Category: Hourou Musuko

「10+11 ～Better half～」

As the episode title suggests, this week’s showing is actually a compilation of episodes 10 and 11, whose fully unedited versions will be available on the Blu-ray releases. The finale next week is technically episode 12 and will wrap up this adaptation’s short look at a middle school years for Shuuichi, Yoshino, and their friends.

「かっこいい彼女 ～Green eye～」 (Kakkoii Kanajo ~Green eye~)
“Cool Girlfriend ~Green eye~”

Gender identity disorder, cross-dressing, and reverse gender school plays I’m completely fine with, but boys who teased someone about wanting to be a girl suddenly turning a new leaf is downright creepy. The scariest part about Doi Shinpei (Yoshino Hiroyuki) is that I’m not entirely sure what he’s thinking after he was completely disillusioned from learning that Yuki (Honda Takako) is a transvestite.

Note: Prooof is away for spring break, so I’m covering Hourou Musuko on his behalf. He won’t be back until the weekend, so either me or Takaii will be covering episode 10 as well.

「春 ～Brand new me～」 (Haru ～Brand new me～)
“Spring ~Brand new me~”

Flashfoward to spring now, and the classes have been redistributed. It seems like Takatsuki got through to Chiba, at least partly, as she returned to school. I feel she has opened up a bit — at least to everyone except Sarashima (who is still blissfully ignorant of her hate). Chiba also got Takatsuki to grow out her hair, and I have to agree that it looks better.

「薔薇色の頬 ～Growing pains～」 (Barairo no Hoo ~Growing pains~)
“Rosy Cheeks ~Growing pains~”

Well ready or not, puberty is coming and Nitori will have to say goodbye to his baby face and hello to acne. Obviously he’s quite distressed over his first pimple, going as far as to ask Anna for help then sleeping at seven in the evening. Result: pimple count doubled.

「文化祭 ～Dream of butterfly～」 (Bunkasai ~Dream of butterfly~)
“Cultural Festival ~Dream of butterfly~”

The cultural festival has finally rolled around and in-turn the gender bender play the characters have been planning for months. It’s a pretty important event symbolically for Ariga especially since he was the only one of the three GID primary characters who landed a main role in the Romeo and Juliet play, but I still question the wisdom of using a random draw to select the roles given the difference in acting abilities.

「夏のおわりに ～Long, long shadow～」 (Natsu no Owari ni ~Long, long shadow~)
“End of Summer ~Long, long shadow~”

As I mentioned last time, I feel really bad for Chiba, but she really too selfish for her own good especially demanding that Ariga vote her to be Romeo so that she could be with Nitori. Driving her friends away (if she even considers them that) and isolating oneself is only going to pull her situation downhill.

「私の名前をあげる～The sound of your name～」 (Watashi no Namae o Ageru ~The sound of your name~)
“I’ll Give You My Name ~The sound of your name~”

Chiba has a seriously prickly personality, but her straightforward albeit a bit tactless attitude is admirable in my opinion. Romance can be a particularly awkward topic to broach when you are one of the parties involved, but she goes for the no-nonsense flat-out confession, and maintains her line even after being rejected.

「ロミオとジュリエット ～Juliet and romeo～」 (Romio to Jurietto ~Juliet and romeo~)
“Romeo and Juliet ~Juliet and romeo~”

Centralizing around the creation of a play, Musuko in turn tackles the issue of puberty. While not normally regarded as a serious problem, when it comes to the characters of Musuko, it comes as a curse. A ticking time bomb, that when set off, irreversibly destroys any androgynous nature one might have.

Impressions dropped. More info inside.

「きらい きらい 大嫌い ～Cry baby cry～」 (Kirai, Kirai, Daikirai ~Cry baby cry~)
“Hate, Hate, Despise ~Cry baby cry~”

The next installment focuses on Chiba Saori, a bitter misanthropic girl with a not so complex past. Sprinkle some subtle development for most of the characters along the way, and you’ve got a decent episode.