As longtime readers will know, I very much ascribe to the “the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference” notion when it comes to anime coverage (as grandiose as it is to quote Elie Wiesel for such a purpose). The death knell is when I stop caring one way or the other. Anger or frustration can’t sustain me forever, but they do at least prove I’m invested on some level. Don’t mistake me – if that’s all a show gives me I’ll drop it like an angry monkey fast enough. But if it’s more of a mixed bag, it’s tougher to cut loose that than a series about which I don’t feel much of anything.
Uchi no Otouto-domo ga Sumimasen has been dancing on that tightrope almost since the beginning, what with the Syu and wincest plotlines simmering on the stove. Last week was probably the roughest yet, but the Syu issue didn’t even get a mention here. He was just in the background – out and about but just as forgotten as when he was hiding in his room. I’m not crazy about that but the grade is “incomplete”. Let see the series does with that when it returns to the topic (assuming it does – if not, boo).
No, it was all about the other landmine this week. And to be honest, I found myself kind of liking this ep to a degree that surprises me. The flirtation with shoujo tropes was way to intimate for comfort. But as it often does Uchi no Outouto-domo seems to rise above the level you’re expecting when it takes on edgy subject matter. I mean, it’s not wrong – two 16 year-olds who didn’t know each other a few weeks ago might very well develop feelings for each other. Ito is cute and a super-kind person. Gen is an ikemen and plays the tsundere card in a way that probably has appeal. It could happen and while it’s not my choice, it’s not a flaw in the writing to acknowledge that.
Furthermore, given their situation if that did happen, it would complicate life incalculably. Ito is right to worry about it. We don’t know whether Gen is – or has reason to be – because we don’t get his inner monologue the way we do Ito’s. The osananajimi don’t help, especially Megu who sees this as if it were a manga storyline. But the real action is at school, where Ito volunteers to be on the culture festival committee. Which no one ever does, pretty much. And joining her on it is third-year Udagawa Mafuyu, who drew the short straw when his class picked a rep for the committee.
Mafuyu is a sacrificial lamb plot-wise, that’s obvious. He’s here for one reason only. He’s also a walking shoujo cliche, especially as played by Fukuyama Jun. This sort of gremlin is so up Fukuyama’s alley that it becomes difficult to imagine Mafuyu played by anybody else. Mafuyu and his effect on the story are one of those things I would have expected to hate, but kind of didn’t. He’s amusing, which helps. A lowlife, but not quite a creeper. Once it becomes obvious to him that he has no chance with Ito and why and this becomes all about the lulz for him, his threat level goes down to about Defcon 4.
I think I’m at the point now where it’s less about hoping it’s not going to happen and more accepting that it will, and hoping it’s handled in an interesting and thoughtful way. This scenario doesn’t have to be puerile or juvenile or an overdose of tropes from whichever demographic it’s represented by. It usually is, but this show has earned enough credibility for me to at least want to see for myself.
