「はじめての八女さん家」 (Hajimete no Yame-san chi)
“My First time at Yame-san’s House”

Man, Junichi had every chance in the world to get closer to Yame if he didn’t take his friends’ word on what they thought would get the two to share an intimate bond. It did win over Yame in the end, but now, Junichi will have to handle enough wheels to sport on a tractor, enough fiddles to put Kaz in his own personal hell, and enough bananas to get the Aho Girl to learn how to do one critical thinking problem. Already, Yame’s created a timeline for her house guests to have part-time jobs to fund a summer vacation together, guaranteeing that Junichi will always have his friends and acquaintances around him to try and either spice up his love life or steal him away for the next batch of episodes. If this episode is a taste of things to come, however, it turns out that Junichi’s torment will be quite hilarious.

Junichi’s guy friends turned out to be the funniest characters during the house party, showing up in inappropriate outfits and using their intellect to scheme up a situation to have Junichi and Yame kiss during a King’s Game match. Shinpei line of thought that made cosplaying as Kirito for a party sound like a good idea was great as was the usually unremarkable Keigo’s decision to dress up like a playboy heading to a red light district. This’ll probably be the only instance where Minoru was funny with his appearance at the party with two suspicious recorders and being the only guy friend who was enthusiastic about kissing one of his friends.

The possibilities behind the scenarios that can be cooked up through King’s Game also gave the girls the opportunity to be put in funny and fanservicey situations. Specifically, Ranko had a fun time making good use of the game as an opportunity to slap Junichi as hard as she can, place pressure on Yui to use her personality from her livestreams when asked to put on a baby voice, and share a Pocky with Yame. Yui’s chance to go overboard with the gravure model pose she was instructed to do became the subject of delight to most of the party guests. And then, there’s the scale of how hard Junichi’s friends’ planning backfired once Junichi grew the conscience to not put that pressure on Yame in favor of having to make out with his friends.

The episode doesn’t take too much advantage of how much fanservice they could’ve done, and places a bulk of it’s lewdness on Junichi’s daydreaming, but it does make it easier for the show to express that as goofy as everyone is, they are more complex than the stereotypes attached to them would imply. The series gets credit for embracing the conventions of ecchi manga/anime, yet also examining how applicable they would be in an actual relationship. Where the comedy and antics are still on-par with your standard fanservice comedy, but gives many of its character personalities or goals that conflict with what they’re really thinking. And with the push this episode makes to incorporate the rest of the cast into Junichi and Yame’s relationship, it encapsulates how the cast is surprisingly endearing as people with their own motivations and inhibitions despite also having the power to be on their baddest behavior.

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9 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/Hajimete%20no%20Gal/Hajimete%20no%20Gal%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    Mmmmm…

    https://randomc.net/image/Hajimete%20no%20Gal/Hajimete%20no%20Gal%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
    Ohhhh…

    https://randomc.net/image/Hajimete%20no%20Gal/Hajimete%20no%20Gal%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    Ooh-la-la…

    Ah, nice to get those fanservice relax-o-vision scenes instead of…potential fan disservice. (Though yaoi fans might disagree.) Well, if those gals weren’t fujoshi before, perhaps they are now after what they’ve just seen. XD

    Chuckled a bit at the Kirito cosplay, though what was it like in the manga version? Did Junichi’s friend cosplay as a different anime character?

    Incognito
    1. I’m not sure there’d be many fujoshi that’d be excited to see these otaku kiss…

      From what I’ve looked through in the manga, this seems to be an original story. There haven’t been many chances for the characters to bond in a group together, and the translated manga is only a chapter or two out of Yui’s arc (they switched the order of Yui and Nene’s arc). The anime is making the series into a more light-hearted fanservice comedy, but I feel like it works well with the series.

      The manga is better at holding Junichi accountable for his mixed feelings about his relationship and makes Yame more critical of Junichi’s flighty mindset over the other women pursuing him. The introspection in the manga pushes Junichi to re-evaluate his feelings and take his relationship more seriously.

      The anime is more bearable in these regards though as many of the misunderstandings are cleared up quickly so far and Junichi is attached to Yame quickly enough that he realizes the depth of his feelings for her early on. It does bastardize the source material for the story to be tweaked as heavily as it is to be less dramatic and more comical, but at the same time, I feel like the series has a lot to gain from how the anime makes Junichi is more redeemable and has the relationship feel less like an experiment at an earlier rate.

      Choya
  2. This season we cater to all sexual preferences.
    Me Im standard I LIKE girls with big tits/
    I KNOW ITS NOT real but who cares.

    For gay Yaoi. My brother my friend Hitorijime my Hero
    For girls Yuri Skirt no Naka
    for pedos Lolli Tenshi no 3P

    Everyones catered for. So If I like Hentai that’s my problem
    Normamal male sex desires.

    1. It’s an interesting way of looking at it; there is a little something for everyone this season when it comes to fanservice. Whether it’s big boobs, big butts, washboard abs, monster parts, or assorted fetishes, many people who just want to watch an anime to feel a certain type of way will have a show that’s geared towards scratching that particular itch.

      Hajimete no Gal has oppai, pantsu, and even a little waki. It might not be as explicit as hentai would be, but there’s nothing wrong with looking at attractive drawings. Maybe it’d be an issue if an anime’s story was creepy, but a great fanservicey show like this makes an anime girl or guy’s chest accepting to anyone in the audience if it’s their cup of tea. If it’s not, then there’s always something else out there, and luckily, this season gives people many options.

      Choya
  3. First half before getting to the house was annoying, come on Junichi you are not that dense are you? But once the Kings Game got going, Then it was hilarious especially with the Kirito cosplay.

    Bill
    1. That’s Junichi’s biggest Achilles heel. He never even thought through why Yame would be annoyed that he only wanted to visit her room under the pretense of having his friends or some girls who want his booty interfere with the first time he’s seen her room. Even in the Ranko episode, Yame’s anger came from how Ranko got inside of Junichi’s room before she even got an invite. The rooms are important to Junichi, and he should’ve saw that as a way of saying that it’d be significant for Junichi’s first visit to her room to be a personal experience.

      The King’s Game was very funny though, and made up for Junichi’s denseness.

      Choya
  4. I hope I’m not the only one creeped out by the pedophile’s recorders… presumably the type that elementary schoolers use in school. Maybe they were stolen, but with this particular character, they feel like trophies from “conquests” that will soon lead to him being rightfully shivved in prison.

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