B Gata H Kei / First Impressions

「ときめき聖夜。ファーストキスって、なんの味？」 (Tokimeki Seiya. Faasuto Kisu-tte, Nan no Aji?)
“Throbbing Christmas Eve. What Does a First Kiss Taste Like?”

There’s nothing holy about Christmas Eve when the night is left up to Yamada. In fact, it’s downright sacrilegious as she tries to shack up with Kosuda at a love hotel once she gets a gift she deems a green light to make her move. Of course, it wouldn’t be very entertaining if it all came easily for her, both mentally and physically, rocking away the night on a level 7 seismic scale, so part of the fun comes from her head-strong resolve yet inexperienced nature once again. Thanks to her younger but much capable sister Chika (Shimoda Asami) when it comes to manipulating guys, Yamada didn’t give us the Santa girl look for the date she eventually went on with Kosuda, but did provide glimpses of her “Yamada Eye” (and its lack of aim) and her love hotel “Search Mode”.

While all that ended up as nothing more than a humorous tease, I still got a good kick out of the mechanical noises coming out of Yamada in the latter case. The best part however was how the lighthearted tone set things up really nicely for Kosuda and Yamda’s first kiss. (Woohoo!) As shown there and many times before, Yamada still feels some level of humility and embarrassment towards doing the deed despite her one-track mind, which analytically-speaking, is probably the best part of this series. This episode in particular brought that out really well, by having Yamada haphazardly make the first move on several occasions only because Kosuda wouldn’t and get all embarrassed because of it, only to end up all flustered when he actually does right after.

 

「このままじゃ帰れない！いちゃラブ公園に行こうよ！」 (Kono Mama Ja Kaerenai! Icha Rabu Kouen ni Ikou yo!)
“We Can’t Go Home Like This! Let’s Go to the Make-out Park!”

One exception to that this episode was at the park near the end, where Yamada made Kosuda grope her breasts; however, it still didn’t change how embarrassed she was over making such a bold move. As such, that whole park scene was pretty damn hilarious, especially with how Kosuda originally thought he’d be seen as the one preying on a hapless beautiful girl when it was in fact quite the opposite. Seeing as things concluded on a comedic note involving all the peeping toms and their night-vision camera, it’s easy to overlook the actually character progression shown this time around.

In particular, Kosuda is slowly proving to be not only a good and honest person, but also one who gives a lot of thought towards a beautiful girl he knows is out of his league. Because of that, I can’t help but feel bad for Kosuda in some cases, considering he still doesn’t have a clue as to whether Yamada actually likes him or is simply messing around with him. Given the circumstances, you can’t really blame him for thinking the latter, but the really sweet part of this series is that Yamada is slowly starting to feel something towards Kosuda regardless of whether she originally intended to or not.

Still, it goes without saying that the adult-themed humor and risqué nature of the series round things out as a whole. Next time it looks like they’ll kick it up a notch with the next big romantic time of the year, Valentine’s Day, except the big twist is that Yamada’s going commando for some reason. With a short skirt like Yamada’s, it’s absolutely scandalous yet utterly awesome for the very same reason. It should be a good one.

 

Preview

33 Comments

  8. This series is awesome. I showed the first episode at an anime convention this past weekend and the crowd went wild for it. I look forward to it being licensed so I can get it on DVD/Blu-ray.

    joshua
    Reply

    1. One man’s crap is another man’s treasure. I know not everyone likes it, but for you to call a series crap is like Ebert calling video games “not art.”

      I personally was going to dismiss this series based on premise alone, but decided to give the first episode a shot. It made me laugh, I had to watch the second episode. I’ve been hooked since. It really is a strange premise, but it makes for tons of good laughs.

      TehJawknee
      Reply

  14. I LOL’d at Yamada’s search mode. I do hope that it becomes official that the whole class knows Yamada and Kosuda are in a relationship. Kosuda’s classmates have no idea what he’s been doing with Yamada lately.

    conyo985
    Reply

  16. Another hilarious episode for B Gata H Kei – thanks for your thoughts Divine! On a more random note, given the new revelation’s of Chika’s personality I feel like the inevitable situation where she and Kosuda meet is bound to be hilarious.

    EnderTheXenocide
    Reply

  17. Haha, I really enjoy this show. Partly because as a thoughtful and timid guy myself I can relate quite a bit to Kosuda, but also because Yamada’s one-track but easily embarrassed personality makes for some pretty funny scenes. I absolutely loved her “Yamada Eye” Search and it’s good to see they’re not wasting too much time in having their characters and deeper feelings for each other develop. I particularly liked the scene where before their kiss Kosuda almost confessed to Yamada, but reconsidered when he realized he wasn’t sure of his feelings yet.

    Thomas
    Reply

  19. Just catched up with this series recently… (I was watching the rival ecchi series kiss x sis…but is it too much to enjoy B Gata H Kei as well?)

    By the lords of ecchiness, Yamada is one freaky girl! Honestly, I would have labeled her as a complete whore (I mean, 100 “friends with benefits”?!) if not for her insecurities as a first-timer. I guess that makes her a somewhat likeable character in my book.

    Makes me wonder if Yamada will eventually realize the more important things in building a relationship besides getting boned, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s just going to be lampshaded then quickly shoved out of the way by the ecchi comedy of this series.

    I also wonder how long Takashi can resist “the urge” before he snaps and lives up to the “H” part of B Gata H Kei. But if the next episode is any indication… 😀

    Incognito
    Reply

  21. While Yamada is fantasizing all day at 100 sex-friends, her sister Chika has probably quietly beaten her sister at her own game (maybe not the sex part, not yet anyway), luring even more guys home than she can ever imagine.

    Of course, Chika always has the distinct advantage when it comes to igniting the lolicon within the guys.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  22. Lol this episode brought lost hidden memories!!!!! I had to chase a peeping tom once, needless to say the mood went south and the girl escaped. That was the last time I tired it in public places, all the money of the show and dinner were wasted: Hail long live love hotels!! Oh man I don’t miss those blue balls of yonder HAHAHAH

    Next week looks like a no pantsu chapter. Wonder if she’ll more luck than the no-pan gilr in Hatsukoi

    Island Esper
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *