Uchi no Otouto-domo ga Sumimasen is officially the only LiA show carrying over from summer. And in fact I incorrectly stated earlier that nothing was, not realizing this one was (surprisingly) two cours. And not split either, old school. We did get a week break but it’s nice to have this series back. It was never at the top of my rankings during summer but it’s one I can enjoy on a nice simmer every week, not much pressure, no stress. You need a couple of those every season, and Uchi no Otouto does give you some edgy stuff to write about too.
Like, for example, the A-part of this episode. This series does love its third rails, that’s for sure (maybe it’s a shoujo thing). I like that we finally got a chapter fully from Raku’s perspective and about him – I’m pretty sure this is the first. It’s New Year’s Eve (why is no one watching Kohaku?) and because of a heavy snow (which almost never happens in Tokyo outside animanga) and Mom & Dad’s illness (the narrative just has no place for them) the house is down to cup noodles. Supermarkets are almost all closed over New Year’s, too. Because Gen and Ito are so deep into their denial-fest Raku declares that he’ll go shopping himself (though a konbini is going to be all that’s open).
As Raku is musing on why he spent all year matchmaking his brother and step-sister and not chasing romance himself (I suspect he may be aromantic) a young woman asks to borrow his phone. Raku complies, and her conversation makes it pretty clear she’s being taken for a ride. She asks him what he thinks, he tells her just that. Eventually she invites him out to dinner with her so she doesn’t have to punt the reservation she waited six months for, and proceeds to spill the gory details of her love woes to him.
My instant reaction here is, where are we going with this? Because I mean, he’s 15 and Azusa – which is her name, as we find out when she shows up at school as Raku’s substitute homeroom teacher – is 24. In her defense he does look and act older and he was in civilian clothes. Which is fine if it was just left there, but now she’s his teacher? Uchi no Otouto is good at playing with fire and not getting burned, but this has an odd aroma to it to say the least. It’s another one of those “I hope the show doesn’t pursue it but I suspect it will” turns this show specializes in.
By contrast, the step-sibling romance thing seems almost safe. And with Valentine’s Day approaching that next takes center stage. Ito is determined to do homnei chocolate for all her brothers but she’s not really even fooling herself anymore. I mean, that one for Gen was literally twice the size of all the others (her friends certainly noticed). She’s beside herself at the prospect of giving it to him but Rei winds up eating all of them during the night – I’m not sure whether I buy that dream story or not. Ito is obviously distraught over this, but Gen – roped into making cookies by Yukitomo – winds up giving her cookies and cheering her up.
Flipping the script with Valentine’s and White Day is kind of an interesting twist. We’re definitely at the fait accompli stage with this pairing so it’s really only a matter of how the series handles it. Again, I can totally see how this would happen, and why Ito is so conflicted over it. But she seems resigned to seeing it through at this point so the big unknown is how Gen is going to deal with it. Will he be guided by his own feelings or by common sense, which is still proclaiming loudly – and correctly – that this probably a really bad idea?
