「それはそれ、これはこれ」 (Sore wa Sore, Kore wa Kore)
“That’s One Thing, This Is Another”

Two new characters take the spotlight, plus a surprising reveal that keeps the story interesting.

It’s a Fujita Saki Carnival!

Combined with Sakura Trick, this season is giving us a delightful supply of Fujita Saki yuri goodness. Suetsugi Konoha (Fujita Saki) smacked early on of the clingy kouhai who’s in love with her suteki Onee-sama, and she is. Is she breaking clichés? No, but as is usually the case with Mikakunin de Shinkoukei, it’s all about how you use what you’ve got (hur hur hur). Her jealousy was funny, but honestly my favorite part was how Kobeni kept catching her being ridiculous. Did that make Suetsugi feel like a hapless harem protagonist to anyone else? (Also, trope!) Suetsugi base character stats aren’t ground-breaking, but she is funny. The whammy is later.

Hakuya’s Protectiveness & A Shapeshifter’s Hax Powers

For once Hakuya’s overprotectiveness of Kobeni (and Mashiro) came in handy! Or more like, it was finally a little appropriate that he step in, if only because the other two didn’t overhear Suetsugi and newspaper girl Oono Niko (Kakumoto Asuka). Not that I didn’t laugh when he tried to follow Kobeni to the restroom and she rooted him in place with a “Stay!” Best moment of the episode!

Those scenes did was something a little extra, though. Did you notice how Hakuya deleted the pictures even though he didn’t know how to operate the camera? That was more subtle foreshadowing of the hax powers that he and Mashiro possess. It finally really makes sense why Mashiro was able to attend the school without suspicion – or rather, the specific mechanic is being further explained for it, since it was hinted at last episode – and we’re finding out what else they can do. But the best part? When Hakuya said that he could cheat on the test like Mashiro, but he doesn’t because he doesn’t think it’s good to cheat. D’aaawww, Kobeni liked that. Well done Hakuya!

Wait, She’s One Too!?

After last episode, I was beginning to think the pace of reveals has fallen off. And it has, but that doesn’t mean they’re done throwing curveballs at us. Apparently, Suetsugi is a shapeshifter too! In hindsight, it makes sense – she was the only one at school (other than Kobeni, who still has some of Hakuya’s power) who realized that Mashiro is a little girl, and she’s the only one who appears to be able to hold onto this information (as evidenced by how Niko forgot about it, even after Suetsugi pointed it out). I honestly don’t know where (if anywhere) they’ll take this reveal. I don’t think it’ll open up a lot of drama or anything, but it certainly makes Suetsugi more interesting than if she stayed a simple yurilicious kouhai lusting after Benio. From “meh” to “I want to see more of her” in one fel swoop…I approve!

Looking Ahead – Imoutos comforting Imoutos

It sounds like we’ll be getting a little more on the Kobeni and Mashiro dynamic next week. That’s a dynamic that hasn’t been explored enough, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they do. But what about exploring Benio and Hakuya’s relationship? That’s the most ignored relationship in the entire series!

On second thought, better not. Hakuya might end up dead, or reviving another sister with his powers after she tries to murder-suicide him. Kowai…

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Yuri kouhai antics & some paparazzi stalking give way to another reveal. Interesting… #mikakunin 07

Random thoughts:

  • Hakuya, your bright future is disappearing. Though studying with Kobeni, lucky!
  • Loved how Benio was looking for imouto qualities in Suetsugi. Too bad she came up short.
  • Poor Mashiro. No one realizes she’s getting sekuhara’d, and Suetsugi is actually jealous. Well, except for Kobeni I guess. She knows, but she was already broken by Benio years ago. Sekuhara is bad, folks. No means no.
  • The OP and ED singles are ooooooout! YES!

Check out my blog about storytelling and the fantasy novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Sometimes, the fluff is everything, Mental domination, I never get to read my own work, and I’m that guy. My current combo counter: 40 days long.

 

Preview

40 Comments

      1. I expect Benio to do that and it’d be aimed at mashiro. I’ll give Benio a pass if she said “sit girl” to Mashiro ;p

        Wha wha? It’s not a double standard at all! Don’t judge me!

        magoiichi
      1. That feels like a stretch to me. I’ve seen plenty of shows where someone wears a slightly different vest or cardigan or whatever. Unless it’s somehow shown that this is from her school in the mountains (though then why is Mashiro wearing the normal one? And Suetsugi moved there before she even entered the school), the only thing that means to me is that she’s wearing a different color uniform. So basically nothing.

        Stilts
  1. All love is unrequitted. Benio fawns over Mashiro, yet dismisses adoring her Suetsugi who’d just love to roleplay an imouto any day (or night…).
    That newspaper girl is funny too, she might get our shapeshifters trouble if she continues her inquisitive journalism.
    The show is almost perfect in how interactions betweeen characters flow seamlessly from one gag to another, like how Oono moaning in bathroom because she caught side-ache after running away scares poor Mashiro dead, which leads to Mashiro asking for escort to bathroom which fuels further antics from Benio and Suetsugi.

    ewok40k
  2. Can’t wait for the love triangle scenes and the face-off between Mashiro and Suetsugi on the rooftop.
    It’s funny to see how blessed other people see Mashiro’s situation with Benio to be, when in actuality it’s borderline criminal what Benio does. I’m still supporting her, you can’t deny that she doesn’t work hard for what she wants. Hopefully one day her little sisters will realise that Benio is the true route.

    Giorno Giovanna
  3. You know, given the reveal, from a certain point of view Mashiro wasn’t entirely wrong when she was panicking that Konoha was a monster…

    BTW, Konoha is cute and I like her hair, but nobody can outdo Kobeni. I just wish Kobeni herself realized that… It’s actually kind of depressing seeing just how poor Kobeni’s self-confidence is.

    Wanderer
  4. I may not be an Otaku, but God damn if Mashiro doesn’t make this show. The bloody Loli has me in stitches every time. Every episode seems to confirm just how much Mikakunin is the blac horse of the season.

    Pancakes
  5. I’m more surprised that Hakuya need help in math than whatever the previous tested subject was 2 eps back…

    …and I think the conciseness for this series is clear as of this week: It’s (trying to) do us viewers in with moe.

    info600
    1. I’m not that surprised based on what Mashiro said, especially if the previous subject was something like history. Being good at memorizing gets you pretty far in many subjects, especially in Japanese schools, but doesn’t serve you all that well in math beyond a certain point. Memorizing formulas doesn’t work if you don’t know when to apply them.

      He is some kind of dog/wolf, which gives me the impression that high level thinking is not his forte.

      SK
  6. So… What do you make of that reaction of Suetsugi to Hakuya when he was somehow able to delete the pictures from Niko’s camera? Did she feel that they were somewhat the same, and realized it at the end of the episode, or was it something more?

    Zerix
      1. Hn, thought so too. I was somewhat hoping that there’s gonna be a budding (romantic) interest from Suetsugi to Hakuya, as cliched as it may be, though with how this show has been going, I doubt. But I do like to see a bit of competition for Hakuya (being the same species and all), not that Suetsugi can match up to Kobeni though.

        Zerix
  7. I think Konoha’s character was interesting if only because she’s the first example I’ve ever seen of being “older sister zoned”. We’ve seen the friend-zone, but this was something else entirely. Poor Konoha doesn’t have enough little sister qualities to get Benio’s attention.

    I’m just enjoying the series week in and week out. They give you little bits of information and development in each episode so it just feels right.

    And yeah the full OP and ED being out is pretty nice. Really enjoyable to listen to.

  8. Another awesome funny episode from Mikakunin de shinkoukei :3

    Loved it when Kobeni told Hakuya to stay and he did, and so much AWWWWW when Kobeni smiled when Hakuya said he didn’t want to cheat, it’s too sweet for me!!

    Man, Benio almost went to the bathroom with Mashiro! So close!

    It’s ok Suetsugi, your not the only one who wans to getting a bath with Benio, Kobeni and Mashiro are awesome but Benio is pretty cute too :3

    On a more serious note, the way the episode ended, I felt like Suetsugi got the wrong idea or something about Hakuya, and I feel something’s going to happen between them 😛 just my speculation, but oh well.

    TrapMaster

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