I can't believe how excited I was to watch and write about this. It doesn't mean I think it's a great anime or anything (it's pretty average); it's just incredibly refreshing to see such breakneck-speed development.
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| Underaged cross-dresser fanservice. You can see the bulge. |
This batch of 30-sai moved along quickly with the relationship, covering the first kiss, a date, and the first argument (which led to a temporary "break-up"). The female gods really stole the scenes, which made me happy since I had hoped that they weren't useless. It ended with a cliffhanger, since the couple wasn't actually back together, but I can't wait to see how far they progress by the end of the anime.
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| What an awkward, awkward save. |
Ep08 was focused on the aspects of kissing, due to the fact that Imagawa and Natsu had yet to do so. It began with the obvious scene that both of them
wanted to, considering Imagawa stuttered, "Ki-ki-ki-ki," for some time bfore coming up with some lame excuse involving woodpeckers (kitsutsuki), and Natsu looked huffy that it wasn't what she had hoped for. Ah, such typical young'uns...
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| After a point, you really need to punish customers. |
The next scenes primarily featured Imagawa and Natsu getting tips from their respective gods on kissing. While Imagawa's was almost a joke, with Macaron dressing up as a woman and attempting to kiss him (and then backing out when Imagawa decided to go through with it), Natsu's was a real lesson. This was most likely because Imagawa had some knowledge in it, due to the fact that he's watched porn and such before, while Natsu was almost like a super-sheltered ojou-sama. Of course, that's a questionable verdict, considering that Imagawa must not have learned
real things from porn (especially not about kissing), but I think that's probably why Natsu needed more attention. (Unless Imagawa got secret lessons off-screen.)
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| Why does the kissing have to be censored?! |
The entire scene with Pii and Kuu teaching Natsu about kissing while wearing costumes with exaggerated lips was
extremely funny to me. I also liked the solid advice that was given; I'm glad to see that the anime
does remember its roots (unlike a certain alphabet-named show that Pearz complains about weekly...). I had previously complained about the female gods not holding up their share, but this episode fixed it. They must have done something right, considering Natsu almost tackled Imagawa in the closing scene and then they kissed (although it was essentially a heavy making-out session).
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| I guessed it from the beginning. Pretty faces tend to hide things. |
Ep09 picked up with a quick tip about love hotels. It featured the side characters of Imagawa and Natsu's co-workers, who had obviously gotten together after the scene in the previous episode about bad manners. (The tips there were quite good, such as how to not over-exaggerate things or be too pessimistic. Unfortunately, that happens so often in anime...) While the main couple represents the super-naive pairing, this coupling is obviously on the other end of the spectrum.
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| So extreme while in public... |
The episode was mostly focused on the date between Imagawa and Natsu, which was crowded because all the gods decided to come along. Daigoro followed the pair around while Macaron and Pii looked at various animals (and thought about how many of them looked like sexual organs), and Kuu conversed with various creatures about their difficult love lives. Daigoro, obviously wanting some more development after the kissing of the previous episode, pushed the pairing to jump into bed together, although I wonder if he just did more harm since Natsu seemed to snap near the end (and talked about how small things should go away).
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| That is so effing hard to read. |
This episode contained two different scenes of Kuu conversing with animals with nonsense sounds, so that a bar across the bottom showed the Japanese. With every new bar, I had to pause the video and struggle to read the English. They really should have done a better job. I know that Doki isn't very excited about this series and the only reason they're finishing it up is because they don't believe in dropping projects, but I'm not of the camp that something is better than nothing. I'm way too much of a perfectionist to be able to say things like, "At least they're doing a translation. So what if I have to pause the screen to read it properly?" Sigh.
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| Poor Imagawa. At a point, it's really too small. |
The episode ended with the gods off to karaoke to talk about their charges, although it degenerated into an evening out. With an earlier scene where Pii asked about Daigoro's endowment size, it became quite clear that she was angling for him. I hope to see them getting together quickly. Despite all of their talks about sex, Pii really showed her emotional side by wanting to be in love (and insinuating that she already loves Daigoro).
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| He's cooking with his forehead! |
Ep10 focused on turmoil, aided by the fact that both Daigoro and Macaron had caught colds and were running high fevers so they couldn't stop Imagawa from destroying things. While out on their date, Pii dropped by to take care of the two males gods and, since she caught the same cold
extremely fast, was unable to help out with Natsu and Imagawa after they got back from their disastrous date. Kuu, unable to speak the language, was just cute as usual.
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| Kuu is so adorable~ |
So, while the gods were otherwise busy, apparently Natsu and Imagawa got into a rather tumultuous argument over Momoka, the blow-up doll, and Imagawa broke up with Natsu. It was nice to see Natsu holding her own and arguing about her feelings; it's a good change of pace from before, when she was unable to voice things out of sheer embarrassment. She was able to properly convey that she was extremely insecure about Imagawa hanging onto his "fake girlfriend" even after beginning a relationship with her. On Imagawa's side, he failed to understand why Natsu would feel threatened in any way, and refused to give up Momoka. Sigh.
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| They sleep in a basket! |
Since the male gods had been sick while this all occurred, Imagawa was able to wander around on his own and ended up in the desert. He had initially been thinking about what to do - that is, he didn't want to apologize and give up his beliefs, but obviously he wanted to make up with Natsu - and met with the Virgin King (a.k.a. the superintendent)...and took up his offer to be the successor. Meanwhile, Natsu was unable to sleep and thought about all the ways in which she lost to Momoka, showing the true extent of her insecurity when compared to the blow-up wife. The episode ended with a cliffhanger, and I hope that they make up quickly in ep11.
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| The situations are so different. |
The video was still running after I alt-tabbed over to continue the post (I utilize a split-screen set-up, so I could still see a lot of MPC on the right), and I actually sat through the ending for the second time (the first having been ep01). I was completely astonished that the image was different; ep01 had featured Imagawa and Natsu as babies. This, however, featured them as young adults, most likely either during or after university. Seeing that the ending had obviously been showing progression, I went back and sat through the 8 that I had missed, and I'm really impressed by the symbolism. It provided direct information, like how Natsu never learned how to swim or how Imagawa was a bad runner, but it also provided a lot of indirect knowledge. In high school (ep09), Imagawa had average growth while Natsu wasn't very confident, to the point of
stopping. In this episode's ending, Imagawa was extremely excited to take on life while Natsu was hesitant but forcing herself to keep going (and fighting against the wind, obviously). These little details really was a bonus for me. As the episodes wear on, I hope that Natsu will become happy and excited again.
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| What a severe mutation. |
So, the next batch of 30-sai will be the last. With only a couple of episodes left to go, I know it's not too much to hope that they'll do it by the end (or, at least,
at the end). I really like how this anime is showing a possible progression of a relationship, becoming far more realistic by depicting a passionate argument. It's really focusing on a healthy relationship, of which sex is but only one portion.
~Aaro
