“Anything but Tempura!”


「天ぷらだけはやめてくれぇ!」 (Tenpura dake wa yamete kure ~e!)

Packed, but not Rushed:

As expected, this episode was just as packed as those that came before it. It’s not a surprise at this point, but where last week’s episode felt hollow due it rushing through the material, this time around it was handled much better. A hell of a lot happened in this episode, but by the end it didn’t feel all that rushed. If it’s like this from here on out, then I have no right to complain. In my opinion, this was in fact the best episode so far. It was filled with all the things that make Yamada-kun so enjoyable: plenty of kisses, a nice dose of witch drama, some seriously funny moments and reaction shots, and even more scenes of the best pairing of the season.

Quirky New Characters:

Sarushima Maria (Takao Yuki – who I would never have guessed was a newcomer by her almost effortless performance this episode) is the fourth of seven witches, and her power allows to see the future through the perspective of whoever she kisses. It sounds like it would be a fun one, but it ties in with her shut-in ways, because the seemingly inevitable fire in the old school building is going to end up being blamed on her and Yamada. I would have liked to have more of an introduction to all of this, maybe some hints before this episode came about, but for a standalone story it was dealt with pretty well. Sarushima is a funny one – who doesn’t hold back when it comes to kissing – and I honestly wouldn’t have minded her joining the main cast. She never really stuck out in the original source material, but she was a treat in this episode.

However, the other new character introduction this episode is joining the main cast. Tsubaki Kentarou (Sasaki Toshiharu – another newcomer that did a fantastic job) is another one that benefits from the anime adaptation. For whatever reason, this witch story and everyone involved in it wasn’t a highlight in the manga, yet this rather packed adaptation of it was such fun. I don’t know how that works exactly, but I’m happy that Yamada-kun is continuing to surprise and please me, as a fan of the source material. The scenes with Tsubaki and Yamada were pretty funny, especially leading up to their “confession”. Kudos to Tsubaki for being cool about having a male admirer (or so he thinks), but Yamada was far too forceful with his kisses this week. And this punk may have a thing for Shiraishi, but let’s be real here… she’s got someone else in mind.

“This is what our relationship is like.”:

It’s time for my weekly segment where I talk about how much I love Yamada and Shiraishi’s relationship! Honestly, I don’t plan on doing this each and every episode… it just happens. Even though Shiraishi didn’t play a massive part in this story, her scenes in the last few minutes were absolute standouts. If she wasn’t the best character of the series already, then she most certainly is now. Her pretending to be in a relationship with Yamada was perfect, as was their scene on the rooftop later on. They’re both looking out for each other, with Shiraishi willing to be the presumed arsonist if it came to it. Yamada telling her off could have gone horribly wrong, but she seemed to quite like it. She must have been craving that sort of emotional reaction, and she got it. God, these two unlikely souls are meant for each other.

Overview – What’s Next?:

A much better standalone witch story than what we got this week. Plus, now we’ve got a new member of the Supernatural Studies club. I also have to point out how many times Sarushima and Itou must have kissed each other in this episode. I got a kick every time we cut to Itou becoming more and more smitten and/or exhausted with the whole ordeal. I just hope next week’s witch story is as enjoyable as this one was.

Full-length images: 01, 07, 17, 28.

 

Preview

15 Comments

  1. At the end of this episode i had mixed feeling, when i read the manga this was one of the more exciting parts and it felt longer reading, yet they didn’t rly leave anything out so i guess this is one of those cases where the story is at a midway between u can fit it 1 ep or u can stretch it 2 eps.

    i must say tho the ending with shiraishi and yamada felt better reading, think the intensity felt a lil bigger.

    overall good episode.

    Aapjuh
  2. A hell of a lot happened in this episode, but by the end it didn’t feel all that rushed.

    Really? really??? Really????????????

    It feels rushed on every frame! And..it’s going to be worse….8 chapters for 1 episode, there are 40 chapters left for just 4 episodes, Yamada is one of my favourite manga but..this adaptation is disappointing me.

    Thalandor
    1. I don’t disagree that the adaptation is speeding through the manga, but compared to last week this one felt like a much more content-packed episode, as apposed to blitzing through the story without ever fleshing out the characters. I commented that last week’s episode felt hollow, like there was nothing to it. This one was loaded, and still fast, but because the best stuff was kept it worked much better. Of course it would be better if we had a better-paced adaptation, but from the first episode that clearly wasn’t going to be the case.

      Samu
  3. I actually thought this episode felt more rushed compared to last week. I hadn’t read the manga so I found it a little bit difficult to follow at the start. I thought I had missed an episode somewhere!

    Although all in all it was a very fun and enjoyable episode. Definitely loving the chemistry between Shiraishi and Yamada.

    Kimboslice
  4. Dat OVA concert number they did~ I got to say, I’m glad the quality for this show is WAAAYYY above the quality of a majority of school-life/harem shows out there

    asdf
  5. Still smiling while getting scolded and hit by Yamada… Shiraishi’s on to BDSM!! She wants Yamada to “punish her more”. XD

    Joking aside, Shiraishi delivered a solid one today. I really love the fact that she went out in the open to stop Yamada from accepting Tsubaki’s confession while he was in her body and boldly kissing in the public. She simply provided another option when Yamada has no choice but to accept Tsubaki’s confession just to keep him at bay.

    Though I think that kiss of them in front of Tsubaki might actually be the reason why a fire broke out in the school in the first place when. It’s due to Tsubaki’s cooking to deal with his rejection and depression. Still, instead of indirectly accepting a confession from Tsubaki, Shiraishi chose to be hell with it and prevent Yamada on doing so. The only love confession that she’ll accept is from Yamada. Go forth best girl!

    Shiraishi really picked it up this week when Shinoa (the other character voiced by Shiraish’s VA) slacked off and lost her bite in Seraph.

    Reikakou
    1. Well the OVA’s are spoiler-centric as its after the first season (though honestly….the opening did most of the spoiling). I did notice the second arc Easter Egg-Characters shown. Kind of amusing they went ahead and showed the archer girl considering she was skipping in the actual series.

      asdf
  6. I really liked how the bodyswapping came useful with Yamada using Shiraishi’s body to drag firestarting punk cook on a not-entirely-date…
    The future-predicting power came with the usual caveat that the more you try to avoid the bad future, the more dreadful it becomes…
    Overall I had not such fun with kissing-themed comedy since Sakura Trick.

    ewok40k
  7. SO, Sarushima kissed who? When…

    a. Yamada and Miyamura will visit her at home?
    b. the supposed fire incident?

    Surely, she should have mentioned who she kissed with during these incidents as only the user of this foretelling power can see the future, with exception of Yamada being able to copy and not get affected by the witches’ powers.

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