We’re already three weeks in, but has your vote made an impact? Read to find out!

This week’s challenge: Watch the episode twice and see if you noticed anything different the second time.

Wake Up, Girls! (Episode Three)
Player: Kanashimi
Class: Boss

What’s this? A new opening, and I like it quite a bit? Holy smokes, Batman! It’s a lot more energetic and features every character in the limelight with a color and animal. The animals currently seem like a huge mismatch to me personally, but maybe we’ll have a better idea of this as the show goes on.

As a precaution, I was kinda moving while watching the first time, so I actually missed some pretty major plot points. For example, we learned in the last episode that the girls will be helping on a news show, but not exactly how. They’re being told by their lovely president (who is still dodging the whole running-off-with-their-money thing) that they can be on the news as scalding weather reports. I had no idea what this meant and neither did Nanase. Apparently, it’s a type of report literally done in scalding water, which to me sounds completely ridiculous. Of course, when asked who wants to do what, everyone jumps on the gourmet report instead… because that was really a hard choice.

Nanase, Mayu, Airi, and Kikuma all get the scalding water, but it’s obvious they’re unable to do it. They ask the manager to change it immediately. Minami, Nanami, and Miyu all get the other gig and obviously Minami loves it since she can just nom all day. The gourmet group can just ad lib while the other has to memorize their lines. Nanami states that their first dish is gross looking, but Minami eats one and loves it, spouting off some facts about the food. The issue is that she only says, “It’s good!” and doesn’t use any other descriptive words.

On their next assignment, Minami almost blurts out that it’s good, but instead is able to sum it up as “It’s really tasty, meow~!” She even pairs it with her hand movements with little paws, and the response is super good. We get a small snippet of the weather report as well and hear it’s also doing well.

Now Minami as a character has always had elder support her. I don’t know the living arrangements, but she seems to be popular in temporary homes where older people live. They see her on TV as she announces a new concert with the Wake Up, Girls! They come to the conclusion they should go and cheer her on; they’ll even make a special banner for her.

Minami later explains that she has stage fright, but one of the older people in this folk song club made her a protection charm. She used it to audition for Wake up, Girls! In addition, we learn that Mayu’s mother is furious she joined a new idol group. This seems super odd to me, but obviously there’s stories there that we won’t get quite yet.

For once the concert has a set list, costumes, and all that other jazz. The girls are finally getting to have a decent something. I mean, the last two episodes they just got screwed over. It was such a mess. Oh wait, spoke too soon. One of the elder individuals that Minami knows was sent to the hospital before the concert. When it comes down to it, I kinda saw this coming because… well, old things die.

Minami is adamant on going to visit her, and the president has to apologize while the girls try to figure out the dance with only six people. Minami approaches her friend in the hospital and she’s pretty much as fine as can be for someone in the hospital. She tells Minami to go to the concert because the best medicine for her is to see her dancing.

Right before the concert (drum roll, please) Minami appears! Okay, that one was even more obvious, let’s be honest. They perform as they should, no panty shots, in rather cute costumes.

Before the episode ends, however, someone, perhaps a reporter, has finally found out that Mayu is with another group. What trouble will occur next? I’d rather not too much, it was pretty refreshing to have a better episode than whatever was episode two, because blargh.

Watch Wake Up, Girls! on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Sakura Trick (Episode Three)
Player: Midnight
Class: DJ

High school. It’s supposed to be some of the peak years of your life. A chance to live life to the fullest while you’re still young. Good times to be had by all. That is unless you’re Yuu on this most unfortunate of days.

Yuu goes to wake up her sister, who has fallen asleep again with her glasses on. She ends up waking her up in the most graceful way she can: Falling straight on top of her, smacking their heads together and smashing up her sisters glasses. Well, that’s one way to start a morning.

They start discussing Haruka, and we find out that, in the almost three years that Yuu has known Haruka, Yuu’s sister has never seen more of her than her shoes. This frustrates Yuu’s sister, who ends up pouring ketchup into her coffee. I’m not sure if this is because of her poor eyesight due to her broken glasses or what, but it sounds disgusting. My stomach is churning at the idea.

The day only gets worse for Yuu when she finds out that the school will not be having a sports festival, this year or any other year. Due to the fact the school is closing down in three years, they don’t have the funding. She wanted to be part of the cheer squad. To top this awful day off, she has extra classes as well! It’s also in this scene we discover that Yuu’s sister is the president of the student council.

