My God What Wave I Done? Herpestidae Liveblogs Shuffle!

[John Cribati]

So.

I am once again liveblogging a harem anime as I watch it for the first time. Because that worked out so well the last two times.

I'll be the first to say that Harem Anime is sort of like the comic xkcd: it's either really, really good, or really, really, really bad. And it really as if when I choose something to watch on my own, I always choose the best stuff in the world ever (High School DxD; Hagani, Sora No Otoshimono, Seto No Hanayome, Baka Test). But when I decide to liveblog blind, I somehow manage to choose the most boring, terrible things and I end up quitting before the third episode (Majikoi, Campanella).

So I watched ten minutes of this new thing before I decided to Liveblog it. And I'm kind of liking it so far?

It's called Shuffle, and appears to be your standard High School Harem-type thing. And since those four I described as “good” are also set in a School for the most part, that may be a good sign.

Well, let's dive in, shall we? You can watch it Here if you live in the US (it's rated M for some reason, but so far, this has yet to break TV-Y7).

For the first ten seconds of the series, my ears are assaulted by an alarm clock that could only have been forged in the fires of Mordor. It's the kind of sound you'd get if you were to throw a thousand bells into a wood-chipper.

Our protagonist tries and fails to turn it off, but the clock is just out of reach, and it looks like he'll have to get out of bed to end the agony. Luckily, a girl comes in to turn it off for him.

Oh, goody, it's one of these. You know what I'm talking about. The main character plus his close childhood female friend who breaks into his house, wakes him up every morning, cooks him breakfast and- wait, they live together?

Yes. When Rin's (Johnny Q. Main Character) parents died, Kaede's (Jill K. Obvious Love Interest/Harem Girl #1) folks invited him to live with them. For free. And Kaede still does all the housework, even though Rin should be the one doing it, seeing as he's basically freeloading. The fact that he comments as such does not justify it. Though I guess Kaede's obvious crush on him does.

And, actually, that's worth noting. Kaede is literally the first “main character's close childhood female friend who wakes him up every morning, cooks him breakfast and stuff” I've seen who isn't a raging Tsundere. Seriously, practically every other time I've see this happen, it goes something like this:

• Jill trying (and failing) to wake up Johnny by calling his name,
• Jill pulling his covers off, *
• Jill noticing that thing that tends to happen when guys sleep*
• Jill karate chopping him in the face for being a pervert *

*(this exact scene was the opening to Sora No Otoshimono, and the fact that Tomo's “appendage” makes its debut before we even see his face is rather indicative of his character as a whole).

Anyway, they walk to school, noticing that eight families have moved off of their block. We also learn that Kaede's father (her mother died some time ago) is overseas on business and as such she and Rin are alone in the house for a while. This is talked about at length.

On their way to school, they are assaulted by a guy with a baseball bat. He works for the Kadee's family guard (LOL I was so wrong. It's a fanclub. Which apparently consists entirely of thirty-something year old men), the Kitto Kitto Kaede. And he has a name tag with those initials on it, making every black person watching (myself included) feel incredibly uncomfortable. Anyway, he challenges Rin for besmirching Kaede's honor or... something, but Kaede tells him that they're engaged or... something. In typical anime reaction, he falls over. Then another guy comes out of nowhere, biting on a handkerchief and weeping. Yeah, I dunno.

Anyway, they run to school, just barely get there on time, and then have a couple seconds of conversation before realizing that they're holding hands.

Then Jane U. Genki Girl girl slaps Rin off his feet and starts flirting with him. This is Asa, who is in a higher grade (I only know this because he calls her senpai). And I admit, this flirting actually comes off as natural. She's obviously interested with him, and says as much, but he still thinks she's messing with him.

