This one is pretty much the classic tweener show. I like it, but it never quite seals the deal. I put it in the poll for the season and it did get votes, but it didn’t win. It doesn’t air on a day that’s absolutely crazy for anime so in theory, I could keep covering it. Still – it doesn’t generate a ton of engagement and I find myself very much on the fence. I suspect I’ll take it on a week to week basis and see how things go from here.

I found myself wondering as I watched this episode – how many anime viewers know what a “Scarlett O’Hara” is? As a bartender told me when I ordered a Sidecar years ago “That’s a drink my grandma would order”. It is a fruity cocktail but as lightweight as Shizuka is, hammering it like that is never a good idea. There’s some light banter with the notion of how inexperienced she is (last week was her first kiss). And when Akira declines to come up for tea she bemoans that he must be “disgusted” with her. But their romance is so fluffy and, well – the title is a spoiler, so there’s never any sense of doubt about their future.

There’s also another meeting with mom (who’s very trusting) and a visit to a rose garden. There’s also some face-feeling. But the more interesting element of the ep is the business with Karma and Light, who’s left to go visit her parents and convinced Karma he’s leaving her. He winds up staying over at Akira’s place (yeah, I’d never have allowed that) and reveals an ability to curse people when helping out on an undercover mission.

Karma is a bit much, but he does offer a nice contrast to the rest of the cast of Toumei Otoko. I find that this series is just a bit flat tonally – the parts with Kikira and Madaraito are a modest exception but mostly the series stays very much in its comfort zone. Which is, you know, very comfortable. And I do like its rather enlightened view of diversity and the way it uses magical realism to comment on it. I’m just not sure it adds up to enough for me to write about every week.