It’s okay though, because Haruka is here to save the day! I totally didn’t notice it the first time I watched the episode due to the fact I was taking notes, but Yuu’s sister gives Haruka some really scary looking glares in this next scene. I mean, it’s due to the fact that she can’t see her very well but I can’t blame Haruka for thinking she was mad at her. I should probably watch this episode again just so I can learn Yuu’s sisters name, Instead, I think I’ll go look at the Wikipedia page. Mitsuki. Alright, now that I’ve got that out of the way…

Haruka joins the committee to discuss what sports they should do for the ball game they’re having in place of the Festival. She tries to plea with Mitsuki to hold a cheer squad, even stripping her clothes and standing there in a cheerleader’s uniform. It ultimately gets turned down, and the meeting is adjourned. Haruka is about to give up. I missed the first time around what Katone said to encourage her to go see the president and plea again. On my second viewing, however, I discovered she talked to Haruka about how she never gave up on being able to stay at Shizuku’s house despite her parents being against it at first.

Haruka gets encouraged and goes after Mitsuki. She promptly stumbles into her boobs. Haruka has an odd relationship with this family. She pulls back and pleas for the cheer squad, saying how important it is to her friend that there is one. Mitsuki is swayed by her words, and asks her name and finds out that this is the Haruka she’s been so curious about. She freezes up entirely in shock.

We cut to the next scene of Haruka visiting Yuu at her house, Mitsuki has her glasses fixed. Yuu is super happy that Haruka pushed for the cheer squad, which apparently passed. They start kissing. I’m sure everyone from here can guess where this goes. Yes, that’s right. Mitsuki, in her want to meet Haruka, goes to get snacks for the girls. She comes up to Yuu’s room and finds Yuu on top of Haruka. At least she didn’t walk in on them kissing. That ends the first part of the episode.

Part two of this episode is about pools and, to this animes credit, It didn’t do anything super stereotypical with this part of the episode. When I read this part of the episode title, I was expecting a lot more wet shirts and fan service. What I got instead was a really cute episode segment.

The girls are out cleaning the pool on detention. Yuu has forgotten her swimsuit at home. Haruka, somehow expecting that this would happen, has brought one with her with a custom decal with both of their names and a heart on it. Yuu is totally embarrassed and rips the decal off. However, she can’t manage to rip the “I love you” decal off of Haruka’s swim suit.

The most fan service we get (if you can even call it that) is Haruka getting soaked and trying to show off her swim suit, but nobody noticing as they are too focused on the size of her breasts.

The group does rock paper scissors to see who will be cleaning out the warehouse. Of course it’s our main couple, so Yuu and Haruka head into the warehouse and begin cleaning up. They need to open up a window due to all the dust, and, when they do, some fake cherry blossom petals start flying in the window. One of them falls onto Yuu’s nose.

We get some traditional Japanese word play that will probably sound really awkward and stupid when this is dubbed. Congrats for Sentai Filmworks for licensing it by the way. Anyway, Haruka blows the petal off her nose and Yuu gets upset. If she’s upset that Haruka didn’t kiss her when she was expecting it, or if she’s mad that she didn’t understand that she didn’t understand “Nose” vs. “I know” I’m not entirely sure. However, Haruka turns her around and starts kissing her.

Mitsuki shows up at the pool and notices the girls missing. She tries not to think that they are doing dirty things. Then she finds the ripped decal….and that’s how the episode ends…oh dear.

Overall: I didn’t notice much really different the second time watching other then picking up some details that I missed the first time when I was taking my notes. This episode felt kind of short for some reason. It wasn’t any shorter then any of the others; it just sort of felt that way. I really like Mitsuki, and I’m looking forward to watching how she continues to react to her sisters developing relationship. I also hope we get another Katone/Shizuku episode soon; they weren’t in this episode much, and I kind of like them better as a couple.

Watch Sakura Trick on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Gundam Build Fighters (Episode Fifteen)
Player: Elk
Class: DJ

Welcome back to Gundam Build Fighters! We start off immediately with information from Ramba Ral about the Gunpla mafioso “C”. Ral also lets them know that the tourney organizer was the one who ordered for the Mega Size Zaku in the battle royale.

