First Impressions / Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

「ラブレターの真相は修羅場」 (Rabu Retā no Shinsou wa Shuraba)
“The Truth of the Love Letter Is a Battleground”

Masuzu’s little sister is a terrible person, Himeka “Himekashizuka Heaven’s Rain, Burning Princess Saint Dragon Lady of Dawn” Akishino (Kanemoto Hisako) would make any nerd’s heart flutter with her confessions, and man oh man I’m pretty sure that is NOT how you do CPR! That’s all I have to say.

Alas, for the sake of healthy discussion, some further elaboration is needed.

Masuzu’s development as a deeply conflicted and perhaps unstable character has reached new heights with the introduction of one girl…perhaps one of the few people to make Masuzu tremble and lose control. It was plain to assume that Masuzu had some life events that caused her to be this way, but never was it imaginable that it’d be something this well…terrible. Natsukawa Mana (Touyama Nao) carries this aura of subtle intimidation that scares the mahjebus out of me and by extension, Eita and Masuzu. That one line, that lick of the lips, Gochisousama…*shudder*. Although Masuzu is still pretty unpleasant, it’s hard to not sympathize with her situation against such a manipulative and forward sister. Despite that, I won’t make any judgments about the true intentions of Mana just yet, as characters often categorized in this situation often have an alternate deeper reason for their cruelty (though their actions are still just as twisted). For those who had watched Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, this situation is similar to Yuuzan and his “brotherly love” towards Haru. Until we see more of Mana and Masuzu’s interactions in the past, it would be unfair to rage on Mana blindly, though rage with a grain of salt is acceptable.

Mana’s presence must be potent against Masuzu though, as a few minutes of her antics caused her cool face to shake significantly. Masuzu was high content on pressuring Eita to divulge information, yet became quite hypocritical when questions are aimed at her own past. Unfortunately, this leads her to make some wise decisions that almost cost her life, with only a really bad case of CPR to save her. The series has made a good case so far in melting down the ice queen to a more bearable and complex form, as Masuzu once again shows her less antagonistic side.

It’ll still be some time before Masuzu haters can see substantial evidence to convert them, since the sandwich headdesk maneuver was a pretty dick move despite any justification, but at least the anime is moving in a better direction of fleshing out all the characters each episode. Chiwa’s fight against time has become more of a platonic sadness than a lazy effort and Masuzu has shifted from anti-love to well…anti-loneliness. While the actions each of the cast members do are still as awkward as ever, a new sense of…justification behind those struggles is arising.

It was a good move for the show to develop the main three characters before introducing the final two characters in Eita’s inevitable harem. The battle between Masuzu and Chiwa has been a tough four episodes long that still is ongoing (as well as the comments section following suit), with each competitor becoming significantly layered in the process. Forestalling the last introductions though won’t last forever; now is the time to bring in more challengers who wish to dethrone Masuzu off her throne and cockblock Chiwa. We may not have new information about our pink haired character other than her authority in the school, but we do finally see ourselves with a chuunibyou whose power level may match or even exceed Eita’s. Eita at least acknowledges the artificial nature of his alternate life, yet Himeka seriously believes, or at least is putting up a good act, in her past life as a princess of magic. It may have been quite a cute nerd confession (though I’ve seen similar ideas done with Pokemon), but she kind of tips over when she outpours her unlocked memories to Eita, even with her cute embrace. Her chuunibyou nature will probably define her character outline, one has to wonder at this point what the deeper side of Himeka will end up looking like. Considering the fairly deep introspection we’re receiving for Masuzu and Chiwa, I expect no less from Himeka. Though I can’t imagine Masuzu slamming Himeka’s head into a sandwich, her role will probably be of a pure character nature, whom no one can touch, which that in itself could tie into the source of Himeka’s problems, which will probably arise in the next few episodes.

At first, I was very uncomfortable with watching Oreshura with all of this constant tension, but I think the characters have had their backgrounds explained enough such that the tension no longer stings as much. Though I still wrack my head that some characters in the show have the gall to do the things they do, I am given hope that everyone in time will show off their positive and heartwarming sides, though expectations for such facets to dominate their personality are zero. I’ve come to accept that it won’t be easy to digest some of the daring choices that the characters make, but the tension makes all those heartwarming moments so much more rewarding in the end.

Full-length images: 13, 35.

 

Preview

77 Comments

    1. I think the problem here is that it’s physical comedy done to a female character. Normally we are used to seeing the guy take the abuse, but when it happens to a girl, we react differently. It doesn’t help that Masuzu isn’t being painted in the best light either.

