「夏合宿の会議で修羅場」 (Natsu Gasshuku no Kaigi de Shuraba)
“Summer Training Camp Meetings Are a Battlefield”

Although it’s a worthy effort for a harem anime to work towards a firm conclusion amidst a sea of conflicting feelings, it is rare to see such efforts amount to anything tangible. As a romantic comedy light novel adaption, it’s clear to us that this battlefield will not cease anytime soon. Saeko-san throws a wrench into that formula though, pulling off a no-bullshit attitude that gives off zero ambiguity. She knows what’s going on, sees what the audience clearly sees, and above all else, asks the question the audience asks every damn time:

Now tell me, which one of these girls do you really like?”

I’m abandoning the Hime ship–it’s all aboard the Saeko-san train!

(Semi) joking aside, it’ll be a pleasant next episode to see what good chaos Saeko can release upon the group. Today’s episode showed the standstill the group was stuck in–each girl manages to bring out a different flavor of caring from Eita, making him indecisive and causing every other girl to be annoyed at him and at one another. There exists possible internal growth for each girl overcoming their insecurities, especially for Masuzu and Chiwa, but the relationships they all shared with each other were cemented. Now that Saeko has pointed out the elephant in the room, how will the story progress? Like I said, no actual resolution will appear by nature of the genre and the progress of the manga, but what’ll be interesting is each character’s response to this plain yet sharp question.

Chiwa’s response is one of an ever-growing sadness, as she’s slowly losing many of her “advantages” to others. Previously, Chiwa could rely on the double-edged sword of being a close childhood friend–though hurtful due to being too familiar with Eita, the childhood friend usually knows best and has “first” claims. Now that Ai has taken the spot of being the first osananajimi and with Masuzu equipped with the knowledge of Eita’s dark past, Chiwa finds it hard to keep that smile on her face from cracking. I get her feelings of incompetence, of being unable to be fully open with Eita, of being constantly provoked by everyone else through karate chops and forced confessions. If she’s going to get ahead of the game, she’s got to stop hiding behind that smile and those casual compliments of hers and get serious and direct!

Meanwhile, Masuzu also is taking some blows to her confidence as everyone else traps Eita in love sickness. Having had her guise clearly seen through by Saeko, Masuzu probably will recognize how weak her position as a “girlfriend” to Eita has become. Other than in name, Masuzu is treated no differently by Eita than the rest, with Eita barely even putting up a guise when the two are “playing official”. Masuzu has a good advantage with her personality style and cool-headed forwardness, but she’s got to stop denying her feelings completely and approach them maturely and openly. At this rate, everyone else will open themselves up while she attempts to hold her anti-love stance, leaving her own feelings unresolved and well…her legitimacy as even a “fake” girlfriend ruined. I know it’d be pathetic to see her absolutely swoon for Eita, but a display of serious reflection with Eita to chime in may prove helpful in shaping an answer to Saeko’s provocation.

Ai and Hime can keep doing their business, since it looks like that the next few episodes will focus on a serious reflection from the two main heroines. With a confidence unshaken as of yet, Ai and Hime will continue to bring pressure to the other two as they re-examine how they need to win Eita, or at the very least resolve the tense feelings within themselves.

 

Preview

62 Comments

  1. I actually felt a little bad for Eita this episode, honestly. What, with him not only being really pressured by the girls in their competition with eachother, but also pretty much always being dragged into what they want to do while he gets no say in the matter. Even when he does openly object for one reason or another, he just gets blackmailed, guilt-tripped, or something into doing it. A bunch of other male harem leads tend to (happily) agree or only meekly object out of embarrassment before going along anyway. Eita would say he has other things he wants/has to do (studying, cram class and such) without hesitating. Though, as mentioned here before, it’s not that he doesn’t show interest in girls at all, but just that he puts other priorities ahead of them.

    I guess with the way things have been going, I actually have a tricky time really envisioning Eita being together with ANY of the girls right now because he just doesn’t seem to be truly happy with any of them. I mean, it’s not JUST the happiness of the girls we should care about, but also the male lead’s. If he’s not also happy with whoever he ends up with, then it wouldn’t matter which girl “wins” in the end, they’d all still lose overall.

    And I can also really get behind Saeko though, now with her calling things out so bluntly.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. Yea, I wish the girls would stop torturing Eita by dragging him along with their whim and fancies. I would gladly sacrifice myself in his place because I’m such a bro. No man should have to endure 4 girls fighting over you.

      Giorno Giovanna
      1. Yeah, while I personally have no experience with such situations (thank god), I will still say with confidence that despite the naive idea that having multiple girls fighting over you is a dream come true (because of ego really), the reality is far more of a nightmare overall. Even if you do find one you’re truly happy with out of the ones fighting, that still means you have to end up letting down the others you didn’t choose which, unless you’re that much of an insensitive douche, can be pretty difficult because of not wanting to make the others sad.

        Of course, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the fan-service this episode or that I personally dislike any of the girls (overall, it’s a tricky choice between Masuzu and Ai for me) or anything. Just saying when I look at it more objectively rather than just picking a favorite/wishful pairing because of a favorite girl or something.

        When I look at how Eita’s been so far and then at the 4 girls, I just don’t really feel much chemistry between any of them and the feelings feel a lot more one-sided on the girls’ half, and even then, there doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot in terms of “true” feelings.

        Like Masuzu likes to think she and Eita are “the same” due to their “anti-love” stance when really, it’s only that general idea that they’re similar in. Masuzu seems to take it a lot further and seems to push away virtually everyone around her and isolates herself while Eita merely just doesn’t want to be in any committed romantic relationships at the moment, but he’ll still make friends and cares for those friends, as we saw.

        Chiwa always just gives off the little sister-type feeling where Eita is concerned.

        Himeka just bases her feelings solely on her chuunibyou delusions. Unless either Eita accepts his chuunibyou past as part of himself (like Yuuta did in Chuunibyou!) or Himeka learns to let go of her’s and see Eita for who he really is and not who she wants to believe him to be, I just don’t see that relationship going very far because it’ll be base on a self-made lie.

        And Ai only knew Eita for a year or so, basing her present “love” on that marriage “promise” which really has become more of an obsession than anything. While it’s nice to want to try to keep a childhood promise, there ARE limits based on variables like what one or both are like when they’re older or other events that may take place, especially if it comes to something as huge and life-changing as marriage.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      2. OMG, you people actually UNDERSTAND these stupid harem situations & not just happily (& uselessly) go along shipping some girl. OK, I’m being sarcastic but this IS the truth. Harems hardly EVER involve romance, just some poor hapless sap being dragged along at the girls’ paces.

        I’ve thrown the LN in the garbage already since everything I said about this series earlier came true (the author throwing miss silver under the bus). It serves this show right since it was based off such a ridiculous premise in the 1st place.

        Megas
      3. Megas, seriously, what’s wrong with you? Ever heard of “classic drama arc”?

        By “throwing Miss Silver under the bus”, as you called it, he pretty much sealed that she will “win” in the end.

        Mentar
      4. @Mentar, don’t go stating the obvious with me. Of course it’s dramatic. But it’s also breaking down the premise that the anime set, I.E. breaking Masuzu’s stance on the situation. That’s what needs to happen if she’s gonna win.

        I’m going for the open ending – like it always be.

        Megas
      5. Megas: And that’s exactly what _is_ happening. Do not read this unless you want to be spoiled about the late LN volumes.

        Show Spoiler ▼

        Mentar
      6. You left out a few details, this probably ain’t ever going to get animated anyway.

        Show Spoiler ▼

        I left out a ton of details too but that’s just the tip of the situation.

        Megas
    2. Harem shows never have any actual romance it runs mostly on fanservice,comedy and drama(it’s not just this show).Although it would be pretty funny if Eita ends up rejecting all the girls in the final episode.

      anonymous
      1. I wouldn’t say “never”, but “rarely”.

        I’d guess because the ones behind the anime/manga don’t want to alienate any fans of certain characters (male or female members). I’ve seen many people claim to have or really do stop watching/reading an anime/manga solely because the main character they were rooting for didn’t win during times that the lead does choose one over the others. That’s probably one of the types of alienation they want to avoid (thus losing viewers/readers), which is also probably why many harem-type anime/manga tend to end with a “no decision” ending, leaving it all up to the imagination of the fans on “who won” compared to a “decision” ending or even a “bad end”.

        I find those that do go with the lead choosing someone to be pretty brave, especially if they can keep the romance/drama going after; Mashiro-iro Symphony being one I immediately recall, with Shingo choosing Miu (which was pretty surprising to many considering most of those that DO choose tend to go with the “main”/cover girl as the “default”). It actually felt pretty sweet to see them together while it actually HURT me to see Sana and Airi crying and comforting eachother in the rain in the playground after that.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  2. I’ll actually be glad if Masuzu drops the ‘fake girlfriend’ part of the act, because it hasn’t been fake for her, pretty much ever. She actually bugs me less than the other girls, especially when she’s not trying to play up the fake angle.