This of course makes Reiji instantly head off without explanation. We cut back to the cliffhanger from last episode. Turns out Reiji beat up all the guards to get there, then manhandled the chairman. This also gives the chairman a good look at his armlet which confirms he really is the prince of Arian.

Awesome OP break! I know I said it last time but I really like this intro. It does a good job showing off the main players with some awesome action and great animation. We also see the GM Sniper K-9? THAT I never noticed in my first watching. Heck, I didn’t even notice it last episode! I’m super hype for the K-9 and have been since we first saw leaked prototype images of the Gunpla. I’m a fan of the GM design, especially the Sniper (longrifles are always impressive), and the gimmick for the K-9 Custom looks really interesting. Another thing I didn’t notice was that, right behind the chairman, we see the silhouette of the Dark Matter Exia? I probably would have noticed it in my first viewing, but I hadn’t seen the images of the Gunpla at that time. It’s not nearly as impressive as the GM K-9, but it does make me think about who is going to pilot it…

Anyways, the chairman makes up some excuses about how he’s not responsible, saying that he doesn’t really have a lot of power over the tourney, and he’ll add more security to make sure nothing untoward happens. Reiji lets him know he’ll show no mercy to anyone messing with the people giving the tournament their all.

In the next scene, the chairman is scared and resting his head in his secretary Baker’s lap. He reveals that Reiji knows his secret, and the secret of the Plavsky particle, but that Reiji doesn’t seem to remember him. Nils heard this though, as he was eavesdropping outside in a ninja outfit… What a weeaboo.

Cut to the next day. Reiji and Sei learn who their opponent is. It’s the Wing Fenice and their friend Fellini. We see a cool montage of all the main players defeating their opponents, including a giant custom Psycho Gundam which was quite impressive. We also get to see some of the Meijin’s skill with the Kampher Amazing as he manages to shoot down a horde of funnels with ease.

That evening, Fellini hits on Kirara not knowing it was her because she’s in another wig. She congratulates him on making it past the qualifiers without having to win the next round, and then mentions how he’s going to intentionally lose for Sei and Reiji to get in, something he hadn’t even considered. Later on he has an inner monologue about how he could lose on purpose but that it isn’t something he can do because it clashes with who he is, even if it means it might destroy his Wing Fenice. That’s pretty manly.

Next we learn the secret to the Qubeley Papillon and why all her enemies have seemingly been shot from nowhere. Her funnels are transparent, likely made out of clear plastic.

But now it’s time for the main event. Aila wants to stay and watch the fight between Reiji and Fellini, which is a surprise to her handler. Sei and Reiji set their GP base, and launch their Gunpla. They headbutt at full speed as some sort of touching of gloves? Then the battle starts. the Fenice gets an early lead and destroys the Star Build Strike’s shield. Kirara is confused at why he’s giving it his all and not giving up, but he continues, and the Build Strike’s attack is countered. In the ensuing volley, the Star build Strike’s backpack is damaged by head vulcan fire.

Next, Reiji and Sei gain the upper hand by using Sei’s Gundam history knowledge as strategy and setting up a fake target for Fellini, catching him from behind by surprise. The Fenice is damaged, but he goes on the offensive.

We get to see an awesome flashback of Fellini and the Wing Gundam Fenice, and we see it grow with him from childhood to where he is now, getting more and more customized as time goes on. While this is happening, Fellini goes into MAN MODE! and Sei tells Reiji to use the RG system 100%, also entering MAN MODE! Everyone is in awe of the manliness, and the Strike and Fenice charge each other. With the added speed, the Strike takes the advantage, but both are content to slug it out like a fight from Hajime no Ippo.

Meijin councils Nils to watch a true Gunpla Battle, noticing that Nils isn’t actually a fan of Gunpla, and the Fenice and Strike destroy each others heads. They then hit each other with simultaneous left hooks, disabling both Gunpla, and ending the match in a draw.

ED Break!

The two points are just enough to secure the 16th position for Sei and Reiji, and we see the chairman hearing that they’ve made it through in fear.

Ricardo and Sei are rebuilding their Gunpla together, and they assure Reiji that Gunpla building is super fun.

Commercial break. Don’t forget to buy Gunpla. I know I have (4 kits since I started watching this).

Next episode Sei’s dad comes back from traveling the world? Also was that a Beginning Gundam I saw? Interesting!