      Annyms
      Reply

  5. Masuzu is right, the battles of Part 2 of Jojo are really good.
    Jojo especially kicked ass in the latest episode. Props to Fujiwara Keiji for doing that hysterical crying of ACDC. And of course Sugita is awesome with Joseph. That cliffhanger though…

    Oh right, the Oreshura episode.
    Finally, Himeka appeared and with a huge case of chuunibyou. inb4 ripoff of Chuu2
    Before that, Masuzu slowly becoming dere was cute, and Chiwa still trying to win Eita.
    Still hard to take sides with this for me, though with Masuzu’s performance in the start of the episode, it’s kind of easy to tell which side people are at the moment. /not following the Oreshura discussions in RC.
    With Hime joining the fray, this will surely be a battlefield that’s sure to be fun to watch. At least for me. I want the 4th girl, Fuyuumi Ai, to join as well.

    belatkuro
    Reply

  6. Now this anime is getting interesting & a mid-boss appears, hehe. First impressions are everything in this show – unless we’re talking about MCs, so Mana really is a bitch. The reason she’s bugging Masuzu doesn’t even take a lot of guesswork, since this is a romcom.

    It’s also pretty apparent that the anime is mixing up the order of the LN & manga which is a good thing in my book since both paper designs tend to dwell on little things way too much.

    Leaving the half-ass CPR aside, its kind of sad that drowning in anime is almost NEVER taken seriously & is usually directly connected with kissing. You can actually drown just by inhaling enough water to disturb the gas exchange process in the lungs. The amount varies by lung size but it typically only takes a VERY small amount of water.

    Megas
    Reply

    1. i dunno, man. I find it funny when a joker, a grown-up man, did it to a huge ass grown-up gangstar man, but can’t find it as funny when children do it to each other, even in the fiction. Call me a softie for kids~~!

      But I fully acknowledge that your post isn’t written in malice. I can take a joke, I can.

      deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
      Reply

      9. Attach a cute face to a bully & people lose all reason – but it’s still bullying. Just because she receives a good dose of it from her source doesn’t justify her dishing it out as well. I’m not even going to touch how anyone can consider that “fun”, even though I just did, hehe.

        Megas
        Reply

      10. Where exactly is here the bullying? Chiwa was trying to steal Masuzu’s boyfriend and got punished.

        It’s the same as if I would steal your purse/car/whatever, get a beating and then I would start complaining about bullying – this is just ridiculous.

        Is Masuzu’s reaction disproportionate? Yes. Is it bullying? No.

        ckuri
        Reply

      11. So you don’t call that bullying??? Geez, what a ‘nice’ person you are. And you’re comparing a boyfriend to a car??? Is that how low you think of your lover??? Who the bloody hell even told you that you can own a ‘boyfriend’. Though the lead guy is that white-haired girl’s boyfriend (fake boyfriend for that matter), that doesn’t mean she owns him. Each person is a property of his own. That isn’t an excuse to bully a rival who happens to like the person you like. That’s bullying dude. Or maybe you can’t even understand the word ‘bullying’???

        moreugh
        Reply

    2. I don’t know what world you’re from but in my world, THE REAL ONE, mere boyfriends & girlfriends ARE NOT possessions – you don’t own them . . . that would be slaves.

      But if you think it’s alright for her to smash another person’s face into a table, then by all means uses the silly possession argument all you want.

      Megas
      Reply

      1. I clearly said that it is not okay smash another person’s face into a table. Also, my argument was never about possessions – you totally missed the point of the example. It was just about hurting other people (here by trying to steal another ones boyfriend), getting a retribution for it and then blaming only one side (Musuzu) by saying it is the bully and thus making the original transgressor (Chiwa) the innocent victim.

        ckuri
        Reply

      3. I agree with Megas your argument is based on treating people as possessions – especially so when Eita doesn’t mind Chiwa and isn’t interested in Masuzu.You do realize saying you aren’t talking about possessions and then talk about ‘stealing’ a boyfriend is just contradicting yourself.
        From a Google search, which of these definitions for bullying doesn’t fit Masuzu?

        >A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people.
        >a person who hurts, persecutes, or intimidates weaker people
        >A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.
        >Use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.

        Both Eita and Chiwa are innocent victims here, so saying Masuzu isn’t a bully doesn’t make any sense.

        Wail
        Reply

      4. When you use possessions as an example when it comes to stealing a boyfriend, then I can’t help but take it as that.

        Unfortunately, this is a case of whose more wrong, & clearly it’s Masuzu for using violent retribution for a non-violent act.

        Megas
        Reply

    3. I agree with you, I am also thinking of dropping the show it is just pissing me off so much. I just cannot like her.. I want to warm up and like her, like the rest of them because eventually one of them is going to get with Eita in the end, if it’s a character you hate it ruins the ending. But Musuzu, I like her when she isn’t in her manipulative mode… I don’t think she should get with Eita.. Every episode I watch it annoys me more.. I really want him to get with Chiwa because I think they would be very cute together.. but it’s very hard to tell if that will happen..

      Izumi
      Reply

  9. I hope just because another seemingly bitch character appears, suddenly “some” folks would not be so willingly to suddenly forgive and be at Masuzu’s corner, the original bitch. If that’s the case, O, the power of MC is quite strong in this one.

    Well I have no dog in this fight since I dropped it a while back… Was just lured into the post by the blonde girl photo.

    deathtogeneric/formulaicshows
    Reply

  11. eita wonder on letter try ask chiwa but got face food slam by masuzu then talk prob with hall monitor with idea to do on it.

    after school masuzu got uh-oh cause little blonde show up mention of masuzu’s life & steal try on eita with blonde is masuzu’s sister.

    so swim time with masuzu try swim away but drown so eita give cpr & talk relax masuzu that everything still fine give chiwa got “hmm” with text message.

    so chiwa got fever & eita help relax her too & know no way chiwa send the letter with speaking on it reveal it was black hair female named himeka.

    give why cause of eita’s delusions make awaken himeka’s delusions cause in their delusions lifes they were lovers so with that cue masuzu & chiwa going eita you got some explain’ to do.
    __________________

    lani
    Reply

    2. My apologies if I don’t match up to objectivity as much as Omni or Divine do: I personally try my best to explore from an objective standpoint without losing my own feelings on the show when I blog, so if I turn up the bias too much without exploring the other side, my bad.

      Zanibas
      Reply

    3. I like hearing the opinions of the writer even if I don’t necessarily agree with everything he or she says. I don’t think they need to be objective to write a blog. That’s where the comments come in so that people can discuss and agree or disagree with what has been said.

      Annyms
      Reply

    1. Some people are just suckers for a blushing face. Or they just like bishes when they stop acting like bishes. Masuzu’s whole family seem to be major bishes, she’s probably just the least of them all. Still unforgivable though. I guess some people just have to experience it to see just how wrong it is.

      Megas
      Reply

  18. On another note, is someone else frustrated/annoyed by the fact that Eita doesn’t stand up for his best/childhood friend in front of Masuzu? I know that she has a hold on him with the notebook but if someone would do the things she does to my best friend I’d give her a piece of my mind, to put it mildly. I wouldn’t care about my own reputation if it meant that I could save someone very dear to me further humiliation.

    Kisara
    Reply

    1. There’s a lot of things morally wrong with this show but they don’t seem to care about things of that nature when it comes to entertainment. Even if it seems obvious to us, they will knock down basic human values & interest for the sake of slapstick laughs. This stuff is usually written by people that can only conceptualize clichés in 2D characters – humanity has nothing to do with it even though they are suppose to simulate human interactions.

      In other words, Eita, Masuzu, & Co are only doing what they’re doing for the sake of a story. Any actions that could destroy the story are strictly prohibited.

      Megas
      Reply

      2. I’m not particularly frustrated with it, but I do feel you on outgrowing these types of shows. That’s why I turned to manga. There are SOO many good seinen mangas out there that will probably never be anime that doesn’t insult your intelligence with such “stupidity”.

        frubam
        Reply

      3. I agree with what you are saying here, but then again what sort of message are they sending to the viewers? It is funny to smash people’s faces into their lunches for shits and giggles? For me, bullying is no joke. It is one of the major factors leading to suicide and depression, and it is something that the world can definitely do without. The same way which people argue that violent video games encourages violence, the same can be said that any medium which depicts bullying as something funny may also encourage the behaviour.

        In honesty, I don’t see how smashing someone’s face into a lunchbox is done for the sake of a story. There are many other comedic routes which they could have taken, but that they decided to go with this route was disappointing.

        I completely agree with Kisara. If your best friend got his/her face smashed into a lunchbox, would you not stand up for him/her? The fact that he just sat there without really doing anything was frustrating, and in honesty it also felt out of character.

        taiakun
        Reply

      4. I agree with you taiakun. I mentioned the same thing in that Kotoura show. What what are they thinking? I honestly don’t want to know. If they can insert this kind of garbage in anime all the time just raise half-assed laughs, then I don’t want to know what kind of people we’re dealing with here.

        Unfortunately, slapstick exists for that very reason. I never found slapstick funny nor would I condone invoking pain on others just for laughs. Yet, more than half the shows for any given season, including this one feature that mindless nonsense – & sadly people still find that shit funny.

        I would love to say out of the human psyche when it comes to things like this but it’s just too apparent that people DON’T care. Mainly because it’s not real, yet we all know that anime has the ability to effect real people. So yes, it IS a problem that he didn’t stand up for her, but I can write a research paper on all the problems this show has. No doubt it would be glorious boring reading.

        Megas
        Reply

      5. Except that when the characters act inconsistently. Eita was willing to get the crap beaten out of him for Chiwa, but won’t stand up to Masuzu when she slams Chiwa’s face into the table. At some point you would expect him to protect his childhood friend from something like that or at least tell Masuza that her threats won’t work if she touches Chiwa again. Otherwise he’s just a dick.

