First Impressions / Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

「よみがえる約束は修羅場」 (Yomigaeru Yakusoku wa Shuraba)
“Promises That Come Back are a Battlefield”

Alright all you Ai fans: I can see now why the second childhood friend is liked by her fans. It wasn’t apparent to me just how Ai could gain such popularity, until I witnessed this–the dere is strong in this one. Tsun is nice in small doses, though Ai’s defining character strength, her innocent affections, arose from a somewhat ironic development. Most scenes during this episode portrayed a sweet side to Ai, without a Kaoru or a fake story to hide behind. When Ai and Eita crashed through the door, she shed her mature facade, revealing an almost child-like nature. I’m glad that Ai’s burden was visibly lightened this episode–for all the suffering she’s caused herself in the previous episodes, it’s a relief to see her not in a constant blushing-awkward scenario. For Eita, Ai is no longer the hall monitor nor a fellow aspiring cram student: Ai is now A-chan, the first (and still childish) childhood friend. She almost made me abandon Himeko’s ship…if not for crazy diaries and marriage proposals.

In comparison to other weird happenings in Oreshura, the diary isn’t so bad after all. Since Eita can fully relate to recording your daily delusions, the connection this creates for them is actually, in a slightly twisted and crazy way, sweet. After all these years, Eita still knows how to make Ai smile–a small justification for Ai’s decade-long interest in Eita.

Having said that, I’m not calling out anyone’s tastes here, yet one must admit that Ai is a bit crazy due to her dedication to marrying Eita. A small part of me admires that Ai was able to latch onto a promise for ten years, all while the majority of my mind yells, “She’s delusional! Seriously, who upholds a contract made during childhood?” What was a prop during kindergarten has been leveraged by Ai against Eita’s harem. That. Is. Scary. We have seen similar dedication from Shouko towards Yuuji in Baka to Test, as both involve significant “shielding” of the male protagonists until they finally sign the marriage contract (if ever). For anyone who’s seen Baka to Test though, Ai’s dedication spells nothing but trouble for Eita. If anything good came out of digging up the past, it’s that Ai’s dedication has made everything painfully clear to Eita, so much that ignorance is impossible–Eita must act.

Contrary to my predictions, Ai peacefully submitted herself to reopen the club and join as a member, meaning Masuzu’s influence over her is currently limited. Perhaps Ai recognized that by keeping the club open, she could forward her relationship with Eita while easily keeping tabs on the other girls. Even if she closed the club, Ai recognized the amount of contact Eita has with his harem would be unaffected–perhaps upon seeing Chiwa and Himeko at the festival, Ai decided to use the club to her advantage. So what does this mean for the group as a whole? While Masuzu’s affections are hidden behind a fake relationship, Chiwa’s are clouded by childhood friendship, and Himeko’s by a ton of chuunibyou, whatever Ai was hiding behind is pretty much moot. Even as a childhood friend, Eita knows full well the extent of affections that A-chan has for him thanks to her ridiculous forwardness (even more so than Himeko), making running away an ignorant and disrespectful move. The next episode will probably feature Ai’s continued offensive, though perhaps with a counter from the other girls as well, but how will Eita react?

I felt this arc was one of the better arcs, on par at least with Himeko’s introduction. I cringed less, empathized more, and laughed at Eita’s chuunibyou freely. Maybe I’m becoming desensitized to the awkwardness, but the show has definitely become more pleasant to watch, even though the characters still make me shake my head from time to time. Now that the team has assembled, I still wonder what kind of drama they will introduce to finish off the series and, more importantly, how it will most likely relate to Masuzu and her family issues. But no matter what happens, this group of maidens, though dysfunctional, will probably stick up for each other in the end, as all (good) harems eventually do.

 

Preview

44 Comments

    4. This was the most important part of the episode to me. What could it be?

      Secondary love story?
      He’s secretly brother of one of the girls?
      Or is he the real burning fighting fighter!!?