Honestly, even though this is a series about battling plastic models, I think this episode was manlier and more awesome than the Kamina episode of Gurren Lagann. If you aren’t watching it already you should really marathon the series using the link just under this review.

Watch Gundam Build Fighters on Gundam.Info or talk about this episode on our forums.

Nobunagun (Episode Three)
Player: Bobby Henshin
Class: DJ

A plane flies into the night sky heading towards a small island off the coast of Japan. A sleeping young girl is the only passenger on this plane. Welcome to episode three everyone. Last episode, Sio agreed to join Dogoo in their efforts to save the world from the invasionary objects. Her training begins as soon as they arrive, when they throw her into the jungle and tell her to make her way to the camp on her on. As the RV she rode in on
drives away, there is an explosion, symbolizing that the RV was destroyed. Out of the bushes come more of those small monsters we saw in episode 2. She hears a voice and is tossed one of the AU spheres. With her gun drawn, she begins firing at the monsters, but, like in episode two, the recoil is throwing off her aim, and she is missing every one of them. One of the creatures spears forward and runs Sio right through the chest. Well, that is the end of the Nobunagun series, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed it. Just kidding! The monster and the jungle disappears to show that they were in a military hangar the entire time.

The voice of a man can be heard coming closer as it tells her that she received zero points on her first test. We now meet Richard Capa, the man given the powers of the famous war photographer of the same name. His weapon is a giant camera on his back that can create realistic illusions. Saint Germain comes out of the shadows and offers a hand to help Sio up. Instead of taking his hand, she jolts up and slaps him right int he face! Guess she didn’t like the way he ditched her. Richard is skeptical about this new recruit, but he can’t complain about orders anymore due to him being taken off the field. Oh! I forgot to mention that Capa is in a wheelchair.

Sio retires to her new living quarters by flopping onto her new bed. She decides to start sending pictures to her mom and seeing if Asao is out of the hospital. She then realizes that there is absolutely no signal on her phone. Outraged, she confronts Saint Germain on the roof of the complex asking how is a modern day, Japanese high school girl supposed to survive without her phone or the internet? Germain strictly replies that she is not a high school girl, she is a soldier of Dogoo and is here to train to kill monsters, not chat on her phone and have a vacation. The next morning rolls around and we see a “now loading” sign show up symbolizing that she hasn’t fully awoken yet. Looking out the window, she remembers that she is here for training, as she is pelted in the forehead by a piece of chalk. Capa and Saint Germain are down on the track outside yelling at her to get dressed and get down there as she is pelted by another piece of chalk.

Her first day of training starts with on-water shooting. The objective is to snipe the enemy from afar but she is only able to hit them when they are up close. Recoil is playing a big part in her advancement it seems, but I don’t think the trains are seeing it cause all they seem to be telling her is to do better. Oh yeah! That is also what I have noticed from re-watching the episode. Completing this weeks challenge. I also realize that Saint Germain looks a lot like Sebastian from Black Butler but with glasses. Or more like the other butler from season two. We now move on to military conditioning training and classroom studies. She is falling behind in all the outdoor training and falls asleep in the classroom. Lunch time has come and she is alone in the cafeteria. This gives her flashbacks of how she would eat alone in school, and this somehow makes her miss home?

It is now night time and it looks as if Sio is deciding to sneak out somewhere. Now where could she be going? Turns out she is sneaking out to find a way of getting cellphone signal and internet. This is the kind of society we live in, people. With the sole reason of, “Having no phone or net is just insane,” she makes her way to the antenna. As she runs, she comes across some large military planes and starts to take pictures of them. With the military otaku distracted, some shady looking men in military uniforms come in from behind with hidden faces and a evil chuckle. She realizes that she is surrounded and starts to make a run for it. Running into another figure, she falls down and starts to freak out. The solider she bumped into looks normal and asks if she is Miss. Ogura. She replies yes and all the men start cheering. The soldier offers her a hand and says it is an honor to meet her. Well… that took an interesting turn. Turns out that all the soldiers on the base saw what she did in Taiwan, view her as a hero, and think her powers are cool. These soldiers turn out to be a team from all other countries spanning from Japan to America, Canada and the Philippines. It’s funny because the guy from the Philippines keeps trying to give her a banana he brought back from his country which makes the Japanese guy mad cause he thinks she would eat Japanese food… Where were they hiding this food on them?