        Bear
        Reply

      6. If I had to put my finger on it, being a dick would be a great upgrade for Eita. Instead, he’s playing the role of Masuzu’s bitch. He’s already gone chunni in front of a huge crowd & all of it is known in the school yet he still lets her play around with that notebook & Chiwa – that’s dickless, or he’s just being a bitch’s bitch.

        That’s the only way I can see all the inconsistencies with his character, although the more obvious answer is that they don’t know WTF his character should be.

        Megas
        Reply

  19. “I am given hope that everyone in time will show off their positive and heartwarming sides”

    Let’s turn everyone into the flat cliches cookie cutter stereotypes we already see in every other generic light novel adaptations. Moeblob banzai.

    Ananas
    Reply

    1. This is already a generic show with stereotypical characters, only difference is the characters are negative and bitchy stereotypes instead of positive ones.Nothing groundbreaking here.

      void
      Reply

  21. Harem + Bullying + Bitches (Tons of them!) + Inconsistent guy who seemingly had no sense of jurisdiction towards his harem + Stupidity

    Ugh – What a great show. I thought SAO is bad enough.

    moreugh
    Reply

  22. YEAH!!! That is NOT how you do CPR…

    Eita let go Masuzu’s nose!!!

    He pinched it before he tilted her head up, but he (and the teacher) weren’t pinching the nose; HOW DARE THEY!!!

    Also, Eita lost a good chance to stare at Masuzu’s boobs; he’s supposed to watch her chest rise during CPR!

    Dea
    Reply

  23. With the CPR, sure, score a few points for Masuzu, cause they totally “kissed” and she got all embarassed after the fact. Or some horrible trope like that.

    With the “wipe down my body, ” scene with Chiwa, score A MILLION POINTS! <3

    AniC
    Reply

  24. ok that head to sandwich was highly uncalled for she too needs reforming send in the hall monitooor and shell insta fall in love with eita gg harem anime kekeke! its not so much bullying as it is jealousy hitting it like punching a guy in the faceeee for clinging to your girlfriend its not right but its what some people really do in blind RAGEEE… still not justifiable but understandable! hahaha not much eita can do really they just ambushed him all over and he likesss it for most part! hes just a normal guy afterall! tho all he wanted to do was studyyyyy.

    GoodStuffs
    Reply

  26. i cant understand why there is so much hate on masuzu.. chiwa, chiwa, chiwa.. she is like an idiot.. i think hitagi is even harsher on words and actions than masuzu but she doesn’t receive this dislikes.. i think all people are the same.. they just want to see what their eyes want to see… where is the randomc i have been seeing in the past.. pass this show on other bloggers please.. im begging you.. this is not the anime you should be covering… there is so much hate that even the other commenters are being haters.. haters everywhere..

    koap
    Reply

  29. .yeah.. i guess so to… i understand if you don’t like a character.. but in here there is so much hate that already draws beyond the line.. there is a reason why the author or director develop this kind of character and the personality in her.. it is to develop the story more so that the reader may get the message of what the author is really trying to imply… lelouch and light for one.. they murdered, and a bit of darkness is really shown more than what masuzu shows right now.. but they were never hated like this so much.. light’s reasoning is twisted.. but the author intended it to be like that for the reader’s to realize something..
    ive always like randomc.. in this post: https://randomc.net/2012/12/24/twelve-days-of-anime-12-the-rc-journey-past-present-future/, i appreciate divine’s saying of the “SPIRIT OF RANDOMC”… but in these posts like these.. is that SPIRIT of RANDOMC just becoming pure HATRED.. and of only a SINGLE CHARACTER.. who did not EVEN KILL anyone?.. :(..
    The blog can be reflected in the comments.. ive also visited another sites were this show is blogged.. but its not like this. i even feel that.. ” this post belong to randomc for real?”

    feeder
    Reply

    1. Don’t you think it’s a bit far-fetched to say that the comment section reflects the blog in general? Back in the day I used to comment on a couple of Bleach related entries, and I’ve gotten a lot of negative replies for stating my opinion – most of the time because I didn’t understand why so many people hated Orihime, but that’s besides the point.

      And I wouldn’t call what’s being said about Masuzu’s character ‘hate’. It’s still within limits. If you can’t deal with people discussing a certain character, and questioning their motivations for their behavior, then I don’t think you should visit the comment section at all. That’s basically why I stopped visiting the Blach entries altogether.

      It can’t always be just sunshine and roses, so to speak.

      Also don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not trying to sound offensive in any way. I just don’t want you to feel offended, if Masuzu is your favourite character in the series. I know what it’s like to read criticizing comments about one of your favourite characters.

      Kisara
      Reply

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