Uchi no Otouto-domo ga Sumimasen has an uncanny ability to take things just to the “are they or aren’t they?” level. It’s annoying but sort of admirable in its way. You’re just never quite sure if it’s suggesting what you think it is. Generally speaking the answer to that has turned out to be “yes”, though it’s fair to say that with Raku and Azusa the jury is still out. So what about Ito and Syu, what’s the deal there? I’m still not sure to be honest, because it’s Uchi no Otouto being Uchi no Otouto.

I think it’s useful to look at the whole step-sibling romance thing as a variation on the workplace romance. There may not be a taboo about it – or a law. But it’s a bad idea for reasons that’s aren’t always obvious to someone when they’re in the midst of falling for someone. The term “pissing in your own bath water” comes to mind. These things usually don’t usually work out – that’s just a fact. Everyone has one romance that ends well in their lifetime, if they’re lucky. People fall for each other and the overwhelming majority of the time, they break up. That’s just how it goes.

The problem in both scenarios is that there’s no escape – not without serious and life-changing decisions. You have to see that person every day, and it’s fraught with discomfort. And failed romances have unintended consequences for the principals and the people around them besides, which is what we’re seeing play out in the Narita household. One can imagine it’s only worse with stebsibs, as these are inexperienced kids we’re talking about and their co-habitation is even more literal then work colleagues. These two never had an actual romance but Ito’s words to Gen can never be taken back, and even in a comedy nothing can ever be the same between them.

Then we have Syu. He sees how bummed Ito is without knowing the reason, and invites her to join his E-sports club to take her mind off it. Syu is a nice kid and he loves Ito, as well as being grateful to her for helping him start to work through his social anxiety. Maybe that’s all this is. But with this series, “that” never seems to be all “this” is. He’s a first-year high schooler and she’s a third-year girl he adores. It would hardly be surprising if he developed feelings for Ito, and she has no seeming idea that could be happening so might be leading him on without meaning to. It’s infinitely plausible, but – woof.

Syu now knows the truth about Gen and Ito, having overheard them in one of their countless recoil fights. He sees himself turning into “someone I don’t recognize” around her. He says he’s rooting for her and I’m sure he is, on some level. But on every level? As for Gen, he’s flat-out jealous of Syu for all the time he and Ito are spending together. That’s childish of course but Gen is still a child, after all (no matter what he looks like). Gen is probably the one who did the right thing here, and for the right reason, though he obviously did it pretty inelegantly. And Raku is finally starting to stress out over this whole fiasco, which Azusa has noticed (she notices way more about Raku than she should).

Meanwhile the one true child in this play, Rui, is the only one who hasn’t really been given a role other than playing off the others. He’s more or less in the position of the kid trying to keep his “parents” from fighting, so in that sense he knows something is afoot here, but surely he doesn’t truly understand what’s happening with Gen and Ito. I’d like to see Rui get a subplot of his own – kids do have lives after all, and they play the starring role in them. It’s not absolutely essential to the main plot, but it does feel like the one aspect of Please Excuse My Younger Brothers that hasn’t been fleshed out.