Well, thankfully the sister is gone now, and we’re back to what matters: the kindergarten itself. This episode completely lacked originality and it used stories that have become staples of regular romance series, but the characters were nice enough to watch. Especially Anzu has gotten a lot less annoying than what she once was.
However, I’m noticing a disturbing trend. A considerable amount of this episode was also focused on drama. Why? This show is just not good at it.
I can understand the need for conflict, but during the drama part this show abandons all that is enjoyable about it. Up till the arrival of the sister, the drama was always quick and light-hearted, but in this episode the drama hang over the cast like some angry raincloud. If the story around it was good or creative, then okay, I might understand it. But the drama was completely shallow: in the first half we have a random kid we’ve never seen before as she wants to work in her parents’ shop. In the second half we have a rich girl who gets added to Tsuchida’s harem but decides not to marry him but love him from afar because she’s no match for the main love rival.
What I’m missing in this series is creativity. The first five episodes did this so well… but after the sister’s appearance it’s just been one predictable and overused story after the other. I have no idea why. The creators aren’t idiots: they just could have picked out the best chapters of the manga and have fun with it, and instead they chose the most predictable ones for the past three episodes.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
You would have think he’d learned his lesson about helping strange kindergarten girls.
What drama? I think you’re being a drama queen.
I never really saw the series as all that creative, maybe its novelty is wearing off for you? I was`glad to see the show getting back to what made it fun because the last episode was stupid. The first half of this episode was adorable.
Gainax has really gone downhill since FLCL. The one bright spot was Gunbuster 2, and it wasn’t great, just good.
They’ve been formulaic for a long time, now.
Hell, their last two “hits” were so full of interchangeable crap, they were practically the same show. (“Mahoromatic” and “This Ugly Yet Beautiful World”)
I’d rather see a Gonzo show, at least those guys will take a risk.
skyhack: well, at least their previous series, Shikabane Hime was good: it had a great story, good characters and action and it took a lot of risks.
My, how refreshing this episode was before Miyamoto had to bring her dullness into it. I believe this series managed to retrieve some of its charms; shallow, light-hearted fun, that is. As for the drama, this episode had as much drama as one episode of this series can handle, all that remains is for the creators not to go beyond this threshold.