I’m covering 13 shows this season (which is nuts, by the way), with none of them carrying over to fall. Otome Kaijuu Caraméliser is not one I expected to get a second season. Anything is possible but not getting any sort of announcement was exactly as I expected. The manga is reasonably popular but the series has always seemed more niche than mainstream in its appeal. In some ways I’m surprised it’s not more popular in fact, given that it has a certain CGDCT element to it, along with a bit of ecchi. But I think it’s just too weird to ever massively appeal to fans who prioritize those things.

I had dropped the manga by the time it got to this arc (still liked it, just got busy). And when this ep played out, I was pretty sure a lot of what happened was anime-original, because it very much had the feeling of making an ending where one didn’t naturally exist. But I checked and no, oddly enough this was almost verbatim faithful to the source material. That’s lucky really – the anime team didn’t have to tweak much of anything to have a conclusive finale. There are still plenty of open ends of course, but it still feels like an ending.

We can say this much – in the density-off going on between Friday series, Otome won over Super no Ura. Yes, Arata knows and he clearly knew through this entire episode. The question of just when he actually did figure it out isn’t absolutely clear – I still think he may have suspected a lot longer than he let on – but now it’s a certainty. Fortunately for Kuroe Minami-kun is about the least judgmental teenage boy in existence, and doesn’t seem to have a problem with his girlfriend being a kaijuu. He does have a problem with her being a dead kaijuu though, which is what it looked like for a minute after that imouto-beam hit home.

The first sign Harugon is still kicking is that pink light shining fleetingly from her dorsal fin. Only Arata and Manatsu – who love Harugon the most – notice it at first. But eventually Akae does too, when hearing Minami’s voice and feeling him climbing all over her (stop it) restores her competitive juices. Kuroe fancies that this has all been a bad dream, and Arata is on his way to take her out on a pancake date. But unfortunately that’s the dream, and even there she has to suffer the indignity of not having anything cute to wear. Arata’s voice called her back, and when she realizes that he knows the truth and still loves her, brings her back to her senses (but not her girl body).

Akae comes back to finish the job – and Arata by the looks of things. But Harugon protects him, and fueled by the power of hormones her body regenerates after Akae’s next beam attack. Then she musters up a beam of her own – a confession beam, the most powerful beam in the universe. And while it doesn’t end Akae, it does kick her ass pretty good and she decides that discretion is the better part of valor and retreats to parts unknown (perhaps back to Kaijuu Island). Hargugon tenderly carries Arata to a rooftop pool but he’s not going to let her walk away – and his declaration of love finally brings back her humanity (though not her clothes).

Again, all this happened in the manga – even the dialogue – which is pretty remarkable for a mid-series chapter. The truth is out there and now even Manatsu and Raimu and Daichi – and even Seina – know it. But that doesn’t mean everything is settled. Even setting aside the Akae question the JSDF remains very interested in Harugon, and they might know the truth now too. It’s better that this is out in the open between the happy couple, but any way you look at it this stands to be a turbulent relationship.

All in all I would say this was a very good adaptation. I thought the voice work was excellent, especially relative newbie Senga Hikari as Kuroe. It captured what I thought made the manga charming. But on balance I definitely liked Otome Kaijuu Caraméliser a bit more when it was focused more on the challenges of being a normal horny teenage girl with a kaijuu problem. As a full-on kaijuu action series it didn’t quite have the same authenticity and emotional impact, though it certainly handled the kaijuu stuff well. But it was always going to lean into the hook sooner or later – otherwise why have it – and on balance, it was quite a likable and charming piece of work.