Well, the swimsuit episode had to happen sooner or later…

Shiina finally gets a proper introduction, but I’m more interested in the schedule for Men’s Group A and B Handball in Beijing. Shiina…. don’t care much for her at all. She reeks of generic. She can do practically everything, she doesn’t go berserker (Show him your metal face!) on you when you see her pantsu, and she tries her best at everything. Yeah. Been there, done that. She’s basically Haruka with assertiveness and no otaku side (what makes Haruka interesting). And now she’s the third part of the love triangle. I do give her character credit for being quite wholesome and genuinely likable. But “Shiina” is just a nice way of saying “Obstacle A to Yuto X Haruka ending.” Brownie points go to Haruka though for have a pair of maids and one slick imouto.

Yoshinoya-sensei’s spirit and Matsuki Miyu’s voice transcend space and time. Ethical standards, school rules, and local law aside, if you were in Yuto’s class (or Yuto himself) how could anyone NOT take up Yukari-sensei’s offers? Is it her pushy personality or maybe the alcoholic breath?

Haruka needs to spend a week watching ero game adaptations because she’s completely clueless when it comes to the whole school love comedy genre. Or maybe she’s an expert and is just acting clueless to win points with Yuto. If not, there is always shoujo managa. It kind of helped Hikari on her “date” with Kei in Special A.

Who else anticipated the cramp? Show of hands.

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I want the 24 minutes I spent watching this episode back. My expectations are low for this series already, but it’s episodes like this that really make watching shows like this difficult. I was ANTICIPATING these episodes; however, that does not make sitting through isn’t any less redundant. There’s the “I like these shows no matter what” excuse and the “it’s just good entertainment” excuse, but when you’ve been using yourself it for more than a few years, every so often lines need to be drawn. Last week was random stalking, before that Yuto visits Haruka’s house, and before that a trip to Akihabara. All that was more original (and entertaining) than your token swim meet episode.

Dancing Queen put it best when I was talking to her about this earlier this evening: “It’s like lately they can’t think of anything new to use, and when they can’t think of something new, they just throw some fanservice at us and expect us to adore it.” Word up. You can’t eat ice cream all the time without getting a stomach ache. And you can’t watch romantic comedies and harem series all the time without growing bored of their trends. Even if you like vanilla, it gets boring if you have it all the time.

True, Haruka needed some sort of rival for the plot to go, well, anywhere, but instead we get Shiina. She might as well have been Yuto’s osananajimi who just moved back after 6 years, or a big-busted senpai who likes to cook, or the other school idol who hasn’t made an appearance yet. But the happy-go-lucky transfer student is the flavor of the month this time around. After spending the last 4 episodes gaining insight into Haruka’s life and being introduced to refreshingly unique character in Mika, you’d think Shiina would bring something to the party. Haruka and Mika brought the Jagermeister. Nanami and Hazuki brought 5 larger Hawaiian pizzas. Shiina brought a bag of plain potato chips and no dip.

Next episode Haruka and Yuto head to Comiket, with some mention of Nanatsuiro Drops. I request more Haruka cosplay and less Shiina. Haruka dressed up as Sumomo? Now that’s fanservice for you. They already have Goto Mai and Shimizu Kaori ready to go if the writers decide to actually throw out a Nanatsuiro Drops reference next time around.

Hopefully the next episode is primarily Haruka’s otakuness and her growing relationship with Yuto, and hopefully Shiina stays home to practice the piano.