Otaku ni Yasashii Gal wa Inai!? and Koori no Jouheki are the last bubble shows of the spring, it seems. I’ve made the call on everything else (or you have). It would be hard to imagine two series in roughly the same genre that are more different. Both in style, and in the way I feel after watching them. I think viewers as a collective tend not to give this series enough credit for the things it does well – which are a lot. And they try too hard to label it, or more to the point reduce it to something less than it is.

For me Otagal is just good – that’s the bottom line. It has a pretty good sense of comic timing, the characters are genuinely likable, and it pursues a hopeful and positive agenda in a believable way. It’s the nature of shows like this to trade in genre tropes, and Otagal certainly does. It comes down to how well they’re executed. There’s certainly no more standard romcom trope than the beach episode, and we get a pretty darn good example of one here. It doesn’t overdue the fanservice, and it manages to advance the plot while still delivering a healthy number of laughs.

The Ichiji siblings – and Sayu – are a big part of that. As we saw last week there’s an 18-year gap between the oldest and youngest sibling, and oldest Genichirou is the one treating the others to a beach barbecue. He’s obviously protective of his sister, but also somewhat puzzled that Takuya (I really do think they should stop calling him Otaku-kun) hasn’t made a move on Kotoko. Then we have the chibis, her eight and seven-year old brothers Kakeru and Hibiki. They’ve already decided Takuya is the boyfriend, but still intend to play a bit of a wingman role. Finally, Sayu, about their age but not Kei’s sibling, who’s pulling in the opposite direction.

These four do a lot to liven up this beach ep and make it feel fresh and different, especially the rugrats. It’s obvious that the boys and Sayu are going to get a dynamic going, and they certainly do. Sayu loves playing the grown-up but when she’s visibly distressed by having pushed Kakeru and Hibiki away, Takuya intervenes and gently nudges her in the other direction on a trip for ice cream. Because you know, he’s a nice guy – which a lot of viewers seem to hate about him but is why everyone in the main cast likes him.

Between Genichirou and the children Takuya gets whiplashed around pretty good (and buried in the sand). The elephant in the room here is obvious, and the series doesn’t totally dance around it. Genichirou comes right out and asks Takuya which girl he likes better, in fact. And while his denials are genuine – as is his pledge to protect them from the lowlifes who’ll be the bane of their teen years – that can only go so far. There’s obvious sparkage here, and it can’t be ignored forever. Sooner or later somebody is going to have to choose.

As for me, I like both Kei and Kotoko and Takuya-kun certainly does too. But I stand by my take that there’s a certain something between he and Kotoko that isn’t there with Kei. They each get their moment as usual this week – he and Kotoko over shaved ice, and then with Kei and Sayu on the train home. But it always feels more romantic when it’s with Kotoko. They have a vibe. And by the way, I don’t know what that lady on the train has been drinking but if she’s sober, she definitely needs glasses (or a new prescription for her contacts). No way in hell those two kids look old enough to be Sayu’s parents.