They start to give her a tour of the base an explain why they are there. These soldiers are actually an elite group known as The Hurricane Hunters, A group put together to save people trapped in storms or to do studies on them. This is an actual military group; seriously, Google them. It was a fun read, and they have cyberflights online that show what they see inside of hurricanes and cyclones. Sorry, back to the story. After Sio finds out who they are, she begins to go otaku again. She asks why she hasn’t seen them around the base more often. Turns out that E-gene holders are considered VIPs and they are not allowed to mingle with them. Sio decides to break that rule and with their cheering she is able to make it through the training. Capa on the other hand doesn’t seem to approve of this. The next training mission starts with Sio shouting, “Nobunagun! Ready to go!” Capa asks why Nobunagun and not Nobunaga? She says she likes it cause it sounds cooler… long pause.

Capa tells her that he has noticed that the soldiers have taken a liking to her. She says they are very nice people. Capa then tells her that they are nothing but shields for her protection. They serve no other purpose to her but to die in her protection and if she had just killed the giant monster beforehand then the damage would’ve been contained in Taiwan. Basically he is telling her that she failed. This makes her angry, which was Capa’s intentions the whole time. He tells her to take her frustration out on herself as he makes 4 copies of Sio for her to fight. She is not able to hit any of them cause they keep moving. Capa then tries to intimidate her by showing how he’s able to do things with the copies. Like take her top off for one. Sio shoots the copy before anything is shown and he tells her that she can hit still targets but she needs to figure out where a target is going then shoot there. She realizes this and lines up her shot. But instead one got behind her and fired.

After all that it came to an anticlimactic end. We come to later that evening with the guys from The Hurricane Hunters thanking her for the pictures she took for them. Sio is confused and sees that all of them are holding pictures of her in a bikini at the beach, and these are small bikinis. Sio freaks out and asks Capa what he did. He said that he used her copies to take the photos to give to the soldiers cause they could use some spice in their life. Sio gets mad and asks why he said they were just shields then. That was to get her head on straight and to get her to focus, because he would never said that about his comrades. Sio is now beyond mad. The soldiers wave goodbye to Sio and the others as they head off into a new hurricane off the coast of South America. As the hunters fly into the hurricane, they find a unknown object in the middle of the hurricane. We see red flashes in the hurricane to symbolize explosions as metal scraps start flying into the hurricane with the picture of Sio flying away. Back at the island, the training is halted to have Capa and Nobunagun get ready for combat as they are informed that the Hurricane Hunter’s plane was shot down. Sio is devastated as the episode ends.

This player has been docked 10 points for grammar problems in their summary.

Watch Nobunagun on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Log Horizon (Episode Fifteen)

Player: Siege

Class: Content Provider

Log Horizon! Episode 15! Let’s do Simulblast!

Watching the episode twice!? I can’t do that because procrastination! Challenge failure. But we can still talk about the episode because I don’t want to be the first person to ruin the bonus points for everyone!

This episode is simply named “Attack.” I wonder what it could possibly be about.

Apparently it’s about annoying kids trying to decide to not enter the dungeon until the evening. The only voice of reason is this little girl, who says they need to learn how each of them play before entering the dungeon.

I’m sure you can say it with me: I don’t care about this MMO junk. It’s distracting from the cool political plotlines going on elsewhere. Instead I’m learning about cooldowns of magic. It’s bores me to tears.

I guess this is more interesting than watching them fight, though. Learning about their dynamics is neat. Too bad blonde kid is still a jerk.

After spending half the episode on teamwork and MMO uselessness, we’ve cut back to Shiroe and the others. Hopefully forever. Although Shiroe is just leveling up his document-writing skill, it still strikes me as more interesting than the kids fighting. Could this mean I’m getting attached to characters? Never.

He then calls the little girl, who talks about more MMO stuff. Great. Wonderful. Fun.

MMO stuff, budding romance between children I don’t care about.

BUT WOAH THE GIRL CAN’T ADD HIM TO HER FRIENDS LIST!? WHAT IS THIS? A GLITCHY CHARACTER IN AN MMO ANIME? NEVER!

And just before the episode ends, the fish people attack. No, I’m not kidding, and no, I don’t know why. Maybe we’ll find out on next week’s episode! Even though anyone watching this is already a few episodes ahead of me.