And then, we get to the scene at which I decided to liveblog this. Kaede is about to enter the classroom, but Rin switches places with her. He opens the door, and a guy jumps out expecting to glomp Kaede, but finds Rin instead and gets punched for hsi effort. Given that this is a harem series, I can guarantee that given the setup, everyone was expecting a girl behind the door ready to jumping out to hug Rin. So this is a nice role-reversal that made me decide to do my best to actually try to like this.

Note: From this point on, I'm completely blind as to what happens.

Midoriba, our glomper, has a deep heartfelt conversation with Rin and Kaede about girls, wherein Mido is really up-front about his crush on her. That's what I'm liking about this so far: THIS NEVER HAPPENS. Rich Burlew says that his characters don't make the best decisions because if they acted smart, there wouldn't be much conflict. It's like the reverse of that. Everyone so far has been very straightforward about their feelings toward everyone else, so the pitfalls of the standard Harem Anime stuff where I usually go “you guys are such idiots why are you so stupid” seem to be gone.

Anyway, Rin tells Mido to stop focusing on Kaede; there's plenty of fish in the sea... like that Mayumi chick! Except Mido doesn't like her small breasts. And who shows up but Mayumi, who basically tells him that she subscribes to the notion that “more than a handful is a waste.” Whilst placing her hands on her chest and winding about provocatively.

… I just checked; This Anime is based on an H-Game dating sim. That explains so much. Still nothing to get an M rating (I'd say it's PG right now).

Thankfully, someone brings up the new transfer student coming in, taking the focus away from breasts for the moment. And here, I pause because this really needs to be screencapped.



That's Mayumi and Rin, by the way.

And they're discussing the possibility that the new transfer student will either be a god or a devil.

… Left field much?

I mean... okay, I guess we're only about ten minutes in, so it's as good a time as any to introduce the concept, but I feel like they didn't drop a big enough bomb. This looked to be a kind of slice-of-life affair, then suddenly “gods and demons exist and we're all okay with that.”

Don't get me wrong here. Because High School DxD is about angels and demons, and Sora No Otoshimono is about Robot Angel Genies. And they all started out in a slice-of-life way, gradually became more and more about the supernatural world. But with those, it didn't start changing until some big event occurred. Issei has his girlfriend sprout wings, summon a spear of light, and stab him in the gut. Tomoki has an Angeloid fall out of the sky, along with parts of a floating temple or... something. It's all a big flashy spectacle. Here, they're talking about it like they're inured to it. So I... didn't expect that, I guess?

Also, every named character thus far has brought up the fact that Rin and Kaede are, by all appearances, an item.

The teacher walks in and discusses an event from a decade ago called the Gate Opening. That's when gods and demons started coming to the mortal world. At this academy, gods, demons, and humans all live and study together and stuff. Also, her boobs bounce a lot. H-Game and everything.

Rin is like me in that he can never pay attention in history. Right now he's musing on what he wants from life. He thinks about all his friends; Mido who lives for girls, Kaede who lives to take care of him (both by their own admission, mind you), Asa who lives to bring energy and life to everyone she meets, and Mayumi, who- according to him- lives for pursuit of news. What is his thing? What does he like?

We don't know, because the teacher catches him gazing out the window and the bell saves him from some kind of punishment, but she calls him into the hallway to ask him if he'd ever met girls from the other worlds. He says no, and then she leaves, spouting general “you can do it, tiger!” cliches.

Also, the first eye catch for this is a little kitten performing Street Fighter moves. The second is a different kitten sucking on a phallic-jellyfish while a third one looks on. Stay classy.

At the end of the school day, Asa and another girl in her class, Kareha, come by to mess with Rin about shipping and take Kaede to a Cooking Club meeting. Then Mayumi comes in with news that there are two transfer students, and they're both girls.

How much do you want to bet that Rin ends up taking care of them?

So Rin goes shopping, not knowing what to buy because Kaede always does the shopping for him. He sees a girl with funny ears and realizes that she's one of the gods.

And I'd bet anything she's one of the exchange students, too, and the other one is a demon and he'll meet her, too.