      Tre
      Reply

    5. Don’t think it merits some Holmes level of thinking to deduce that Kaoru is in fact a girl. When he (or she…) was introduced , i already had an impression that the dude was girl. Ai kinda reaffirmed it in this episode about knowing his secret.

      Euzio
      Reply

  4. All of them will be a pain in the backside to deal with in real life (except Chiwa). Amazing what flaws I can overlook if the person concerned isn’t real. That said, I am having a hard time choosing between Ai or Masuzu. As for Chiwa, she doesn’t even come close to being a candidate that I would root for. Am I more inclined towards character with issues? O_o

    N0216332
    Reply

    1. Well man,Chiwa & Hime would both be more suited to be his little sisters than lovers,both looks & attitudes being the reasons.

      Still on the Masuzu ship here but an Ai-ending wouldn’t hurt at all.

      Worried about a harem ending > <

      MgMaster
      Reply

  8. And so best girl’s arc ends. Thankfully they did a much better job on this volume than the previous (Anime team must not like Hime). I personally love me these zany characters like Ai since they can be a real treat to watch.

    I still love that slightly modified Imperial March ringtone Eita has for Masuzu (Makes me wonder how much they had to fork out to use it considering it’s one of the most recognizable pieces of music today). Masuzu also found out the problem with calling out your attack name beforehand the hard way. Though I will admit it was pretty cute how she got all flustered about the kiss on the cheek for 3 minutes and couldn’t speak properly afterwards. She’s not fooling anyone anymore (Not like she really was since episode 4).

    Kuntzy
    Reply

    1. I sincerely doubt they ‘paid’ to use it.

      I see it all the time with reference to brands and consumer goods in anime, so there must be a loophole in Japanese intellectual property law that allows studios to use items subject to copyright if they’re changed slightly (but oh-so-obviously).

      Anyone knowledgeable on the subject?

      SCO
      Reply

    1. Yes she is, yes she is!

      Ai-chan is pretty epic, and I love her character even more so than the other girls. She is the first childhood friend and hopefully she openly expresses her feelings and emotions to the other girls, that way we would have an even more epic shuraba. Cant wait to see her having more screentime next week as she joins the club.

      Ryner
      Reply

  21. I Seriously thought their marriage arrangement was something by the parents, so big surprise right there that it was just something between kids. And nice one referencing BakaTest. Eita is lucky that his “fiance” doesn’t carry a stun gun with her. Yuuji wasn’t so lucky.

    https://randomc.net/image/Oreshura/Oreshura%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
    – I dunno if it was intentional or not, but Eita’s eye poke defense was something right out of the Three Stooges.

    https://randomc.net/image/Oreshura/Oreshura%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
    – And also the Shaft head tilt.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

    1. Yeah, I was like, this reminds me a lot of Baka and Test right now haha. Also, I feel like that finger pointing thing during the fireworks scene was a Phoenix Wright reference, but that might just be me.

      Lee
      Reply

  22. Ai-chan wins!

    I love this episode! Even though Ai Fuyuumi was the last harem member to be introduced, she easily rose up the ranks for me! Love her tsundere personality and her interactions with Eita is more interesting and funny to see than with Chiwa. I gotta love the fact that not only is she a tsundere, but a Chuunibyou Tsundere Osananajimi! What a combination!

    Gotta love her moments of Chuunibyou, Tsundere, and Osananajimi moments with Eita. The melo-romantic drama mood they had together when they were watching the fireworks then turned into a comedy situation was awesome to see.

    I really really wanted her to be open and express her relationship with Eita to the other girls, kinda like how Hime-chi just goes out and does what she wants to Eita. Would really be more of Shuraba when the other girls find out that Eita has a Konyakusha (fiance).

    So the guy has:
    Masuzu – Kanojo (Girlfriend)
    Chiwa – Osananajimi (Childhood friend)
    Hime – Moto Kanojo (Ex-Girlfriend)
    Ai – Konyakusha (Fiance)

    Mana possibly? He is missing an imouto character in his harem

    Ryner
    Reply

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