Watch Log Horizon on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Engaged To Unidentified (Episode Three)
Player: Kayarath
Class: Content Provider

Well, I’m glad this week’s challenge is to watch the episode twice, because I missed something the first time around, namely the plot. While Engage The Unidentified does call itself a romantic comedy, it does share some aspects from slice of life shows, namely a focus on the characters everyday lives. Between Mashiro dancing in front of the TV, acoustic accompanying cooking scenes with Kobeni, and Benio having romantic dreams of sisterly love, it’s hard to remember there’s a plot somewhere in between all that moeh!

The primary plot this week is Kobeni’s and Hakuya’s relationship. While Benio does cast a long shadow, Kobeni does manage to garner the notice of several boys. This raises some concerns for Mashiro, since Hakuya doesn’t actively court Kobeni. While he may not recite poetry to win her love, he does endure hordes of savings-seeking shoppers to support Kobeni. While Hakuya recovers from that, Kobeni buys rice bowls for her in-laws, signaling that they are considered actual members of the household. It’s all gags and moeh until we learn that Hakuya saved Kobeni’s life when she fell down a cliff. Since she doesn’t remember that at all, she doesn’t take it very well. What will the fallout be? Tune in next time to find out!

Watch Engaged To Unidentified on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Kill La Kill (Episode Fifteen)
Player: Knightshade
Class: DJ

What is going on, my minions of mayhem? It is I, Knightshade, and I am here today to talk about the latest installment of Kill la Kill, episode 15. So here we go!

The battle between Kaneo Takarada’s forces and Honniji Academy continues. After having his citizens dispersed by Satsuki Kiryuin, Takarada unveils an anti-Goku Uniform weapon, the Dotonbori Robo. However, the rest of the Elite Four appears with their new Three-Star Goku Uniforms, and Iori hands Uzu Sanageyama his new uniform as well. Donning the Blade Regalia Mk.III, he defeats Takarada. Ryuko Matoi then arrives at the scene, and starts battling Satsuki for the final piece of Senketsu, the Seki Tekko.

Eventually, Nudist Beach makes an appearance in mechs very similar to the one Takarada was using, and Aikuro Mikisugi reveals his true identity to the Student Council. However, they in turn reveal that they were already aware of Nudist beach’s existence and Aikuro’s true intentions, as well as the true objective of the Tri-City Schools Raid Trip: to uncover and destroy the Nudist Beach organization, which was hiding behind and offering support to the schools of Kansai. The Elite Four transform into their Mk.II and Mk.III uniforms and engage Nudist Beach in battle.

Meanwhile, Ryuko manages to transform even without the final piece, and manages to wring the Seki Tekko from Satsuki’s hand, at last completing Senketsu. She manages to fight toe to toe with Satsuki, and they eventually reach a draw. With blades at each other’s’ necks, Satsuki agrees to call off the battle and return to Honniji Academy with the students, but not before Nonon Jakuzure destroys the Nudist Beach base. Their objective fullfilled, the Student Council returns to Honniji Academy. Ryuko, Mako, Aikuro and Tsumugu gaze at the destroyed city, and Aikuro tells Ryuko that the time has come at last for her to learn the truth about her father.

Going back and watching the episode a 2nd time I only noticed a few minor drawing errors the only one that drew my immediate attention was when Aikuro just kind of drops in from nowhere in that half mech type thing. Other than that nothing that really needed attention.

Overall I was really happy with this episode. New 3 star goku uniforms and Blade Regalia Mk 3 looks AMAZING! That is probably my favorite thing in this episode. I am at this point waiting for Satsuki to be a full blown good guy and reluctantly help Ryuko in the pursuit to free the world from whatever future bad guy comes their way. In conclusion, great episode 10/10 whatever other praise I can give it will be given and I can claw at my computer screen in waiting for episode 16. PLEASE EPISODE 16 COME SOON! Thank you, later all.

This player has been docked 10 points for grammar problems in their summary.

Watch Kill La Kill on Crunchyroll & Daisuki or talk about this episode on our forums.