And this girl is calculating which piece of meat is cheaper to buy. By gram. And I have no problem with this because I would do the same thing. Anyway, Rin is walking by and she asks him to decide for her which one to buy. After that, she leaves, muttering about a sale on Toilet Paper somewhere.

And she knows Rin's name, even though he never said it.

Then when he's walking home, he hears a girl singing in the park. She also has funny ears. They talk for a bit, and then she has to run off. She knows his name as well.

He doesn't notice how odd this is until she leaves.

So yeah, next morning at school, all the boys in the school gather to welcome the new exchange students. And these guys show up.



The guy in blue is a god, and the other guy is a demon. You should be able to tell by the ears, no?

For a fleeting second, I thought these guys were actually the students, and I almost declared this the most original, expectation-screwing harem anime of all time. But these guys are just the fathers of the exchange students. They go to Rin, indicating that both of their daughters are set to marry him. Or, more specifically, each of them wants his daughters to jump his bone.



That's Lisianthus (AKA Sia) on the right and Nerine the on the left.

And they're princesses of their respective realms.

And Rin is fiancee to both of them.



I love it when everyone's on the same page.

And to top it all off, back to the beginning of the episode, everyone moved off of his block because Sia and Nerine will be his neighbors on either side of his house.

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So far, I'm liking this. Okay, so it's not exactly original by any stretch, but I'm pretty sure that there aren't any new ideas in the realm of storytelling anymore. It's what you do with them, how the idea comes to life, that allows something to be original. And it's done enough to set itself apart. The comedic timing is great, and I love how it played with my expectations thus far. I'm hoping that could continue.

[NNescio]

Spoiler

Show

Watch out for the moebl yandere.

[John Cribati]

Episode 2: I Want to See You

The opening for this show kicks so much ass. I didn't even read the subtitles. I was just jamming. I've had my issues with J-Pop, but J-Heavy Metal? Win.

We start with Rin on the couch watching the news when Kaede walks in (see, I remember their names and I haven't watched in 2 days. Progress!).

Anyway, flashback to the same day the engagement(s) was/were announced. Or maybe the day after. I think it's the same day, though, because everyone's still all surprised, and Kaede's passed out in her chair. The dads want Rin to choose a wife now, but Rin's all “I barely know either of them.”

And... flashback over? Okay...

Anyway, Sia and Nerine's fathers appear at Rin's front door so he and their daughters could walk to school together. The conversation is... awkward. First, Rin is accused of having a thing with Kaede. He shoots that down instantly and Kaede seems to take it rather well, all things considered.

Then the fathers somehow gets to talking about his daughters' bust sizes.

On the one hand, there was a natural segue into it, I swear to everything. On the other (and this really goes without saying) it's mad creepy, son.

Luckily, Sia interrupts with a chair to her father's temple. I can see that this is going to be a thing; pulling a chair out of hyperspace to smack her father with it.

On the way to school...

um....

What the bloody f***?

There's no good way to explain what I just witnessed

A guy in a sweater vest comes by to confess his love for Kaede and fight Rin for her.

A guy on a bike comes by to confess his love for Sia and fight Rin for her.

A guy in army armor and wielding an AK-47 comes by to confess his love for Nerine (LOOKING UP HER SKIRT) and fight Rin for her.

And they are all in their mid-to-high thirties.

Why SHUFFLE!? You were doing so well.

Anyway, Nerine summons an exploding force field or something, and judging from the fact that I didn't see any trace of the three guys, the bike, or the gun... She blew them up with it.

Yeah, moving on.

At school, Rin is being “congratulated” by dozens of boys on the fact that he's got a three-girl harem. Let's just say that he'll probably need a chiropractor by the end of the day.

Lo and behold, next scene, he's in the nurse's office with a giant bruise on his back.

