll want to eat something different after all of that somen. This is a great set-up for nagashi somen for a future episode.
There’s a lot more where that came from as the lit club room is now filled with boxes of somen. There’s enough somen (And carbs) in that room for multiple future generations of the lit club. The student council demands that they publish some of their works and so they’ve got some work to do. Speaking of the student council, Nukumizu has an odd run-in with Shikiya while still at school. After being rehydrated by Nukumizu (And starting another fresh batch of gossip), she asks about Tamaki and Tsukinoki and then slinks away. She’s an odd combination of looking like a gyaru, but behaving like a zombie. Considering how vigorous the student council has been with keeping their eye on all clubs, the rest of them don’t seem to be from the ranks of the undead.
We also learn that Komari has been getting along well with Lemon, which includes going on runs together every now and then. Right, now that he has friends, his life isn’t so peaceful anymore as Anna calls him out. It appeared that she achieved enlightenment regarding regarding Souske’s and Karen’s relationship thanks to a self-help book, but she’s back to “Damn normies!” after another round of unloading to him at the family restaurant (You alluded to “Seinfeld” in another post. This place seems to be the Monk’s Cafe in this series). That’s when she spots Lemon and Mitsuki hanging out together. There’s some intrigue there, eh? It doesn’t take long for them to spot Asagumo with the shiny forehead and all. It seems that she suspects something is up too and that’s why she put a GPS tracker on Mitsuki. Please step away from the yandere ledge, Asagumo. There’s nothing good down there!
Somehow, they meet up in his room and discuss a plan of action (But not before being embarrassed first for his tastes). I agree that if Asagumo was willing to go this far to follow them, there’s no way she’s just going to step aside. It seems that she’s aware of her shiny forehead beacon and so she puts on one of those cooling pads and a hat. Nukumizu and Anna are dressed in dark colors. However, Mitsuki spots Nukumizu and Asagumo together and she… leaves it to him to explain this NTR situation to Mitsuki. Right, there’s certainly none of that going on in either party and I expect that what’s going on is more innocent.