Nisekoi (Episode Three)
Player: Zero Gravity
Class: DJ

In space, there was a little girl sitting on a rock. This girl has no face but reads a book. She was upset because she loved the book, but the ending upset her. Raku Ichijou appears, takes the book, and, using a pen, re-writes the ending so the girl enjoys the book more. He introduces himself as Raku Ichijou, but before the girl can tell him her name, Raku wakes up from his dream. He then rolls around in much anguish, saying that if he’s going to keep having that dream, it should at least tell him more.

After the intro, Raku is seen making breakfast, down that Kosaki wasn’t the girl he made the promise with, and to make matters worse, she thinks he and Chitoge are dating. On the way to school, Raku bumps into a half dead Chitoge, who has had a severe lack of sleep from the press-like questions from members of BeeHive in regards to her first date. Raku confides that he had the same problem. At school, Chitoge and Raku discuss that Claude is the only thorn in their side, being that he’s suspicious that their relationship is a sham. Chitoge then reminds that they need to be frank with Kosaki, because, if she tells anyone else, it’ll ruin any form of freedom they have at school. As they arrive at school, the entire class bombards them with questions, the couple unaware that two other classmates caught them on their date as well.

Before Raku let word slip that their relationship was a misunderstanding, he spots Claude, sitting in a tree right outside the window watching them. Raku retracts what he was about to say and gives in, saying that they’re a couple. Claude is still determined to catch Raku lying and deal with him. After class, Raku tries to track down Kosaki to at least be honest with her, but scenarios that don’t pan out well continuously play through his head. When he does find her, he begins to joke with her that he and Chitoge make a bad couple, to which Kosaki says that he shouldn’t say such things about her and that if she fell for him, there must be a reason. He begins to list of nearly a dozen reasons, and Raku can’t help but notice that she paid so much attention to him.

When another student bumps into Kosaki, a key falls out of her bag, which has Raku and Kosaki flustered. When Raku tries to ask her about it, she freaks out and runs with the key, making excuses. When Raku and Chitoge eat lunch on the roof, Raku suggests that maybe they should confide in a friend in regards to their fake relationship to ease the burden, this greatly angers Chitoge for unknown reasons and she yells at him to do what he wants. Raku then goes to Shu, his best friend, and explains his situation. Raku then goes on to mention that he didn’t understand why it upset Chitoge so much, to which Shu points out that, while she talks to other girls, she’s never been seen being chummy with anyone other than Raku, giving off the impression that Chitoge had no friends to even confide with.

Raku looks for Kosaki only to be told that she had gone home for the day. As he walks around in misery, he overhears girls mentioning how they’re having a difficult time even talking to Chitoge. One accuses her of looking down at them because she’s so attractive. Raku then finds Chitoge in their class room, talking to herself as she writes in a notebook, apparently writing down a list of their classmates, their hobbies and such, so she might be able to strike up conversation with them and make friends. When Raku tries to get her attention, Chitoge begins to freak out. Chitoge tells him that her whole life, Claude has guarded over her, but he’s so over-protective that it was impossible for her to make any friends, always flashing his gun, making threats and doing background checks. So when she came to Japan, she had hoped to make a new start, but to no avail.

Raku then tells her that she didn’t have to worry, because, growing up in a yakuza family, he had the same issues. Raku was always moving because kids talked about him, so he began to create a notebook of his own when he first started at their school, and offered to help her. Meanwhile, Kosaki, standing outside the room in the hallway, overhears the whole thing and overhears them refer to their relationship as a performance, unsure of what they meant.

After watching it twice, I can’t say anything has changed except for the fact that the second viewing seems longer than the first, but I think we all know why. Although, I’m typically very good for noticing even the smallest, stupidest detail. I’m happy to report that the comedy of Nisekoi is still running nicely, albeit there are still moments where the comedy is your usual chibi-fication when trying to explain a silly scenario. You see how dedicated Claude is to trying to get Raku to slip up when he’s been sitting in the same tree for nearly two days, to the point where a nest was being built on his head. Although there’s a lot less physical slapstick comedy than I remember from the original manga, but that may be based on memory from later chapters.

Watch Nisekoi on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Week 003 Tally

1. Kanashimi: 2,097
2. Midnight: 1,811
3. Elk: 1,568
4. Bobby Henshin: 1,325
5. Siege: 1,210
6. Kayarath: 1,040
7. Knightshade: 930
8. Zero Gravity: 710

Next week’s challenge: Time to jump aboard! Ship character’s to your hearts content!

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