Kaede brings him a cold towel, then gets pushed to the side when Sia and Nerine show up to rub his back. Then... (what's her name again?) Mayumi shows up with news. Turns out, those three guys haven't died, Now the Kitto Kitto Kaede is joined by the Suki Suki Sia and the Ran Ran Rin (for Nerine) are all out to destroy Rin. And the guy with the gun has somehow managed to get into the school. Is school security that lax in Japan?

He takes off out the window and... a conversation happens. I didn't really catch it, but by the sounds of it, Sia and Nerine already knew Rin? Like from when he was younger? Yeah, IDK.

So cut to later, when three groups of middle-aged men who are vocally dedicated to stalking teenage girls are just walking around the campus looking for Rin. In the... cafeteria? Asa is hiding Rin under the table she's sitting at, then moves his head between her legs for no reason. Oh, wait, there's a reason. It was so she could flirt with him some more. Very... forward of her, I guess? So it looks like he's escaped, but Kareha brings them back in, because “his friends” are looking for him.

Of course the blonde is the stupid one.

Mido bails him out and they hide in the closet (obvious joke is obvious), where Rin gets a heartfelt talk about taking his newfound harem seriously. He can't please all of them, so he has to choose one and dedicate himself to her as much as she's dedicated to him. Of course, Mido says he'll take the two Rin doesn't choose (Stay classy. Or rather, don't because I kind of like you*), but put that on the “How SHUFFLE! Breaks the Standard Harem Formula” list: Active discussion of the fact that the harem exists.

At night (seriously, these cuts, what the hell?) Kaede has just finished taking a bath and has informed Rin of its vacancy. To do this, she goes into his room in a towel. And just stares at him for several seconds before leaving.



That gets Rin thinking about Mido's advice, and he looks out the window at... one of the neighbor's houses. It's hard to tell. Rain and all.

The next morning, Kaede, Sia, and Nerine find that Rin has started walking to school without them.

And he continues to ignore them at school, hoping that the three alliterative stalker gangs would, in turn, ignore him. Doesn't work.

He's hiding in the closet again, when Mayumi, Sia, and Nerine walk by, talking about the first time the two otherworlders met out hero. It's your standard “I was lost and he found me and cheered me up” thing. So it's really a “Meh” in my book. This has something of an effect Rin, though, because he doesn't think he'd done anything special at all to earn their... trust? Devotion? Desire to see him again? I'm not really sure.

Moving on to later in the day (seriously, these cuts; it makes it sound horribly-paced when you narrate them), Mido informs the three girls that Rin went home early to avoid the groupies, and invites them on a date in his stead. It's ignored. They decide to run home after him.

So pardon me a moment, but I've had an epiphany.

You know how in most Harem anime, the guy at the center is more often than not a bland mannequin onto which the male audience can project themselves?** Rin has realized that this is what he is. In his eyes, the girls have no reason to like him as much as they do, and... he looks really depressed, actually.

He goes to the arcade to take his mind off his problems and sees a young god girl trying to work a claw machine. He tries to give her some money, but doesn't have enough.

And this girl recognizes him, too. She says her name is Lyco; she knows Nerine, and she glomps him all the way home. Mido sees them and makes a bunch of jokes about lolicon, and then... who is this? Another random girl from Rin's past. They used to do homework together or something.

I laughed here, because this girl (Asa) asks if Lyco is Rin's child, and Rin's voice drops an octave for his reply. And Asa knows Lyco... somehow.

Oh, wait. This is Ama's mother. I really would have had no idea if it wasn't stated. I almost added her to the harem.

When Rin finally gets home, he sees a Tea Party thrown by his neighbors.

Sia's dad suggests that Rin drinks some sake, and he gets a chair to the head. Not a fold-up one this time, but still.

Nerine's father sees the girl behind Rin, and recognizes her as Primula, who used to live near them. She and Nerine used to be inseparable. She crossed over so she could see this “Rin” boy everyone seemed to be talking about.

Also, she's a devil, even though her ears are short like a god's. Maybe she'll grow them later?

Anyway, it ends with Primula moving in with Rin and Kaede, and The dads getting drunk.

* Mido is an enigma. He's girl-crazy and lecherous... but he's honestly concerned for their feelings at the same time? What is this madness?

** Basically, Harem Anime is Twilight for guys. There, I said it.

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Prognosis: Not as good as the first episode. I was continually bugged by things. The pacing isn't really that good, and there wasn't much comedy. It's still a pretty decent one, though. My only gripe not already griped is that they introduced 2 new girls in as many minutes, in the final 5 minutes of the show.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

** Basically, Harem Anime is Twilight for guys. There, I said it.

Still, sounds like a series intent on bucking the stereotypes to a certain degree. Seems interesting.

[Morph Bark]

So I started reading the first post and then saw you were going to watch Shuffle!.

Dear lord have mercy on your soul.

It's... not particularly bad, it's mostly just different, but as you said, pacing is bad here and a lot of the girls seem to just be thrown in there. In a twist I sort of like the main guy not liking his position in a way like he's almost knowing of the fact he's in a harem anime, but other than that I didn't like him that much.

Good luck on episode 3!

[Brother Oni]

The opening for this show kicks so much ass. I didn't even read the subtitles. I was just jamming. I've had my issues with J-Pop, but J-Heavy Metal? Win.

Did you mean this opening? That strikes me as more J-Rock than J-Metal, which is more like this: Ichirin no Hana.

Either way, would you like more suggestions for bands that would suit your tastes?

[Saph]

You know, I'd never even considered watching Shuffle, but this is really fun to read. Keep it up!

[John Cribati]

Episode 3: Do You Remember
(There are too many music videos I could link here).

I realized why I like this OP so much. The starting electric guitar and some of the bass line is basically a sped-up version of Danny Phantom's “OP”.

Also: Holy hell, Hulu! Why is there a full minute of commercials before we get to the show?

The episode starts off with Sia, Nerine, and their fathers at Rin's door.

And I'm telling you, these men may be the most precious forty-somethings ever put to screen.

This is House/Wilson level of Bromance here. Without the whole "being a jerkface" part.

Furthermore, they totally listen to Rin's orders to stay back and watch Primula (hereby referred to as “Rim.” Not my doing). I mean, these guys apparently have magic and... stuff. I know I wouldn't take that from a punk kid. Maybe they're keeping on his good side in case it reflects badly on their daughters? Yeah, let's go with that, but it's totally possible that they really are huge softies.

Also, for the first time, Sia and her dad were in the same scene, and he did not get bludgeoned into unconsciousness with a chair. That's literally every other time. Progress?

Kaede hands Rin an umbrella, the sky is clear and bright and... whatever, so Rin declines.

Oh, we also get this:

I wouldn't be surprised if they kissed by the end of this

At school it's raining. Everyone hates it, except Mido, who likes the whole “sharing an umbrella” concept. There's another music video I could have linked.

Sia is also happy for the rain because nature is fascinating. This leads to a bunch of Imagine Spots about the upcoming summer, which are broken by the bouncy teacher announcing final exams. This gets Rin sort of depressed/stressed/annoyed, because... how else are you supposed to feel about Finals Week?

This is compounded by Sia's dad rushing in, having just learned about the concept of “failing grades” and “supplementary classes” and the fact that his daughter is set up to fail English and History. He sees this as some “slight against the gods” and immediately starts planning to call in some extra-planetary forces to take out the school... and Sia smacks him with a chair and drags him back home.

As a side note, the background music in this scene was vaguely reminiscent of a porn saxophone.

Cut to school tomorrow, where Rin asks Kareha ( also a god; I should have brought that up earlier, shouldn't I? Well, I just realized :P) how she acclimated to school life. Apparently, gods have some sort of translation... magic... telepathy... stuff. Rin asks if it's possible to set that to work for English, since Sia is using it on Japanese, and Kareha gets stuck in “shipping fangirl” mode.

