In watching Otagal, I often wonder if I’m seeing the same show as most of the audience. It seems so obvious to me that the romantic chemistry here is between Takuta and Kotoko. Like, exclusively.  It’s the point where I just assume it’s intentional, but there’s clearly no consensus among the fanbase as to which girl Takuya is being shipped with (if either – and if not both). Is it me? None of this is any disrespect towards Kei – she’s a very good character and I like her. But she totally vibes “friend/sister” with the protagonist.

The manga is ongoing. And it’s 12 volumes now, which presumably is more than the anime is going to try and cover in a single cour. I sort of get the sense that Otagal may never resolve this matter at all, but if it does it almost certainly won’t happen until the very end (whenever that is). Until then it’s going to be slice-of-life and false alarms, but the series is quite adept at presenting those in a likeable way. It’s also sort of interesting to see romcom tropes play out in a series that’s nominally not a romance.

The “bride-and-groom” cosplay bit is a trope at this point I’d say – not a universal one, but we see it often enough that it qualifies. You would certainly think that gives Kei a leg up but I didn’t get much of a romantic charge here – more “com” than “rom”. Then premise is that Amane’s mom asks her to be in a photo shoot and bring a boy. Takuya being the only one she’s comfortable around, he’s the obvious choice. She tells him it’s only his hand that’s going to be photographed but that’s pretty transparently false (as he lamps when he’s sent to hair, makeup and wardrobe).

This is cute but again, more in an awkward friends sort of way. Next up is a random meeting between Takuya and Kotoko at Donqi (or whatever passes for it in a show not doing product placement). She’s right about the drinks, by the way – just go inside and get ’em cheap (better selection too). Kotoko casually slips in some hand-holding here, and one could easily surmise that she does so because she heard Takuua and Kei did so at the photo shoot. If two kids hanging at a discount store have more romantic chemistry than two kids dressed as a bride and groom in a wedding chapel, that’s pretty telling.

Finally, fireworks. And romcom cliches don’t get any more chestnut than that. Ichiji is doing her best to make this as level playing field here – when it comes time for hand-holding she arranges a three-way. But things liven up when Kei runs into a middle school friend and detours to meet up with some classmates. An interesting sidebar here is the girls noting that Kei seems “much friendlier” now than she did in junior high – clearly, Takuya isn’t the only one who’s changing as a result of this three-way friendship. But the main event is elsewhere, and it’s not the fireworks. Well, not the ones in the sky anyway…

Let’s be honest. Is there anyone who thinks Kotoko saying “I’m so into you” – in that context – isn’t a confession? The heat of the  moment – the literal heat, the fireworks, the smell of gunpowder and yakisoba – got to her. It’s understandable. But “I’m into you” is not something you say to a friend. Especially in a setting like that. Of course she walks it back, all the more when Kei rejoins them. They don’t try and hide that it was said. But that’s without question the most overtly romantic thing that’s happened in Otagal so far, and that it involved the two characters it did can hardly be considered a surprise.