  3. I don’t know, in these harem things it’s never the childhood friend (Chiwa and Ai) and never the others that suddenly barge in (Hime) and it’s almost always the fake girlfriend or something like that.
    I could be wrong, I don’t have any resources, but that’s what I get from watching harems and reverse harems.

    blahblah0625
  4. Galgame maker is sure powerful with seeing through plots xD
    finally we get into vol.4 material… Masuzu and Chiwa will finally get more spotlight again 🙂 too bad the anime will likely ends with vol.4 if it is only 12 episodes 🙁
    though having read through vol.6 of LN, I have to say I feel so bad for Masuzu (bad enough that I had an urge to send a knife to the author)…
    it might really be just like what Eita said this week “it is all about how long you have been together”…

    thanks for the coverage as always!

    ps. vol 6.5 might really confirm some stuff about Kaoru… (translation still in process)

    jrj
    1. Ending this at vol 4 will leave that proverbial sour taste, if they don’t change it up significantly. It seems to be heading in that direction though. As much as I would like to see 5 & 6 animated, it would definitely cause a bewildering number of ‘drops’ – mainly Masuzu fans. I also don’t ever see that being animated unless this warrants a 2nd season when the LN finally wraps up – but jumping into vol 5 after any kind of hiatus will seem weird at best.

      Megas
      1. given the pace of the anime, vol.4 is only logical place to stop, but then again, it is not such a great place to finish as Megas said… the event at the very end of vol.4 totally kills that pajama time… 🙁

        vol.5 shifts perspective too much so it would be very hard to animate, and even if they do, I don’t know if it will stir up the same kinds of emotions.

        vol.6 is just going to be all sorts of hell for all sorts of fans (fans for several heroines, and maybe fans for Eita if such group exist). Although there is still a possibility for open ending, I just can’t see that happening given what Eita has said… Flag management is indeed important… wish Eita could get a lecture from Keima the capturing god xD Either way I wish vol.7 will at least offer some happy moments.

        jrj
      2. The problem with vol 5 is that each girl get a chapter with hardly any inter-mingling. It was almost like the the other 3 girls didn’t exist. If they did a chap an episode, each episode would seem like one-shots.

        Megas
      1. spoiler for major events in vol.6: Show Spoiler ▼

        that poor Masuzu 🙁

        jrj
      2. well, maybe that term wasn’t completely correct, but Show Spoiler ▼

        it reminds me of hentai father for real…

        jrj
      1. I have to admit that for the few seconds it took me to realise these were different readings of the kanji in their names, I thought that Chiwa meant something else entirely when she called her rival a “love cloth”…

        Angelus
  5. Epic aunt is epic. She asked the very question that I have always wanted to ask in those harem shows. Hime is really something though. At first I though she is one of those air head innocent girl. But she has proved to be very direct in what she does to gain her love. Fight on Hime!

    UFO
    1. I remember those days, when the sticks on the ground were weapons of mass destruction to use, and hangcoats (especially the plastic ones) were legendary bows leftover by long dead heroes.

      Geoff
  6. I was laughing my head off when he was going REPPUZAN!

    Is he a student of Sakamoto Mio or has he already unlocked SHIN REPPUZAN!

    Don’t tell me that the neurois are cute moe girls in this anime’s universe

    c2710
  7. well now eita got wonder which color you want white, orange, black or pink or cue harem end on it?

    yea give eita’s aunt yea she seem playing some hmm want to see if eita ready for love?

    toura
  8. Keita needs to take a serious lesson from Ken Sugisaki. Harem genre is common in animes/manga/galge/light novels but at the end of the day 99% of them start with some dense/clueless guy who doesnt realize his harem and at the end he chooses one girl while we get the typical heartbroken drama from the girls, but Ken Sugisaki breaks that typical setting by establishing from the start of the series that it’s his goal and even at the end no matter how hopeless it might be, no matter if he makes the girls in his harem cry cuz he wont choose only one of them to love, and no matter how we all know the guy’s future with his current harem was grim, you just gotta hand it over with the guy cuz he still stuck with his belief and tried to make as much girls as he can to be happy. Hell, he’s even got a new harem now with the Shin Setokai No Ichizon.

    Ryner

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