It turns out that Sia didn't use Translation magic; she learned Japanese the hard way. I don't even have to tell you why. Or rather, for whom.

Meanwhile, Mayumi is having a mental breakdown studying for a vocabulary exam and Mido is bein all “lol, tests are a cinch.” Because he's one of the smart kids.

After the commercial break, Rin does over to Sia's house to study with/tutor her.

They have trouble with an English verb and have to consult the dictionary. And they realize that their faces are pressed together and awkward blushing ensues.

We get a flashback to when they first met. It's sepia-toned and in that horrible pseudo-slow motion thing where it's really just dropping a bunch of animation frames.

Thing is... Rin doesn't remember any of this.

They go back to studying, with Sia now leaning on him all flirty-like. Because.

Okay. I'm not feeling the crushes here.

Sia and Nerine could not have known Rin for a couple of hours eight years ago. He was kind to them, yeah... but like... that doesn't.. .what girl....? Oh, screw it.*

Anyway, Sia Dad is praying in the rain for her to do well.

Then, when the test is over, Rin is confident, Mayumi is catatonic, and Mido is a smug bastard. Then a conversation happens and then the Alliterative groupie stalkers chase him around. While everyone just stares. I'm sorry. I cannot forgive this.

Anyway, Rin and Sia share an umbrella on the way home. This brings up another flashback about them sharing a broken umbrella back when they were kids. Rin put the ripped part over himself so Sia could stay dry. And of course, it's this nice quality about him that makes her love him. The fact that he's nice.*

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* If you want my (vaguely) coherent thoughts about this, they can be found Here. And yes, I paused the video to do this.

__________________________________

Prognosis: UGH. This was an episode about Sia's feelings. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem is that I don't see any basis for them to exist. At all.

But hey, the dads were funny, and the conversational banter was kind of witty.

But... Sia and Nerine have yet to show any sort of character, even the most stereotypical, cliché characteristics. They are ultimately the boring ones in this show so far.

No, seriously, the two dads have so far had more romantic chemistry than Sia/Rin and Nerine/Rin combined.

[Morph Bark]

I think the dads and Rin would make for a far more awesome show, especially if it involved planetary forces.

[John Cribati]

You haven't heard from me in a while.

That's because my laptop crashed, and using Hulu on my parents' desktop is akin to a punishment for as crime I committed in a past life.

But it's back now, and I will start watching soon.

[John Cribati]

Well, it’s been around three months since I updated this. My Laptop still isn’t righted, but FUNimation has put the series up on YouTube (which my parents' desktop can handle) for us to enjoy, if we live in America.

So let’s continue!

Episode 4: Egg Omelet of Happiness

We start with Nerine choking on chalk dust. She and Rin are cleaning up after school, and he has to stop cleaning the windows. to tell her not to hold the eraser up to her face (Sidebar: Microsoft Word wants me to put “faces” here) when she’s clapping it out. And he gets praise for this.

No. No it is not.

And get this: He still has to show her how to do it via the Hands-On Approach.

I’m going to assume that she’s playing stupid, since any other explanation would make me quit thirty seconds into the fourth episode.

Thankfully, Mayumi comes in to lessen my rage with some snark about “illicit affairs.”

So while Rin and Nerine are taking out the trash (I want to make a comment about the appropriateness of this scenario), we get a short flashback of Rin winning a little cat doll for her from a claw machine game.

Thankfully, Nerine’s unnecessary affections are saved from my rage when they come upon two guys gossiping about Rin being a womanizer, and… hang on a second.

Why am I suddenly watching High School of the Dead?

Who is responsible for this atrocity to mankind, where can I find him, and where should I hide the body?

Anyway, Rin just takes it in stride but Nerine goes all glowy and tosses a green Spirit Bomb at them.

The two jerks survive an explosion that leveled an entire building, but Nerine gets called in to the office. Her father doesn’t see a problem with what she did though, even congratulates her for pulling her punches. Basically, she has all the power of a nuke at her disposal. Sia-dad shows up and the two of them share a bit of morbid humor that makes everyone else uncomfortable. The teacher has to hold the dads back for a conference.

Back in the classroom, the rest of the group is waiting for them so they can walk home together. Rin and Nerine almost have a moment, but Mayumi thankfully breaks it up.

The moment continues after, and I can tell that Nerine’s little blush has been etched into Rin’s mind.

Next morning, Kaede is making a bento for Rin, when Prim comes out wearing one of Rin’s shirts. All of her other pajamas were in the wash, and she insisted that she wear the shirt.

Again, the implications are not lost, and Rin accurately depicts my attitude toward this episode so far.

Sia and Nerine arrive to walk to school, and lo and behold, Rin flashbacks to his little moment with Nerine. Seeing how Kaede has to make lunch for three, Sia volunteers her (and Nerine’s) services to make one for Rin sometime. Nerine gives a look that tells everyone that she can’t cook. Of course.

In school, Rin and Mido get their tests back, and have a face-off to see who got the higher score. The back-and-forth banter was almost Yu-Gi-Oh level. At the moment of revelation, Rin comes out on top by one point.

Nerine comes by and announces that she did pretty well, herself. Sia and Mayumi come in and ask her to blow up the school, because they failed.

Also, Mayumi has half-devil. Ten bucks says this information has no narrative purpose whatsoever.

Of course, Nerine isn’t going to make the school go boom just for her friends, but of course, if Rin asked, she would. This goes on for a while, and then it’s lunchtime.

Everyone’s eating on the roof, discussing what they had to do to get their lunches made. Except for Mido, who got box-lunches from three different girls. They were firsy-years who hoped sempai would notice them. Yesterday, he actually got a few from some third-years, so he’s not doing too bad for himself. Lucky bastard.

Sia arranges a picnic over the weekend, and Nerine is understandably stressed.

Back at home, Kaede is teaching Prim to cook. Rin stays by to watch and makes a kinda-sorta-sexist comment. The whole time, Prim is there looking vaguely threatening because she’s wielding a huge knife. They talk about getting Asa to teach her.

It turns out that Nerine’s been staying late after school getting Asa to teach her. In class, Rin notices Nerine doing something behind her history book. He turns around to see what’s up, gets caught, and is charged with ten reports due tomorrow.

Later, Rin sees Asa and Nerine walking the hallways and presses Nerine about what she’s been doing. Asa helps her dodge the bullet by citing some code about letting girls have their secrets.

So in the home-ec room, Asa and Nerine have a heartfelt talk about cooking for loved ones and it being the thought that counts. As Nerine leaves, she wonders aloud if Asa likes Rin as well.

Rin was waiting for her in the classroom, and they have another moment. This one isn’t as overly sappy as the last few.

At the picnic, Nerine gives Rin a three-story bento box that’s entirely filled with egg omelet, because that’s all she learned to make. It’s apparently so good that Rin doesn’t even want to share, and an argument ensues.

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Prognosis: Better than the last one. The second half was better than the first by a fair nit. Still not as big on the comedy as I was expecting, but there were a lot of very genuine moments in this one, like the test-showdown and everyone fighting for Rin's omelet.

The shipper in me isn’t very sold on SiaRin, but RinRin is quite well-established in my book. Yeah, I still think it’s a bit iffy that she’s so set on being with Rin, but I can sorta get behind them being together. Their moments were sappy− incredibly so− but they felt real all the same. Like, I can see what Nerine sees in him: he’s supportive and friendly and understands that she’s insecure about something and has faith that she’ll accomplish what she tries to do and…

Wait a minute…

There isn’t…

It can’t be…

I think…

I’m having…

I am actually having shipper feels for them.